Ensenada to El Rosario

Sat 30th July

Ensanada is a seaside holiday spot with the usual trappings. Our motel was on the main street so we were treated to the sounds of the street entertainers and revellers until the early hours.

Bob got into the spirit by trying to replace his lost Peruvian hat. Fortunately none quite fitted the bill.

The city was bigger than I realised and as we rode into the suburbs, it reminded me more and more of the chaos in India minus the tut tuts, bicycles and mopeds.

The housing, roads and shacks masquerading as shops, cafes and workshops were similar to those we've all seen in the less developed countries. For some reason I expected Mexico to be more advanced and in some respects it is. As we travelled South, great swathes of the countryside has been cultivated over the past few years with huge areas now growing vines, tomatoes and strawberries etc. There are also huge greenhouses covering many acres. All these enterprises look to be very modern, efficient businesses that must be contributing considerably to the Mexican economy but probably not providing much employment.

Although we were on the main highway all day, some parts are little better than a dirt track where they are slowly being upgraded.

At one point I stopped to take a picture of Bob, suddenly these friendly guys came out of the vines and wanted to be in the picture.

Lunch was at a small farm shop where we had dried chilli mango pieces. Yes, you’re right, it is a strange combination and no it didn't really work.

Terry on more dirt road

Today we were stopped at a military checkpoint. All our bikes were subjected to a cursory search. Unfortunately ’hola’ wasn’t sufficient to answer all the questions so ’no entiendo’ was the next best thing. One of them put on my sunglasses and intimated that he would like them. Probably thought they were Ray Bans or Oakleys. In fact they are Dewalt tinted safety glasses that cost about a fiver. Any way I didn’t relinquish them and we were eventually waved on.

We stopped for the night at a very cheap motel, the condition of which matched the price but it had three beds and hot water so who were we to complain.