Day off in Vicente Guerrero

Post date: Nov 20, 2009 12:59:38 AM

Que pasa mi amigos?! I decided to take a day off here in Vicente Guerrero. There's a nice campground here, and I had a chance to do some maintenance on my bike and some sewing for my camera case - I had been putting that off for a while because... well, it's sewing. Still have to do my laundry tonight...

My ride from Ensenada was pretty good. I've done two days of riding since then. The first day I went through another security checkpoint. I'm not sure if they stopped me because they were curious about my trip, or if it was official business. They were just young kids (with machine guys) and they were friendly and I got through without any hassle. It seems like they stop more traffic heading north than south anyway. The scenery has been pretty good, and there have been a lot more hills than I expected. I've passed through some more vineyards, and I made a little side trip on dirt roads out to an old shipwreck. Unfortunately, I lost my odometer on the bumpy road, so I was pretty upset about that. I don't really NEED it, but I like to know how far I've ridden, how fast I'm pedaling (cadence), and my overall milage for the bike. More than anything, it's like the feeling of not wearing a watch when you're using to having one on - it just feels like something is missing. Oh - it was my watch too... ;)

When I was in line at the immigration office, I met a few couples who had sailed into Ensenada. One couple came down from Vancouver, and the woman in the other couple had managed the website for a girl who rode the PanAm a few years ago. Small world... Later that day I stopped at a small roadside store and restaraunt where some Baja 1000 racers were stopped. They'll be doing the race on a motorcycle, and the three riders will each have an 8 hour shift for the 24 hour race. They came all the way from Ireland, and are one of about 200 groups who will be doing the race by motorcycle.

My timing was just about perfect on my day out of Ensenada, and I got to San Vicente just as it was getting dark. Unfortunately, the "campamento" (campground) on my map didn't actually exist, and I didn't want to search for a safe place to put my tent up in the dark, so I ended up staying at a nice-enough Hotel in town for $25. I don't think I've mentioned yet how annoying it is that it gets dark at 4:30 in the afternoon. I've been waking up and getting on the road early to take advantage of what little daylight there is, but there is still only about 10 and 1/2 hours of sunlight per day, and back in Alaska I had 24! At least I'll only have to deal with shortening days for another month, then they'll start getting longer again.

Luckily, the campground I wanted to stay at in Vincent Guerrero actually did exist, and there was a couple here who were also touring down baja on their way to Guatemala. They had both done some serious travel by sailboat, and strangely enough, I had been thinking about doing that earlier in the day. It had been a while since I have talked to anyone about sailing, and we spent a while talking about boats, our trips, and places to see. They headed out this morning, and I'm expecting to catch them up the road since they do shorter days than me. Besides being good people to talk to, they made me dinner, so I have two good reasons to catch them again. :)

Adios por ahora!