Friday November 4th.

Thursday evening we were sitting in the outside restaurant of the Malarrimo Motel in Guerrero Negro, sipping a beer and taking to the waiter. There had not been any rain in Guerrero for two years. That was yesterday. Today the weather changed.... Dramatically!

It was cool and cloudy when we got up. Cool enough that we put on our quilted electric jackets but not cool enough to plug them in, as we started the ride north to El Rosario. After about half an hour we stopped to put on another layer and plug in the jackets. As we climbed into the hills the temperature contined to decline to about 15C or so and the clouds ahead looked threateningly of rain. Also we were riding fairly fast into a strong, gusty wind. This made the ride even less pleasant.

We're we're making good time though and discussed the possibility of riding all the way to Ensenda, a little less than 600k in total. This particular stretch of the highway is particularly uninhabited. There are no gas stations between Guerrero and El Rosario. (365k). At 60k from El Rosario we were on reserve fuel and starting be concerned that we would not make it to the next Pemex. Obviously, others have had the same problem because the next cafe has a sign fo gasolina. We stopped and bought 2 gals for 100 pesos, roughly $8.

Reaching El Rosario we topped up the tank. Since it was only 1pm and with only 250 k to Ensenda, we decide to press on. The first half went smoothly, albeit slowly, as this area is more densely populated.

About half way to Ensenada the rain started. Soon we were cold and wet. My visor was blured by the rain and the visor was fogging up. We were on a narrow but busy 2 lane mountain road and it was becoimg more difficult to see the road. I just stayed between the yellow centre line and the white line on the side and pressed on.

Our anticipated pace had slowed considerably and everytime I looked at the gps we were always more than an hour from Ensenada. Then we ran into road construction and I discovered that the only thing worse than dusty detours are muddy slippery ones. Now, when I got a chance to look at the gps we were 2 hours from Ensenada and it would be dark soon.

This was getting to be real fun... Wet, cold, negotiating an unorganized detour on a slick muddy surface that you can't see well! Who needs a beach and a margarita to enjoy Mexico?

Luckily the detour was short by Mexican standards and we eventually made it to the hotel, just as it was getting dark.

Whew! What a day. Hopefully we can get the permit issue settled tomorrow.

From the iPad of Bernie Hide
Fernie, BC, Canada
250-423-7731