Paddle Baja :Surfski and SUP training and rentals in La Ventana, Baja California Sur, Mexico

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Day two of travel. Guerrero Negro to La Paz. 13 hours with stops.
Since Odile hit Baja 5 days ago I've seen a lot of "I heard" posts. Two of the best so far are "I heard the arch at Cabo San Lucas collapsed" and "I heard the prison at Cabo was damaged and all the prisoners escaped". I've stopped reading "I heard" posts. Here are the facts from today: I left Guerrero Negro after filling my tank at 5:00am and headed south. All the reports on the problems south of GN come from  the undercutting of the elevated roadway between km 27 and km 28.5. We were stopped for ½ hour waiting for heavy equipment working on the road. It's a little sketchy here as this is where the tractor trailer fell sideways off the road because the pavement was undercut. You're driving on a single lane road with 6 foot drop offs on one side or the other. Minor detour at 260 km. Probably 20 washouts in arroyos but no detours. Gas was available at both stations in Vizcaino. Stopped for breakfast at Rice and Beans in San Ignacio at 7:45. They have a generator running. Going down the hill from Rice and Beans water was flowing across the highway. Up to running boards on the Xterra - just over a foot deep (on Friday morning 8:30am). I bought gas at Vizcaino, Santa Rosalia, Mulege, Loreto, Ciudad Insurgentes, and La Paz. Arrived La Paz 6:00pm. 
Mex 1 at San Ignacio

Santa Rosalia






La Paz
I think the toughest part of the drive was the last 10 km into La Paz where they're working on a new four lane highway. Starting at about 100km north of La Paz I noticed a few of those big four legged transmission towers knocked over. By the time I arrived La Paz I'd seen probably fifty.  Arriving in El Centenario it was amazing to see the damage. Most of the street lights are not working but everyone is doing the four way stop. No horns blowing and drivers waving each other through.
If you're driving down stop in Ensenada and pick up a weeks worth of groceries for a local family. Here in La Ventana there is no water and the stores don't have much on their shelves.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the updates, we posted your blog on our blog; http://bajavisitor.blogspot.com/

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  2. Thanks so much, Warren. You are a wonderful ambassador for us gringos and i'm glad you're going to be there to help.

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  3. We were in the US when the hurricane impacted our community of Elias Calles. We need to drive down with a trailer to bring supplies and begin reconstruction. Checking your blog regularly for updates... thank you for taking the time to state the facts.

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  4. Thanks for the update! And great idea about the grocery stop in Ensenada. We are trying to find out what our local friends in San Nicolas (fish camp near Conception) might need.

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