Day 12: From Cinco Islas To Gonzaga Bay (Aka Paradise)

Sometime in the middle of the night, I heard our bikes fall, and I figured it was just the wind, which had picked up overnight.  However, we woke up to find that Gonzalo had accidentally left a few apples and some granola in his Revelate Designs handlebar feedbags and a lucky coyote had torn them apart.

After battling the wind to break down camp, we headed back up to Imelda's for breakfast, a simple but delicious breakfast of eggs, potatoes cooked with chorizo, beans, and handmade tortillas made from a mix of corn and flour.  Imelda actually rolls out her tortillas by hand and cooks them as you eat so you always have a hot tortilla at hand.  I also had the best coffee I've tasted this trip, which she made in a press and served with condensed milk.  I have a basic rule in Mexico... if there is REAL coffee, I order it.  This is because in the vast majority of Mexico, you can only find instant and when you do find REAL bean coffee, it's a luxury.

It was another blazingly hot day as we rolled out towards Gonzaga Bay and found the end of the road a couple kilometers before our destination for the day.  Literally.  The federal government is slowly working on building a highway that runs through the sand/gravel/rock road route that we decided to take.  According to Imelda, they are completing about 10 km a year, which means it should be done in about 5 or 6 more years.  She also told us that the reason why there are so many coyotes now is because of the previous construction of the highway through her section of the route... the road crew's leftovers attracted a large number of them and now they are a bit more desperate now that the crew has moved on.

It's the eeeeeennnnddd ooooofff thhhheeee roooooaaaad!

The road to Gonzaga Bay...

Once we got onto the sand/gravel/rock road, we had a bumpy ride to the military checkpoint, where we ended up chatting with the guys for about 15 minutes about our trip.  They didn't even attempt to check our bags.  They seemed like they were just bored and wanted to talk to anyone but each other.

We discovered that just before the turnoff to head into Gonzaga Bay to Alfonsina's, there is a very well stocked mini-super at the Pemex which has everything from wine to ice to water to groceries to a very nice girl working there who gave us some cucumbers dressed with lime and hot sauce.  We gulped down some cold sodas, filled our bottles and Camelbaks with ice, and headed down towards the water.

When people talk of Gonzaga Bay, they are really talking about a peninsula with a beautiful beach that hosts a couple dozen homes, a few palapas owned by Rancho Grande, and the iconic restaurant-hotel called Alfonsina's.  There is a tiny airstrip and I think it might be a requirement for the homeowners to own a boat.  It is a pristine, beautiful, and isolated getaway for expats living in San Felipe and Mexicans alike.

Taking in the view from Alfonsina's... the staff here was super nice and we ended up chatting with a few of the women from the kitchen in the lovely shade of the porch while we waited for the hottest part of the day to pass (photo credit: Gonzalo).

We splurged on a wonderful chipotle fish lunch and beers at Alfonsina's... it was delicious but was definitely "American" prices. 

I took a lovely solo walk down the beach while Gonzalo rested his injured foot and took a nap at Alfonsina's... the tiny buildings are just about all the civilization there is here.

This little strip of beach appears to reach the adjacent island at low tide... I wanted to explore, but only had my flipflops on.

Instead, I went and played in the water!

I spent the afternoon basically just soaking in the views and walking along the beach in both directions from Alfonsina's and met a few interesting folks.  I asked an American guy who owns one of the homes to see if there was a good place for us to camp.  He directed me to a nice spot right on the beach that was public property and where he had seen others camping before.  Then we chatted a bit about the nomadic lifestyle.  He actually owns homes in Bolivia and Mexico and was packing up to head to Colorado to sell his home there, and figure out where he and his wife wanted to move next.  On my way back to Alfonsina's, I ended up talking to a woman who had actually windsurfed her way down the California coast solo in her youth.  It's nice to know we're not the only crazy ones...

We met this motley crew of expats who were from San Felipe and various parts of California while having a beer at the end of the day.  They offered to share their fish appetizer with us and we gladly accepted.  The guy in the middle had actually done a 1200 mile bike tour "back in the day" across parts of Canada.  Apparently he lost 20 pounds in the 20 days it took him to bike that route.  

As the sun started to set, we decided it was time to go set up camp and make dinner.  We finished our beers and reluctantly gathered the energy to set off down the beach.

Common sight behind the homes on this strip!  We camped just past this plane and last house.

View of the moon rising over the water from our campsite.

Another perfect beach camping spot... we stayed up for a bit to talk and to enjoy a well needed escape from the heat.  As Gonzalo put it "I really like the night, it's like the shade of the earth."  Indeed.

A few travel notes for cyclists:

• The Pemex at the juncture where you turn off for Gonzaga Bay/Alfonsina's is very well stocked.  They sell all sorts of canned food, pasta, rice, beer, wine, and even some produce.  They also sell purified water from a tank, so you can just fill your bottles, tell them how many liters you took, and get a great discount.  We only paid 27 pesos for 12 liters.  If I had known this prior to planning this section, I would not have packed so much food!

• Alfonsina's has American prices for both accommodation and food, but it's worth heading there for a beer to socialize, have a nice place to take in the view, and to take advantage of a decent flush toilet.  They also appear to have showers there, though I'm not sure if they cost anything.  If you are on a budget, get some groceries at the Pemex and cook at camp.  Also, if you are desperate for internet, Alfonsina's has a satellite internet connection that appears to be available for use at a price.

• A great wild camping spot is between the end of the houses right as you arrive to Gonzaga Bay and the palapas.  There is a small empty section of the beach that is owned by Pemex (which is government owned and therefore public) near a generator surrounded by a fence.  It is accessible from the gravel road, so you only have to drag your bike through the sand a short distance.  The land on either side is "private" so we just pitched our tents on the beach right in front of the generator, and locked our bikes to the fence there, with no problems.