1. Again and again I happen to meet the same road workers along several hundred kilometers of highway 1. They are filling the potholes in the road. We seem to have more or less the same tempo. One day I see them all having a siesta under some trees. How Mexican. We greet each other. That afternoon I see them again, and I decide to take a break and have a chat. I get some fresh drinking water from the cooler. I compliment them with their work (the road is in excellent condition).

13 mei 2003

Today was my hottest day so far: 39°C, and that's in the shade. If you happen to have a flat tire in the desert - like me today - you'd better find some. In the sun the temperature seems to have no limits. 50°C are easily reached. At such a temperature water slowly starts to think about boiling. At such a temperature grease starts to drip out of the bearings. At such a temperature things like glue start to melt. So further down the road I lost my derailleur switch protection thingy (the length of its name is inversely proportional to its importance so never mind).

10 mei 2003

Today I escaped from the USA. Officially it was called San José del Cabo, situated at the southern tip of Baja, but still it was the USA.

Somewhere along the way in Northern Baja I stopped at a hippie-esque cafe for a coffee break. In the bathroom they had the following poem. Just ignore the hippie stuff, I liked the text. What do you think?

I decided my name will be Gael (pronounced Gah-el) around here. It's much easier to pronounce for the Mexicans, and a name not uncommon in Spain. It's an old Celtic name from Galicia (actually I think it means Celt).

4 april 2003

Right now I´m staying in Bahia de Los Angeles, at a place called Camp Gecko. Looks like even the most remote places have a website.

First I camped with my tent under one of the palapas. Nice shade, but the palapa also turned out to be a windtunnel, so after one day my whole tent was full of sand. So I moved to a cabana. Very comfortable.

24 maart 2003

Yesterday I took a walk along the coast. I spent over an hour looking at the pelicans. There´s this rock just in front of the hostel. Pelicans, seagulls, seals. Just sitting there. It looks very "gezellig". A hundred meters away is another rock. Also full with birds, also "gezellig". Every now and then a pelican seems to think "oh well, let´s check out the other rock." And it spreads its mighty wings, takes off, makes a wide turn, and lands on the other rock. The rocks seem to have only one or two "aanvliegroutes", depending on the wind. Just like an airport.

A short update, just with some links (let others do the work ;-).

Last week I took a Spanish course at Baja California Language College.

After that I spend the weekend at Coyote Cal's beachside hostel.

Last night I stayed at Mama Espinoza's in El Rosario.

I love this country! With its cars that politely wait for you. Where everybody yields. With its palm trees and sunny beaches in March. With its Pacific. With its passers-by always in for a little chat. With its rollerskate babes. And with its streets and shopping malls where you can park your bike just like that, without locking it at all.

- Alles wat het niveau van McDonalds te boven gaat wordt "gourmet" genoemd.

- Wat voor eten je ook besteld (Japans, Italiaans, zelfs Mongools), het wordt klaargemaakt en je wordt bediend door Mexicanen.

- Een Amsterdamse junk zou zich rot lachen om het type fietssloten dat je hier op dure mountain bikes ziet.

- When somebody says to you "Hi, how're you doin'?", this is not meant to be a question. Please do not reply with a sincere answer. The only reply would be: fine. Just say "fine" and you'll be, well, fine. Say anything else, and it'll be the other guy to experience a culture shock. (I keep finding myself thinking "Well, how am I doing, actually?" ;-)