First days in Mexico (From El Salto to Coco’s corner)

After spending almost 2 hours at the Banjercito we headed for Ensenada. We were still in our regular gear, at it was warm! Especially since we are not used to the heat – not yet anyway. 30 minutes before Ensenada we passed by El Salto Canyon, and decided to camp there for two nights.

Next day we decided to hike up the mountain to the “small” crucifix on the top, which we could see from the campground.

There was no hiking trail, so we found our own way on the way up… from the view from the campground it looked like smaller bushes, but when we got further up the mountain the bushes turned into smaller trees… but we didn’t want to give up, so we just kept going.

 

When we finally got to the top, at crucifix was a lot bigger than we first had anticipated!

The view was spectacular… from up there… now we just had to find a way down…

 

We finally came back down – YES we made it! We walked further into El Salto Canyon, were Esben decided to cool off in the river (right picture)

 

It was really nice to relax by the river in El Salto Canyon. It is also possible to book a tour for repelling down the canyon, which you see on the left picture

 

The day after, we found out that Esben had been hit by poison oak – he got a big rash and blisters on his right arm and both his knees. We can only say one thing “Stay on the designated hiking trails”. To lazy to read the post, or do you just want everything? Se our short video, which covers our travel from El Salto Canyon to Coco’s corner:

 

From El Salto Canon we rode to a small town called Erandira, where we continued on to a gravel road to find the perfect camping spot by the ocean

Camping by the ocean, just north of Erandira

By next day we met up with Sondra from San Diego and her boyfriend Tom. It is Sondra’s red Triumph

Together we rode into Erendira, were Sondra knew a great family owned restaurant.

 

The food was great and in total Esben and me ate for 10 dollars . From the left, Sondra had fish burritos, Esben fish tacos and I had a deep fried green pepper stuffed with cheeses.

   

We had a great weekend with Sondra and Tom – and it is just much more fun to go out and eat with our friends . The next morning we went back for breakfast at the restaurant, and said goodbye to Sondra and Tom. Sondra and Tom were headed home to San Diego, and we were on our way to Observatorio Astronómico Nacional de la Sierra de San Pedro Mártir.

60 miles (100 km) of twisting road to the observatory

 

We also got a short tour inside the observatory (left picture), which is included in the camping fee . The observatory is only open for tours from 10 am to 1 pm. We were at the observatory at 10:10 am, and we only waited 30 min before a tour guide came and unlocked to gate – “It is Mexico-time”. After that we hiked the Mirador Al Altar (right picture).

 

The hike started in 8200 feet  (2500 meter), so it was a workout to go uphill. It was a beautiful hike. If you have already have seen the video, you know that we hit a few snow patches, but we just still had to post this picture

It was worth all the effort when we finally got to the top. Two beautiful viewpoints . In the left picture, you se the official viewpoint, were we are standing on a platform.

 

It took 1 hour and 30 minutes to get up there, but we only took us 1 hour to go back down.

Resting in the sun…

Back at the campground Esben got a fire going. It got cold in the evening, and it was below freeze during the night, because we had ice on the inside of the tent. We really appreciate our tent from NEMO and our sleeping bags from HÂGLOFT, where the comfort temperature for men is –9 Celsius and –2 Celsius for women.

Esben is enjoying the fire and planning the route towards Coco’s corner

We left the observatory, and headed down the twisty road. As soon as we got down from the observatory, we were back riding through the dessert.

We had fish tacos on a parking lot, and a very nice lady gave us strawberry’s for dessert.

 

While having lunch, at young girl came to us. Esben was convinced that she was just curious, and I was sure that she wanted to ask for money. Can you guess what happened? To minutes later she asked for money – I was right. We don’t like giving money, instead we have to learn this Spanish sentence: “No le puedo dar dinero, pero puede sentarse en mi moto” – Do you know what it mean?

 

Answer: “We can’t give you money, but you can sit on my motorcycle”. The girl was a little bit disappointed, but at least she was smiling again .

Back on the road, we realized that we have been pushing our selves a little bit too much, and we would not make it to Coco’s corner before it was lat. So we decided to camp out in the dessert.

 

The next day we had to fill up gas at this gas station before riding to Coco’s corner – if you can call it a gas station.

 

We arrived at Coco’s corner, where we got a warm welcome from Coco

 

Coco just turned 80 years old, he is a happy old man, who lives 15 miles (25 km) out in the dessert of highway 1. He put us in one of his small campers, were we could camp for free (left picture). After our arrival I made a luxury lunch, a tuna sandwich with avocado – Healthy eating on the road/trying to loose weight. We eat two cans of tuna (one for each) everyday for lunch –> there is a lot of canned tuna in Mexico. Normally we spice it up with ketchup and chili powder. Ketchup and tuna goes great together!

 

Pit toilets at Coco’s corner – and Esben made sure that all the guys who went in there, will know about our travel

 

The next day we said goodbye to Coca and left for Bay of Los Angeles (Bahia de Los Angeles). Had to go past a huge truck on the gravel road (right picture)

 

Arriving at Bay of LA… loved to view!