We’ve been in Mexico for a week today. In some ways it feels like we’ve been here for ages and in others its like we just got here yesterday. Crossing the boarder from the US was really easy. We were even made to feel welcome, unlike US immigration! It was a real culture shock for us when we got here though. We knew it would be but even so it was supprising just how different Mexico is from England or even the bits of the US I/we’ve seen. The towns are something else. It’s a bit like a really busy city imediately after a bomb blast. People running everywhere through chaos and broken roads and buildings. And the traffic in the towns is just as bad. Everyone does there own thing and any driving style goes. Having said that, erveryone observes the ‘4 way stops’ religiously for some reason. I learnt pretty quickly to just ride like the Mexicans drive and all is well. We haven’t felt worried on the roads yet anyway. (It’s a bit like Birmingham in rush-hour.)On the whole everyone has been really friendly, especially when they realise we’re not ‘nortamericanos’. The USA isn’t popular here. Camping has been harder than we thought it would be. We were really supprised that all the main roads (there’s 5 on Baja) all seem to have barbed wire running along side them – even in the desert where there’s nothing to either keep people out of or live stock away from. As a result we’ve had to swollow our British reserve a few times and ask respectable looking strangers if we can camp in their yard or whatever. We haven’t had any problems yet, everyone is really hospitable. It might get easier to camp when we get onto the mainland. In the meantime, the soldiers at the check-points have been helpful for advice on who to ask for a place to stay (or not as the case may be). The military generally don’t stop us; they’re looking for the ‘Narks’ as the locals call them. (Drug smugglers). When we do get stopped though they’re really decent lads just doing a job. They like the bike though and want to know if its “mucho rapido”. Now we’re further south of the border than we were there isn’t as much of a problem with the ‘Narks’ as there was for us though.

At the moment we’re staying in a guest house on the Bay of Gonzaga about a quarter of the way down Baja on the coast of the Sea of Cortez. It’s a place called Alfonsian’s. Alfonsina is pushing 100 now but about 50 odd years ago she flew down here with a pilot freind, landed on the beach and stayed. She built the guest house and he dug out a dirt runway. Since then most people who come here fly in but given we don’t have a plan we came by what is supposed to be the road. The Mexican Government started to put it in about 20 years ago and then gave up 19 years ago and 53 miles from here. All there is is a track which passed by here and eventually joins ‘Mex 1’ 83 miles further south. The 83 miles are tomorrows treat!! For now the view here is amazing. Its one of those idyllic places you only see in very expensive holiday brochures. The difference being that when you buy the holiday as advertised in the brochure and get to your destination a thousand people did the same thing that week and its packed. Here I’ve seen one other person on the beach in 3 days (and the beach is about 4 miles long!). Its definitely worth the bitch of a ride to get here.

We seem to have resolved the teething troubles we had in the US, or got round them one way or another. Since crossing the boarder everything has been fine. The ride here was proberbly as hard as anything we’ll ever do on the bike (intentionally) and all was fine. The bike doesn’t handle as well on the dirt roads as we’d hoped but that’s to be expected I suppose when the bike weighs 560 pounds, plus 37 litres of petrol, all our gear, food, water and the two of us. On sand we found out very quickly that the front of the bike just goes in the direction it wants without any form of stearing whatsoever. I.e. we wont be doing any sandy roads if we can help it from now on. Gravel and hard packed dirt roads are fine though. It took a while for us both to get used to ‘living on the bike’ again but we’ve settled into it now. We’re getting used to a sore ass, shoulders, being incredibly hot or cold and dirty all the time. Life would definitely be easier in a 4X4 but the rewards wouldn’t the same. No pain, no gain!

From here we’ll get the initial 83 miles of dirt out of the way and then start making our way slowly down to La Paz before catching the overnight ferry to the mainland. We need to book a place on the ferry a couple of weeks before it sails so we’ll proberbly make the booking in La Paz and then ride down to the tip of Baja and back while we wait.

Baja is turning out to be really beautiful and we want to stop about every 100 metres to take a photo or just sit and look. The deserts, cliffs, sea and wildlife are incredible. We’re definitely in no rush. Baja was one of the places that was top of the list of places to go and it hasn’t disappointed. When we’re not riding the bike our day consists of:
1) Get up around 5:30 – 6:00 a.m. (unheard of!)
2) Go for a walk on the beach and throw the frizzbee around for a while (our attempt at getting fit!)
3) Either cook or buy breakfast and coffee.
4) Do some jobs (looking after the bike, washing, go into town if its near, find an internet café if its around etc.)
5) Read a book or update the Jurnal or download the latest lot of photo’s (loads of those!).
6) Go off exploring whatever is around for a while (as Liz is while I’m writing this)
7) Have some dinner and relax for a while.
8) Go to bed around 7:30 – 9:00p.m.

Alternatively our day can (and often does) consist of:
1) Get up around 5:30 – 6:00a.m and eat something quick.
2) Pack everything up and load it onto the bike.
3) Start riding the bike to wherever by about 7:30 – 8:00a.m.
4) Get really hot by 8:30a.m.
5) Get really dusty by 9:00a.m.
6) Have a break around midday at a petrol station is there’s one around (they’re about every 150 miles or so and often closed but a shop somewhere will be selling some petrol out of a drum – just start asking around)
7) Get back on the road and start looking for somewhere to eat or sleep.
8) Find that place to eat or sleep (just before dark for some reason).
9) Eat and put the tent up.
10) Go to bed around 7:00p.m. stinking and dirty.
Some days are really easey and some are a little more hard but it’s the adventure we were looking for so no complaints.