Today I woke up at the hostel in la paz to head down to Cabo. The bus cost $17 and was a pretty smooth ride. It took 3.5 hours and it even had a bathroom.
I arrived in Cabo to find that Didi does not work there but Uber does. It cost about $2.50 to go pretty much anywhere in the area so I ubered over to the hostel. “Surf hostel.”
Mexican engineering at the hostel
The host was a nice dude named “crazy Joe.” and I met a couple other travelers there. 2 girls from Washington, a guy who was there for a new tooth, and some other guy from Idaho that didn’t say much.
There’s a few nice restaurants right near the hostel but we headed down to the beach. The Mexican girl I had just met and I jumped in the ocean even though it was pretty damn cold out. The sun wasn’t very high in the sky and the wind was blowing pretty hard. So we left the beach and headed back to the hostel. We headed out for a taco at night just as something to do and I went to bed pretty early. I woke up in the morning and most of us from the hostel went to this breakfast place that was pretty great. “Mundo del sabor.” It was a nice local joint run by a welcoming family. After breakfast it was time for me to head to the airport to fly back to work. ;(
The last 100 miles to La Paz went flawlessly. Just a couple cows crossing the road here and there, something I’m pretty used to now. But since I was cruising at only 45 mph all I had to do was smoothly drop the throttle to comfortable cruise by them.
Upon arrival in La Paz it felt like the first place I had seen since Ensenada that really had amenities. There was a motorcycle repair shop and 1000 sushi restaurants. I was pretty happy to be back in society again for a little bit after feeling like I was hanging on to a thread out in the middle of nowhere the last week.
I got into town and checked into my hostel. “Nomadas Hostel.” The owner was a really nice girl but it was the first hostel I had been at for a while. There were some kind of weird characters there and the room smelled like straight bootyhole.
I dropped my stuff off and met up with the couchsurfer who had messaged me saying I could keep my motorcycle at his place while I traveled back to work. His name is Oswaldo and him and his girlfriend Wendy were incredibly sweet and have their own little kombucha business. Their Kombucha is the tastiest kombucha I have ever tasted in my life.
I dropped off the motorcycle and headed back to the hostel to explore around the town a little and start to prepare to go back to work.
Oswaldo recommended a place called Taco Fish which I then promptly went to to try out. It was absolutely delicious and I would now recommend it to anyone. The shrimp quesadilla has flavors I never knew existed.
Today could only be described as tense… I woke up and started going and could feel the dread of 300 miles ahead of me on a worn to shit sprocket. After just 10 miles down the road I felt the dreaded slip. I knew I could only tighten the chain a tiny bit more before it would snap and leave me totally stranded somewhere.
I had made a deal with myself that the second I felt a slip I would pull over and tighten the chain ever so slightly instead of going forward, ignoring it, and running the sprocket down more. I had saved 3 bike shops along the way to stop at to see if they had a Kawasaki sprocket. My plan was to stop at each one and change it out if I could.
I was terrified when I heard the first slip. I was so sure I would make it 20 miles outside of town before the sprocket wore down to a circle. I kept seeing the mechanic’s face in my head saying, “esto no sirve,” and thinking dammit he was right! But after tightening it once I cheered on as I passed mile after mile and began to relax a little. She was going up and down mountains with just a light tug. I don’t think I once passed 45 mph and I just didn’t care. There were a couple of lines of cars behind me and I pulled over as best I could. Once I relaxed a little I sat back and took in the scenery. It was absolutely beautiful. Without a doubt the most gorgeous day of riding I have ever done. There was almost NOTHING between Loreto and Ciudad Insurgentes. Just beautiful nature. It feels a lot like Arizona or New Mexico. Very similar plants. Huge cactus and funny Dr Suess plants.
Pit stop on the way
I got into Ciudad Consitucion right around 3pm and figured it would be best to stop here for the night. It leaves me about 100 miles left to La Paz tomorrow and I feel pretty confident that both me and the bike will make it. I messaged a guy from couchsurfing and he says he has some property there and that I can leave the bike with him. I will then travel by bus to Cabo for a day, get my covid test and then travel back to the US. I just read that we now need covid tests withing 1 day of travel! What the hell. The rules have gotten so strict.
Yes I ate all this myself
I am staying in Hotel Paraiso Del Valle and it costs $28 per night. It really reminds me of some of the hotels I stayed in in Laos. Not great, but also super comfy after a long day of riding. I’m itching for a massage in La Paz or Cabo.
