Entering Mexico through Tijuana was an absolute nightmare... Coming from California, and the states as a whole, there are traffic laws, emission standards, and general rules of the road that are followed. This was all washed away in an instant. It was my first foreign country, besides Canada decades back, but what I imagined Baja to be was flawless beaches and Coronas for a peso... damn instagram and FB posts.. I realize we entered at a pretty chaotic crossing, but the shock and awe of the busy shuffling and overwhelming pollution was something that I never expected. I did get my first stamp in my new fancy passport, now proving that I was on my way to being the world traveler I dreamed of!

Once past Tijuana, the chaos started to settle back down to normal. We continued to zig zag down peninsula, ridding from coast to coast, and were beginning to appreciate joys of motorcycle travel again. There is a lot to see, and the landscape is ever evolving into new shapes and presenting us with visual wonders.

 
We of course had to ride to Coco's Corner to meet the infamous Coco. The gravel road to his little set up was half the fun, meeting Coco, and watching Marisa's face as she was surrounded by girls underwear, every size from petite to.. um... EXTREMELY large. Coco was a blast and we carried on down the ATV trails that acted as the roads while the main road was under construction.

We camped at little palapas that dotted along the coast. Each little slice of heaven somehow beat the previous nights location. When staying in large towns, we avoided the touristy downtowns, and opted for smaller campgrounds just on the city's edge. This got us away from the crowded and noisy central sections of cities.

As we made it halfway through Baja, we found ourselves at Conception Bay, and I just dropped everything and knew we were not going anywhere for days.
Bahia de Concepcion is a must visit place for anyone traveling anywhere near the area. There are 15 or so little beaches that have palapas lining the shorefront. There are other larger hotels and beach front property to rent out as well for anyone not on as tight as a budget as us, but for just a couple buck (and that is only if the groundkeeper came out that day) we stayed on a remote section with no other campers, overlanders, or RVs... our private slice of heaven.

We stayed at this location for 4 days.. and we could have stayed a month. With the bike parked, we spent days snorkeling, reading books, and even saw a whale shark. The highlight of conception bay, was that late one night / early in the pre morning, I went to the bathroom (I know I talk about that more than most do in ride reports) but... after all was done I went to wash my hands in the bay, and the water came alive like the milky way.... it turned out, just by chance, that we were there when bioluminescence algae was thriving. I woke Marisa up, and we both swam from 3 in the morning until the sun came up. We cast magical spells under the water with our hands, and saw light trails from larger fish as they swam around, it was absolutely amazing.

I could make this whole segment about Conception Bay... but I can't urge you enough to visit any of the playas along its coast.

We continued further south, enjoying every second and sight that Baja had to offer. Our only deadline we had made for the trip was to be at a resort in Cabo for a resort reservation my brother given us as a Christmas present the year before. We hate deadlines, and having to be anywhere at any time. We like to travel at our own pace, if we like somewhere then we stay, for how long, it usually doesn't matter.. but we only had a week until we needed to be in Cabo San Lucas for our 7 day resort package we on the southern tip of the peninsula (I know, poor us).

We made it to Cabo, and we treated ourselves to half the bar the first night. We got caught up in the friendly conversations with other tourist who had flown in and had a week to get as drunk as they possible could, then go back to their lives back home in the states. Marisa and I spent the next 6 nights recovering from the first... Marisa has not drank a beer since that night, over a year later.. (I have continued to have an "occasional" beer, I learned no lesson that night)

With Baja covered from north to south, we rode to La Paz in order to ship the bike to Mainland Mexico...

A video of us riding through Baja

Up next... (you guessed it) Mainland Mexico

Author of 'Maiden Voyage: The Prequel to The Adventure of a Lifetime' motorcycle adventure book