19 Dec Our last few Days Cycle Touring the Baja Peninsula
Ciudad Insurgentes to La Paz. 146 miles
As we check our map, we realize, that our cycle tour of the Baja peninsula is soon coming to an end. According to maps.me there are 146 miles left to make it to La Paz. From there we plan on taking a ferry over to mainland Mexico. The route will basically cross the Baja peninsula one last time. There is a little bit more climbing envolved, which at least is not as high and steep as the previous climbs. We also notice that there are really no facilities between these two places, so we try to pack some extra food and lots of water for the ride.
To our disappointment, the scenery is not very spectacular, there are a few mountains in the distance. One even resembles a pyramid complete with a Sphinx attached….A freak, natural occurrence.
Otherwise, we feel like we are just pedaling along another long stretch of Baja desert landscape. It is dry, arid, full of rocks, sand, and burned grass, and it’s adored with the occasional shrub and cactus.
About half way to La Paz we roll through a small village, Las Positas. According to Google map there is a hotel mixed in between the truck stop, OXXO, and tire repair place. We look around and see nothing that even vaguely resembles a hotel. We even take a small dirt side road in the general vicinity, but see nothing. All we see are a few dogs barking excitedly after they spot us and a women leaving her house. We ask her about a place to sleep and she tells us, that the tire repair shop rents out rooms.
Not sure if we understood her right, we push our bikes back to the tire shop and ask about a place to sleep. The mechanic nods and knocks at the house attached to the shop. A women and a child poke their head out and confirm that, yes indeed they have a room. She comes out with a key in hand and asks us to follow across the main road. There is a small building hidden behind a food stall. It has maybe four doors. She opens one of the doors and to our surprise there is a very clean, comfortable little room behind the door. Complete with bathroom, shower, air conditioner and TV. All for the small price of 250 pesos. ($12.00)
Happy to have found a place for the night we store all of our stuff and the bikes in the room and head back out to the main road to grab a bite to eat.
Right next to the OXXO is a small eatery that sells burritos and tacos. The young lady is very nice and promises us they are the best tacos around. The tacos actually are really tasty. Unfortunately, another lady in the kitchen keeps looking at us with a weird vibe. Just as we go to pay she says something to our happy cook and we end up paying much more than we have ever paid for tacos. The young lady appears to be feeling bad as she stopped smiling and avoided to make eye contact after asking for the inflated price. It was obvious to us that we were taken advantage of. Yet, we didn’t feel like arguing, so we paid the stupid price and promised ourselves not to return for breakfast in the morning.
The following day, we just grab a quick coffee at the OXXO and a bite to eat before rolling out.
The final 70 miles to LaPaz are uneventful. Traffic picks up more as we close in on the town, but for the most part, drivers keep their distance and continue to be courteous to us.
Again, it is already late as we finally find a place for the night. Tomorrow we’ll try to get tickets for the ferry. Hopefully the online site is not working properly, because according to that we will not be able to get a ferry for the next two weeks.
To leave or not to leave the Baja — The Ferry Ticket Roundabout
The following morning we are determined to buy our ferry tickets to Mazatlan, on Mainland Mexico. When we check the Ferry Website on our laptop, we keep getting the same answer over and over again ..no ferry for the next two weeks. However, we heard from other travelers that the website is faulty and incorrect, and more than likely there are more ferry rides to be had.
So we hail an Uber to give us a ride to the Ferry ticket center in town. Once there, the young lady behind the glass partition looks up the ferry schedule. We hope to catch the next ferry tomorrow evening. Unfortunately, the lady’s computer comes up with the same answer. No tickets available for 2 weeks.
Disappointed, we leave the office. We really didn’t plan on staying in town for two weeks. In order to come up with a game plan we try to find breakfast first. Thinking works much better with a full stomach.
As we wait for our order, Ron checks the Ferry website again…lo and behold, there are actually two tickets available, unfortunately it will not let us pay online.
As soon as we finished eating we walk back to the office. All excited we tell the lady that there should be two tickets available now…maybe there was a cancellation.
She checks her computer again and shakes her head. All she has to say is that the website is faulty.
Since we didn’t come up with an alternative plan yet, we start hiking back through town along the very pretty malacon toward our room.
Along the way, we stop at a few places to check room prices in case we really end up staying in town for 14 more days.
We even ask at our current place if we would get the room for a lower rate if we would stay longer. To our surprise everyone was willing to give us a good price break, so we figured having to stay would not be too bad on our budget.
Since we were told that the ferry fills up quickly, we hike back to the ticket center to ensure we will have tickets for the next available ferry in two weeks
The lady that was helping us earlier is busy talking to another customer. So we go and talk to another girl. When she asks what we are here for, we jokingly say: “Since the ferry tomorrow is full, we guess ferry tickets for the next available ferry to Mazatlan“.
She quickly types on her computer and asks if we have car. „No, just two bicycles“
She turns around and asks the other girl some questions, then she types some more. By some chance she is able to miraculously sell us ferry tickets for tomorrow´s ferry. …and just like that all of our problems are solved.
Once more we hike back toward our room. This time, much happier and lighter on our feet. We even find a place for dinner close to home and treat ourselves to a German size stein of beer. Cheers!
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