Bahia de los Angeles to Loreto-July 23

Chris wrote:
Just arrived in Bahia De Los Angeles and got rid of the bags, and now off to go see the town, 110 degrees in the shade and humid as hell.


This is the bunch of guys from the "DLTMYGT" fishing tournament, they kept us very much entertained for a couple of days. You will read more about them later.



Ocean meets desert, makes for great colors at sunset.

I took a ride down a stretch of the "Baja 1000" route. What I would give to have my dirtbike here!

Like being on the moon, with color.

This is Pepe taking us out to see the whale sharks, we later found out that he has a knack for hitting big things in the ocean with his boat . A couple of years ago he ran over 4 girls in a semi-ridgid, no one was hurt and this day he hit a whale shark. Way to go, Pepe!!!

About an 30 foot whale shark, we dived in, carefully, and swam with this guy. Great experience.

"DLTMYGT" prize giving, with lots of Tequila.

A typical day at the beach, and Alejandro would serve us beers right here.

This quiet afternoon at the beach ended up getting a bit louder...

and louder...

and louder

until the tequila was all gone and we ended up feeling sorry for ourselves the next morning in the terrible heat.

This is our breakfast spot at Guillermo's motel in Bahia de los Angeles.

We nearly ran these guys over, our fellow mules.

KFC, below the below the border.

Built in the early 1700's. Its so dry here there is absolutely no corrosion.

Inside the Mission , San Ignacio.

This could be upside down. This lake is in the middle of the desert.

Same lake a little later.

Like a whale out of water.

These roads were in fantastic condition all the way down so far, one does need to watch out for the trucks.

Now Steve in the red was a plmbing contractor that said to Hell with it, packed up and moved to paradise, now he lives in this RV on his own little beach living off the ocean, with no stress, for about $1000.00 a year. He surfs in the morning, fishes in the afternoon and drinks beer at night.

This is his shower, made from stuff collected from the ocean.

Beaches like this are scattered all the way along the coast of the Sea of Cortez

Cool dudes

Cool dudette

We met Sandra at the Patron bar on the beach at Mulege, a sweet fun lady, she gave us some good pointers.

This was the first rain we have seen in a long time and it completely muddied up this road and as a result we nearly saw the shiny side down.

Those are grass shacks that you inhabit for the day or week or permanently, depending on how fussy you are.

Beware of moving objects!!!

What can I say, Missy's porta-gym, keeping fit on the road...

Melissa wrote:

We were scheduled to leave Bahia de Los Angeles at 7am this past Sunday. Up at 6, we were having breakfast, ready to load the bike, sitting under the patchy palapa at Guillermo’s and gazing at the blue water, when we looked at each other and said “Why are we leaving?” That’s when we decided to stay another day. What will we do? We hatched a plan to persuade one of the local fishermen to take us out in his ‘panga’ or small fishing boat in search of the whale sharks that live in the waters of the bay. We walked next door to the cinderblock building that housed “Alfredo’s Sportfishing” and started negotiations with Pepe, an elderly guy, with whom we finally agreed on a price. Pepe rented us his family’s snorkeling gear and off we went. We rode for nearly 2 hours searching, did some snorkeling and finally gave up and headed back. Suddenly a big ‘boom’ and the boat stopped short, nearly giving Pepe a heart attack. Seems after all of our searching we had bumped into a whale shark, and he was right alongside the small boat. He was over 30 feet long, huge, and we could see him clearly through the water. Chris and I grabbed our fins and masks and jumped in. When I opened my eyes underwater, I had landed right near his head, and his huge mouth was open. Looking at his eye and his cavernous open mouth, I must say I got a fright. He was indeed docile, though, and we were able to touch him, and finally to hold onto his dorsal fin and let this huge, gentle creature pull us through the warm blue waters of the Sea of Cortez. It was a truly magical experience. Enjoying another beautiful day in paradise (or as we called it, our own Corona commercial), we relaxed on the beach, and then the last few guys that were part of the DLTMYGT Fishing Tournament stopped by. The margaritas started flowing, and then Pat produced a bottle of Correlejos Tequila, the smoothest tequila we have ever had. Chris and I tried to keep up with the youngsters of 24, and it was a fun and crazy evening. We DID leave the next day and rode through the extreme heat to the town of San Ignacio, home of a mission built in the 1700s. It is a charming little pueblo, with a freshwater lake right there in the middle of the desert. As we pulled into San Ignacio we met a couple from Denmark, both riding KLRs—they had just gotten their bike licenses in Denmark, then flew to California, bought the bikes, and took off for Mexico. The woman was riding a 650cc bike---I was very impressed! One night in San Ignacio at the Desert Inn, and the next morning we headed out for Mulege (Mul-e-hee), which is a very small town near a river. On the way to Mulege, we stopped for some water and met Steve, an American surfer and fisherman who had retired at 40-something and moved down there. He lived in Santa Rosalia in a camper right on a beautiful beach. He had a dirt bike, a kayak, a small boat and was the happiest guy you could ever meet. He invited us to come by, and we went to check out his homestead. He was a plumber and had fashioned an outdoor shower out of a fishing rod attached to his camper. From the fishing rod he hung a paint bucket with some type of net around it—this was his shower. His shaving mirror was an old car rear-view mirror attached to the wall. Guy paradise. We stopped at the first hotel we saw in Mulege, called Brisas del Mar, a shady place with an equally shady owner and some scary dogs which wasn’t very clean, and was basically awful. We walked down to the beach along a dirt road and stopped for something to eat at Bar Patron at the beach where we met Sandra, an American lady who has lived in Mulege for 15 years. She was great, lots of fun, and gave us some great tips for the road ahead. It had rained a lot last night, so the dirt road out of the hotel had turned to slick mud, and when coming up the road this morning we nearly had a spill. Thank God Chris rides motocross, he can really handle that bike. Today we arrived in Loreto, a beautiful town on the coast with a lovely malecon and some great hotels. We checked into the Hotel Mision, a beautiful hotel on the beach..We’re considering staying an extra day to go scuba diving. We’ll see what tomorrow brings!

Camalu to Bahia de Los Angeles, Baja, Mexico

Chris wrote: Missy and Dawn outside Starbucks in Long Beach California.


Roy and Joji in L.A.

Missy's bathroom buddy, kept her company while tinkling in the desert.

The real hot spot mentioned in the previous post, Missy felt she needed to be included in this scene of hellish heat.

DESERT,DESERT, DESERT!!!!!!!!!!!

OASIS, OASIS, OASIS!!!

Los Gringos en La Gringa

Gilbert, the master chef masterfully constructing his signiture dish internationally known as Gilbert ceviche. This is some good S$%T

Me and Tito, the guy who has mastered 3 different classes at all 3 Baja races, a very modest fellow with a lot of good stories.

This is the charity that we came across and these guys are handing out boxes and boxes of toys and clothes to the local kids, they also built a library for the town, pretty cool.

Tito and Chino at dinner lasat night.

The back of my helmet, Missy looks at this all day every day.

Melissa wrote: What a difference a few days makes. We left Camalu and headed South. Central Baja is pure desert, hot, hot, hot. The temperature was 104 degrees which made riding interesting. Passing through the beautiful desert landscapes, nothing around us but cactus, we rode for about an hour and a half. Just when we were beginning to feel really dehydrated, a litle building rose up in the distance with a sign that said Ábierto 24 horas. Turns out it was someone's house that was also a little restuarant. We bought the last bottles of water and soldiered on in the heat. We came to the town of Cataviña, and stopped for gas at the local hotel/gas station (appropriately named The Desert Inn). While Chris got gas I walked around and saw that the little hotel had....A POOL! We immediately abandoned our plan to ride further and checked in. The hotel was a little pricey but at that point I would have cashed in what's left of my 401K to dive in. Early start and headed to the town of Bahia de los Angeles on the Sea of Cortez. A sleepy little town, and the guy at the local gas station directed us to a hotel on the beach called Guillermo''s. For 45 dollars a night we got 2 beds and a shower with a tiny little air conditioner that is doing it´s best to cool us down. We dropped our riding clothes and jumped in the ocean, sat there all day with some cold Tecate chatting with all of the cool people we met there. Turns out Bahia de los Angeles is a hidden gem of a sportfising destination famous for yellowtail. There were 50 American guys in town from Southern California for a tournament they do every year. They have a foundation, and the proceeds from the tournament go for education and clothing for the local children here. They were staying at other hotels but came to Guillermo´s for the margaritas. Also turns out Guillermo is a local celebrity who consistently wins the Baja 1000 race in his jacked up, monster Land Cruiser truck. We also met 3 Mexican guys from Ensenada, Tito, Gilbert and Armando. These guys are all champions of the Baja 500 and the Baja 1000 race, driving Baja Bug cars. They explained the mechanics of the race, which actually passes right through this town into the desert. Chris was riveted. Looks like next year I will be cheering him on in the Baja 500...dios mio! These guys had caught a lot of yellowtail and invited us to a BBQ at their friend Eduardo's house nearby. There they made the most incredible ceviche we have EVER had. They took this freshly caught yellowtail and cut it up with chiles, onion, tomato, lots of lime and oyster sauce, and we had it right there on their patio with some cold beers while discussing rally racing and Mexican politics. An amazing day. This is what I love about Mexico...the warmth and hospitality of the people and the unexpected experiences that can enrich your trip if you just keep yourself open to them. We are now in a little market with 2 computers, the local "Internet Cafe" and the only place with signal. Tomorrow on south, our destination a town called San Ignacio. Vaya con dios, friends!