Days 26 And 27: Guerrero Negro to San Ignacio

We finally said goodbye to Guerrero Negro and set out towards San Ignacio.  Fueled by less than five hours of a sleep, a hefty tailwind, 100+ degree weather, and the promise of palm trees, we ended up biking almost 150 km across the Vizcaíno desert to arrive in San Ignacio shortly before sunset.  The Vizcaíno desert is a strange mix of desolate desert with majestic sahuaros and pockets of cultivated land that pop out as emerald lakes amidst the dusty brown landscape.

We almost ended our day here just 25 km before San Ignacio... luckily they ran out of beer so we decided to keep pushing on.  We met some hilarious characters here while we took shelter under the shade.

And then a vision arises out of the desert as you crest over a small hill... lush date palm tree groves and a beautiful little town greet you as you descend into the valley to San Ignacio.

Gonzalo races down the road to the desert oasis.

While we normally prefer wild camping, the allure of direct river access brought us to a campground on the outskirts of town.  For just 70 pesos (or about US$6 for both of us), we had our own private campground at the Don Chon RV trailer park.

The first order of business was to go for a swim and cool off!  We didn't even bother to change into swim suits, opting instead to jump right in.  The water was the perfect temperature...

Sun sets in purple and pink over our campsite.

We set up our hammocks and tents, and headed off to the market to buy some fresh produce, cheese, and beer to supplement our dinner.  It was so nice out that I decided to just sleep in my hammock and drifted off into a blissful sleep halfway through my second beer.  We woke up to croaking frogs (I think... they were so loud, but my best guess is they are bullfrogs of some sort) and headed into town to get breakfast, find a cheap place to stay since Gonzalo had some follow-up work to do, and do a little sightseeing.

Loving the stickers on the menu board of our breakfast joint.  The guy who worked there had a lot of tips for us for the road going south.

The Mission at San Ignacio on the town square.  This is the first town in Baja that we've visited that has the traditional Spanish town model.

It's hard to believe we are technically in the desert right now!

San Ignacio has a wonderful quirky small town feel... it's one of those places that is quiet and unassuming that just makes you feel at ease.

We also made a stop by the Sierra de San Francisco Rock Art Museum.  The real thing is a day trip that costs a lot of money and requires permits and guides and things.

Photogenic flowers and the Mission.

I don't know why, but I love facades like this that show their age.

Our awesome little cabaña.

Whenever we stay in a town, I make sure to take advantage of the local fruit and veggie market to make an epic salad dressed with lime juice and hot sauce... here, dates are plentiful and dirt cheap so I bought a bunch of those, too!

Armando, the guy who owns our cabañas, invited us to a small party he was hosting for his classmates.  They had just finished a course in leatherwork and were celebrating.  It ended up being a party that lasted from the afternoon well into the night, complete with carne asada, a sound system blaring ranchero music, dancing, local wine from the Valle de Guadalupe, and the obligatory beers.  One of his classmates, Sonia, invited us the next morning for a delicious breakfast of pozole and coffee, which we gladly accepted to fuel the next leg of our trip.

This is how you know you are getting truly local wine.  It's very sweet, which is considered a good thing here in Mexico, probably best for making sangria.

Best beer cozy ever.

Rocking out some ranchero with Campito.

The gregarious Sonia, who you just can't say "no" to... she also makes a mean pozole.

A handmade gift from Armando that he made in his class. [Edit: Gonzalo would like me to clarify that Armando gave this to Gonzalo who then gave it to me.]

A few travel notes for cyclists:

• There is very little in the nearly 150 km between Guerrero Negro and San Ignacio.  There is one major town, called Vizcaíno, which has everything you need including a supermarket about halfway between the two towns.  We saw little else other than the little restaurant we stopped at about 25 km before San Ignacio... I'm not sure you can get much here other than basic Mexican fare and a soda or beer.

• You could probably wild camp in the date palm tree groves in town, as Gonzalo did when he toured here back in 2006, but after cycling through the desert, we found paying a couple bucks was completely worth it to have direct river access.  We were told that if the owner of a campground isn't there when you arrive, just go in, set up camp, and settle up later.  It's how things work around here.  

• San Ignacio is just big enough to have wifi internet and some nice supermarkets due to the whale watching tourism industry, but my understanding is that there is no bank here, so bring enough cash to get you through to Santa Rosalía.   

• San Ignacio is also the place to organize cave tours from... the INAH office where you pay for all the permits is here, and there is a tourism company on the main square that can arrange for transport to San Francisco de la Sierra.  It's US$100 for a van that can carry up to 10 people.   

• The cabañas owned by Armando are a little way down off the main square, you can ask anyone where they are.  They are decently priced, impeccably clean, and it is obvious Armando has put great care into building them.  They boast refreshingly large bathrooms, hot showers, high ceilings, and are nestled in a little palm grove.  

Day 25 (Addendum): Guerrero Negro Part III

Gonzalo successfully rebuilt his wheels just in time for us to ride out and catch one last perfect sunset at Los Amargos (which until now, he hadn't been able to see since his bike was out of commission), quite possibly one of my favorite places on earth right now.  I took this opportunity to work on my photography composition and practicing using contraluz (backlighting).  None of these pictures were altered in any way, they went straight from my SD card to this blog.

My feet were there.

Gonzalo takes in the sunset v.1.0.

Clouds on another planet.

Gonzalo takes in the sunset v.2.0.

From salt formation to sky.

Gonzalo takes in the sunset v.3.0.

Mysterious ethereal planet.

Sky art.

An exercise in perspective.

Days 21 Through 25: Guerrero Negro Part II

Guerrero Negro opened its arms wide and enveloped Gonzalo and me in a big warm hug.  We were no longer just some random tourists passing through town, but rather, Sara and Adolfo made us feel like we were a part of their family.  Sara and her daughter Sarita picked us up from the Motel Gamez in their family van with a cooler stuffed full of homemade burritos stuffed with potato and machaca and juice.  We swung by the ESSA production facility to pick up Adolfo, who had gotten all the permits and paperwork we needed, and we were off!

But first, let me tell you a little bit about this lovely family.  Sara is a remarkable woman.  The youngest of 12 kids from the nearby Ejido Benito Juárez, Sara is a mother of five children, ages ranging from 12 to 18.  Remarkably, she decided to go back to school as an adult to complete her high school education and then received a scholarship to attend university.  She is currently finishing her degree in alternative tourism and has a passion for sustainable tourism and preserving the environment.  Adolfo is a mechanic at the ESSA production facility who comes from a family of fisherman.  Sara jokes that her plans are crazy, but there aren't many people in this world who are willing to just go for their dreams, rules of society be damned.

Adolfo, Sara, and Sarita (minus the four other kids).

But I digress, back to the salt plant tour.  ESSA is the biggest natural salt production facility in the world, that is, it relies only on evaporation rather than artificial processes.  It is a joint venture between Mitsubishi and the government of Mexico, which respectively own 49% and 51% of the project.  This facility is so important that the president visits every year.  In addition to explaining each part of the salt production process and answered all of our random questions, Sara and Adolfo also made sure we saw everything and took some amazing pictures of us.

Big wheels from the ESSA salt trucks (photo credit: Sara).

ESSA is an equal opportunity employer... Sara was proud to introduce me to one of the female mechanics who works here.

Fun on a huuuuge stack of salt (photo credit: Sara).

Gonz and I get into a salt foam fight... foam is not the best ammunition but it sure is fun (photo credit: Sara).

Observing the massive salt trucks (photo credit: Sara).

Mountains of salt!

Look!  It's salt on a boat!  And Adolfo!

At the Laguna de Guerrero Negro... during the whale season, you can get a boat here to whale watch.  We found some remains and a cheeky little bird.

Sarita decides to wake up some sleeping birds.

On the way back from the salt plant, Sara suggested we go to a place called Los Amargos (which translates to something like "The Bitters").  The tourism industry in Guerrero Negro needs to find a way to promote this place.  Sure, it's a natural by product of the salt production facility (from what I understood of the conversation... by this time I was starting to get tired so my Spanish comprehension was failing), but it looks like an eerily beautiful alternate world.

The moon!?!  Los Amargos contains this mineral water that is warm and is supposed to be good for your joints.

It's a veritable playground of crystallized by product (photo credit: Sara).

The pictures don't really do justice to how strange and amazing this place is.

Sara and Adolfo dropped us off back at the Motel Gamez after an amazing afternoon.  We asked if we could contribute something towards the gas and food, but were told absolutely not.  I was so taken with Los Amargos, that I decided to head back out for the sunset on my bike after dinner.

Sara told me that a lot of people come at sunset because it's particularly beautiful at that time... 

She was right, of course.

Over the next fews days, I experienced hospitality at its finest, from a trip out to meet Sara's friend Kiko, to a tour of the underbelly of Guerrero Negro including its quirky but beautiful cemetery, to a kayaking class that was part of Sara's curriculum, to the delicious nopales/egg/bean/rice burritos Kiko brought from his restaurant to share with the kayaking class, to a warm homemade meal and a special bottle of Baja California wine with Sara and Adolfo's family.

Kayaking class!  The instructor is on the right... he is NOLS certified (National Outdoor Leadership School).  I had actually looked into courses at NOLS before for myself.

Sara and me looking supremely tan with our awesome double kayak before heading out.  We had an awesome day out on the water with clear blue skies and almost no wind (which is rare here).  We even chatted up a fisherman who was pulling up pulpo (octopus!) (photo credit: Debra).

Sara, me, and Pacifica, Kiko's friend who was also enjoying the class as a visitor.  Pacifica and I ended up chatting for a bit while the others received their instructions.  She and her partner Debra split their time between Oakland, CA and Mulége south of Guerrero Negro and are highly involved with the environment and social justice (photo credit: Debra).

Sara shows me how to make flour tortillas from scratch at her home.  Sara is a pro since she wakes up early every day to make tortillas for her family of seven (photo credit: Gonzalo).

Much to Sara's surprise, I actually did end up doing pretty well and rocked out a stack of sometimes oddly shaped but delicious tortillas.  Multitasking between rolling tortillas out while simultaneously cooking two others, including the secret double tortilla swirl method, isn't easy, but once you find a good rhythm, it's not too bad.  They say in Mexico a woman is ready to get married after to she learns how to make tortillas... (photo credit: Gonzalo).

The kayaking class with Sara gave me some beautiful views of the dunes, so I decided to go back on my bike to explore.   Thanks to Sara, I knew how to get back there.

Gorgeous dunes with superfine sand... we had seen some smaller dunes on our salt plant tour with Sara and Adolfo, but these were really impressive.

The dunes go all the way up to the water, making for a really beautiful beach.   As I was leaving, a ton of families pulled up to enjoy Cinco de Mayo.

Apparently, it is the crab migration.  The kids were getting a kick out of chasing these guys around and collecting them.  I was just trying not to kill too many of them with my bike!

Gonzalo and I decided we wanted to do something nice for Sara and Adolfo before we left, so we invited their family out for a pizza dinner for Cinco de Mayo... actually, it just happened to be Cinco de Mayo.  Here in Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is not the Mexican independence day (which is actually September 16th and is widely celebrated, sometimes for days).  It rarely celebrated except for in the state of Puebla, and is known as El Día de la Batalla de Puebla, where Mexican forces overcame French forces against all odds.

And then at long last, Gonzalo's rim arrived!  We would have just one more night here to give Gonzalo time to rebuild his wheels, do laundry, get food and water supplies, give our bikes a quick tune-up, and get one last sunset over Los Amargos before heading out towards San Ignacio and Santa Rosalía.

Success!  I've never been so happy to see a box sitting at a bus station before... we confirmed that the rims were indeed the right ones and celebrated with a huge breakfast.

A few travel notes for cyclists:

• Coordinating with Sara was made possible because I have a local cell phone, which isn't too expensive and great in the case of an emergency.  All you need is an unlocked international phone and a local SIM card costs about US$13.  I have found TelCel to be widespread with good service.  You need to put 200 pesos on at a time to avoid roaming charges, but that's only about US$17.  Note that while recargas can be done at many little shops (bring your cell phone and wait for a text message confirming your recarga to ensure it worked), you need to go to an authorized TelCel dealer to get SIM card.

• Los Amargos is easily visited by bike, it's about a 5-10 minute leisurely bike ride from town.  Take the main road past the bank and ESSA office and follow the signs to the Faro Viejo and Muelle.  Just past the tree-lined pedestrian trails is a big red sign that says something like Prohibido Entrar, Vehículos Autorizados Solamente, take a left on the dirt road there and then you can either of the next two dirt roads to the right.  Don't worry, this area is fine, we saw tons of cyclists and runners out here.  You may also notice some flat sandy singletrack throughout this area, created by local cyclists.

• From what I understand, some of the hotels offer salt plant tours and will arrange for the permits for a fee.  I think the fee is really to pay for an English-speaking guide because I saw in some travel forums that you can go directly to the ESSA office to get a tour, but that they only offer them in Spanish.   

• The dunes are also easily visited by bike, it's about a 30 minute bike ride from town.  Take a right onto the dirt road to the right of the canal as you head towards the ESSA offices, then stay left at the first fork.  This is also the road to the airport so you can just ask for that as well.  There are several dirt access roads to the water, but to get to the dunes, you have to cycle past the fenced off area until you see public dirt access roads again. 

Days 17 Through 20: Guerrero Negro Part I

I wasn't sure what to expect from Guerrero Negro.  Gonzalo had told me that it was an industrial town that didn't have much to do from his past recollection passing through here.  Good thing he was wrong because we would be staying here until Gonzalo could import new touring rims, which would take more than a week in the best case scenario.  Guerrero Negro was named after a legendary whaling ship, which brings me to the main tourist attraction here.  This area has become a sanctuary for gray whales during birthing season as they migrate north, and from January to mid-April, you can go whale watching.  Of course, we arrived just a couple weeks too late.

Situated within the Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve, Guerrero Negro has a real sense of community and hometown pride.  The ESSA salt production facility, the largest natural sea salt production facility in the world, provides a profitable and sustainable industry for the local economy.  Outside of the whale season, Guerrero Negro is a quiet but welcoming town that has slowly won me over.  Even the well-intentioned Jehovah's Witness who struck up a conversation with me on the street was charming.

One of our morning rituals... mounds of fresh fruit, yogurt, and granola.  After days of pasta and meat, we gorge on fresh produce.

Our home in Guerrero Negro is a bit crowded.

After helping Gonzalo research the fastest way to get his rims ordered, I spent a couple days exploring on my own while Gonzalo worked.  This area is great for exploring by bike... in fact, many locals here cycle as was evidenced by the full bike racks by the ESSA office.

The bird reserve on the edge of town... after I scared away all the birds with my bike.  The reserve has a ton of information about the various kinds of birds in both English and Spanish.

This place is a birder's paradise.  I saw this big guy on my way out to the old lighthouse.

The gravel/rock road out to the old lighthouse was beautiful and makes for a great day ride.

The old lighthouse.

A dock by the old lighthouse.  Now people and birds alike come to fish here.

Pelican dive-bombing a poor fish.

It's baby bird season!  We've had several of these guys eye us and warn us very loudly to stay away.

Finally, the iconic Baja fish and shrimp tacos.  When done right, they are like the perfection of a perfect plate of fish n' chips in England.  When done wrong, they are a deep fried mess.  These had the perfect amount of batter and were flash fried right in front of me.

Gray whale exhibition outside the ESSA-sponsored library.

One morning, Gonzalo and I woke up to a parade going down the main street for Mexico's equivalent of Labor Day.  I went out to watch a bit and then returned to have breakfast at a homey little family run restaurant after Gonzalo peeled himself out of bed, which has since become our new favorite breakfast spot.  It was there that we met Sara and Adolfo, a lovely couple from Guerrero Negro, who have since adopted us for our stay here.  After chatting for a bit, Sara told us about a kids' triathlon going on in town and then they invited us on a personal tour of the ESSA salt production facility the next day.  We exchanged contact information and then I was off to check out the triathlon.

This kid was not part of the triathlon, but he has a pimpin' mountain bike.

The start of the kayak stage of the triathlon.  The concept was a good one, the kids all formed teams of four (one runner, two kayakers, and one cyclist) and raced as a relay.

Cyclists await their kayakers...

A few travel notes for cyclists:

• Although I built my bike to be easily fixed in Latin America, in particular, having the universally available 26" wheels and a mountain bike set-up to be easily repaired in the field, Gonzalo's touring set-up with 700c requires that he import parts from the U.S. since it is basically impossible to get quality parts anywhere but a capitol city.  Be aware that if you choose to tour with 700c wheels and you need replacement parts (or choose to tour with someone with 700c wheels), you will need to be prepared for a long wait to get parts.  While there is a national paquetería service with overnight capabilities to major cities, in Baja, it's worth looking into Baja Pack Express, which uses the passenger buses to ship their packages.

• Outside of the whale watching season, it is impossible to organize tours to do anything else that may be within a day trip away as all the guides have left town.  I learned this after trying to find a guide to take me to the Sierra de San Francisco to see some ancient cave drawings.  I did figure out that if I wanted to pay over $200, I could take a bus to San Ignacio, hire a van there, and do it on my own... but... yea... 

• Refill your bottles at one of the water purification places.  It was just 5 pesos to fill 8 liters.