Making my way North along the coast of Baja
Abreojos to Punta Tortuga, nope not this time, Asucion instead
I took a look at the map with Bud and who recommended Asucion a small fishing village just to the north. Two roads can take you to this village one all dirt and reported by locals to be in bad condition. The other option was to take the under construction main road that brought me here backtracking to the highway. I do not like to backtrack but the poor Vespa has been enduring an abusive journey of dirt road, accidental jumps, and has been buried to the floorboards in the dunes. I was going give the Vespa a break and backtrack. I packed up had one last lunch at Campo Rene for some tasty fish tacos. I decided to take another look at the map, and began examining the shape of the coast. A rough looking peninsula caught my eye, Punta Tortuga. The point stretched out into the pacific and I imagined surf breaks facing every direction. There I decided that Punta Tortuga was going to be the next destination. I backtracked to the road grabbed some gas and headed, for the first time on the trip, north.As I made my way up the highway I began to feel a little excitement and paradoxically a little sad too. I new the journey was shorter than I wanted and was not going to Central America, but this brief sense of regret was very quickly overtaken by the thoughts of how epic this trip has been, the great people I have meet, places I have seen and the unbelievable good luck I have had. I didn't know that there was much more in store and the trip was not fizzling out to an end.I pulled into Gurrero Negro and looked around the town and then looked at the map and verified my gut, realizing that I had overshot the turn off to Punta Tortuga and Asucion by about thirty miles. In the back of my head i knew I missed the turn for the Punta and it was south of Gurrero Negro. I continued to explore the town to decide if I wanted to stop there on my way back up gassed up and flipped around. The desert scape is beautiful, I don't mind the error on my part and really have learned to put the experience in the hands of fate. My understanding and feeling was that there was nothing that could go wrong with this trip no matter what bonehead mistakes made. I hit the turn for Punta Tortuga and blasted down it. Sand dunes infringed upon the road and I manuvered around them, sometimes fishtailing right through the light powder. More and more dunes appeared and the road came to a fork one way paved and the other turned to washboard gravel. I stopped pulled the map and looked at it for about 2 seconds. Punta Turtuga was twice as far and on the dirt washboard from this point. This was a no brainer, I was on the pavement to Asucion. There were many construction detours and I knew the luxury of the pavement (ie calleterra) was going to end and it did. At this point, I was confident in the durability and construction of the vespa and confidently navigated through the sandy washboard. Optimal speed seemed to be about 45, the washboards smoothed out and the tires floated over the patches of sand, I was making good time. As the road became more sandy felt I was close to town and without a sense of time I pulled into town.
Asucion
Everything happens for a reason, sometimes I believe this and today I do. I slowly made my way through town and waved or waived back to virtually everyone. As usual the Vespa and Motoworks Surfboard get many looks and in this town many smiles. I heard several locals say that this town is known for having some of the nicest people in all of Mexico, today I believe this too. The main road as many roads in mexico do turned to dirt, and ended at a cliff overlokking the ocea. Here a local in a toyota pickup which is the standard in mexico stopped and asked what I was up to. We spangled a bit and he offered me a beer. I thought maybe he was selling beer out of his truck so I asked how much and he looked at me a litte strangely and said nothing. We went down by the water and drank a couple beers and he explained where the surf was. I was not sure what to think why was this guy so nice, I must spend to muuch time in boarder towns. Edwardo offered to show me where the hotel was in town and noticed the camping gear on the Vespa and offered to let me camp in his yard. Again I asked how much, nothing.
I was dieing for a shower nut figured I would have plenty of time to be clean when I get home and back to work. We headed off to his house which was right on the ocean pay close attention to the picture of the house and tent and then the picture from the other direction towards the ocean. Simple life with a beautiful view.
I picked up an eight pack and sat on the porch and drank beers with Edwardo for over an hour, I was beginning to get hungry so I set set up camp and offered to buy food at the local restaurant. He said he was not hungry so I set off in search of some tacos .
The big pink disco. I thought this big pink building was a giant taco shop that would have been heavenly but it turned out even better than that. There was a birthday party happening and this was the local disco. Several people were hanging out outside. I proceeded to ask if there was food here and they laughed and said it was the disco. It was apparently later than I though because all of the restaurants were closed. I began talking to a local dude Pulgam and he offered me a beer I was thirsty and gladly accepted. He introduced me to a few people hanging out at the party and his wife who made me a plate of tamales from the huge pot of them she had in the trunk of her car. Here I was introduced to more of the family including Carlos who went to college in Santa Rosalia were I came in on the Ferry. He spoke good English and translated some of the conversations. I also meet Ivan (Ibone) who pulled up in a truck with some surfboards on the top. He saw the scooter with the board and asked if I wanted to go surf in the morning. I was really excited about this as he tried to explain where the spot was by pointing over the desert and dunes. We decided to meet at 8 am and get a session, I stayed and drank for a few more hours and called it a night.
As the sun rose I got up and got ready to surf. Edwardo was already gone and I was unsure what time it was but I was going to search for the break. I headed out of town not knowing if I was late or not. I turned down a dirt road and headed towards the ocean. I headed toward the furthest point of land stretched out to form the bay. I rode as close to the water as possible but still could not see it. Finally I made it to some dunes close to the water but they were impassable on the scoot. I parked and wandered towards the ocean. Came to the top of the dunes and looked over a beautiful cove which was only separated from the next cove by a tall narrow strip of land and outcrop of rock reef. I walked around for a while in admiration, but there was no sign of Ivan. I decided to make my way back and see if I missed a turnoff. After about three minutes of driving Ivan's red truck came around the bend.
I was glad to see him and we figured out I left ahead of time and he went to Edwardo's casa to look for me. Consistent with this trip everything worked out and I actually made it to almost the right spot. The next cove up where I could not pass the dunes is where we needed to be. I parked the scoot by actually burying it in the sand so it would be extremely difficult to move with out the engine although I knew this was completely unnecessary. We aired down the tires (I actually had a gauge) locked in the four wheel drive and headed over the dunes.
In a few minutes we were in at our own break and the waves were good. This is what I was waiting for, the water was a bit cold for no suit but we were having soo much fun I didn't even think about it. We whooped it up for a couple hours and ate some mangoes after. Evon invited me to a party he his brothers and friends and family were going to have later that afternoon at this spot. I said I would be there.
The party was great really fun actually the kids surfed we drank and ate best fresh ceveache I ever had. Incredible! Thanks Evan, Aldo, Pulgam ( where were you??) and there wonderful families for the great times and gracious hospitality. I hope to see you all again soon!!
Cuatro Casas a full day on the road.
Reluctantly I departed Acucion for a full day of riding. I did not predetermine a destination but figured I would be good wherever I ended up . There is a long stretch without gas between Gurerro Negro and the next available gas stop. Actually right after cross the eagle monument at the checkpoint where they will check your tourist visa there is a gas stop if you fill up here you should be fine. There are also there a few places to get barrel gas, I did have to stop at the barrel and get a couple gallons. The ride was phenomenal and the desert was filled with Cactuses of all different types from the giant soharos to the tall skinny and pricklys. I made my way through the desert and eventually found myself at Mama Espinosas the official 66th check point for the Baja 1000. I have decided I am going to be the first one to complete the Baja 1000 on a Vespa but not until I eat a super size plate on enchiladas. Form the checkpoint I blasted north and knew I was getting close to a friendly familiar campsite of Cuatro Casas. I have actually been taking trips here for years and the wave is usually pretty good so as sunset approached I made my way through the little town and dirt road towards the water. I was greeted by Richard the owner a crazy cool gringo. We talked about Mexico and the bad rap it was receiving from the media. Although nothing has happened at his site Cuatro Casas has often been used as a reference for some of the unfortunate events that have occurred. I sincerely hope that Mexico can get the corruption under control and the reputation of the Mexican people and culture are not permanently marred. Selfishly though it helps keep ignorant gringos on the other side of the fence and the surf uncrowded. Come to Mexico, respect the people, land and their culture, and don't be a dumbass.
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