(October 14 – written by Nancy)

A few good hours of sleep (or maybe 15) does the body good.  After sleeping most of the afternoon and then all night I felt much better this morning.  I was able to keep liquids down late yesterday, and managed to drink some miso soup that we have been carrying for some time.  That, and a few rounds of aspirin, seemed to be the ticket and got us back on the road today.

While I was having my miso soup (and watching the Hunger Games on the cable TV in our little hotel room in the middle of nowhere!) Dave ended up having dinner with Nina and Martin, the Austrian couple we met a few days ago.  They rolled up at about 6:30 after a long 130km day, so after cleaning up they all went to eat at the restaurant next door.  I just waved to them from my sickbed…

We had hot water at our hotel – but the plumbing was “rough”.  Note pipes on wall, heater outside and gas can sitting in dirt.  Whatever works, we were happy

We made breakfast in the room this morning (oatmeal) and set off just about 8.  It was mostly a flat ride, with not too spectacular scenery – not like the couple of previous days, anyway.  We had a stop for morning tea at Jesus Maria, a very small town that had a gas station and a sports field.  We went through another military checkpoint and were waved through like the other ones.  The biggest point of the day was when we crossed from Baja California Norte (north) to Baja California Sur (south), just outside of our intended destination, Guerro Negro.  We changed time zones there, so now are 1 hour ahead.

Famous Jesus Maria taco stand

More agave from today

Hard to see but that’s a baseball field – 2 dugouts, small stand on left, back stop and finally tires for the outfield fence.  No grass.  Jesus Maria

Elephant tree where is has rained – leaves

Classic Baja volcano

More elephant trees – with some leaves

Welcome to Baja South

B.C.S – Baja California South – guess they could only afford a certain size sign here

As we approached Guerro Negro we ran into another touring cyclist heading into town.  Mark Wallis, a Brit, started in Ushuaia about 11 months ago and is headed up to San Francisco and then intends to cross the US to New York, then go up into Canada and make his way to Alaska (you can check out his blog at www.markwallisonwheels.net).  Mark is camping at one of the hotels down the road, but he came down to meet us and Frederik and Seb for dinner tonight so we had a good chance to talk.

Speaking of Frederik and Seb, it turned out that by day’s end yesterday both were sick as well (they are in the room next to us).  And, we just heard from Martin that Nina was unwell last night, so they stayed another day in Nuevo Rosarito.  The common denominator amongst us is that we all ate at the little restaurant in Chapala so I’d suggest anyone going through there skip the food and stick to bottled drinks…

Five cyclists at dinner

We are taking a rest day here – the place we are staying is okay (Hotel Ballena) and so far things are quiet.  Laundry is already done (there is a lavandaria just across the street and they’ll do it for you for 80 pesos) so hopefully tomorrow can be a real rest day after 8 days in a row of riding.  Phew.

Nancy and the laundry woman