Day 3

Bahia de Los Angeles to Santa Rosalia

I took my time getting started and spent the morning online checking routes. Everything looked set to take the road south out of Bahia de Los Angeles but when I went to get on the road I couldn’t find it. I asked people where the road to San Pedro was but no one seemed to know. My GPS wasn’t any help either. I ended up following the road I came in on back to Highway 1.

More desert riding today with very few other cars on the road. I rode two hours south to the next major town, Guerrero Negro, for lunch. Yep, mas tacos por favor. I kept lunch quick so I could to get to Santa Rosalia early to avoid searching for a hotel at night again. The highway turns east and the winds let up making it a nice ride. The further east the landscape becomes less desolate desert and more like Arizona, red rocks and cactus. It was a beautiful road with lots of twisting through the mountains. I think about stopping to take more photos but I’m having too much fun riding. The Heidenau tires I have on are great.

As I was riding I saw a wild burro grazing a few feet off the road. Since I missed the horses yesterday I stopped to take a photo. The burro started stomping it’s hoof and grunting. I was trying to swap lenses but it wouldn’t line up. I could hear to burro was getting angry. Why won’t the lens click in?! Am I about to be attacked by a wild burro? The news segment flashed in my head. Finally it clicked and I snapped a few photos. I wasn’t happy with what I got but didn’t want to stick around to find out what that burro might do if I interfered with his grazing any longer.

Arriving in Santa Rosalia you pass by all the industrial mining plants and then into the city center. Unlike most other towns in Baja the buildings here are made of wood and is laid out like a city with blocks. Everything is very packed in the small city center. I drove around it 4 times looking for the bank and a hotel that had secure parking. I ended up riding a mile out of town and found a nice spot.

I came to Santa Rosalia to take a ferry over to mainland Mexico. I knew what time the ferry left but didn’t know for sure if I could get the temporary vehicle import permit I needed here. I went online and found that I could only get it at the borders or in La Paz which is 340miles south of here. Since I want to ride to Copper Canyon that would make me back track hundreds of miles I asked around a few places online and everything says I have to go to La Paz. So tomorrow morning that’s what I’ll have to do.