Day 7

we took our time getting up and moving. time and money was getting short and we were slowly making our way back north.

we met and talked with a couple riding 2-up from canada. they had flown down to san diego and rented a harley. he owned an st1100 back home and thought the harley was quite fine for what they were doing. different strokes. . .they had stayed at "linda's" in catavina the night before and the mrs. said it was not bad.


this was a shot a got as we were heading out of loreto heading north. i really liked this town and the baja outpost. leon, loreto and clarita had become our friends. leon has a beautiful golden retreiver that for 2.5 yrs. is one of the most laid back and friendly i've ever seen. cleopatra lumbers up and drops herself at your feet. she doesn't beg, but did appreciate the bacon i fed her under the table (shhhh, don't tell).


i snapped this picture to show you cacti growing right up to the sea of cortez.

these next few were shots while i was riding. i need to get a ram mount for my camera. . .



as we entered santa rosalia, i took this for a reference shot.





i took this shot because it's always been one of the most curious hillside homes i've seen. actually the hillside facing it is the best, but it ended up being a sky shot. i just didn't capture it. the homes are straight up the hillside and in various stages of being incomplete. all are inhabited though.

this is a shot of the bay at santa rosalia


it was about this time that a couple riding a big 1150 gs came up from behind us. we rode together for a while, but we were quicker and lighter through the curves. it wasn't long before they would reappear in our mirrors. this went on the rest of the day.

as we neared guerrero negro, it began to get a little chilly. ye pulled over and pulled his rainjacket on, the couple passed us then. i elected to forgo my rainjacket (for warmth) as i was still quite comfortable. that was about to change.

we rode possibly 15 more miles before the temperature plummeted. we pulled over just outside of guerrero negro and pulled on more gear. i was about to freeze to death. :-) we ended up putting on our electrics AND turning them on. it was chilly for a good while.

once we pulled over and introduced ourselves. mathias and claudia from switzerland had begun their adventure in argentina and were heading to canada. wow. come to find out, they had also stayed in loreto last night.

we stopped in catavina as daylight was waning. we checked out the hotel there, la pinta. nice enough place, but they didn't accept credit cards and were charging $88/night. way too many fun coupons for what we had left. we decided that if the harley couple thought the pink hotel in catavina "wasn't bad" we could stay there too.

oh. my. goodness.



i'm including almost every photo for a reason. i don't want to forget a single detail.

okay, my first clue should have been that the world traveling swiss took one look at the room and decided to push forward the 80 miles to el rosario. hmmmmm.




well, we checked in. here is a shot of wallace studying the map. i am aghast that he would even sit on that bed. it was so soft i wondered what it was filled with. i can't bear to think.


this is the bathroom shower curtain. it's only purpose is to keep those walking in front of the hotel from seeing you sitting on the commode.

we did not shower in this motel. . .

it slowly dawned on me that. . .the electricity feeding this motel was from a gas powered generator. the ceiling fan was wired in to the overhead lights. if you wanted the fan on, the retinal searing overhead light had to be on too. ye says "it's okay honey, i'll turn the light off at the fan." it was then we discovered the overhead was dangling from a couple of wires loosely from the center of the ceiling.

what building codes?!?

then. ye's in the bathroom washing his hands and he says "hey, i hear water running!" so he grabs a flashlight and heads to the back of the motel.

okay, it's a direct drain. direct to the back of the building.

and he just *had* to drag me back there to prove it. like i needed something else to keep me awake all night.

i couldn't even bring my mind to think about where the toilet was draining. there are some things that just don't need to be explained and that was one of them. ye kept trying to make me think about it though.

unfortunately, we were hungry. we tried a restaurant that a guy from garden grove, ca recommended. his wife was from catavina and knew the best places. this guy was so high he was literally shouting information at us. nice enough guy, but his recommendation didn't pan out as the greatest, cheapest cafe in town was closed. rats. so we walked back to linda's.

what was i thinking!?!

we explained, vegetariano. no problemo, cheese enchilada's. oh no! i made a side glance to the kitchen, there were flies EVERYWHERE. i told ye not to look. i'm sure i threw up in my mouth a little bit. after i ate, i threw up more than a little in my mouth at the thought.

shudder.

but there is always a silver lining we've found. and ours was:


Carla! what a wonderful young woman she was. her family was from cabo san lucas. her papa, madre, sister, candy and herself were stranded here in catavina with a broken radiator hose. they had originally planned to visit phoenix, but due to the mechanico taking off the long weekend for the easter holiday, they were stuck.

we spent a couple of hours talking with her about the different cultures, different languages, families. what a sweet person she was.


carla is an 18 year old senior in high school who works in a clothing store in cabo. it always impresses me when young people reach outside their comfort zone to visit with a couple of old traveling geezers. and we shared a wonderful time.

it was getting dark and i wasn't sure how much longer the electricity was going to last. i wanted no more of this night so. . .

i dug out the bug spray that i had packed, we sprayed down the sheets, threw our sleeping bag on top of the sheet, and one to use as a cover, stuck my earplugs in and tossed and turned myself to sleep.

tomorrow. . .was another day.