We are on the road again. Left Loreto at the crack of dawn
this am, but not before we made a couple of stops. First it was the malecon to give Annie a chance to poop
and pee (she did both). The fishermen were on their way out and the sun was
coming up over Isla Carmen. A couple of lazy sail boats hung in the foreground
of the scene. Annie must have known she was leaving because she ran down the malecon, Margaret in tow, and howled at
almost anything that came by. It’s a busy place in the morning: the city
workers and shop owners are busy sweeping the streets, trucks are rolling by
with boats on trailers, runners and dog walkers are all up in the early hours
to get the day started. We headed for the drive-through at Ette’s pies (who
knew) and then hit the road. It’s 740 km to El Rosario from Loreto and we have
to be in by 7 pm or she will sell our room at Baja Cactus to someone else. That
would not be good Mexican hospitality. So I’m writing this in the car,
somewhere between Guerrero Negro on the Pacific coast with about 300 km to go.
We just gained an hour, so it’s 1:41 pm. Lots of time (she said confidently).
Pause…
We’ve just gone through a military security checkpoint. Our
third today. They’ve mostly been entertaining unlike the one we went through
the other day on the way to San Nicolas. You queue up with the rest of the cars
(buses, trucks, and trailers in separate lines), and wait your turn while a 20-year
old in desert camouflage asks you where you’ve been and where you are going—not
terribly officious though. This time he got a little personal, wanting to know where
our husbands are. I proudly told him we are solteras
(single), and Margaret added that we are viejas
(old) at which point he dared to laugh! Then you drive forward for the inspección, which involves getting out
of the car. After a cursory glance through the car, a chat with and about
Annie, a few more jokes—they offered up their buddy for marriage—we are on our
way. We encountered pretty much this same friendly attitude on our way down.
Where are you from? Where are you going? Have fun. Except the day we went to
San Nikolas. There they recorded the vehicle make and model, and the year (Margaret
didn’t know), asked for ID (she had none
but they took mine), and were generally not very pleasant as they made
themselves look busy inspecting the car. Annie usually gets a reaction but
she’s tranquilla—they don’t pay her
much attention and she ignores them. Just maybe one more to go and then we
should be in El Rosario.
Back to the drive across the Baja. We had breakfast in Santa
Rosalía at the same café where we found dinner on the way down. From this
coastal town (the ferry to Guaymas comes in here) the Transcontinental heads up
and over a summit at about 350 m. The road through the high sierra is well
built but signs warn of the camino
sinuoso and curvas peligrosas—winding
it’s way around corners past arroyos climbing steadily until it finally opens
into an expansive valley. You don’t need signs to remind you to drive carefully.
There are enough shrines, crosses and plastic floral bouquets to remind you to keep
your eyes on the road and a light foot on the gas pedal. Speed limits vary from
40 to 60 to 80, but we’ve yet to figure out what they all mean. We think 40
means a pueblo but we have no idea
why the speed is slowed to 60 and of course they don’t tell you when to speed
up again! Once in the valley it is amazing to see wide expanses of pancake flat
desert for kilometres and kilometres (miles and miles) in every direction while
never losing sight of the volcanic mountains on either side.
Guerrero Negro is not worth a stop so we are now headed
north toward our destination. The valley has changed a lot since we came through
here a month ago. Tall candle-like palm trees are blooming a mustard yellow.
They have like a pineapple base, are bare in the middle, and then a bloom of
yellow bursts forth on top. The low growth is richly coloured now, if you have
time to look closely—which we do—because the roads here in th enoerth a narrow
an the traffic is heavier than on our way down. We’ve just passed a big truck
crrying regrigerated goods. Just went
over a small summit at 230 m, and we are heading down, around, and down some
more. Another camino sinouso, and a
vast eexpanse of desert, endless desert on either dide reaching to high sierra.
The good news is tht you can see the raod for 2 km ahead, a nd watch for ccars
and truks and bikes. OMG—it’s 25 degrees and theya re cycling up a long hill.
Slow your speed curva peligrosa this
is getting tough but I’m doing my best here. Jstay with me. The road is bumpy
now with frequent speed bumps. Even the GPS is confused and keeps telling us to
drie to our intended route. Wej’re not lost, the GPS is. There are thousands of the oddest trees we’ve
seen yet. They are like a skinny cone shapd with very odd needlelike leaves on
them, that come out in bursts, but when they get tall they lean to one side
like an old man who can’t quite stand up right. I read that they are not
related to anything else. Loners I guess. Te vegetation does get taller as we
head north, with many siguaros as
tall as trees, and even some leafy trees that bush out and create shade, like a
sombero. There are shrubs that look
like pineapple tops and trees that look like bottle brushes, blooming cactus
and others that look like octopuses with their multiple legs intertwining
amongst twisted spiny lbranches. There
are sages and flowering bushes in every shade and tone of green imaginable. A
stop. Annie needs to pee and so do I …oopes I mean I need to take some photos.
Ymmm…carrot sticks. They’re tasteless.
Where’s the hot sauce?
“Please drive to highlighted route”. The GPS is lost again.
How can you get lost in the desert? Maybe the satellite is lost. Our ETA is 6pm
and I hope that’s right. That will make it a 12 hour day of travel, but it
means a much shorter one tomorrow, especially if we sit at the border for a
couple of hours. I need to call the hotel and I’m running out of power. ÈPlease
drive to highlighted route. È
416 m and climbing. Now 530. Annie needs to poop. Guess how
we know. I’m out of power and haven’t found the cord so if this post ends here
assume we got there safely!
Pause…my turn to drive.
Sorry can’t do both. Up and up to
over 800 m and still climbing! So I can’t
tell you about the boulder fields and the pedragosa
but I will later. Or post pictures when I have a decent connection. We made one
quick stop to find out “how much longer dad” and to walk Annie AGAIN, and to
pee AGAIN, and drive (straight) into the Baja Sunset (picture it), and we are
here…in El Rosario with our lovely room, Annie in her bed between us so she
doesn’t miss out on anything, eating gluten free carrot zucchini loaf from Pan que Pan in Loreto with bananas and
peanut butter, and licking our fingers, and collapsing into bed.
Photos tomorrow.
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