Experience has taught us a few tricks for crossing borders. It is all simple stuff, like: get there early and be prepared to take all day getting through. There are also rules about having all your paperwork ready with the copies already made, or keeping calm, not letting them rush you, never losing you temper and always remaining polite and, of course, never using a “helper” or paying a bribe. But somehow, none of this seemed appropriate for Mexico. We wandered up to the border at Tecate late in the morning expecting the Mexican bureaucracy to be friendly and efficient and that is exactly what we found. We were through in 45 minutes with visas for ourselves and the bike and some useful advice on the best road through the Tecate wine growing area. If only all borders were so easy.

We usually cross with a tank full of fuel and ride straight through dodgy border towns. This time we didn't bother. We had run down our US fuel, laced with ethanol, so found the first fuel stop across the border and filled Elephant with good quality Mexican Premium and ourselves with some cold water. With that, we were off into the blazing heat of the Baja, the second  largest peninsula in the world and home to an intriguing and famous landscape of sub-tropical and tropical deserts.

Our first days were spent on the almost deserted secondary roads of Baja California, the northern state on the peninsula. We romped along at an easy pace re-acquainting ourselves  with life on the road in Mexico. By the time we had crossed into the southern state of Baja  California Sur, the vegetation had greened, the desert had become a vast sea of cactus and we felt we were back in the Mexico groove. We stayed three days in the village of Mulege (mul-eh-hay) taking our first fully idle days-off in months, then finished the week in the tourist centre of Loreto in a quaint inn a short walk from the Sea of Cortez and an even shorter walk to a cold margarita.

So how does it feel to be back in Mexico and what do we make of the Baja? Well, the first part is easy. It feels very good to be back in this stunningly beautiful land of surprises. The second part is a little more difficult. There is no doubting the wonder of the Baja. It is has an amazing landscape both beautiful and desolate at once. But, because of this and its proximity to the other North American countries, it is also touristy, at least in parts. You can still get off the beaten track here. You just need to turn off Highway 1 down any side road (see some of  the photos), and the commercial and industrial towns are as gritty and hard working as anywhere, but on the coast the menus are in English and the prices are in US dollars.

Sunday finds us all in rude good health, relaxed and settled on the road, our most pressing concern walking out for an evening drink and, on this particular night, watching an eclipse of the Moon. You would swear we had done it all before.