November 13 & 14, 2015

What happened…

Amanda writes:

After our few days of not talking we finally were able to have a level headed conversation. Not a big make up session or anything, just more of a ‘let’s be rational about this’ kind of conversation. We agreed that we were not enjoying our time on Baja and so may as well try and put these miles to use. The ferry to Guaymas (Mainland Mexico) leaves three times a week and is completely weather dependent. We recalled that last year some bicycle tourists (Nici & Philip) who we hosted were delayed by this ferry. We knew from speaking with someone that there was a wind storm coming on Monday and that a ferry after the scheduled Sunday sailing was pretty unlikely. And so we agreed that we would pedal our asses off to try and make the ferry, in spite of the headwind and our normal moto of don’t ride for more than 6 hours a day. We figured since we weren’t enjoying each other’s company much, we may as well head for San Carlos as quick as we can because once we got there we both knew Andrew would just kite surf all the time and I wouldn’t see him anyway. So for two days we peddled with our heads down and legs burning.

And so we mapped it out. Based on the mileage we had already been pounding out we figured we could be in Mulege by Saturday with only about 75 kilometres left to Santa Rosalia for Sunday. The online schedule didn’t show the ferry leaving until 9pm on Sunday so it was perfect; ride all day Sunday and then sleep on the ferry. The continued head wind made every mile hard and while we only rode 70 kilometres it took us over 6 hours. We decided to stay at an RV park that claimed to have hot showers which after sleeping in the dessert for 5 days was very appealing. After checking in and setting up the tent I decided to go for that hot shower while Andrew was going to go online to make the reservation for the ferry tomorrow.

We have now travelled in two countries in Latin America, both of which sometimes feature electrically heated showers. The showers at the RV park had two stalls, one with the electric option and one without. I tried to adjust the lever on the electric one before turning on the water; that much I’ve learned is how you avoid being electrocuted. It wouldn’t budge so I decided to head for the other one and just take a cold shower; it was still about 25 degrees and I really just wanted to be clean more than anything. So there I am in my shower stall when all of sudden I hear this pop, followed by steam flowing out of the other stall with the electric shower. Then the steam seemed to look and smell like smoke. I walked over to the shower stall to see what was happening. It looked like there was so much pressure happening where the water comes out of the wall and there was water dribbling with some steam. I decided I would try and turn the water handle off to relieve some pressure and zap! Even though I tried to avoid it I got electrocuted. It wasn’t horrible but I decided to just walk away and finish my bathing. By the time I finished up the pressure on the electric shower had built up so much that the entire shower head and attached electrical wires for the heating system had blown off the wall and were hanging there. I was left thinking my choice in shower stalls was a good one and hoped the fire, steam and pressure wouldn’t blow up the building.

I headed back to the tent where Andrew told me he called the ferry rather than booking online and good thing he did. Turns out the ferry was leaving at 8am, not 9pm. Apparently the website hasn’t been updated in a couple of years. We still had 75 kilometres to ride! Andrew did some more research and found a bus out of Mulege that would get us to the ferry terminal in time. We just had to get up at 2:30 a.m. so that we could leave by 3:30 to ride to the bus station (in the dark) for the 4:15 a.m. bus. That would get us to Santa Rosalia by 6:00 a.m. for the required two hour checkin before the ferry left at 8:00 a.m. What a pain in the ass! After all this riding so far and so hard for so many days, now we have to take a bus?! Andrew left this thought with me and went for his shower.

Over the previous two days we had been riding past such beauty and I was really left feeling like we’re missing Baja. I have never really been that excited about going back to San Carlos. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice community and we’ve made some incredible friends who I was looking forward to seeing. However, when Andrew gets to San Carlos he’s a different man. His kite surfing takes up his entire mind and body and nothing else in life matters … at all. At this point I was past thinking about returning to Denver to finish the ride that we skipped but I wasn’t that keen on spending an extended period with “San Carlos Andrew”. Over our time on Baja we had met so many cyclists riding South and enjoying it I came up with an idea. Andrew could go to San Carlos and spend his one or two months there and kite and I could turn around and enjoy Baja. I would have many options of people to ride with and maybe I could look at it through different lenses. We could just meet back on the Mainland as I would take the La Paz ferry and meet him down near Puerto Vallarta. When Andrew came back from his shower I shared my idea with him and while he wasn’t totally keen on it, he didn’t shut it down. We even came up with the idea that he could leave now and try and hitch hike tonight to the ferry terminal, but then we remembered that he would be without a tent. I just thought it was a win-win situation because then we could take a break from each other. And while we may not be enjoying each others company, the reality is we got married for the long haul; so we’d make the trek to San Carlos together and figure shit out.

Today’s Photographs