Eating goat with the Cartel

I set off for Volcan Las Tres Virgenes and it's not long before the volcano comes into view and it's lava rocks.





I ride down the road and pull into the ranger station. As I'm ready to start walking up to the observation platform a man comes out and invites me inside the station house.



He speaks perfect English. I find this funny at this point of the trip because everyone I meet who can speak English admit to not speaking it very well. We talk for about 3 hours.
I ask about the volcano and he tells me that they have tapped into it's thermal steam source and are able to supply 3 cities with electricity, then he starts talking about his passion and why he is here, which is to protect the big horn sheep.



The large deep rings in the horn are how they're able to tell age, like a trees rings.



We talk more about the Mexican politics and other various things that might help the world be a better place, but knowing that this is just talk and will most likely never happen. I get an invite to come back and he'll take me out with the big camera to shoot some big horn sheep.



I figure after 2 hours it's probably time for me to get moving, but the conversation continues for another hour. He gives me his e-mail address and phone number and tells me to call him if I run into any trouble. Pretty nice guy.
And I make my way back to the Sea of Cortez.

I'm starting to get a little bored traveling on asphalt so I find some dirt roads that lead to the sea.







I do the daily ritual of cruising through town to find a room and sometimes if it permits I go up to a high bluff over looking the town to scope it out.



Santa Rosalia is know for its mine. I only traveled 72 miles today, good conversation and interesting sites have slowed me down, but sometimes it's worth stopping to enjoy your trip.

Ever since the 2nd day in Baja getting stuck and not being able to communicate with friends and family I have settled in with the fact that I'm done trying to camp. Having wifi available, food and water close by, I'm just going to be getting rooms from here on out.
This place wasn't too bad for the money, so this is where I call home tonight.



Nice patio overlooking the sea and the city.



They're not done cleaning my room yet, so I head back into town to get something to eat.
This looks decent, and the waiter speaks English so I get a bit of a lesson on the preparing of the food.



The meat gets marinated and then piled on top of itself, then goes to a open flame source to cook. They then shave the meat off when ready to serve. Pretty simple and I try a few things off the menu.





Back at the room.



I hear some commotion outside my door just after sundown and go out to investigate. 5 guys are having a few beers after work and are staying at the hotel, as to not look suspicious, I walk back out to the patio and take a few night time shots.





Upon returning to my room I noticed a guy trying to stretch out a sore muscle and I offer him some Bio Freeze. I go back to my room and make the necessary e-mails and almost fall asleep. I go back outside the 5 guys are still there, but I get 2 beers handed to me. Alright, I took one.
Several beers later we're talking through google translator (mostly cuss words) and having good time. They keep offering beer and it's hard to refuse, but soon we're all to tired and probably drunk. It would have been fun to have recorded that night on video, 5 Mexicans and 1 Gringo (trying to speak Spanish) laughing at cuss works on a computer screen.

One of the guys who rides is interested in my bike. KTM magnetismo.



He asked me to send him this photo but I can't seem to get it to go to his e-mail, so hopefully he'll find it here.

:

Great story telling most excellent adv.

Great report.

That is the El Morro Motel....just south of town on the east side of highway....good place to stay...

Today I'm feeling a little more adventurous and want to try crossing thru the desert passing a couple of missions on my way back to the Pacific side.
I get up early, eat, top off the bike and make the turn off just after San Bruno towards Mission Guadalupe.
It's still early when the road starts to get narrow and rough.
There's a deer in the road and something caught my eye that made it out of place, there's a bell around it's neck, I slow down so not to spook it when I see another, but this time there's a guy trying to push it along. I thought deer where too jumpy for this kinda of behavior, must of been raising them from young.







I leave being amazed that this guy had the patience to raise this guys and gave me the opportunity to be this close to them.

The road starts getting rougher and further away from looking like a road.







After an hour of this.



And several times the bike gets tired and takes a nap.



I take a break under some shade trees and look at the map. Looks like I'll have at least 20 miles of this before reaching the Mission and decided to retreat.



This is definitely rough country.



Making my way back out to Mex 1 and heading to Mulege.











Hurricane Paul had done a number on this sleepy little town.





Mattress and clothing propped outside of homes to dry out.



I make it to the Mission but it's locked up, so no inside tour.









Water was passing through the 2nd story floor of this house. I missed these floods by a week, The ground was still drying out and everyone seemed to be working hard to restore order.



This helps explain the conditions of some of the roads I was taking.

Onward to Loreto the first settled town on the Baja peninsula.



I check out several hotels before settling on one.
I pay the agreed upon price and find my room at the furthest location from the lobby which is the only place to get wifi.



I don't have a good relaxed feeling here. A/C doesn't work, TV doesn't work, wifi is unreliable, parking lot is torn up, beach is dirty, mosquitos are insane, I'm the only guest, and it's a bit of a walk to town. But then again, they did just go through a severe storm, so I try not to let that get me down.

Bike barely squeezed through the door.

Yes that is the Morro, and I would recommend it. Not only becuase I had good company.

Great ride report! Our bikes are nearly twins but I'm not sure would have ridden through a lot of that stuff solo, cheers to you!

The hotel in Loreto was the La Pinta. You should have turned right at the malecon and stayed at the Oasis Hotel. A much nicer place and unless it was tore up from the hurricane you would have enjoyed it much better.

The thing about these bikes. The more I ride it, the more capable I find it to be. The next thing is going to be S suspension.

I did stop in there, however they don't take credit cards. I had planned on camping alot more, but things happen and I just got more comfortable getting a room.
After I crossed the border my bank canceled my cards, even tho I told them where I was going to be.
So I was burning through my pesos fast. After gettiing a hold of the bank they took the freeze off so now I needed to use the card to try and save some of the money. But yes, the Oasis looked nicer and the guy running the hotel was down to earth and cool.

Awesome RR report Booger and glad your having such a rewarding adventure. Just back from Baja Norte (we did a loop) and wishing we had more time because I am loving your route. So funny that on a moto on/off road that just a hundred miles takes an entire day but fills your head with a life time of memories. Cheers mate and tuning in.

Great ride report, Thanks for taking the time to post. You're really making em miss Baja. I've never heard the song in your first video, but I enjoyed it so it's been downloaded and added to my collection. Keep riding that beast. My KTM was a hell of a machine.

You can be my wingman anytime Goose.
Just read through your report, It's great to have good company adn it was probably better it was just you and your brother.

Thanks for taking the time for reading it.
That song does somthing for me to. funny thing is it came on my netbook, I've never heard it before either, but made me look at his other songs.

Great RR and great pics Thanks for taking the effort and share it with us

I slap myself in the face this morning to remind myself that not all days or nights are going to be like this and get the bike packed. I need to find some more cool history and spectacular roads.
The typical morning at a teinda for breakfast and water.



I'm getting more comfortable just sitting on the curbs and taking in the towns morning rituals. A water truck drives by with a loud speaker on the roof, workers stopping at the teinda for their breakfast, people running into the tortilla factory for their staples, and kids walking to school.
I set off just outside of town for San Francisco Javier and find the road exhilarating.



Beautiful scenery and a great twisty road.







And adventurous in some places.





This truck get stuck and almost rolls back on top of me.



A scampering of my feet in a backwards motion gets me clear of him.





The road narrows up into a skinny jeep trail and then dumps me onto a cobble stone street where the towns people are sweeping the dirt away, leading to the Mission.













Again I'm invited in and given the full tour.
The doors and windows get opened up as the tour continues to let the light in.













I like reading these, because having the Spanish translations with English I'm able to pick out a few words to remember, thus helping me learn more Spanish.







When ready to leave, I do something that I haven't done much on this trip. I ask about the road heading Southwest.
I find the older people are easier to talk to as they speak slow with alot of hand gestures, the younger ones are excited and speak way too fast for me.
He tells me the road goes through an arroyo with lots of water, and tells me it's best to go back the way I came. I'm good with that, it's an awesome road and he probably saves me alot of precious time.
What a great road.

Thanks for taking the time to read my story. I've been wanting to ride Baja ever since I first saw a Baja bug and found out what it was made to do.

This is just a brilliant read. Big effort with the photos while you were on the road and now, posting them up here. Can't thank you enough and you should know how aspirational this RR is to new riders like me. However, I'm still laughing that you had the shit hit the fan so early and had to hit the Help button on Day Two! Joey

Good stuff. Keep it coming!

Your very first picture, first page, is that an XRL, 600, 400? What happened to make it puke like that?