Sunday, January 15, 2017

Jan 14--Mex 1 in the Rain

It rained some during the night, then started raining again as we were waking up. At least it had stopped raining when I was packing up my tent. Of course, the fly was wet anyway. The guys were planning on eating breakfast at the restaurant. I had looked at the menu the night before, and it was mostly Huevos (eggs). Since eggs and I don't always play well together, I decided I would, at most, have a hot chocolate, then eat a Lara Bar (I still have some I brought from home). However, it was just after 7:00, and the restaurant wasn't open yet. It had stopped raining, so I really wanted to get going before it started raining again. Brent said he would go too. Harry and Herb decided to wait for breakfast.

We were just taking Mex 1 to Cataviña, so no need for the Garmin. We got about 8 miles when it started to rain again. We just hammered on, taking just short breaks so we didn't get cold. Well, Brent was pretty cold anyway. I was okay.

We got to San Augustin, 24 miles in, at 10:00. There was a restaurant, so we stopped and had food and something hot to drink. I asked the lady how far to Cataviña. She said 35 km. Not bad! After we ate, I asked if there was a baño. She said it was on the back of the building. I walked around and found the door with mujere written on it. I went in. The toilet was sitting cockeyed, and tilted. It didn't really even look like it was connected to the floor. But...I really had to pee. So, connected or not, I left my deposit. I told Brent that baño took the cake! We've had some pretty interesting ones, but this was the most interesting of all so far!

We got back on the road and right away, came to a military checkpoint. I said, "Necesitas alto?" He smiled at me, and said no. We rolled on.

At first when we started, we were still seeing lots of those weird trees, and saguaro cactus. Then, even though we passed a sign that said Valle de los Cirios, which we thought we were already in, the vegetation changed to more of a desert. There weren't as many cactus, and it just looked more barren. Then, the closer we got to Cataviña, the vegetation returned to the cactus and funky trees...and huge boulders.

We passed the place where we think the route comes out to head to Cataviña for resupply. It's 6 miles north of Cataviña. When we rolled into town, we saw a pink pbuilding that looked like a hotel. We checked it out, but there didn't seem to be much signs of life. We figured there must be another hotel. Sure enough, and a fancy one at that. In fact, it is the fanciest hotel so far! It's called Hotel Misíon Cataviña. It's also the most expensive hotel we've stayed in. Still, it's about $32 each. We're staying two nights because of the rain. We will probably have to change our route as the way we are supposed to go is impassable. We are likely going to continue down Mex 1 to Punta Prieta, then head over to Bahiá de los Angeles on the Sea of Cortez. We'll pick up the route again from there...hopefully. No good photos for today--lo siento (I'm sorry).

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