CHAPTER. 26

DAY 60. GUERRERO NEGRO TO LORETO. 460k
Leaving the hotel down the front steps. ( as you do!)

Today we headed over to the other side of the Baja peninsular on the Gulf of California side. We crossed to the nice looking sea side town of San Rosario where we had a long languid lunch. Unfortunately it could not be followed by a siesta - there was work in the office to do !
Impending military roadblock with cardboard cost saving measure!

So it was back in ( or on ! ) the offices and it was a joyful run down the coast to the very affluent town of Loreto. Like its name Loreto is very pretty. We stayed in a lovely traditional hotel in the heart of the city complete with courtyard where we could park our bikes.
Mid afternoon break on the way down the coast

On the way I was practicing my reading of road signs. Then suddenly I was stumped. According to my rudimentary Spanish the road sign read -
" Microwave the Angels "
Now there were times when the children were young when I could have easily taken this advice ! However even then it was not the sort of advice you would expect from a roading authority ! Sigh, back to the Spanish lessons it seems!
As we meandered down the coastal route there were now beach resorts appearing. Some were closed and derelict and obviously victim to tough times. Some of them looked idyllic with white sandy beaches, coconut trees and thatched "bures" on the beach. Obviously the American tourists have been scared away or are victims of their own recession.
Parking the bike in the hotel courtyard. Note panniers had to come off !

DAY 61. LORETO TO LA PAZ. 360 km
No we are not in Bolivia yet. La Paz is the biggest city of the lower Baja with a population of up towards 100,000 souls.
We are sort of zigzagging across the Baja as we wet from the east coast to the west side and then back to the east coast again. The scenery was hugely varied and a bit like New Zealand with the variations from high rugged mountains to flat desert plains to rich agricultural land all within short distances. And of course there are still plenty of cacti! The thought did cross my mind that if one left the road somewhat suddenly it would not be particularly pleasant to ride at high speed smack into a big cactus bush !

And talking of roads the roads here are big on speed bumps! They are even there to slow you down on tight corners. I found an unexpected benefit from these. In the middle of the afternoon when lady passenger on the back is getting a little sleepy a slightly too fast trip over a speed bump totally solves this little problem. Ditto also for the chauffeur up the front ! It does seem that some momentary air space between ones backside and the bike seat is very good for ones concentration ! And to make matters more interesting some speed bumps are not real ones but just yellow paint. Tease,tease I hear the road engineers say!
Then suddenly it is La Paz in mid afternoon and what an attractive city it is too. Tomorrow is Mexico Independance day and we were told they take it very seriously. As we rode into town you could sense an impending festive air and all the flags and bunting was up. So in order to see it all happening we booked into a waterfront hotel right in the middle of the CBD. Tomorrow was to be a rest day as we were going to watch the Independance day celebrations. We were looking forward to a fun rest day .
DAY 62 LA PAZ HOTEL ROOM TO STREET FRONTAGE. 10 METRES!
VIVA LA INDEPENDENCIA !
VIVA MEXICO !
And what a day. There was a huge big parade on the waterfront right outside our hotel. It started at 10.00am and went on for an hour. It was fantastico! Let the photos do the talking. -

Even soldiers have hearts -

Spot the difference!

The VIPs

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The police, the soldiers , the sailors, the firemen, the nurses, they were all on parade. Not a good morning to be sick in the hospital me thinks - there would be no one there and it would be self help. Ditto with most other services.