Mexico Central - Guadalajara

It is a beautiful city with a rich colonial history. It carries in town centre some European style building from the 18th century. We g0t there at sunset and the first mission was to find a cheap motel. We found this one fairly quickly, and we could even let the bikes in the lounge !

Luckily, October seems to be a fiesta month in the city, and on sundays plenty of street shows occur, with typical dancing and costumes.

Day or night, the city is quite pleasant.

Mexico Central - Puerto Vallarta

Once the ferry dropped us at Matzalan, we met again with Sergio to ride down to Puerto Vallarta. Actually Buceria as Kagan´s parents have friends over there. They welcome us to stay overnight in their home.

Jerry and Karen are an American couple who decided to get away from the US and retire happilly near Puerto Vallarta. They have bought and restored a charmin house, on which they are still working for the upper floor. They have a pleasant philosophy of life associated to humour and peace.












In the morning we get to see the Malecon (sea side) of Puerto Vallarta, touristic harbor, then head east towards Guadalajara.

As we go in the midlands, altitude goes up rapidly. Mountains roads are good fun when in good condition, but the number of trucks and the loss of power from the bikes in altitude make it a slow pace.

Little villages are more typical when we get away from the touristic scenic roads.

Baja California Sur - La Paz

La Paz is almost at the bottom of Baja. The road to get there is much greaner than before. We could feel also a higher level of humidity.

We met on the way a Brasilian, Sergio, who is going back to Brasil from California, on a KLR 650. Very nice bloke, with a great experience of this kind of trips. He did South America to Ushuia by the west coast, and all around Brasil. Very pleasant person to talk to, and helped us out a couple of time with his good spanish.

We stayed in a nice RV park that actually was very quiet and offered nice facilities, such as a swimming pool, which has been more than useful under the local weather. It gave my leg some time to recover.

Leaving La Paz on the ferry has been an... interesting... experience. Being familiar with the ferry between France and England, I had an idea of what to expect. Well I was wrong. It was a good looking boat on the outside but so old and smelly on the inside. The restrooms were disgusting right at the start, smelling old urines to collapse an elephant, no soap, barely water. 18 hours in there wasnt easy. As it was very hot, everybody got a bit stinky and it was difficult to find a place to sleep away from another stinkier. No bed, just bad chairs, so I slept on the floor.

Bala California Sur - A day not without problems

The pictures make it look all easy and perfect, but those days are not without putting some efforts. Good fun comes by going after it.

The day we left San Ignacio to Bahia Conception, see the 2 previous posts, was one of the most beautiful days, but also one of the most painful yet for me :

- In the morning, I lost my sunglasses at the campground. They were fairly cheap but fit perfectly in my helmet and allowed me to ride with my visor open, which I quite enjoy. No big deal, I ll find a new pair, but still annoying.

- 5 minutes later, I drop the bike at the gas station. There was some fuel on the floor and both the wheels and my feet lost grip altogether as a unit. No damage. As I was pissed off with my glasses lost, it didnt help my good mood. Well, so it was and I didnt want this to spoil the day so I kept smiling and went on the road precautiously.

- The road was beautiful and brought us to the fabulous sceneries you can see in the previous post. The last and main drama of the day was still to come. The way down to the beach passed by a small downhill sandy area. After our off-road experience the day before, it should have been piece of cake. It wasnt to be. Downhill on sand is difficult to control and I lost it at almost no speed, but my leg got stuck under the panier, right at the angle, and the muscle was badly pinched. Big pain, Kagan had to drop his bike to help me. I could barely walk for the day after, and my ankle is still swollen as I write this words. Nothing is broken so no worries. It has been a good reminder of how easy it is to get injured in such trips. Today I bought some better boots, for motocross, which should protect my legs way better.

Baja California Sur - Bahia Conception

A little ride away from San Ignacio brought us to what is said to be the most magnificent beaches of Baja. I can believe that.

The beach we chose to put the tents had a small island connected to the main land by a thin layer of sand. In the morning the tide was up and the 'bridge' was flooded.

Tide down :

Tide up :

Evening :

Morning :

2 motorcyclists attract obvious questions by locals and other tourists. Most are impressed by the length of the trip. Some admit cheap jalousy, although it is clear they wouldn't try to create the opportunity.

Baja California Sur - San Ignacio

San Ignacio is a lovely little village in the valley, 3000 people. It is actually an oasis in the middle of the desert. Cactus and dust are replaced by palm trees and laguna.

We camped along the laguna for $4 each. We were alone with the local animals of the laguna. Great time.

In the morning we walked around the village. I finally bought some fruits, which were from Washington State...

We came across one of the strange and expensive buggies for the Baja 1000 in Nov. It s a race like Paris-Dakar through the deserts of Baja. Impressive.