After spending almost 2 weeks in Mexico, it was time to leave this big city, very interesting but tiring after a bit! We did it again on our bikes, but in two days to get closer from the exit and the next day having time to go over the 3200 m mountains. Then we stopped in Iztapalapa at our couchsurfing with Jaime and his family in the eastern neighborhood of Mexico city, we had to go through a very busy and stressful traffic, hopefully just for 30km. The day after, was a little tough as we had 1000m of elevation gain and 75km after a 2 weeks break, but going up, and up, is always beautiful with volcanoes and city views, and more entertaining than boring flat roads! After this big uphill we just had to leave our bikes roll down to a little town before Puebla. The toughest part of the day was probably to find a place to sleep, we arrived there asked in a church where we waited an hour to get the answer of the father which was just a NO without even a look at me… Following the advice of the church secretary then we tried the police station where we had our passport checked for another 40 minutes and the night was coming and we hadn’t other choice, but they accepted us after all being sure we were not terrorist or so!

The next day we got to see Puebla quickly on our way to Raquel’s house in Acajete where we spent 2 days. In her house, la casa de piedra we helped her plastering her walls with cob, and learnt about all the workshops she did (about recycling, cob construction, permaculture…), how she is involved in her town to promote sustainable living and ate delicious meat cooked in a cob oven for her mom’s birthday!

From there we had 4 days left to get to our final riding destination, Oaxaca. This stretch has been probably one of the most hilly, but also one of the most beautiful in the mainland. We stayed on the highway for most of the way, however it was very quiet, and the road was swinging in desert landscapes, canyons with limestone cliffs, higher plateaux and at the end greenish hills. It has been tough as we were never sure of how big and long were the hills expecting us, but the beauty made it very enjoyable. We slept the first night in the main plaza of San Mateo Tlacoxcalco having dinner in the middle of kids and policeman questioning us, the second one in an unofficial motel in Tepelmeme, and the third one in a totally lost village in the mountains North west of Oaxaca. Arriving there we met the mayor after spending 15 minutes looking for somebody in the village and he left us set up the camp in basketball field. We met him again the next morning when he woke us up with shots of Mezcal after for him apparently a big party! He made us experience a very typical Sunday breakfast in the village, some sort of corn grits cooked with a lamb on top in a buried bricks and Maguey leaf oven. Everything is eaten on top of a Maguey leaf with a Maguey leaf spoon and a little bit of blood cooked in the stomach. Now we know we get to Oaxaca, Mezcal country (which is actually distilled Maguey).

In Oaxaca we spent a little more than a week, had time to visit, chill in the laid back plaza, and meet some interesting persons for the project, but also just interesting people!

We stayed 2 days with CACITA, an organisation building bicimaquinas, see their work, helping them building a filter for their dry toilets, and fixing bikes!

We also had the opportunity to ride the paseo nocturno de Mundo Ceiba, and interview them.

Another funny meeting were Salvador, a retired professional cyclist we apparently crossed the day before getting to Oaxaxa who absolutely wanted to invite us for breakfast, which we had the opportunity to do after our visit of Monte Alban a Zapotec Archeological site.

We also met again with Jorge, a friend we rode with in Baja California, and try some of Oaxaca nightlife with lots of Mezcal! From there, it’s been like in La Paz, meeting many bike tourers, from UK, USA, Switzerland…

After this last stop in Oaxaca as we were mentioning before we decided to stop the project for now, and hopefully another team will ride the last stretch and learn from the interesting project in the last stretch to Costa Rica. On our side we will start publishing some more contents in the sustainability Tool-kit, and let you know what we did exactly, in the next few month.

Good bye everybody!

Rafael

As our connection is not very good, we haven’t been able to illustrate that article with a lot of pictures but you can see our last abum following the link

Article written by Emilie

We stayed almost two weeks in the Mexican federal capital. The city has even more facets than its several names : la Ciudad de México is also el Districo Federal or simply el D.F or México as it is called by the Mexicans.

Those two weeks were rich in discoveries : new friends, interesting cultural sites and creative sustainable initiatives. Mexico city is famous for its museums and we took advantage of our time in the city to learn more about Mexican history and culture with the national museum of history in Chapultepec’s castle where you also have a good view of the city. The famous anthropological museum is also a great way to get deeper into Mexican culture.

Walks into the historical Center lead you to the Zocalo surrounded by the main Cathedral, el Palacio National and some very busy and well-known pastry shop. Art is also present in less touristic buildings such as the secretary of Education where Diego Riviera expressed his ideas about Mexico and its people throughout his frescos.  If you want to go out of the city’s core, you find Teotihuacan North and South you can plunge into Frida and Diego life, visiting their Casa Azul in Coyoacán.

Yes D.F. is perfect if you want to do cultural staff but thanks to our hosts we have been able to discover the lively neighbourhood of Roma, spend a Friday’s evening at the “ Arena de Mexico” for some lucha libre crazy fights, or just take time to chill out watching a movie on a rainy Saturday’s after-noon (yes rain happens sometimes and at that moment it is good to have a cozy place with new friends when you have been travelling for three months

Don’t worry, we haven’t been forgetting about our journey’s reason : documenting sustainable projects and Mexico city is full of them ! Meeting people we heard about a lot of projects going on, we have been focusing on three of them …

How to be brief about what Bicitekas, one of the main cyclists organization there, is doing … Let’s try to summarize what we learnt with our main guides, Ernesto and Agustin, and during the time we stayed at Casa Bicitekas.

Starting with a bike ride (which is still running every Wednesday for 13 years), the organization opened 1,5 year ago the Casa Bicitekas which is a small version of a bike kitchen. You can come there to use tools, speak about bike, look at the small library and more than that share time with people (the idea is to create a community and not only to be bike fashion). Bicitekas is also working on an advocacy and educational level by publishing for instance “El Manual del ciclista urbano” and“Por mi Ciuadad en bicicleta : experiencas de ciclistatas en la ciuadad de Mexico” (you can download for free the second book on their website, not only good stories but also cool pictures We have been able to share our journey with the bikers of the city, throughout a talk and the presentation of some pictures too.

The citizen network is really strong in Mexico City (and more generally in Mexico). Bicitekas has been involved for instance with an urban activist group willing to democratize the public space called Camina, Haz Ciudad. One of our hosts introduced us to their last public intervention : painting a bike lane to make politicians faced their responsibilities.

Thanks to the Mercado El Cien, we have been able to learn more about fair-trade produces and organic food in a 29 million inhabitant city. The market is taken place every other Sunday in the Roma’s neighbourhood. The producers are coming from 100 miles or less. Not only can you find veggies but also meat, fish, some Mexican-German pastries and bred, some household produces… If you are there around 11.30 pm, you can take part in a workshop (it was about organic chocolate when we were there … ). As we are very serious detectives we have been willing to visit one of the producers… Our investigation led us at Juan Rojas Jiménez’s place in Xochimilco, the south part of Mexico city. This young organic producer has been relieving his father and is also involved in the preservation of the canals’ water quality. The whole area used to be a lack back in the Aztecs’ times…

The Sembradores urbanos ( or urban sowers) have been developing their non-profit to promote urban agriculture for 5 years.

They have currently two main sites. In the urban agriculture centre, you will find at least 5 ways to garden in a small space (what about a vertical garden where you can grow plenty of veggies:). The whole space has been thought to follow the principles of permaculture : the roof’s water is collected, you will find three types of composts, and the gardening’s sets are made from recycling materials… In their urban garden, situated on Reforma, one of the main avenue of the city, you can participate in workshops about urban and ecofriendly gardening. The three musketeers have a lot of projects in mind to develop their activities

Leaving Mexico city, we are taking the road again and for our last stretch. The final destination of that second riding part, which started in San Francisco, will be Oaxaca. The project will carry on. After that riding-part, we will fill up the Sustainable Tool-Kit with the projects that crossed our way. We thank all the people who have been helping us throughout their donations:)

Stay tuned for our last month of ride !

Emilie

Kristi here. I’ve been following the PEDAL crew’s posts with great interest since the launch of Part Two, and I thought I would share with you a little of what I’ve been doing since returning from PEDAL Part One last January.

Starting in April, I began a course called ‘Sustainable Building Design and Construction’, with the infamous straw bale builders Chris Magwood and Jen Feigin. The course was offered through Fleming College in Peterborough, but is now offered through Chris and Jen’s new learning centre, called The Endeavour Centre. Check out their website – they offer many great programs for people with all levels of building experience.

The class on the cabin porch

The course was amazing fun, and I gained tons of new skills. The core project, undertaken by a group of 15 students, was to build a small cabin for a charity camp just north of Peterborough. The work site was on an island, which was an idyllic place to be all summer, especially on the hottest days when we got to go for a quick lunchtime dip.

The cabin we built (from southwest side)

The cabin was a true hybrid: two straw bale walls, one slip straw wall and one hempcrete wall. All this was topped off with a layer of earthen plaster on the inside and lime-cement plaster on the outside. Lime based plasters are more durable against rain and weather conditions than pure earth, which is why they are often used externally.

As part of the course, I also got to design a building, and chose to design a ‘dream home’ for Garrett and I (to be built at our future homestead). For those who have not seen the model I built, here it is.

My model

After completing the Sustainable Building course, I set off to Killaloe, Ontario, which lies in the hills of the Ottawa Valley (between Algonquin Park and Ottawa). My reason for going? To work with Living Sol, a local green building and design company as an apprentice. I learned so much from my time working with Frank and the crew and enjoyed life at Morninglory, the ecovillage where the building was taking place. For most of my time there, I stayed in a small A-frame cabin in the woods and was warmly hosted by the Anderman family (recipients of the new building). Garrett and I spent the month of December house-sitting in a beautiful straw bale cabin nearby.

Straw cabin we house-sat

Straw bale house with bales installed

Frank and Jodi work on the bales

Emma shapes bales with the chainsaw

Kristi shapes windows

Now I am back home visiting in Toronto, catching up with family and friends and looking forward to the 2012 building season, when I will hopefully be involved in more great green building projects. Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions!

Thanks for reading folks! Hope you are all well too

Kristi

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Here are some great green building links for you to explore:

http://www.strawbale.com/ (great FAQ and videos about building with straw bales)

http://www.osbbc.ca/ (Ontario Straw Bale Building Coalition)

http://harvesthomes.ca/building/straw_bale_primer.pdf (Straw Bale Building Primer by Harvest Homes)

http://www.strawbalecentral.com/ (Really good ‘Techniques’ section – briefly explains many eco building methods)

http://www.strawhomes.ca/resources.asp (list of interesting books and publications)

                                     – since Morelia 300 km

Article written by Rafael

After enjoying aïoli, tequila, mousse au chocolat and crèpes to celebrate the new year, we had to hit the road again and head at some more mountains… Our first day brought us in Huajumbaro, about 500 meters higher than Morelia, entering another sierra, and starting to face winter temperatures (maybe around 5 degrees in the morning)! We ended up in a church in this small town surrounded with mountains, and were happy to enjoy the warmth of a room they left us to spend the night. The next day had been almost all the way downhill to reach Zitacuaro our starting point to see the Monarch butterfly sanctuary. Getting there we face a big traffic jam, with lots of people walking on the side of the road, and arriving closer, we saw there was a strike in the middle of the road, apparently against something related with the police in Zitacuaro, but I’m not sure exactly what it was about. The police who were more and more impressive as we get closer to Mexico, with 10 policeman, shotgun in the hand  standing on the back of the trucks going around cities. We also see more and more private security in the front of stores, in the streets.. not necessarily reassuring!

So the next day we went to the monarch butterfly sanctuary of Cerro Pelon, cheating as we used public transportation, but it was fair as it was supposed to be a rest day and it was 500 meters higher. In addition we still had to hike up to 3000 meters to get to the sanctuary. Although it is not the high season and a little cold, it was definitely worth it to go there, see trees entirely covered with butterflies, butterflies flying around you, hitting you, resting on you… Lots of butterflies! Going back we had an amazing dinner with pozole (sort of soup with sort of corn and chicken), Pambazos (small sandwich with deep fried bread) and some more food to stuff us. However it wasn’t that necessary, we had some pretty lazy days, and same for the days after, but we keep eating the same quantity which make us feel like being pregnant when we start riding after lunch (although I’ve never been pregnant in case you’re doubting).

After Zitacuaro, we had 4 days to get to Mexico City and arrive there on a quieter day, Sunday. In spite of the fact those days were pretty easy I started being lazier and lazier, maybe the crisis of 3 month riding! It wasn’t all bad though as we had to stay in a good variety of places, a farm beside a lake in Villa Victoria, in the middle of stone stable, cows, agave and cacti, a school close to Toluca where we had some Tequila drinking classes and Miguel’s house in San Miguel Ameyalco where we experienced an authentic Mexican home and drank beer with Jesus on top of the hill. We also had some good elevation gain (which is mostly less boring than flat straight roads), from 1900m to 2900m, then down to 2600m, again up to 3200m, and today down to Mexico city at 2300m. And I don’t talk about the 10% grade hill we went down to San Miguel and had to climb this cold morning! Yesterday we went across Toluca the administrative capital of Mexico state where we visit a botanical garden inside a giant stain glass greenhouse, very beautiful, the rest of the city is not that interesting but it was still nice. The traffic going out was crazy, a little stressful, with the feeling you could die every 5 minutes but we survived! After all, it was worst than going into Mexico City, we entered it this Sunday morning which was much quieter as everybody was sleeping, and it’s a very steep downhill so you’re almost as fast as the traffic (or at least the big trucks).

Now here we are, in Mexico City where we will spend one or two weeks before continuing our way to Oaxaca!

Raf

                                      – since Mazatlan 950 km

Our journey through mainland Mexico began in Mazatlan. I (Janine) arrived with a much thrown-around and generally abused bike box, but with a safe and sound bike inside – thankfully! The first moments of bike riding were around the city and to a hiking trail leading to the highest light house in Mexico (or so they claim). Mazatlan charmed us with its many Christmas lights, public squares, and its historic centre, which made evening wanders festive and full of life.

After a final swim in the Pacific Ocean on a beautiful, hot and sunny winter day, we set off cycling along the coast past marshlands, coconut trees, and aquaculture farms to a small, windy seaside town. A campsite next to a restaurant and huge white, sandy beach provided the perfect spot for our good-bye to the Pacific Ocean. The next day took us away from the ocean and into a drier, more mountainous landscape. We passed through several towns and climbed steadily up to Las Palmillas where we stayed in our tent next to a restaurant with delicious, affordable food and 8 “guard” puppies and one vocal guard dog.

The following morning we biked out of Sinaloa and into Nayarit – our first “border” crossing. We reached the quaint town of Rosamorada quite early in the day, but decided to stay as they were celebrating their annual posada. We enjoyed some delicious – and free – food, as well as some entertaining music and conversation before spending a rather noisy night in the town’s church yard. Music, singing, dogs, roosters, and church bells had not yet become the expected backdrop for each night’s sleep, as they are now!

Although Raf had warned me that the next day would be a tough one, I was still in for a rude awakening as my legs (and butt!) got their hardest workout yet. This long, hot day tested our fitness – well, mine at least – and determination as we gained 900 metres on a very hilly and busy highway full of trucks and buses to the mountaintop city of Tepic. Here we wandered through the historical centre and soaked in the beautiful colours of the pink sunset with the busy sounds of the city after meeting another bicycle tourer with a pet parrot who travels everywhere with him on his shoulder as he rides. Perhaps PEDAL needs a mascot like that?

The following afternoon’s easy descent was welcome, as was the good night of sleep in our tent behind a trucker’s restaurant at a toll booth stop on the highway. We woke with the rising sun, cooked some oatmeal and hit the road for a pretty long day, as we skirted volcanoes and passed through desert plains.  Raf got a flat tire despite having the “best” new back tire, but I was too soon to laugh as my many flat tires were still to come! We enjoyed our typical lunch of tortillas, veggies and beans in Ixtlan del Rio before beginning the steep and fun descent of about 800 metres into a beautiful, lush valley and then the steep and not-so-fun ascent back up again through hill-top patches of agave plants into the land of tequila.

We spent the night in a tiny village just past the border into Jalisco and woke the next morning with extra enthusiasm and motivation to reach the day’s destination: the city of Tequila. We sampled a fair bit of this city’s main industry and namesake, which left us somewhat less energetic the next morning. However, we pressed on to the large city of Guadalajara to reunite with Emilie.

Guadalajara proved to be a city infused with life and culture – including a deeply entrenched and active bike culture. We visited one of the local bike cooperatives where Raf and Emilie conducted an interview, participated in the final touches of the installation of an art project designed to make the public more aware of how many cyclists are injured or killed by cars (an actual car positioned in the centre of the road cut in half with a bike in the middle and covered in statistics about bicycle safety and accidents), and joined a bike party fundraiser to bring toys and blankets to children in several hospitals in Guadalajara. We were invited to spend Christmas with a Mexican family, and so we enjoyed endless sweets, music, and a bonfire. We left the city filled with inspiration and equipped with new bike bells.

After Guadalajara we climbed through some mountains and then sailed down into the valley housing the largest lake in Mexico: Chapala. We were all overjoyed to see water again after many dry, hot days far from the ocean and any lakes. Our ride along the edge of the laguna was like a scene from a painting, with small, lakeside farms, a cobble-stone road, and the big blue lake and big blue sky. Raf impressed the children of the small town we stayed in with his juggling skills and we found ourselves mobbed by every child in the village. We spent the night in the San Pedro de Itzucan police station and began the next morning with a tough, steep, cobble-stone climb from the lakeside back to the top of the surrounding mountains – after fixing my first of two flat tires that day.

It seems that almost every day is a party during the Christmas season in Mexico: the next day brought us to yet another posada. Once again we got to enjoy fireworks and great food and a little more of our new favourite drink – yet more tequila. We passed another night in the police station to the sounds of music and revellers right until the morning. We were not quite well-rested but we awoke bright and early to ascend through yet more mountains to another hilltop town. This day is now known as the “rack” day, as both Emilie and I had the screws on our rack snap (quite possibly from our cobble-stone climb of the day before).  With a bit of ingenuity we (meaning Raf) managed to fix the racks quite quickly and we arrived at our destination in plenty of time. We cooked and huddled in our tents, away from the cold, to the now-familiar sound of fireworks and revelry.

The scenery began changing drastically the next day as we rode through forests and a light sprinkling of rain to the 2,000 metre-high lake of Patzcuaro and the city of the same name. This small city could charm even the hardest of hearts and although we had only a short time there, we soaked in the beautiful squares, churches, lanes, library and dock. However, we had to push on the last 50 kilometres to our next destination: the city of Morelia.

Morelia made a huge impression just on our first ride through on our way to our awesome couch-surfing accommodation. The huge and seemingly countless churches, squares, lanes, and entertainment made us happy that we had a rest day here. We celebrated the exit of 2011 and the entrance of 2012 with our couch-surfing host and our trusty Mexican beverage of choice. We found a bike shop and did a few small repairs the following day, and took the afternoon to enjoy the beautiful public spaces that abound in Morelia.

Although it was only two weeks, the journey from the Mazatlan to Morelia felt both much longer and shorter. We passed through a huge variety of landscapes and climates and levels of elevation, and many, many small towns; we enjoyed several posadas and various fiestas, including Christmas and New Year’s; and yet, it now seems like just the blink of an eye and we’re off in search of butterflies and the “monster” city: Mexico City is getting closer and closer!

-          Janine (the third member of the cycling team for the Christmas season).

Is P.E.D.A.L. screeching to a halt?  We hope not. Unfortunately, P.E.D.A.L.’s funding situation has taken a turn for the worse, and the project’s immediate future is uncertain. Additional funding is required to continue the project into the New Year.

We’ve made it almost 10,000 km from Ontario, Canada to Guadalajara, Mexico.  But the best of P.E.D.A.L. Part II is yet to come.  Check out the route map for a preview of what’s in store.   Exciting new sustainability models are just around the corner in southern Mexico, waiting to be documented by our P.E.D.A.L.team.  We’ve lined up projects in Mexico City and Oaxaca that focus on sustainable and local food production, as well as sustainable transportation and bike-friendly cities.  We really want to share these initiatives with you, so much so that we’re willing to pay out of our own pockets to get to Oaxaca.  But we can’t afford it all.  We need some help!

Fortunately, we have you: our audience.  We would prefer not to have to ask you for money, but we believe you care about the work P.E.D.A.L. does, so we’re coming to you for help.  P.E.D.A.L. is asking for a Christmas present!  

Please click here to donate.

Any donation you can offer is wholeheartedly appreciated, and you will receive a tax-deductible receipt in return.  To those of you who have already donated, you have our sincerest thanks.

Your donations allow us to continue to research practical, real-life sustainable living solutions.  The first-hand research we do is then supported by thorough follow-up research to create comprehensive information about sustainability “Tools” that can make a difference in our day-to-day lives.  Turning our initial research into a completed product takes a lot of time and work, but it’s starting to pay off: check out your sustainability TOOLKIT! for the first of many results of our work.

Oaxaca is currently our destination goal, but there are many more sustainability models between Oaxaca and P.E.D.A.L.’s original goal of Buenos Aires, Costa Rica.  The money we raise will determine how far we can go, and how much knowledge we can share with the world.

The long-term work of P.E.D.A.L. and your sustainability TOOLKIT! won’t ever stop altogether, but our situation for next year is uncertain.  Please help us to make 2012 our best year yet.

Thanks,

~The whole P.E.D.A.L. crew

]]> http://pedalacrosstheamericas.com/2011/12/23/p-e-d-a-l-needs-your-help/feed/ 0 http://pedalacrosstheamericas.com/2011/12/18/new-photo-albums-nouveaux-albums-photos/ http://pedalacrosstheamericas.com/2011/12/18/new-photo-albums-nouveaux-albums-photos/#comments Sun, 18 Dec 2011 18:56:35 +0000 The P.E.D.A.L. Crew http://pedalacrosstheamericas.com/?p=1468 Version française suivant la version anglophone

Hello Everyone,

First, to those of you who have signed up for our mailing list, you’ll have noticed an absurd number of updates lately that link to photo albums that don’t exist.  We want to apologize, and assure you that this time we believe we’ve sorted out the problem.  We’ll be making some improvements to the Photo Scrapbook to ensure that this problem doesn’t occur again.   We hope you and your overstuffed inboxes have recovered.

With that said, we hope everyone will enjoy our latest photos!

• Our first new album, PEDAL PART II: Baja California, revels in the striking landscapes and scattered settlements that stretch between the US border and the city of La Paz, Baja California Sur: click on the picture below to start the viewing .

• In the second album, we look at La Paz itself and celebrate this latest milestone along our route!  Click on the picture below to start the viewing.

Think of these photos as an early Christmas gift  :)

Emilie and Raf

————-

Bonjour à tous,

Nous nous excusons des nombreux messages inutiles que certains d’entre vous ont du recevoir.  Nous pensions avoir réglé le problème et espérons que cela ne vous empêchera pas de profiter des deux derniers albums photos que nous voulons partager avec vous :

• le premier vous donne un aperçu des paysages que nous avons rencontrés entre San Diego et La Paz : cliquer sur la photo pour commencer

• dans le second album, vous découvriez La Paz et ce que nous avons fait pendant une semaine : idem cliquez sur la photo ci-dessous pour commencer votre découverte

C’est notre cadeau de Noel en avance 

Emilie et Raf

Distance covered since our last stop : 360 km

Leaving Loreto meant leaving the Cortez Sea too. We started our day closed to the perfect blue water, with a bunch of brown islands in the horizon.

Unfortunately some touristic complexes start to grow here and there. Is it really worth-it to have a golf in a dry area ? Did the famous “Hotel California” song from the Eagles attract too many Americans on the Baja Coast and lead to that kind of unrespectful development ?

After a good climb (where we almost passed the trucks which were also suffering from the heat …) we arrived on a green mesa and forgot the blue sea till La Paz. On the same day, we met again along the road Edgard and Jorge. Our group grew from 3 to 5. Companionship is a delicate balance to find. You are spending a lot (if not all) the time with your co-bikers. Everyone has his/her own way to pack in the morning (from 20 min to 1,30 hour between the 5 of us), to eat (having a big lunch or enjoying snacks), to ride (fast and then stop for the day or slower but with several short breaks during your ride) and last but not least the sens of humour

You get my point “This could be Heaven or this could be Hell” (sic the famous Eagles) to ride in a group. After a while bike touring start to be addictive, it is what you think and talk about (for some, it is even a « religion »). You are looking for people like « you » to share stories and tips. I really enjoyed my time riding with those new folks especially because the last days in Baja were not particularly interesting landscapes. Ciudad Insurgentes and Ciudad Constition are places for intensive agriculture : flat fields and few pesticide stores.

When we crossed the border in Tecate 24 days earlier, I didn’t want to think about the distance to La Paz. You just ride day by day, enjoy the landscapes and the people. I should admit, after 1500 kmish, “Victory” sounded in my mind when we saw the bay of La Paz : we made it ! On top of it, you also know that you will be able to have a shower and made laundry : a luxury after several nights wild camping in the desert.

We were also pretty exciting to reach La Paz to meet Niparaja, an environmental organization. Among a lot of projects, they are working with the rural community of Las Animas. We will share more details with you throughout the Tool-Kit. In a nutshell, people in Las Aminas had to define a better way to leave together in order to support the future of their community. They are now able to answer this challenge, step by step, thanks to a communal agreement and some practical projects (such as the use of solar oven and pastravi stove ).

Straight away, La Paz appeared to me as a welcoming place. We have been hosted by a great Mexican family who was keen enough to make us discover a lot of things (Balendra’s beach, tasty fish tacos) and to share about Mexican culture and history.

That «  home » feeling had been reinforced by the fact that it is a place where a lot of bike tourers are gathering (especially at the Pension California, as we couldn’t find the famous Hotel ). The reason is simple, it is where you can catch ferries to go inland Mexico and keep on riding in the Americas.  All of us take time to share some spare time in La Paz, some good food and drinks (hopefully we will meet again along the road, better sooner than later  guys .

Distance covered since the last stop in Guerrero Negro 450km

Now that we are one hour closer from Greenwich Meridian time and in Baja California Sur, we will not have any more chilly temperatures, and have more daylight to ride!

Entering in Guerrero Negro, we haven’t been very inspired to find a place to stay, hesitating to go in the dunes (far away), asking in RV Parks (as expensive as a room), we ended up in a very cheap hotel advised by 2 bike tourer we met in town a little before. It was the first time in an hotel after one month and a half sleeping in many different places, but definitely an original one, at night, we understood why it was very cheap and why the owner was saying us there was cars coming and going all night! I let you find out! Anyway, we just spent a few hours in Guerrero negro, and have been very lucky as we met Elisabeth, Adriana and Samara (Mexican speaking French, intrigued by us), who invited us for a little tour the next day in some VIP areas of Guerrero negro, the salt works, bird refugee and the lagoon where Wales come o breed, unfortunately two weeks later. Even if we decided to skip our rest day in Guerrero negro, after all we didn’t miss anything, in a morning with those women we had the opportunity to see the highlights, plus some history of the area. We left the city a little before noon, and had only 60 km to go, in a very flat desert for what we were not impressed at all. Sometimes it’s better not to plan too much your day in your head, because afterwards, you might face some pretty heavy deceptions. I think this day was one of the worst for me, the thing is that I was expecting tail wind regarding the previous condition and general trends, which actually turned into a pretty strong front wind. We were also in a desert, but pretty boring without any cactus, the day was hot and there was lots of trucks and no shoulder. Every truck you were crossing was making you feel like hitting a wall, with some gravels in your face and that I was yelling at. Well in addition, we ended up doing almost 75km which made the last 15km even tougher. Thankfully, in Vizcaino we found a restaurant with very nice people which hosted us in their backyard cooking delicious heavy pizzas to change a little bit our tortilla/tacos/beans diet.

Going out from there, the landscape became quickly much more interesting, looking at the “sierra de San Francisco” on our left, some impressive “mesas” on our right, our friends the big cactuses are back, and the rolling hills make the ride less boring! It was so great and felt so fast that I can’t remember any other detail. This day sent us in an oasis in the middle of the desert, San Ignacio. Getting there early, we asked to set up the tent in a restaurant just beside a little lake following the advice of Rubén the Spanish tourer, and Jorge the owner of la presa accepted us directly. A few minute later we were swimming in this warm afternoon, looking at the palm trees, eating dates out of the trees and drinking delicious margaritas (our first one of the trip)! After that and having skipped our rest day in Guerrero negro, you’ll understand that we were settling in the perfect spot to leave our bodies recover. Unfortunately, the situation turned into something very different from what we were expecting, we woke up with clouds, light rain, and when we came back from a bed and breakfast with Internet we found our tents almost floating in puddles… Then we were pretty soaked and tried to warm up and dry all day staying in the patio, drinking Mexican coffee, watching Rocky IV, playing cards, chatting with customers and Jorge, looking at the police drink shots of tequila etc.

The next morning, we had the opportunity to see San Ignacio, which is supposed, and I think is too, to be one of the prettiest village in Baja. That’s an interesting place, because firstly it’s an oasis in the middle of the desert, secondly it’s the center is not right on the highway, so with a nice little “plaza”, and thirdly it has been settled before other places in Baja, which is linked with the two other points. Hanging out in the middle of the place we met again with Markus (from Austria) which himself had met two other different tourer, Jorge from Spain, and Edgar from Mexico. We left a little after them, keeping going East to join the Cortez Sea 70km from there. This road was again very pretty, surrounded by volcanoes and lavas, with dominating views! I realized one more time how riding was easy, even with that terrain, when the places you are at are beautiful, you just widely open your eyes (not your mouth, you could end up swallowing some sort of flying bodies), and enjoy yourself! After that came “La cuesta del Infierno” (Hell’s coast), with an amazing sight on a volcano, canyon, the sea of Cortez finally showing up, and very steep as his name let guess. In that kind of hills it’s hard to choose between enjoying the adrenaline of high speed, or the majestic view going slower. I chose the second option as I broke a spoke earlier in the day, and my back brake broke at the very beginning of the hill…

The arrival in Santa Rosalia wasn’t as nice as expected, just after this beautiful downhill, you face first some sort of dump, second all the mines, and then the very industrial part of the city. However the rest is not too bad, there is some nice plaza, a wonderful church designed by the magnificent Eifel (no I’m not French) where we had the opportunity to stay (or at least to camp right in the front as the father thought we had a 100 sq meter tent which couldn’t fit inside…). There we met again with the cyclist team and 2 more bikers (but cheating with motors), to go out for some beers in crazy Santa Rosalia nightlife! Thanks to Markus magic tool, I also have been able to take off my cassette and change my spoke, it’s helpful to have some fellows not too far!

We left Santa Rosalia being 3 riders as Chris, another fellow who have beencycling for a year and a half joined us to share a part of our ways. This day we have been pushed by a very strong tail wind directly to Mulege where we had the opportunity to have our first swim in the Sea of Cortez! It made a very big difference since the last time we swam in San Francisco and San Diego, probably 8°C more! Entering Bahia Concepcion we found a very nice spot on an abandoned RV park straight on the beach, enjoying the sunset and the consequences of the paranoia of people living there when the security guard came… At the end it was totally fine, he just came, because some people from the village (probably coming from the north of the border) were worried after seeing us so close (200m) from their houses.

Leaving this spot in the morning was very enjoyable too, the road is winding up the hills, but right on the Cortez sea which provide very pretty sights. We also left Bahia Concepcion this day getting in some more desert with the impressive Sierra Giganta a little far away, and one more time we had to face some spoke problem, for Emilie that time. This last night we slept in a very fancy place, the desert, surrounded by cactuses topped with vultures. We found a friend, a little goat which apparently wanted to sleep in my tent… She sadly lost her mother and was starving, and will probably end up as a vulture meal soon…

Now we are in Loreto only 4 days away from La Paz, our final destination in Baja, and pretty confident, we overcame various mechanical problems, we survived to the narrow Highway one and its truckers, our bodies are still in good shape and survived to some mountains and front wind, so there is no reason why we would not get to the end of the trip!

Raf

Distance covered since the last stop 614 km  From Ensenada To Guerrero Negro

It will be soon two weeks that we have crossed the border between the USA and Mexico. The first days in the mountains and the Guadalupe Valley were great but we ended up spending time from one vineyard to another and even meeting some French and Swiss locals. Don’t get me wrong, that was a pleasure, but the real discovery of Baja California started, for me, when we headed to Ensenada. That city is known to be the last one which is very “Americanized” : it is still close enough to the USA border for kids to come there during the week-end and have fun in Mexico. From what we heard, once you pass Ensenada you start to discover Baja. So what is it about ? What do you see after that limit ? I don’t have the ambition and knowledges to tell you all about the USA and Mexican cultures but I have been noticing in tiny things some differences between the two north American brothers. Yes, we have been riding in a different country for the past weeks.

As a bike tourer, food is an important part of your trip and of your daily life : you need energy, it is your fuel and you also appreciate the break associated with lunch time. So far we had been using a lot of bred, humus, peanut butter, cheese, cucumber, fruit to do the job. Between Ensenada and San Vicente, when we stopped in Santo Thomas, for our daily grocery shopping we exchanged that lunch package for a “Mexican” one : some tortillas, frijoles (red beans), avocados, salsa sauce, and canned tuna ( that last one is not specifically Mexican but convenient). Mexican food uses a lot of red beans, perfect for your protein need. I am working gradually on the spicy part of the cuisine ; carefully tasting the sauces and salsas you can add in your tacos, burritos and other tortas.

The food is definitely the first thing in which you can “taste” the difference between the USA and Mexico. Being on the road, you are also able to notice some other little details. Between San Vicente and San Quintin, riding through the big intensive agricultural fields ( look in your supermarket when you are buying tomato or strawberries, if they are coming from Mexico, they have also good chance to come from BC), you will see more dead dogs along the road than birds or deer… Dogs do not have the same “pet” status and will be usually be wilder. They can run after you when you pass along, that explains why they are also more likely to get hurt by some trucks … So you can see dead dogs on the side of the road but you also notice a lot of crosses. That reveals two aspects of Mexico : an important rad fatality rate and a religious country. For the first one, you understand that the absence of shoulders sometimes can explain the number of accident. Even if I definitely find the road’s conditions better than what people described us. Yes there are some parts where you have a lot of traffic so that could be scary, especially if two trucks are crossing. But so far we mostly rode on roads where you had enough room for everyone and which have been renovated lately.

Regarding the fact Mexico is a Christian country, that feature has been directly integrated in our journey. We exchanged Warmshower and Couchsurfing for the church hospitality. In San Vivente, we camped in the church patio and shared our first burrito breakfast with the sisters. In the majority of the small restaurants where we stopped, you will see religious icons.

In former blog post, I told you about my perception of the Army bases we crossed on our way in California. Riding through Camp Pendleton reminded me without any doubt that the USA is a country in war but outside of its national territory. Crossing the border, we are staying in touch with the Army. The drug situation in Mexico leads to a lot of crimes and we have been warmed about the fact that is a a country in war, but in its own territory. Reading the travelling reports from several foreign ministers and talking with a lot of people, you cannot deny that Mexico is facing important drug and security issues. If we have to be aware of it and take that in consideration for our itinerary, we have been so far very safe in Baja California (we will see how it is inland later). Stopping at military check points could even be a good thing (it gives you a break in you ride, when you are trying to catch up your co-biker who is a way taller than you, so who has usually more leg power:). The soldiers can be surprised when you stop, trying to check up your panniers and rapidly giving up about it. It apparently looked quite complicated to open them when your bike is full loaded and not that interesting …

Food, the things you see on the side of the road, religion, and military check points are the main differences I have noticed riding between Ensenada and El Rosario. The road was mostly flat, never too far from the coast, with a lot of agricultural fields (and some crazy workers bus drivers).

We chose El Rosario to rest and get ready for a long stretch in the desert. Everyone (the locals, the Lonely Planet) is warming you : it is the last real « town » before Guerrero Negro, 350 km south from there.

In the meanwhile, there is nothing expect cactus and the endemic Boojum trees (or Cirrio) . It is both at the same time very exciting and a little scary. On the one hand, I was looking forward being « outside » of the world (cause you can assume that your cellphone won’t work and no Wifi obviously) and on the other hand, you want to be sure to have enough water and some « security » food, just in case ! So you do the basic grocery shopping, check again your very detail map of Baja (thanks again Heikki). Even if there is no town or village, you can see some trucker restaurants (all those guys need to stop sometimes so there should be some food for cyclists too

Actually, I didn’t feel being “outside” of the world but entering another one : the Valle de los Cirrio. Few kilometres after El Rosario, we started to go up, the sun was hiding behind some clouds. That means the temperature is great for riding, not too cold, not too hot either. Some days have been cooler (yes even in the desert cause the elevation reaches 900 meters) but you don’t really mind. The colours around you are dark : some brown, deep green. Your eyes need some time to get used to that new landscape which unveils step by step. Soon enough the ground started to be more and more red, some cactus are blooming. You discover the local specie, the Cirrio : a weird tree, looking a little bite like a tall man walking in the desert. Your imagination has time to develop when you are riding 85 km in that mesa. Actually I didn’t feel like riding but more sitting on my bike and admiring the world.

Waking up at 5.30 am with a colourful pink sunrise in San Augustin, the next day drove me deeper into that captivating landscape. As the traffic is not too important, you can even have some moments (they don’t last but are precious) when you are riding alone (told you, my fellow is usually ahead) in that lunar desert. The only noises are your tires touching the pavement, your shifters and sometimes a bird : you are in a dream. Your mind tries to find words to qualify that landscape and the emotions that it involves for you : great, amazing, beautiful, amazingly beautiful, beautifully amazing, outstanding, breathless (yes I have been hanging out with some Americans in the past months You get my point, there is something about that part of Baja which really gets me literally. I let you have a look at what I talking about, and invite you to ride there sometimes :

http://vimeo.com/32636919

You can also do unexpected meetings in the desert such as a cyclist who has been starting his journey eleven months earlier in Ushuai. In Chapala, around the table of the trucker restaurant which generously let you set your tent, you shared stories and good tips (a warm shower for tomorrow at Rosarito’s trucker restaurant for instance. We will soon be able to write a guide entitled “Truck places for bike tourers”. It is the wheel solidarity, no matter how many you have, two or ten . Between Chapala and Rosarito, you keep that warm shower in mind. It is your motivation because the ride is long and tougher when the wind is playing with you, even if you are (supposed ?) to go down hill. I had plenty of time to think about a special person on that November 20th even if I wasn’t able to reach here Joyeux anniversaire petite soeur.

The shower was great and you spent another nice evening sharing stories, this time with a tourer who has been starting his ride in Alaska four months ago. Meeting people like you, who are riding, is always very comforting. You can exchange your impressions, advices. When those guys are doing the whole package (from Alaska to Terra del Fuego and vice versa), you think that finally a ride from San Francisco to Costa Rica is not that big …

Waking up in Rosarito, with a rainbow this time, the goal of the day was to reach Guerrero Negro. You mentally say bye to that captivating desert and dress up with your rain clothes ( the rainbow announced us the rain … ). After the rain in the morning, the sun is warming you as a dessert post lunch break. Your are all dry when you cross the 28 parallel which is at the same time the limit of Baja Califorina Sur and a new time zone. Already half of the distance to La Paz has been done since we passed the border, only 700ish km more. That wasn’t that long finally ; only if you compare it with the American family who left Los Angeles with their RV at 1am and will be in La Paz tonight. But they admitted it : going so fast, they have been missing some good picture spots and so more I would say