Current location: Mazatlan, Mexico
Distance cycled to date: 5865km
Days since we last shaved: 89
Number of times we have eaten pig's feet soup for breakfast: 1
We are now over 3 months into our journey to Argentina, and Keenan has finally moved over and given me (Jeff that is) a chance to fill you in.
Having enjoyed the Baja so much, we decided why not spend more time on the peninsula and ride all the way to the southern tip - to the city of Cabo San Lucas. Having seen so many Canadians flocking south to Cabo for the winter we thought we would see for ourselves what the place was all about. After an unforeseen day of cycling up and down steep hill after steep hill, we arrived in the sprawling city late in the afternoon. We were immediately drawn into the large supermarket for some supper. (We simply can't resist these massive stores filled with food.) After gorging on fresh buns filled with salami and cheese, yogurt drinks and churros for desert, we now rushed towards the city in hopes of finding somewhere to sleep. With sunset an hour away we began our search for a bargain hotel. We went up and down the streets, back against traffic on one way streets and yet couldn't find a reasonable place. So with no real options, we headed to the beach, because you can always camp on a beach...
We followed the signs to the beach only to find hotel after hotel lining the ocean front with people milling around on the sand and in and out of restaurants. We quickly contemplated our options and thought, why not? We headed a little further down the beach, finding a somewhat quieter spot and then pushing our bikes onto the sand settled into our spot for the night. Not wanting to create a scene of any sort we waited as long as we could and then around 8:00pm with our eyes half closed already, proceeded to pull our bright orange sleeping mats and bags onto the sand. I'm sure we were quite the sight for all the people out for walks that evening but we didn't let that bother us as we had a great nights sleep.
We spent the following day in Cabo San Lucas and were generally disappointed with the city and the sights. So we got back on our bikes and headed back out of the city up and down steep hill after steep hill. We timed our cycling days so we could spend a day at the beach, near El Pescadero on the way back to La Paz. We stopped in to say hi to a couple whom we had met on the way south, and we were again greeted with generosity. They invited us along to a neighbourhood pot-luck, and of course we thought why not? They didn't need to convince us and after feeding us some tacos, we headed to the pot-luck. Everyone we met there was very enthusiastic and although we clearly didn't belong, they didn't seem to mind.
We ate and ate, with a seemingly endless supply of free food, until we realized looking around we were the only guests left. The lady who hosted the pot-luck then proceeded to bag as much food as she could for us to take along on our bikes. She insisted that instead of setting up our tent we should spend the night indoors in her house, and have a hot shower, with no good reason not to we thought why not? We had a great night talking with her and her good friend who also was spending the night.
After one of the best sleeps of the trip we were treated to another hot shower and even managed to fit in a load of laundry in the morning. Later on two ladies from the night before stopped in and couldn't resist giving us all the food they could as well. So with space the only limiting factor we loaded our bikes down with all the food we were given. Having decided the night before the latest we could leave was noon we somehow managed to leave by 1:00pm. We then rode for about half-an-hour before stopping yet again at one of the guests house for yet another meal. We were amazed at the generosity of so many individuals and had a great time around El Pescadero, making the trip to Cabo San Lucas very worthwhile.
We remained on schedule and arrived back in La Paz on Tuesday to catch the ferry across to Mazatlan. Our timing was great and we waited only a short while before loading our bikes next to all of the semi-trucks lining the ship. We boarded not knowing how long the voyage would be or really where to sleep, but quickly found the small cabin with blankets and pillows spread over the chairs. We quickly found some seats, and staked our territory as well.
We received tickets for two meals with our fare, however being the smart cyclists we are still brought our bag full of food, because at this point we eat a lot. However supper was a delicious plate of some sort of meat, beans and rice. The following morning imagining a plate of eggs or pancakes, we were surprised by this bowl of soup placed before us. With the Mexican truck drivers looking our way, and no option but to try we thought why not? Still not sure of what was before us, with a carefully selected scoop, (avoiding the fleshy, white spongy stuff) we gave it a try. Not so bad. We continued to slowly eat, while continuing to eat as many tortilla chips on the side as possible. Halfway through the bowl I managed to ask the man beside me what it was, and with his actions and the look of it, we now realized we were eating pig's foot soup. Keenan being more adventurous than I ate the whole bowl, pig's foot and all. I didn't.
Despite being the odd ones out on the ferry it went fairly smoothly and we arrived shortly after 8:00am in Mazatlan. We made it to mainland Mexico! It's hard to believe at times we have been on the road so long, but it has been a lot of fun. We are both looking forward to getting back on our bikes and on route, as we make our way towards Puerta Vallarta for Christmas.
We finally put up our Baja South photo album as well. We were a bit disappointed with our Baja North, but both feel this may be our best yet. So check it out, let us know what you think.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Why We Ride.
Current location: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Distance cycled to date: 5695 km
Time until Christmas: 25 sleeps
By this time, all of you likely know that we're riding our bikes from Canada to Argentina. (We've used that line quite a few times). We thought we should tell you why.
The idea was first born more than 4 years ago, as a dream to complete one day. In September of 2007, we decided that this was something that we really needed to do. We began planning; we were going to ride our bikes to Argentina, leaving the following September. Of course, we love traveling and thought that this would be an amazing way to see so much of the world. But we also felt compelled to do our part to help those in the world less fortunate than us. Being raised in Canada, we have been blessed with a future full of endless possibilities; we realize however that the majority of people in the world don’t have this same privilege. Furthermore, we believe that it’s our responsibility as the wealthy of the world to do whatever we can to change this. We wanted to undertake this bicycle journey in order to inspire and encourage those around us, coming from such privileged areas of the world, to do what we can to make a difference.
We have now cycled from Canada to the very tip of the Baja peninsula of Mexico. Along the way we have tried to reach as many people as possible, sharing our vision for this trip, and our vision of doing whatever we can to improve the lives of so many people who have so much less than us. All of the money being raised is donated directly to HOPE International, with nothing being raised for our trip. We are not looking for a free vacation – rather, we are focused on helping those who cannot help themselves. We dream of doing whatever we can to better the world, and believe that this is a good first step in our lifelong goal of changing the world. As we set forth onto the mainland of Mexico and Latin America we are excited and optimistic about the challenges and rewards from cycling through these foreign countries. We believe that through this adventure and our continued media contact and online documentation of the trip we can continue to raise the money needed to give the people of the San Jose de Ocoa region in the Dominican Republic a chance to rebuild their lives and break free of the cycle of poverty that so many in the world currently have no chance to get out of.
With Christmas right around the corner, and the evidence of our affluence being displayed in shop windows and down the street, we wanted to remind you all why we're on this adventure. We would like to thank all of you who have already contributed to our HOPE International project, and we'd like to encourage everybody, in this season of giving and of love to consider our ride for HOPE. Our website is set up with a link to donate online at HOPE International's website. It's all set up with a secure server so that you can make a donation with your credit card, right online. You can just select "other" under the dropdown menu, and type "ride for HOPE" in the comment section. This will ensure that the money you donate goes straight to our project (as well as going towards our $50,000 goal)
If you receive this as an email - feel free to forward it on. If you're just reading this online - we hope you'll share it. We think that this is something that you should tell everybody that you know about.
Distance cycled to date: 5695 km
Time until Christmas: 25 sleeps
By this time, all of you likely know that we're riding our bikes from Canada to Argentina. (We've used that line quite a few times). We thought we should tell you why.
The idea was first born more than 4 years ago, as a dream to complete one day. In September of 2007, we decided that this was something that we really needed to do. We began planning; we were going to ride our bikes to Argentina, leaving the following September. Of course, we love traveling and thought that this would be an amazing way to see so much of the world. But we also felt compelled to do our part to help those in the world less fortunate than us. Being raised in Canada, we have been blessed with a future full of endless possibilities; we realize however that the majority of people in the world don’t have this same privilege. Furthermore, we believe that it’s our responsibility as the wealthy of the world to do whatever we can to change this. We wanted to undertake this bicycle journey in order to inspire and encourage those around us, coming from such privileged areas of the world, to do what we can to make a difference.
We knew that we wanted to find an international development agency to raise money for and so we began a detailed search of the many deserving organizations in existence. We finally found HOPE International, based out of New Westminister, BC, and were instantly impressed with the organization. First off, from a financial perspective the organization is outstanding – with only four percent of their income going to administration and advertising costs, they are the best financially managed international development agency that we found. In addition, all of their projects focus on sustainable development in the true sense of the term. All monies being donated are put into locally organized projects, with local labour being used in order to further economic development. From our first contact with HOPE International we have been impressed with their professionalism and dedication to their cause of helping the “poorest of the poor”. We were presented the opportunity to raise money for a project in the Dominican Republic, rebuilding community greenhouses and irrigation systems and we committed to raise $50,000 for this project. Thus, the ride for HOPE was born.
We have now cycled from Canada to the very tip of the Baja peninsula of Mexico. Along the way we have tried to reach as many people as possible, sharing our vision for this trip, and our vision of doing whatever we can to improve the lives of so many people who have so much less than us. All of the money being raised is donated directly to HOPE International, with nothing being raised for our trip. We are not looking for a free vacation – rather, we are focused on helping those who cannot help themselves. We dream of doing whatever we can to better the world, and believe that this is a good first step in our lifelong goal of changing the world. As we set forth onto the mainland of Mexico and Latin America we are excited and optimistic about the challenges and rewards from cycling through these foreign countries. We believe that through this adventure and our continued media contact and online documentation of the trip we can continue to raise the money needed to give the people of the San Jose de Ocoa region in the Dominican Republic a chance to rebuild their lives and break free of the cycle of poverty that so many in the world currently have no chance to get out of.
With Christmas right around the corner, and the evidence of our affluence being displayed in shop windows and down the street, we wanted to remind you all why we're on this adventure. We would like to thank all of you who have already contributed to our HOPE International project, and we'd like to encourage everybody, in this season of giving and of love to consider our ride for HOPE. Our website is set up with a link to donate online at HOPE International's website. It's all set up with a secure server so that you can make a donation with your credit card, right online. You can just select "other" under the dropdown menu, and type "ride for HOPE" in the comment section. This will ensure that the money you donate goes straight to our project (as well as going towards our $50,000 goal)
If you receive this as an email - feel free to forward it on. If you're just reading this online - we hope you'll share it. We think that this is something that you should tell everybody that you know about.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Eating on a Budget in the Baja
This is our second installment from our popular series Tips for the Touring Cyclist. Today we will deal with the important issue of what and how to eat along the Baja peninsula.
Article #2 - Eating on a Budget in the Baja
For those touring cyclists continuing their journey from the United States through Mexico, the food and meal situation will abruptly change. Leaving the US you will suddenly leave behind the selection and choice found in giant supermarkets, and find yourself shopping in small "abbarotes" and "mini-supers" that have a few shelves covered in dusty goods. You'll soon grow to love the new choice and selection that these small stores offer you.
However, when first entering Mexico you will likely succumb to the temptation to dine at one of the numerous taco stands lining the highway from Tijuana to San Quentin. This will be a great choice, because these taco stands not only deliver high quality tacos at low prices, but it also gives you the opportunity to witness home cooking, as the woman running the stand will likely start up her stove and pull the fresh ingredients out of her fridge in order to serve you. You may be eyed suspiciously by everybody frequenting the stand, but don't let this bother you - spandex and sweat-stained jerseys are fine apparal for dining in these establishments.
While at first the price of the tacos may seem very reasonable, you will soon discover that you can purchase your own tortillas from one of the dusty abbarotes at the astounding price of only C$1.70 for 22. This becomes a much cheaper meal option than buying indiviual tacos. At first glance you may feel that there is nothing available to fill your tortillas with on these bare shelves; however, with a little work you will soon find that the aisles of these tiny stores actually contain all that you need for an incredibly varied, delicious, and healthy diet! First, you will want to try the obvious filling of peanut butter - this makes a delicious wrap, and contains many essential nutrients. However, it is a pricy and hard to find commodity in the Baja, so you will want to expand your tastes.
Salsa will become an excellent staple, being found everywhere and in various brands and colours. You'll want to try them all! Soon, various canned goods will start practically jumping off the shelves at you. Nacho cheese, and real cheese both make great fillings. Nutella can be found in a few of the larger "super-mercados", and this will make quite the treat on the tortillas! Even cheap iced cookies fill a tortilla quite nicely. If these flavours don't seem like much, don't fret, there are many varieties of jam available at almost all stores, and they all taste great wrapped in a flour tortilla. Honey is another great, sweet alternative. Lechera is another canned good found in Mexico, and it comes in a couple of varieties - one of them is quite solid, and spreads nicely on tortillas, and it has a nice sweet caramel flavour. Beware of the other, because the labels are almost identical and though it is a little cheaper, it is a runny, white, gooey mess. However, they both seem to be made of condensed milk? Excellent for building those strong bones. Finally, if you're feeling that vegetables are lacking in your diet, potato chips make for a great filling. With the great variety of flavours available you will easily be able to meet your daily nutritional requirements.
While tortillas and the extensive variety of fillings for them will make for very cheap, vast meal options, you may desire a snack every now and again. You can find many varieties of cookies and pre-packaged baked goods in the small stores that you will encounter sporadically along the Baja, however, a much cheaper alternative to buying these snacks is simply to find them. The best place for this is in one of the garbage cans marked "Basura" along the side of the highway. It's important that you check these garbage bins from time to time, as small store owners use them to get rid of their "expired" pre-packaged baked goods. A Mexican brand version of Twinkies, Wagon Wheels, Swiss Rolls, and many others could be yours for the taking! It's very important to remember that "best-before" certainly doesn't mean "not good after". Don't pay too much attention to those dates stamped on those packages - they are likely only a few days past, and remember, you're on vacation! The date doesn't matter! If you're very lucky, you may find a vast selection of these goodies placed right on top, as if they were just waiting for you to discover them.
Even though your first foray into Mexico may seem daunting from a culinary point of view, you will easily discover that eating cheaply and well in the Baja is simple! Keeping in mind these tips, you will be feasting like a king while biking through the Baja!
Article #2 - Eating on a Budget in the Baja
For those touring cyclists continuing their journey from the United States through Mexico, the food and meal situation will abruptly change. Leaving the US you will suddenly leave behind the selection and choice found in giant supermarkets, and find yourself shopping in small "abbarotes" and "mini-supers" that have a few shelves covered in dusty goods. You'll soon grow to love the new choice and selection that these small stores offer you.
However, when first entering Mexico you will likely succumb to the temptation to dine at one of the numerous taco stands lining the highway from Tijuana to San Quentin. This will be a great choice, because these taco stands not only deliver high quality tacos at low prices, but it also gives you the opportunity to witness home cooking, as the woman running the stand will likely start up her stove and pull the fresh ingredients out of her fridge in order to serve you. You may be eyed suspiciously by everybody frequenting the stand, but don't let this bother you - spandex and sweat-stained jerseys are fine apparal for dining in these establishments.
While at first the price of the tacos may seem very reasonable, you will soon discover that you can purchase your own tortillas from one of the dusty abbarotes at the astounding price of only C$1.70 for 22. This becomes a much cheaper meal option than buying indiviual tacos. At first glance you may feel that there is nothing available to fill your tortillas with on these bare shelves; however, with a little work you will soon find that the aisles of these tiny stores actually contain all that you need for an incredibly varied, delicious, and healthy diet! First, you will want to try the obvious filling of peanut butter - this makes a delicious wrap, and contains many essential nutrients. However, it is a pricy and hard to find commodity in the Baja, so you will want to expand your tastes.
Salsa will become an excellent staple, being found everywhere and in various brands and colours. You'll want to try them all! Soon, various canned goods will start practically jumping off the shelves at you. Nacho cheese, and real cheese both make great fillings. Nutella can be found in a few of the larger "super-mercados", and this will make quite the treat on the tortillas! Even cheap iced cookies fill a tortilla quite nicely. If these flavours don't seem like much, don't fret, there are many varieties of jam available at almost all stores, and they all taste great wrapped in a flour tortilla. Honey is another great, sweet alternative. Lechera is another canned good found in Mexico, and it comes in a couple of varieties - one of them is quite solid, and spreads nicely on tortillas, and it has a nice sweet caramel flavour. Beware of the other, because the labels are almost identical and though it is a little cheaper, it is a runny, white, gooey mess. However, they both seem to be made of condensed milk? Excellent for building those strong bones. Finally, if you're feeling that vegetables are lacking in your diet, potato chips make for a great filling. With the great variety of flavours available you will easily be able to meet your daily nutritional requirements.
While tortillas and the extensive variety of fillings for them will make for very cheap, vast meal options, you may desire a snack every now and again. You can find many varieties of cookies and pre-packaged baked goods in the small stores that you will encounter sporadically along the Baja, however, a much cheaper alternative to buying these snacks is simply to find them. The best place for this is in one of the garbage cans marked "Basura" along the side of the highway. It's important that you check these garbage bins from time to time, as small store owners use them to get rid of their "expired" pre-packaged baked goods. A Mexican brand version of Twinkies, Wagon Wheels, Swiss Rolls, and many others could be yours for the taking! It's very important to remember that "best-before" certainly doesn't mean "not good after". Don't pay too much attention to those dates stamped on those packages - they are likely only a few days past, and remember, you're on vacation! The date doesn't matter! If you're very lucky, you may find a vast selection of these goodies placed right on top, as if they were just waiting for you to discover them.
Even though your first foray into Mexico may seem daunting from a culinary point of view, you will easily discover that eating cheaply and well in the Baja is simple! Keeping in mind these tips, you will be feasting like a king while biking through the Baja!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Our tour through cactus land comes to an end
Total distance cycled to date: 5489 km
Flat tires in Mexico to date: 0
Tortillas eaten to date: 370
Days in Mexico to date: 17
Days without a shower in Mexico: 17
We made it to La Paz. The Baja peninsula is done, having cycled over 1400 km, in 17 days. It was a great experience, and an almost unreal landscape at times, and it went by quite quickly. We can't really believe that we're already here waiting to catch a boat to Mazatlan, and the mainland of Mexico. In fact, we don't really have any idea when or from where the ferry runs - we're planning to just get on our bikes and start riding and come across it soon. We've been pretty good at that sort of thing so far. We might be leaving tonight, or maybe not until Tuesday - it seems like every website we looked at had different information on it. But we won't worry about that yet.
We somehow made it all the way here without really knowing what we were doing at all. Our Spanish has already started to improve - we try to use our words now instead of just smiling silently. We even have managed to carry out a few broken conversations with some locals that we've met along the way. We had planned on studying every night after dinner, but that time has always been taken up by going straight to bed, and so we just don't study very much at all. It's something like being back at university. We're also trying to learn what time it is. So far, every publicly displayed clock that we've seen (4, in the past 2 and a half weeks) has shown the time to be an hour later than our watches. So we just don't know what time zone we're in. We might be living our lives off by an hour - we just don't really know. And, it really just doesn't matter, except that we could tell ourselves that going to bed at 7:30 is much better than 6:30.
The landscape of the Baja is pretty crazy. It varies so much from place to place - and, the highway cuts across from one side to the other, and then back, and then to the other again. We bike through desert, and across mountain ranges, and through cacti forests, and then back across mountain ranges again. We've had no trouble camping since those first couple of days, with every night being spent in the middle of nowhere, and yet just off the highway. Our clothes are permanently covered in small cacti needles and thistles and incredibly sticky leaves that seem to be made of super-velcro.
We've been met with great drivers as well - that was a complete surprise. The truck drivers here in the Baja have been great to cyclists. They slow down behind you and wait for a break in traffic before passing you, and there is almost always a friendly honk and wave. It's great. We received more waves in the first 2 days here than in the entire US and Canada - we've never waved back at so many people in our lives. You're just constantly waving at traffic that's both oncoming, and passing you.
We're looking forward so much to finding a hotel or hostel or something to stay in when we get to Mazatlan. We've only taken 1 rest day in the entire Baja, which was nice, but not quite enough. We need a shower, desperately. And laundry - or even just a sink to rinse our shirts out in. They are so clogged with salt that they look white in places. It's a little gross, we'll admit. We're ready to get clean.
We've uploaded our first Baja photo album, from the northern half of the peninsula. We had so many pictures it was hard to pick out just a few, but we hope that it does this place justice. We'll try to get Baja South album up as soon as we can. For now, we hope you'll enjoy these ones.
Flat tires in Mexico to date: 0
Tortillas eaten to date: 370
Days in Mexico to date: 17
Days without a shower in Mexico: 17
We made it to La Paz. The Baja peninsula is done, having cycled over 1400 km, in 17 days. It was a great experience, and an almost unreal landscape at times, and it went by quite quickly. We can't really believe that we're already here waiting to catch a boat to Mazatlan, and the mainland of Mexico. In fact, we don't really have any idea when or from where the ferry runs - we're planning to just get on our bikes and start riding and come across it soon. We've been pretty good at that sort of thing so far. We might be leaving tonight, or maybe not until Tuesday - it seems like every website we looked at had different information on it. But we won't worry about that yet.
We somehow made it all the way here without really knowing what we were doing at all. Our Spanish has already started to improve - we try to use our words now instead of just smiling silently. We even have managed to carry out a few broken conversations with some locals that we've met along the way. We had planned on studying every night after dinner, but that time has always been taken up by going straight to bed, and so we just don't study very much at all. It's something like being back at university. We're also trying to learn what time it is. So far, every publicly displayed clock that we've seen (4, in the past 2 and a half weeks) has shown the time to be an hour later than our watches. So we just don't know what time zone we're in. We might be living our lives off by an hour - we just don't really know. And, it really just doesn't matter, except that we could tell ourselves that going to bed at 7:30 is much better than 6:30.
The landscape of the Baja is pretty crazy. It varies so much from place to place - and, the highway cuts across from one side to the other, and then back, and then to the other again. We bike through desert, and across mountain ranges, and through cacti forests, and then back across mountain ranges again. We've had no trouble camping since those first couple of days, with every night being spent in the middle of nowhere, and yet just off the highway. Our clothes are permanently covered in small cacti needles and thistles and incredibly sticky leaves that seem to be made of super-velcro.
We've been met with great drivers as well - that was a complete surprise. The truck drivers here in the Baja have been great to cyclists. They slow down behind you and wait for a break in traffic before passing you, and there is almost always a friendly honk and wave. It's great. We received more waves in the first 2 days here than in the entire US and Canada - we've never waved back at so many people in our lives. You're just constantly waving at traffic that's both oncoming, and passing you.
We're looking forward so much to finding a hotel or hostel or something to stay in when we get to Mazatlan. We've only taken 1 rest day in the entire Baja, which was nice, but not quite enough. We need a shower, desperately. And laundry - or even just a sink to rinse our shirts out in. They are so clogged with salt that they look white in places. It's a little gross, we'll admit. We're ready to get clean.
We've uploaded our first Baja photo album, from the northern half of the peninsula. We had so many pictures it was hard to pick out just a few, but we hope that it does this place justice. We'll try to get Baja South album up as soon as we can. For now, we hope you'll enjoy these ones.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
A Day in our Lives - Episode II, Baja Edition
Total distance cycled to date: 4704 km
Number of consecutive days not looking in a mirror or using a bathroom: 4
Number of tarantulas spotted on tent: 1
Number of cacti lodged into legs: 1
Number of flat tires in Mexico: 0
We thought it was time for a Day in Our Lives again. Some things have changed a lot here (like the very infrequent bathroom breaks) while others have stayed the same (frequent breaks). We don't have quite as much to eat, but that's not because of lack of hunger, just lack of food. So here is a Day in our Lives - Novemeber 11th, 2008:
4:30 am - alarm goes off, snooze it
4:45 am - alarm goes off again, this time get up and race to pack up everything in the tent in order to get outside and go to the bathroom
5;02 am - get outside, go to the bathroom, pack up camp and eat breakfast of:
6:34 am - reach the highway, get all the thorns and spikes out of our tires and start on our way
6:50 am - 3.03 km - stop for water and take off sweater, tights. Take some pictures and get out our ipods - there isn't a whole lot of traffic on the road
7:05 am - 3.03 km - finally leave again
7:18 am - 5.96 km - stop for water
7:30 am - 9.90 km - stop at a trash can to throw out our garbage from the night before, and take a drink of water
7:47 am - 13.28 km - water, and pictures
8:05 am - 16.08 km - stop for water part way up a big hill
8:20 am - 17.70 km - stop for water at the top of the big hill
8:50 am - 23.19 km - stop for some pictures, and water
9:13 am - 28.98 km - pictures and water
9:24 am - 32.12 km - lunch time! Eat:
10:36 am - 40.29 km - water, pictures
10:47 am - 43.93 km - water, pictures
11:30 am - 53:39 km - water, pictures, and finally a bathroom break!
12:10 pm - 61.96 km - water, pictures
12:18 pm - 64.55 km - water, pictures
12:36 pm - 69.69 km - water, pictures
12:55 pm - 76.38 km - water, pictures
1:17 pm - 87.10 km - water (but no pictures)
1:38 pm - 98.45 km - water, pictures, and 2 peanut butter cookies
1:49 pm - 101.74 km - stop at a small store, and eat lunch:
2:45 pm - 105.75 km - pull off from highway and bushwhack through cacti to find a camp spot
2:55 pm - start setting up camp
3:20 pm - set up Thermarest chair, and write in journal for the day (also take a few pictures)
3:50 pm - start supper!
5:25 pm - get in the tent and get ready for bed; read, upload photos, and study a little Spanish
6:45 pm - lights out, and fall asleep.
Total pictures taken today - 191
Total tortillas eaten today - 30
So this wasn't really a typical day. It started out really hilly and windy so we stopped a lot. And then it was just so beautiful that we took a lot of pictures. Maybe a little overboard, even. But we biked through cacti forests and amazing boulder fields, and just had to take it all in. We'll put up another photo album soon, and then you can see for yourselves. It's good stuff. Right now we're halfway down the Baja, at exactly the 28th parallel, the border between Baja Norte and Baja Sur. Since our last post, we found the deserted desert, and much more. It's been an amazing time riding, with incredible scenery and some of the best camp spots that we've had yet. This place is pretty amazing. And still half of it to come!
Number of consecutive days not looking in a mirror or using a bathroom: 4
Number of tarantulas spotted on tent: 1
Number of cacti lodged into legs: 1
Number of flat tires in Mexico: 0
We thought it was time for a Day in Our Lives again. Some things have changed a lot here (like the very infrequent bathroom breaks) while others have stayed the same (frequent breaks). We don't have quite as much to eat, but that's not because of lack of hunger, just lack of food. So here is a Day in our Lives - Novemeber 11th, 2008:
4:30 am - alarm goes off, snooze it
4:45 am - alarm goes off again, this time get up and race to pack up everything in the tent in order to get outside and go to the bathroom
5;02 am - get outside, go to the bathroom, pack up camp and eat breakfast of:
- 4 and a half cinnamon buns
- 2 packets of instant oatmeal
6:34 am - reach the highway, get all the thorns and spikes out of our tires and start on our way
6:50 am - 3.03 km - stop for water and take off sweater, tights. Take some pictures and get out our ipods - there isn't a whole lot of traffic on the road
7:05 am - 3.03 km - finally leave again
7:18 am - 5.96 km - stop for water
7:30 am - 9.90 km - stop at a trash can to throw out our garbage from the night before, and take a drink of water
7:47 am - 13.28 km - water, and pictures
8:05 am - 16.08 km - stop for water part way up a big hill
8:20 am - 17.70 km - stop for water at the top of the big hill
8:50 am - 23.19 km - stop for some pictures, and water
9:13 am - 28.98 km - pictures and water
9:24 am - 32.12 km - lunch time! Eat:
- 4 peanut butter tortilla wraps
- 2 nutella tortilla wraps
- 3 biscuits
- 1 peanut butter cookie
- 1 orange
10:36 am - 40.29 km - water, pictures
10:47 am - 43.93 km - water, pictures
11:30 am - 53:39 km - water, pictures, and finally a bathroom break!
12:10 pm - 61.96 km - water, pictures
12:18 pm - 64.55 km - water, pictures
12:36 pm - 69.69 km - water, pictures
12:55 pm - 76.38 km - water, pictures
1:17 pm - 87.10 km - water (but no pictures)
1:38 pm - 98.45 km - water, pictures, and 2 peanut butter cookies
1:49 pm - 101.74 km - stop at a small store, and eat lunch:
- 3 peanut butter tortilla wraps
- 4 biscuits
- 2 peanut butter cookies
2:45 pm - 105.75 km - pull off from highway and bushwhack through cacti to find a camp spot
2:55 pm - start setting up camp
3:20 pm - set up Thermarest chair, and write in journal for the day (also take a few pictures)
3:50 pm - start supper!
- 6 salsa tortilla wraps
- 1 nutella tortilla wrap
- 4 biscuits
- 1 litre of Coke
5:25 pm - get in the tent and get ready for bed; read, upload photos, and study a little Spanish
6:45 pm - lights out, and fall asleep.
Total pictures taken today - 191
Total tortillas eaten today - 30
So this wasn't really a typical day. It started out really hilly and windy so we stopped a lot. And then it was just so beautiful that we took a lot of pictures. Maybe a little overboard, even. But we biked through cacti forests and amazing boulder fields, and just had to take it all in. We'll put up another photo album soon, and then you can see for yourselves. It's good stuff. Right now we're halfway down the Baja, at exactly the 28th parallel, the border between Baja Norte and Baja Sur. Since our last post, we found the deserted desert, and much more. It's been an amazing time riding, with incredible scenery and some of the best camp spots that we've had yet. This place is pretty amazing. And still half of it to come!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
One imaginary line, and the whole world changes...
Total distance cycled to date: 4268 km
Number of "wild" dogs that have chased us in Mexico to date: 7
Number of times somebody has woken us to tell us we're sleeping on their land: 1
Nights in Mexico to date: 3
We left San Diego heading to the border with our new short term cycling team, the 5 Canadians heading to Argentina. We all had a very similar style of leaving everything to the last minute, and so all of us needed to stop at various bike shops for parts on our way out of the country. We suddenly were asking each other, "how many tubes do you have?", "have you ever replaced your brake pads?", and "oh, you got a new chain? Should I?". We finally made it to the border, and after an amusing attempt at getting our bikes through the spinning turnstyle we were in Mexico. Just like that. We stopped at an immigration desk and paid for our tourist cards to make it through the country, and started to ride, the 5 of us in single file, past all the taxi drivers calling out to us. We had a small map, and a bit of courage, and we started pedalling fast. Since reaching California we hadn't heard a single good thing about Tijuana, and those people who didn't tell us to skip the city altogether told us to get out of it as fast as possible. So, with no choice but to bike hard we simply did it, following the roads that we believed would lead us out of the city. And, with no drama whatsover we made it out of Tijuana and into the Baja.
We've realized that it's not as easy to just camp on the side of the road as we had planned. There are a lot of fences. And towns. And people. It's not the ideal deserted desert that we thought it would be (although it is very hot and dry). Our first night we pulled into a "trailer park" as the sun was setting, and paid the owner(?) 3 dollars a person to camp for the night. They even supplied us with free water, out of a garden hose into a rain barrel. Nobody even got sick from it!
The next day we found ourselves biking until the sunset again, with no options for camping along the way. Our group of 5 asked as many people as we could around the entrance to a small, dusty town, and nobody seemed to have an option for us (or perhaps, just didn't understand what we were looking for). Finally, after the sun had already set we found ourselves following a Mexican rancho down a dusty, rocky, bumpy dirt road that would have made for a decent mountain biking trail. He told us he has somewhere safe for us to camp for the night, and he seemed trustworthy, so we followed. And followed. We finally came to the land that he had for us, and we all turned after his truck, or so we thought. I (Keenan) was leading the way, along with 2 of the other Canadians. We followed the truck. Jeff and Aki, however, had fallen behind and somehow missed the turn in the dark. They kept going, and going. We sent somebody back the other way to look for them, and finally we figured they must have missed the turnoff. After spending a very long time explaining to our rancho friend the problem, he called out "Vamos!" and called me to hop in the truck with him. He revved the engine and rolled back to the road and we started after them, stopping only to search on the floor of his truck for another beer. (Don't worry mom - it wasn't that bad). He even explained to me that one or two beers made him drive better, but too many made it worse. So I hoped that this was beer number 1 or 2.
We did find Jeff and Aki quite a ways down the horrible road, and when we found them I think it was a feeling of anger and relief for them. We then threw the bikes in the back of the truck and made it back to our "campsite" for the night. He left us soon afterwards, and we settled in for the night. After all of this, the next morning we awoke to a truck honking, and a man calling out his window, asking us why we were camping on his land. Much thanks to our rancho friend.
Yesterday we parted ways with our cycling friends, deciding to make our way down the Baja in two parties. We like to get a bit earlier starts and take frequent breaks, whereas they like to take it easy off the bikes, and then go hard when they get on them. We're hoping to continue seeing them down the road, and seeing as there's only one road to take down the Baja, I'm sure if we continue our same paces our paths will be crossing again soon. Last night we also found our first true stealth camping spot, on a piece of land with no fence around it, high on a hill overlooking the highway. It was a great spot, not visible from the road, and we had a great sleep without our fly on the tent, just lying among the cactuses underneath the stars.
It's a whole new world riding in Mexico. It's actually pretty crazy. The highway is so skinny that if two big vehicles meet, we just have to get off the road. The towns are full of dusty dirt paths, and there seem to be animals all over. We haven't met a whole lot of people that speak English, and we've realized that we can't seem to remember any Spanish when we need it. That will have to improve.
We've already sampled a number of roadside taco stands, which we are loving so far. We even tried our first fish taco today. It was pretty tasty. We hope Steve in Oregon is proud. It's more difficult to find food than we had anticipated - there are no more supermarkets, even the bigger towns down the Baja seem to just have small corner stores. We've also started to drink a lot of water. Which I'm sure is good - that's what we're supposed to be doing. But since crossing that border we drink a lot of water. We even buy it sometimes - on our second day we were filling our bottles from the bathroom sink of a taco stand, and then we noticed that everybody working there was drinking bottled water... and yet - that bathroom sink water wasn't too bad at all.
We're not sure how often we'll be able to find internet here - it really is a whole new world. But a fun one, and an adventurous one. We're enjoying this. It's pretty crazy. We're biking through Mexico. That's just kind of crazy. I'm sure we'll continue to collect some interesting stories as we go. Until next time...
Number of "wild" dogs that have chased us in Mexico to date: 7
Number of times somebody has woken us to tell us we're sleeping on their land: 1
Nights in Mexico to date: 3
We left San Diego heading to the border with our new short term cycling team, the 5 Canadians heading to Argentina. We all had a very similar style of leaving everything to the last minute, and so all of us needed to stop at various bike shops for parts on our way out of the country. We suddenly were asking each other, "how many tubes do you have?", "have you ever replaced your brake pads?", and "oh, you got a new chain? Should I?". We finally made it to the border, and after an amusing attempt at getting our bikes through the spinning turnstyle we were in Mexico. Just like that. We stopped at an immigration desk and paid for our tourist cards to make it through the country, and started to ride, the 5 of us in single file, past all the taxi drivers calling out to us. We had a small map, and a bit of courage, and we started pedalling fast. Since reaching California we hadn't heard a single good thing about Tijuana, and those people who didn't tell us to skip the city altogether told us to get out of it as fast as possible. So, with no choice but to bike hard we simply did it, following the roads that we believed would lead us out of the city. And, with no drama whatsover we made it out of Tijuana and into the Baja.
We've realized that it's not as easy to just camp on the side of the road as we had planned. There are a lot of fences. And towns. And people. It's not the ideal deserted desert that we thought it would be (although it is very hot and dry). Our first night we pulled into a "trailer park" as the sun was setting, and paid the owner(?) 3 dollars a person to camp for the night. They even supplied us with free water, out of a garden hose into a rain barrel. Nobody even got sick from it!
The next day we found ourselves biking until the sunset again, with no options for camping along the way. Our group of 5 asked as many people as we could around the entrance to a small, dusty town, and nobody seemed to have an option for us (or perhaps, just didn't understand what we were looking for). Finally, after the sun had already set we found ourselves following a Mexican rancho down a dusty, rocky, bumpy dirt road that would have made for a decent mountain biking trail. He told us he has somewhere safe for us to camp for the night, and he seemed trustworthy, so we followed. And followed. We finally came to the land that he had for us, and we all turned after his truck, or so we thought. I (Keenan) was leading the way, along with 2 of the other Canadians. We followed the truck. Jeff and Aki, however, had fallen behind and somehow missed the turn in the dark. They kept going, and going. We sent somebody back the other way to look for them, and finally we figured they must have missed the turnoff. After spending a very long time explaining to our rancho friend the problem, he called out "Vamos!" and called me to hop in the truck with him. He revved the engine and rolled back to the road and we started after them, stopping only to search on the floor of his truck for another beer. (Don't worry mom - it wasn't that bad). He even explained to me that one or two beers made him drive better, but too many made it worse. So I hoped that this was beer number 1 or 2.
We did find Jeff and Aki quite a ways down the horrible road, and when we found them I think it was a feeling of anger and relief for them. We then threw the bikes in the back of the truck and made it back to our "campsite" for the night. He left us soon afterwards, and we settled in for the night. After all of this, the next morning we awoke to a truck honking, and a man calling out his window, asking us why we were camping on his land. Much thanks to our rancho friend.
Yesterday we parted ways with our cycling friends, deciding to make our way down the Baja in two parties. We like to get a bit earlier starts and take frequent breaks, whereas they like to take it easy off the bikes, and then go hard when they get on them. We're hoping to continue seeing them down the road, and seeing as there's only one road to take down the Baja, I'm sure if we continue our same paces our paths will be crossing again soon. Last night we also found our first true stealth camping spot, on a piece of land with no fence around it, high on a hill overlooking the highway. It was a great spot, not visible from the road, and we had a great sleep without our fly on the tent, just lying among the cactuses underneath the stars.
It's a whole new world riding in Mexico. It's actually pretty crazy. The highway is so skinny that if two big vehicles meet, we just have to get off the road. The towns are full of dusty dirt paths, and there seem to be animals all over. We haven't met a whole lot of people that speak English, and we've realized that we can't seem to remember any Spanish when we need it. That will have to improve.
We've already sampled a number of roadside taco stands, which we are loving so far. We even tried our first fish taco today. It was pretty tasty. We hope Steve in Oregon is proud. It's more difficult to find food than we had anticipated - there are no more supermarkets, even the bigger towns down the Baja seem to just have small corner stores. We've also started to drink a lot of water. Which I'm sure is good - that's what we're supposed to be doing. But since crossing that border we drink a lot of water. We even buy it sometimes - on our second day we were filling our bottles from the bathroom sink of a taco stand, and then we noticed that everybody working there was drinking bottled water... and yet - that bathroom sink water wasn't too bad at all.
We're not sure how often we'll be able to find internet here - it really is a whole new world. But a fun one, and an adventurous one. We're enjoying this. It's pretty crazy. We're biking through Mexico. That's just kind of crazy. I'm sure we'll continue to collect some interesting stories as we go. Until next time...
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Overall rating of the USA: Very good.
Distance cycled to date: 3950 km
Days spent in the USA: 48
Number of times that we have been asked if we are twins: 7
Number of grocery store club cards applied for: 5
Our time spent cycling in the USA has come to a close; tomorrow morning we'll ride south across the border into Mexico. Although we never really looked to our first leg of the journey through the US as being one of our "prime" destinations, we have had a really great time here and have been constantly amazed at the breathtaking scenery, amazing people and the wonderful bike-friendly route set up along the coast. It's been a good time. We'd recommend biking across this country.
After a great sleep in the LAX airport we got back to the beaches, and eventually got a little lost in some upscale neighbourhoods. We finally emerged to our first "Ralph's" grocery store of the coast, and after becoming members of yet one more grocery store, we found our best day-old bakery section ever! Everything had been marked down to 50 cents, and so with such deals before us, we went a little crazy. One old lady looked at our mountain of baked goods and remarked that we had better have an empty freezer at home. She obviously had never been a touring cyclist. We proudly came out with 6 loaded grocery bags of day-olds, spending only $5.50 for 30 muffins, 12 bagels, 12 glazed donuts, 4 turnovers, a chocolate cake, a pudding pound cake, and even a lemon merangue pie. Even more miraculous than the deal was the fact that we fit it all on our bikes. (By the next morning, we has polished this all off.)
After packing up our bikes at the grocery store, we were waiting at a red light to turn back onto our route, and our 3 Canadian friends biking to Argentina pedalled past. We caught up to them at the next light, and spent the rest of the day biking through the urban sprawl of southern California with all 5 of us in a convoy. Speeding down city streets we felt nearly invincible in our pack, and we all had a lot of fun watching the stares as we biked by. We made it to San Diego in our planned timeline; we arrived November 1st to the marina where we were able to spend the night sleeping on a boat belonging to one of my good friend's parents. They gave us a sailing lesson around the bay - we considered trading in our bicycles for a boat to make it the rest of the way, however we soon found out that a sailboat costs a bit more than a bicycle. We're sticking to Plan A.
Over the past 3 days we've been in San Diego, and our hostel room closely resembles our living room in the days before our departure. We've sent stuff home, we've bought more stuff, and as is our style, we've waited until the last minute to do almost everything. (It's 11 pm, and we're finally doing our laundry so that we can start to pack everything back up).
We're now just over 2 months into this trip. We've cycled nearly four thousand kilometres. And still, we feel like we don't really know what we're doing or what we're getting into. It's kind of crazy that we've already made it this far, I don't really know how we've made it through this many maps already. The kilometres have flown by, and now it's time to start the next big adventure. Mexico is waiting, and we are pretty excited about everything that's still to come. We've had a lot of people ask us how much Spanish we know, and our answer usually involves a universal shrug of the shoulders, along with a very hesitant "not so much". But we'll learn. We bought ourselves a little dictionary. How hard can it be?
The adventure is about to begin; as unprepared as we are, tomorrow morning we'll be in a completely foreign land. We hope you're as excited to hear our stories as we are to tell them.
Also - we put up our Southern California photo album. Check it.
Our overall rating of the USA: Very good.
Days spent in the USA: 48
Number of times that we have been asked if we are twins: 7
Number of grocery store club cards applied for: 5
Our time spent cycling in the USA has come to a close; tomorrow morning we'll ride south across the border into Mexico. Although we never really looked to our first leg of the journey through the US as being one of our "prime" destinations, we have had a really great time here and have been constantly amazed at the breathtaking scenery, amazing people and the wonderful bike-friendly route set up along the coast. It's been a good time. We'd recommend biking across this country.
After a great sleep in the LAX airport we got back to the beaches, and eventually got a little lost in some upscale neighbourhoods. We finally emerged to our first "Ralph's" grocery store of the coast, and after becoming members of yet one more grocery store, we found our best day-old bakery section ever! Everything had been marked down to 50 cents, and so with such deals before us, we went a little crazy. One old lady looked at our mountain of baked goods and remarked that we had better have an empty freezer at home. She obviously had never been a touring cyclist. We proudly came out with 6 loaded grocery bags of day-olds, spending only $5.50 for 30 muffins, 12 bagels, 12 glazed donuts, 4 turnovers, a chocolate cake, a pudding pound cake, and even a lemon merangue pie. Even more miraculous than the deal was the fact that we fit it all on our bikes. (By the next morning, we has polished this all off.)
After packing up our bikes at the grocery store, we were waiting at a red light to turn back onto our route, and our 3 Canadian friends biking to Argentina pedalled past. We caught up to them at the next light, and spent the rest of the day biking through the urban sprawl of southern California with all 5 of us in a convoy. Speeding down city streets we felt nearly invincible in our pack, and we all had a lot of fun watching the stares as we biked by. We made it to San Diego in our planned timeline; we arrived November 1st to the marina where we were able to spend the night sleeping on a boat belonging to one of my good friend's parents. They gave us a sailing lesson around the bay - we considered trading in our bicycles for a boat to make it the rest of the way, however we soon found out that a sailboat costs a bit more than a bicycle. We're sticking to Plan A.
Over the past 3 days we've been in San Diego, and our hostel room closely resembles our living room in the days before our departure. We've sent stuff home, we've bought more stuff, and as is our style, we've waited until the last minute to do almost everything. (It's 11 pm, and we're finally doing our laundry so that we can start to pack everything back up).
We're now just over 2 months into this trip. We've cycled nearly four thousand kilometres. And still, we feel like we don't really know what we're doing or what we're getting into. It's kind of crazy that we've already made it this far, I don't really know how we've made it through this many maps already. The kilometres have flown by, and now it's time to start the next big adventure. Mexico is waiting, and we are pretty excited about everything that's still to come. We've had a lot of people ask us how much Spanish we know, and our answer usually involves a universal shrug of the shoulders, along with a very hesitant "not so much". But we'll learn. We bought ourselves a little dictionary. How hard can it be?
The adventure is about to begin; as unprepared as we are, tomorrow morning we'll be in a completely foreign land. We hope you're as excited to hear our stories as we are to tell them.
Also - we put up our Southern California photo album. Check it.
Our overall rating of the USA: Very good.
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