- baja wing
- marlin azul for dinner
- Carl and Erica
-
Nomada and Baja bites and bakery
- Sarah and Ellie
What Happened
Today was a very early day. I ended up going to bed right after sunset again and woke up at 4:30 AM. I had wanted to finish the road traverse before the sun came up to give myself a chance to climb the mountain road without being in the sun. I was just able to accomplish this and was able to climb all the way up the mountain road without being in the sun for more than a few minutes.
The descent from there was pretty nice. The mountain really levels out into a big flat valley and it was fun to see the area I’d be spending the next day or so in. From the top of the peak you could see La Ventura and it looked a lot closer than it seemed on the bike. It took me another couple of hours to make it into town. I’m met Carl and Erica on the way in and got some recommendations from them. Most of the riding that I did today was on some form of pavement.
Getting into town itself definitely showed me just how remote I had been the last few days. There were so many cars, ATVs, and people on motorcycles everywhere. Most of the roads here are pretty small and don’t offer a lot of shoulder so when a water truck is trying to pass you, it creates a less than ideal experience.
Eventually, I was able to make it into the heart of town and began looking for a café. I had a harder time finding a spot that I wanted to eat at, it was hard to get a sense of what was actually local cuisine. Eventually, I settled on a small café and ended up ordering two breakfasts – as is becoming my usual. It’s a little hard to explain to someone that you’ve been up since 4:30 AM and already biked 30 miles that day when it’s only 10 AM. It makes me sound crazier than I smell.
After first and second breakfast, I got back on the bike and started looking around for a Tienda where they would sell less processed food. Over the last week I’ve been predominantly eating cold soaked rice and refried beans on a tortilla with some hot sauce. Supplemented with any snacks that I can find at an OXXO (7-11 essentially). This is a pretty far cry away from my typical diet, and I really want to try and eat whole foods as much as possible. While out scouting for a tienda , Sarah and Ellie stopped me. They were at the small cafe that I had stopped at and seemed curious about what I was doing. We chatted for about 10 minutes, I exchanged some stories, and they told me about some of their favorite places in town. You’re one of the spots that they recommended was a café that was actually listed on my route plan.
I decided to head there and have third breakfast while I looked for a store and thought about what I wanted to do today. For third breakfast I had pollo y pesto which was a nice change up from rice and beans. I decided that I would be spending at least today in town and would decide how I felt after spending the afternoon on the beach.
I decided that my goal of eating whole foods was a little ambitious and so I settled for some honey, tortillas, peanut butter, and bananas. On my bike ride out of town, my bananas fell off my bike and onto the ground, which bruised them quite badly and made me quite sad – they ended up being mostly okay.
I spent the rest of the day out on the beach. I’ve been so glad to have my binoculars, it was very fun to watch everyone Hydro foiling. In between people watching, I read a lot. It’s been the major way. I’ve been passing the time.
Most of my afternoon was spent alone, but some people did stop by and ask what I was doing, where I was camping, etc. I sit on the beach until sunset, ate my dinner, and then decided to head back over the dunes to try and find a camp. I had just finished setting up my time and was getting my sleeping pad blown up when two people pulled up and tried to take their cars up the dune that I had just come down. The sand was way too deep and I got a kick out of watching them. Try so many times – just because you have a 4Runner doesn’t mean it can do everything.
Like most of my nights now, I’m going to bed pretty much right after sunset. I spend a little bit of time reading and then it’s lights out. I went to bed before 7:30pm
Pics
Originally recorded on 2025-12-22.