Oki is learning to budget

Dear family, friends and followers, this full re-cap is best enjoyed with a delightful beverage of your choice and a free schedule. Please excuse the grammatical and spelling errors as internet access has become more of a marathon than a leisurly activity.

Preparing for our only brief encounter with rain while in route to Ensenada, Baja California Photo: Erika Avellaneda-Celis

Tiajuana -> Ensenada

Erika and I climbed out of Tiajuana and rode all down hill Rosarito on March 21st. where we set up camp on the beach. I slept decently Okay, but to be honest I was still a little weary about sleeping in urban public places so I found myself up at 4AM. Since then I mellowed out immensley because I have come to realize 99% of the Mexican population is no different than your average American going about their daily life. The problem is media loves to hype bad news and create drama.

Ensenada -> Catavina

We had a really awesome time riding to Ensenada where we stayed at the “Casa de Cyclistas” as it has come to be known. It is a little private apartment that is available (upon 1 week notice) to traveling cyclists who pass through. It is watched over by an awesome elderly couple Herrardo & Delia who still walk the streets holding hands just as if they were young lovers. We stayed here for two days and got our selves ready to head out to the desert by bus. Now typically this would not be the case, but Erika and i decided to fast-forward and take a bus out to the beggining of the desert. We did this based on 1) the advice of  Gabriel Shimomotoan, a cyclist and geniunely caring member of the Ensenada community, who is in charge of promoting tourism for the State of Baja California 2) being slightly behing schedule for our projected arrival to La Paz in order to meet with my friend and sister’s boyfriend Rodrigo. From what I could see from the bus window, I was a glad we did not ride this portion of our journey by bike. The treturous turns and cliffs on the two lane road that climbed out of Ensenda with truckers carrying farmed produce and pushy bus drivers was enough to cause any driver or cyclist into white-knuckle syndrome. On that note, to be completely fair, the truckers in Baja are no real danger to cyclists. They are incredibly aware and careful while taking turns because they are very familiar with how challenging the highway 1 can be. The real problem comes into play when you have motorists and buses who drive as though they are entitled to the entire lane and have no issue with passing on blind turns and up hills. I can’t count how many times Erika and I have had to pull over because on coming traffic was in our lane trying to overtake another vehicle. If you are thinking about riding Baja a side view mirror is a MUST!

Catavina -> Guerrero Negro

The bus let us off at around mid-night in Catavina as it is known to the tourists, or Rancho San Ignes to the locals. We set up camp behind the little resort and started out the next day a litle bit too late in the morning. See the trick to survivng a ride through the desert is to get up early.

Day one is the desert just about pack to leave Catavina. The whistle around my neck helps make my presence known amongst agressive traffic. Photo: Erika Avellaneda-Celis

Well, Erika and I like to learn things the hard way so the first few days where treturously hot and long. The desert landscape isn’t all that exciting and after a few days of long straight flat stretches with the same scenery. In facr you go into a time warp and forget which day of the week it is. The best part though about riding through the desert is camping in it. Especially near the turn of a full moon. Ever since southern Oregon, I have developed a nightly ritual of looking up at the stars and sleeping with my head pointing north. At first it started just with the desire of wanting to know which direction was North. I did this by looking for the last two stars of the Big Dipper that point towards the North Star. After a while I found myslef contemplating what it means to be under the same set of constelations that I could see back home in Alaska. I would think in my love Laura as I wished her a goodnight on the many nights I had no access to a phone. After 4 days of riding through the desert, three flat tires within two days; I arrived in Guerrero Negro, the first major city of Southern Baja California slightly sun-burnt and dirty as hell.

Guerrero Negro -> San Ignacio

Photo: Erika Avellaneda-Celis

Before prepping to do another stretch of the desert, Erika and I took care of some much needed bike maintnance and I got to do little bit of street photography. This was my first real opportunity to set out on foot and just watch life happen as the sun crept into the horizon taking with it the some of the most amazing shadows. From Guerrero Negro, Erika and I set out a 7:30 AM on March 29th on another full-moon attempt to break our previous record for total milage done in one day. Little did we know how incredibly hard and full filling this push would be. By 11Am we had a third member on our team. Fausto Irriate, a Mexican cyclist from Morelia on his 2nd tour.  After  80 km of riding ,we shared a filling lunch of soup, tortillas, beans, guacamole,  fruits and a beer; all in the shade of a Pemex gast station  in Vizcaino. We left the gas station around 12:30 just as you really start feeling the sun against your skin. The three of us pushed on till we could no longer keep a decent pace and pulled over to take a nap. I slept under the shade of a cactus while Erika slept under the bridge. Fausto was just an stones throw away under a tree. I have nerver slept so well or felt so refreshed as drank the tea-hot water from my black MSR water bladder. We laid low for about 1.5hrs hours and decided to keep trucking. The last 20km of this day where a big tease as the landscape tricked us into thinking that the oasis of San Ignacio was just over another hill.

Imagine riding 9-hours in the sun for 150km in one day! That is our friend Fausto in the back. Photo: Erika Avellaneda-Celis

Even the locals contributed to the confusion as they responded to our question of how much further, with ¨otros cinco kilometros¨, another 5 km, over a stretch of 20km. By the time we caught sight of the military check point that was some 2km from the oasis of San Ignacio the sun felt like nothing more than just a distant light source about to dip behind the horizon. We stayed at the Petates camp ground that sits just at the base of the still river. Upon arriving I immediatley took off my jersey and shoes and jumped into the water with my bike shorts sill on, I had never been able to experince the senastion of osmosis so well. It was that same full moon night after pedaling for 150km, that we formed our mini-tribe of cyclists and friends for life. We were a total of five: Anthony Musick from Southern CA, Pasquel the German, Fausto Irriarte from Morelia and Erika and I the Colombian-Alaskans.

San Ignacio -> Conception Bay

Reading Willie hensley´s memoir with the portrait I made of him on the cover always made me feel proud. Photo: Erika Avellaneda-Celis

We played and explored San Ignacio. We shared stories of cycling adventures and the lessons we have learned from life over Tecate beers around the fire as my Hasselblad pointed to the Northern sky jsut a few meters away capturing our existance. The following day I made portraits of the crew, and even re-created an image with the help of Erika who took the photo. The image (soon to come) was a spoof of an image of Ron who we stayed with while in Cambria, CA who at the age of 18 in the 1960’s had crossed Baja with his friends on horse back before the paved road existed. In Ron’s photo, his horse drinks water from the oasis of SanIgnacio, as he sits high with no shirt in his jeans with the near-noon sun glaring into his eyes. My version of the photo has a bike in place of the horse as I sit high on  my bike i my bike shorts. Stoked! Can´t wait to get the film back!!!

We left San Ignacio two days later with the goal of being within sight of the Sea of Cortez and Conception Bay. We made a quick pit stop in Mulege,  a small town just 20km away from the water. After picking up our food for the weekend I headed off to the internet cafe to fire off some emails and to confirm a work/stay in Puerto Vallarta. Not 5 min. into the computer-web-sesh. an American traveling by motorcycle came in asking to whom the two Surly Long Haul Trckers (our bikes) belonged to. Upon responding the American pointed out that he remebered meeting us back in Oregon in a town that I didn´t recall at the moment nor can I even now.

After leaving the cafe I went to find a much needed public phone so i could hear the voice of my long distance love and future partner in life (yep that means wife!) Laura. Before dialing home I made a group photo with the Hassie of a volunteer fire crew and their engine. Speaking to Laura made me realize how much I had missed while I was away in the desert. One of the qualities I love most about Laura is her strength and ability to endure.  Unfortuanately life had handed her a difficult two weeks and she was in need of love and comfort. Im sorry and wish I could have been there to hold you mi amor.

In Conception Bay one of the first beaches we stayed at was Playa Burro, were we found ourselves setting up our tents just inches away from our neighbors. The reason for the huge turn out was Semana Santa (Holy Week). It was incredibly beautiful to see families with their kids and friends and their public displays of affection. Both Erika and I noted how drastically different this is compared to public places in the US. All in all our weekend became a game of shuffle where we packed up the next day in the hopes to find the less crowded beach of El Caracol at the end of the Bay. Instead we found ourselves in the howling wind and not so pretty water for swimming. None the less it was a very enjoyable night as I had plenty of time to read Willie Hensley´s memoir before sunset. By nightfal we had even made friends with a Carlos and his family who were from the town just south where we camped called Loreto. Over a cup of hot chocolate, Carlos shared stories of his youth sleeping in the desert and some pretty interesting rattle snake remedies for curing scares.

The next morning we trucked back 35km to Playa Requeson where we stayed and enjoyed snorkeling and swimming. We even  hitch hiked back to the town of Mulege to pick up some groceries! This was a new experience for Erika and I. We weren´t to sure how it would work, but I am proud say it was incredibly easy.

Conception Bay -> Loreto and currently La Paz.

Loreto is south of Conception Bay and became the awakening point for me on many levels. It was here while staying at a RV park that I had a breif panic attack about my financial situation which had me convinced I had to call the trip quits. My mind has a tendancy to go on the fritz if I am unaware of the cause but concious of their consequences. In this example I basicly found myself almost out of cash on hand and still 4-5 days away from La Paz which represented my goal for budgeting the funds i withdrew since leaving Tiajuana. My mind raced as I panicked about how if at all possible would I be able to pay my bills back at home and keep on trucking on if i couldn´t see where my 2,800 some odd pesos had gone to. Erika helped me realize that what i needed to do was just sit down and re-asses my finacial situation. I did this while at the library and have since decided re-structured to live on a new budget of $5 a day rather than the original $10.  I am happy to say that since implementing this budget and tracking my finances I was able to reach La Paz with what few extra pesos. I even keep an on going paper tally  which has actually been really handy and even balanced! If you had had as crappy economics teacher as I did in high school you would be thrilled too to finally make sense of it all.

But before arriving to La Paz and meeting my financial goal, I had a profound emotional growth happen while at the beach of Lugui. As I lay in the shade of the palapa (palm tree beach shelter) finishing Willie Hensley´s memoir. My eyes began to fill with tears. It happened as I read about Willie´s realization that the Iñuit people had never had the strengths of their culture acknowldged. At that moment I too recalled the experiences and people through out my journey that have been affirming my identity as a talented and able Latino Male Immigrant. An identity I had partially denied through out my life due to the negative stereotypes and sayings i had heard of people like my working class parents. In the end, I found myslef identifying with some of the core strengths that have been deeply embedded in generations of Iñuit and allowed their culture and people to thrive in land were few even dared to visit.

Starting this tour I knew that I would be a entirely differrent person by the end of it. My body has become physically conditioned to ride longer and faster in a diverse range of environments. I have begun to teach myself through patience to read, write and speak my first language of spanish in public libraries with the help of childrens books and spanish literature. And now, I track daily my expenses and plan for my meals and entertainment on a budget that allows me to truely know what it is that i consider to be of value. The best thing about all of this is that I am just shy of a third of the way to my destination of Bogota, Colombia!