Comondu

The next day brings 100 km of dirt road that will lead us past a small mision in comondu and a couple of beautifully lush palm tree oases. We need to be in loreto at 5 to meet paige. We already know that 100 km over the mountains in dirt will take us about 5 hours taking it easy with breaks and sightseeing, and sure enough, we get there at 3. the mision of comondu is closed unfortunately, but the land scape is gorgeous and well worth the trip.

In the middle of the ride we stop for lunch and have the remainders of the noodle dish. Lucky for us there was a small store open in La Poza Grande and we had bought a bottle of Salsa Verde. We drop half a bottle into the dish and what a difference! It turns into an absolutely edible meal. It's the little things in live, and we love it.

In Loreto, we find a hotel at the malecon with a view of the Sea of Cortes that looks like a mega palapa for cheap, take the first shower since the mainland ( I will leave the math up tp you) and go to the Cafe 0le.

At 5.05 paige rolls up. she has bee-lined it from los barilles in 4 jours for 300 some odd miles. she had the most amazing trip herself. Apparently those other riders she met had a beatiful spot south of la paz where paige got to kick back and enjoy.

since it's christmas eve most places are closed but paige is jonesing for steak so we find a fancy hotel on the beach that serves steak. It's like You Are Now Entereing The American Sector. After days in the boons it's almost a shock to the system, and at the same time very enjoyable because they serve good salad. It's been meat, fish, cheese and tortillas for the last week for paige and me and rice beans and guacamole for alex, so our bodies are very appreciative of this.

we fall to bed utterly satisfied after food and strawberry margeritas only to find out that our cosy palapa with the ocean view is not insulated whatsoever and that the locals go up and down this strip with their stereos hopping much like in the Mission district in San Francisco. I have 34 decible ear plugs but can still hear most, especially the one that makes my bedposts dance. I don't even want to know how paige and Alex were able to sleep without ear plugs.

I can't sleep so I amuse myself with finding patterns on the different car that go by. You can discern them by the type of music they play and I'm counting the amount of cars that are doing this loop and after a while I can tell when one drops out, like, oh, the guy with the salsa music didn't come around this time.

Eventually it all goes quiet. No idea at what time, since I have long given up to look at the clock much, nor do I know what day of the week it is without thinking hard. I know that tomorrow is Christmas but even that seems very far away. Traveling brings on its own rhythm and man made highlights seem to become less important, except for we are not sure if the stores are open, but we don't care since we do have emergency rations and can easily survive for a couple of days.