A Week in Vincente Guerrero

After leaving Guerrero Negro, we headed north through Valle de los Cirios and the Baja Gas Gap (around 200 miles with no gas stations).  It was cold, with highs ranging from the low to upper 50s, and in places the wind was easily doing 30 mph.  We saw a lot of touring cyclists, nearly all heading south.  Mostly it was couples, but we did see one solo cyclist (probably Japanese).  The only northbound cyclists that we passed were Didier and Robert.  They had stopped just beyond a summit, and when we came into view they immediately waved at us, so we decided to stop.

We treated them to cheese, crackers, cauliflower and ice water (we weren't as well stocked as usual, thinking that we would be dining out far more often than usual this week).  They had had an interesting time getting that far north.  On their second day after we had last seem them, they ran into dense fog.  When a policia estada found them on Mex 1 heading north, he put on his flashing lights and parked diagonally across both lanes to block traffic.  He then told them "You can't ride today.  Any other day is fine, but not in this fog."

They bucked headwinds on a couple of their other riding days, though on that day the wind was mostly a tail wind.  They had come to realize the difficulty of covering significant mileage at this time of year.  First, the riding on narrow roads was quite wearing.  Second, the lack of daylight meant that they needed to hit the road at the crack of dawn every day and ride in the cold.  So they were seriously considering taking a bus from San Quintin to San Diego, thus bypassing some of the more treacherous and heavily traveled sections of Mex 1.

We spent one night at Los Olivos, where we had stayed on our way south.  This time around we learned that there actually are hot showers available, in a building near the entrance.  We hadn't been there long before a family towing a 20+ foot trailer showed up.  The approach to the RV spaces is very tight, and the driver didn't swing wide enough, so he had to back up and try again.  In doing so, he hooked the passenger side bumper over the power and water pedestal in doing so, breaking the water line (which led to the water in the toilets closest to us being shut off for the remainder of our stay there).  I was on my way to see if I could offer assistance when the driver popped out and said in a none-too-friendly tone "I'll thank you not to offer any assistance!"  I was a bit taken back by that, thinking it rather rude.  I felt like telling him that I saw a 19 year old girl do the same thing last winter in Florida, but I somehow managed to restrain myself.

The fruits of our neighbor's misdeed...

The next day we drove a bit north of Vincente Guerrero, where we are camping once again at Posada Don Diego, which has an excellent restaurant (which is a little bit less expensive than similar restaurants that we've dined at elsewhere in Mexico).  It cost us around $93 for camping for the week. 

On our first night here, we returned from dinner to find that one of Alea's sandals was missing.  The next morning, while we were drinking coffee inside our cabin, we saw one of the night watchman's dogs making off with the other sandal.  We pursued and were able to retrieve it, but still were not able to find the other.  We figured it was lost forever, tucked into some dog's den, but on our way into town the next day we spotted it on the road (it was in good condition aside from some dog slobber).  We later came to find out that that particular dog is notorious for stealing shoes, as evidenced by the two shoes he was in possession of on the morning of Christmas Eve.

We've had a fair amount of rain, which has been heavy at times.  
And so some of the mud puddles have been huge, like the one below that was on our route to the local laundromat.

We've been dining out pretty much every night, which has made grocery shopping a lot simpler.  But Don Diego's was closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas, so we had to fend for ourselves once again.  Another cold and blustery rain storm came through on the morning of Christmas Eve, foiling our normal course of action, which is dining out when it rains.  Fortunately, we have the campground to ourselves, and were able to orient the awning on our van so that it covered the galley hatch, allowing us to cook dinner sheltered from both the wind and rain.

We will continue to head north tomorrow (the day after Christmas).  We will have our fingers crossed that the recent rains haven't washed out any of the vados, or it may take us longer to reach the States than we are planning.

We wish everyone Feliz Navidad, especially to those whose paths have crossed ours in the past year!