Day 34 - Ensenada B.C.

Day 34 relaxing at Rolando’s la casa in Ensenada, yep you read it right, I’m back in Ensenada. Today was a short trip and I had plans on spending at least one more night here on my way back that when Rolando offered me a place to stay when I left for Cabo, I thought I’d take him up on that offer. That and his family served up a great dinner and have welcomed me into there home and for Rolando, he has someone to ride with for another day. You’ll eventually see pictures of his wife Yorgelina and the 2 boys, Leonardo and Santiago who you’ve met before since he’s also been on the rides with me.  

Today was one of the short rides I’ll have on this trip, but maybe the hardest among the roads that I’ve taken that. Some of that thinking may have started because I remembered his road from riding it in the rain when I started to head to Cabo and I was really looking forward to riding it on a warm sunny day for a change. Since it was a short ride I slept in even though it turned out to be a later night than I thought it was going to be because I ended up meeting a bunch of bikers from the Netherlands that are riding rented bikes form Los Angeles to Cabo. They’ll ride them there, fly home and then another group of riders from the Netherlands will fly in to Cabo and ride them back. After I got done with dinner last night, which I was able to scrap enough cash for, once I got back to the hotel there was another 8 bikes parked next to mine and a group of guys sitting in the lounge area that I figured it must be there bikes, which yes it was. Not all of them spoke English, but the trail boss and at least 2 others enough that we were able to have some communication and they were asking how the roads were which I was able to give them a pretty accurate review. Their rides aren’t as far each day, but I suppose when you’re paying for a trip like this, getting fed at least 3 times a day is probably a good thing. I did catch them before they left this morning around 9 so started to get ready for my trip.

As I was saying, although a short ride the reason why it seems like the hardest is because it is pretty intimidating right off the bat out of El Rosario with winding curvy mountain roads and more semi trailers on this road than most of the others I’ve been on. Not only is the start a bit intimidating, but most of the ride between El Rosario and Ensenada seem to be that way because if it isn’t the windy curvy roads, its that small dusty towns that you have to try to navigate through. At least I had the teachings of how to ride these roads from Rolando that there were a few times passing semis and other cars on the mountain roads that I would never have thought to ride them this way hadn’t it been for Rolando teaching me what you can get away with on this roads. No he’s never told me what I can’t get away with and I hope not to find out. There was one instance right from the get go that I tried a little too soon to pass with a truck coming that I didn’t see. You’ll see form the pic that it was a close call, but he pulled over to give me enough room to get back behind the vehicle that I was trying to pass. I decided it might be a good idea to wait a little before passing, but it was quickly after.

I did know that I had to make at least one more gas stop to have enough gas to get me to Ensenada, but there were too many times I kept putting it off even when I did see a good Pemex to stop at and that was because I had just passed a number of trucks and other slow moving vehicles in the mountains, I didn’t want to get behind them again to do it all over that I waited as long as I could and I think just long enough that I found a spot that didn’t put me behind any coming very fast behind me. After that it was clear sailing to Ensenada and now the only thing that slowed me up were the small towns and topes that I and to avoid. Fortunately none of these were as bad as Guerrero Negro that my kickstand will survive another day.

I did get to Ensenada early and since I hadn’t made contact with Rolando yet and wasn’t sure what to do, I figured I’d go to the one safe spot that I know in Ensenada and that was Salu, Lou’s bar in downtown Ensenada and I hit it at a good time because the boaters were still there. All of the other days I visited, by the time I got there after my Spanish school most of the people had already headed back to their ship that today I was wishing that they would have done the same because too many of them were Arizona fans so Lou had that game on instead of the Packers. It wasn’t until until late into the 3rd quarter that the last bitch that was an Atlanta fan finally left that we switched the game over, even though she was outnumbered for those who wanted to watch the Pack, but that’s how it works downtown Ensenada, the boaters get great service. Oh, and wouldn’t you know it shortly after we switch the game over, the station we were watching decided to do the same, switch it to what they said was a more competitive game, the Arizona game.  

Ok, the other safe place I could’ve gone to in Ensenada was the host family that I stayed with for 2 weeks, but I was hungry and still didn’t know enough Spanish to really have a good conversation with them about my travels that I figured I’d fill my empty stomach with another one of Lou’s burgers and have a few cervezas to wash it down. No not too many since I still have to ride the bike and good for me, I got a hold of Rolando as soon as I got there and he said he’d call me in a few hours after running some choirs. I did have a good time talking to Steve and Lou again as well as the bartender Jenny, but will miss the place and hope to be back sometime soon. Now that I feel a little more comfortable riding the Mexican highways, maybe a trip to Ensenada a few times wouldn’t be too bad because I’m not sure how much of all the other that I’ve had to make sure I have, motorcycle insurance and a tourist card I would need, maybe just the motorcycle insurance even though it’s only about an hour and a half from the border. 

It’s been a great trip so far and I’ll have Rolando and Santiago delivering me to the border tomorrow that one I’ll be happy to be back in the states and the second thing I’ll feel a lot more comfortable riding with Rolando and Santiago through Tijuana. Oh, the other thing with the big dog in the house I know my bike and myself will be plenty safe too. Still more riding to do and more places to visit, some places that I’ve already been too, but stay tune to see what other kind of trouble I can stir up. 

Pics to come later when I have faster wifi and can load pictures quicker. At this point it just might be photoshop that is failing me and I definitely need to find a better service next time.

Day 34 Ensenada pics