Reality Check

From Melissa: We began this leg of the journey with a lot of excitement and a healthy amount of fear. Countless bikers that we have met have regaled us with stories of their friends and friends-of-friends who have ridden through Mexico, Central and South America and encountered a myriad of mishaps…robberies, bikers left bloodied by the side of the road, victims of drunk drivers (for which they have been hauled off to jail, asked for insurance, forced to hand over vast amounts of dollars) etc. If one more person tells us about the book “Two Wheels of Terror”, by the guy who was motorcycling though Colombia and was kidnapped for 4 months, I’ll run. I really would like to read this book, only AFTER I get home from this journey. With all of this input, we have tried to stay positive and not get hysterical about the amount of danger ranging from swine flu to drug lords. However, today when we crossed into Mexico, I have to say that our anxiety was at an all-time high. We crossed from San Diego to Tecate with much anticipation………however, the border guards just waved us through, didn’t even leave the shady area where they were hanging out to stamp our passports (which we hope won’t be a problem later.) We came into Tecate and headed down the Baja coast road to Ensenada, stopping for lunch at a small town called San Vicente.We passed through the MexicanWine Route but did not stop as we were concerned about timing and where to stay the night. There is quite a distance between stops with hotels in this part of Mexico and no signs…very little is also visible on a map, and the GPS has been off-track, not lining up with the actual roads (even though we purchased the Garmin Mexico map system.) Having lived in Mexico, I have a real love for the country, but today...traffic was a nightmare, and a good amount of the road was under construction, where we were diverted off onto a dirt road, stuck behind buses spewing fumes into our faces. We had stopped at the tourist office in Ensenada and were told that there was a hotel a few hours south in a town called Colonet, just off of a road near San Telmo, near the beach. We arrived at Colonet at about 4pm, and the town was basically a few buildings along the side of the road. We asked some police officers where the hotel was and they directed us to a dirt road which supposedly went to the beach. We went down this road and it got worse, worse, and turned into a maze of dirt and sand roads which went alongside farms and led nowhere. By this time the sun was going down and we were getting nervous. We hit some soft sand and the bike went over. With all of the bags, etc. the motorcycle is very heavy; even with the new tires that Chris had put on in San Diego it was very unstable. Chris and I had to pick the bike up and try to get it out of the sand, which was interesting….picture this..the two of us, hot and sweating, mosquitoes beginning to swarm, trying to pick up 500 plus pounds of motorcycle from the soft sand, with the bike sliding all over the place. Back on the bike, onto the road, still looking for the hotel. MORE soft sand and we went over again. Only this time we could not get the bike out of the trees, and the back wheel was WAY buried. Chris put sticks under the back tire and we tried to create traction and get it out but no way. He finally said “Babe, take off your jacket, this is going to get ugly.” We then proceeded to drag the bike along the sand and get it out of the hole and turned it around. The sun was getting lower and lower and I could picture us stuck in this maze in the dark being shot by ticked-off cattle ranchers. We found a new, dirt road with the now useless GPS which can’t recognize any of these Mexican roads and went uphill on a road filled with big rocks and dirt. We almost went over the cliff. When we were on our last nerve we came upon a farm and asked a guy where to go and he pointed us to a road towards town. By then it was almost dark. We stopped at a gas station and ended up going south to the next town called Camalu and were directed up a hill (another dirt road!! Thank god for the GSA) where a hotel called “La Cueva del Pirata” appeared like a mirage in the distance. We immediately had a Don Julio Tequila and just got our bearings.
I must say that we have done some planning in this regard: we have gotten a satellite phone and a personal tracker, which is the size of an Ipod or a little larger, called a Spot Tracker. This allows you to send emails to a specific set of friends and family to let them know that you are OK. It also (for about $90 per year) has a service that is 911—this is a button you press and anywhere you are in the world, they can locate you on Google Earth and send help in the form of truck, helicopter, etc to rescue you. The Spot Tracker can be purchased at any REI store. Alex, a biker that we met in Ferndale, California told us about this and it was a great tip. We also got Mexico Motorcycle Insurance through a company called Mexpro which can be purchased online. They provide quotes from a variety of Mexican Insurance companies.
Our first day in Mexico……..now on to the next adventure!!