Career change
Feb
20
2017
Time to trade in that cushy graphic design job for a job unloading trucks in Guatemala.
Time to trade in that cushy graphic design job for a job unloading trucks in Guatemala.
The distance on the map didn’t look to be that far. Really, kilometre-wise it wasn’t. But how long it takes to get there can depend on which roads you drive on.
When your brakes fail, it might as well be on a winding mountain pass with sheer drop offs and hairpin bends. Even better if it is a pass that climbs from near to sea level up to almost 3000m, before dropping back down to below 1500m. (That’s pushing 10,000′ before returning to less than 5000′ for those of you who have not gleefully embraced the metric system.)
El Espinazo del Diablo (the Devil’s Backbone—a mountain pass along Mexico’s highway 40) is an infamously sinuous mountain road that joins the towns of Mazatlán, Sinaloa and Durango, Durango. The road has a bit of a reputation for punishing travellers with terrifying accident-inducing winding turns. Luckily travellers are also rewarded with spectacular views as the road runs along a mountain ridge, high in the Sierra Madre mountains. This seemed like exactly the kind of thing we should investigate further.
We left with a Map. Well, OK, that isn’t entirely true. We left with a scrap of paper with the names of a couple of towns we would need to drive through written on it.
We expected to spend a couple of weeks exploring the southern end of the Baja peninsula and planned to arrange a ferry ride for ourselves and our Four Wheeled Ticket to Freedom sometime in January. First on the itinerary for our remaining time in Baja were the clear waters that lap the shores of the Cabo Pulmo National Park. We arrived at Cabo Pulmo for a spot of beach camping and found ourselves camped again with Geneva and Mike (It’s Not a Slow Car, It’s a Fast House) and Paula and John (Our Bigger Picture). Geneva and Mike told us how perfect the […]
As usual, we had hit the road without much of a plan. People we had spoken to had suggested several great places near to Loreto which sounded like fantastic next destinations. However, hindered by our near complete lack of maps, Agua Verde was simply the place on that list that we accidentally stumbled upon next.
After a brief stint on the narrow and shoulderless Highway 1, we took our first opportunity to get back to the peaceful coast of the Sea of Cortez—via Bahía De Los Ángeles. It was here that we spotted our first roof dogs of the trip and started to really feel like we were in Mexico.
After all the driving around we’d been doing in the USA, followed by some off-road adventuring around the mountainous back roads of Baja. It was time to slow down and enjoy the beach again. There is very little to report about our time in San Felipe.
What is the shortest way from New York City to Tijuana? Well, aside from flying, it still probably isn’t via Canada. But that is way we went.