Day 6 - Cabo

as we arose this wednesday morning, we headed out of our swank accommodations to hear that mcdonald's fries buzzer one last time (thankfully).

we navigated through the dirt side roads to once again hook up with highway 19 for the cabo loop. it wasn't too long before we started seeing signs. our first stop on the outskirts of cabo san lucas was at a pemex station. we pulled up and there sat this beautiful f650gs. i felt like goldilocks, it wasn't too big, it wasn't too small, it was *just right*.



i was suddenly a woman with a mission. must. have. more. information.
besides, there is no escaping us when we spy another biker and we're stopped. we simply wait them out, they have to depart sometime and when they do, we pounce. ;-)

we didn't have to wait long before luis came out of the convenience store with a cup of coffee in his hand.



luis told us he had 16,000 km (about 10,000 miles)on his bike in less than a year. he had taken the ferry from la paz and traveled around mexico mainland to the copper canyon, mazatlan, yadda. he was such a great guy, busy, but took the time to answer all of our questions and even offered to snap a picture of the two of us before he departed in to the wind. i must say, the people we met on this trip were just beyond wonderful and we feel very blessed to have met each and every one of them.



say "queso!" this is us posing in front of what i had hoped to be my next bike.

and this is what it was all about.



i snapped this at the stop light. funny how something a few weeks ago seemed so darn important. now that we were here, i couldn't wait to leave.

the traffic was more than we had become accustomed to, and things just were not right with the universe. there are all these multinational huge corporations that have bought up almost every inch of beach front property, there are crews of mexican construction workers busily building everywhere. the thought struck me more than once that these citizens living in this city would soon not be able to afford to do so. even a camping spot was $30/night.

so we snapped a few obligatory pictures of the shoreline and kept riding.




a view from some hotel parking lot that had guards and no one would let us any closer.





we rounded the cape of the cabos and headed north once again. we passed the trópico del cáncer sign on our way. it was all a bit anticlimatic and i began to realize our trip was not about the destination, but the people. the people we had met, the people we continue to meet.



this was a spot about 50 miles north of san jose del cabo. for some unknown reason, ye decides this is a great spot to pull over and take a pee. i busied myself trying to get a shot that didn't include that obnoxious telephone line. i snapped some thinking i would later crop it out, well, that obviously didn't happen.

by the time he was done with his business we guessed about 50 people had rounded that corner to witness his bladder evacuation. he says "gosh, can you believe how busy this road is? i think 50 people saw me pee."

uhm, that's a big NSS! what was he thinking!





i started to get a little snap happy when i decided to start taking pictures while i was riding. the first several were shots of the sky before i figured out you need to hold it as if it were you eyes. anyway, here are some. i'm not going to even attempt to tell you where they were. suffice it to say, it was between santiago and loreto.

i was trying to get a shot of the green bay at la paz, but it just didn't turn out. here are a couple more of my attempts.




and here is the malecon at loreto once again. our fun coupons are running pretty low at this point and so we are seeking establishments that will accept our credit card. okay, this is another opportunity to practice direct, concise communication and say what i really mean. and what i really mean is, an establishment that would accept "Ye's" credit cards. :-) look how much i'm growing!

lucky more me that means baja outpost for another wonderful night luxuriating in this oasis.

when we pulled up, leon greeted us with a smile and a wave and asked if we were stopping by to visit, or were we staying. how nice.

we walked down the malecon to hunt down some food. we went to a place called something Texas bbq. now, remember, we're vegetarians. but. . .they had a wonderful sounding guacamole salad and margaritas! so i talked ye in to going.

i have to tell you, the service was morbidly slow, so slow we had to ask the waiter if the cook was still alive. goodness. for 1 bottle of beer, one order of guacamole, some chips and a margarita? $18! that was an entire fun coupon!

ye was significantly less than pleased. we stopped at the corner licor store and picked up a 6 pack of the XX's and made our way back to the oasis.

it was a long day's ride. we were beginning to look longingly at our dwindling stack of fun coupons. each gas stop ate up at least one. . .it was now a couple days before the easter holiday and holy week for most mexicans. that pretty much means that at least for the long weekend all establishments would be closed, a.k.a. the bank! we still had a couple things to do before we left for home. those are for tomorrow.