May 27, 2023

From Baja California Sur to Yucatan [part 2] – Crossing the Sonora desert

This is part two of Jeanette and my 2023 journey through Mexico on our motorbikes. Click here to read part one where we ride from La Paz in Baja California Sur to Ensenada in Baja California.

In 2023 Jeanette and I make another large journey through Mexico. This time we’re headed from La Paz in Baja California Sur to the Yucatan area. We try to ride as few toll roads as possible and try to avoid western tourism where that makes sense.

I’ve planned a route over the last few months. And on April 24th we left La Paz with all our belongings and started our big adventure. We hope to get a good look at Mexico post-chinese flu.

From Ensenada to Puerto Penasco

In this part of our adventure we head east, through the northern parts of Mexico. It consists of only 3 segments. For the first segment we planned to ride from Ensenada in Baja California to Puerto Penasco in Sonora.
I had prepared a route via Tecate, on the USA border, to Mexicali and then crossing the Rio Colorado river delta into the Sonora desert.

We left Ensenada in the morning under a cloud cover facing stiff winds. The forecast predicted the wind should stop once we crossed the mountains near Mexicali. Looking forward to that we went on our way wearing long pants, jackets and 3 layers of clothing.
After a mostly uneventful ride of casual rain and relentless wind from every direction we finally crossed a mountainous area near Rumorosa and *poof* sunshine and no more winds! Woohoo!

There were some road repairs in the mountains and a semi-truck got stuck in a bend in the road so we took some pics while we waited for traffic to clear.

After a quick break and a hotdog at a truckstop near Mexicali we drove through the Rio Colorado river delta and headed into the Sonora desert. In a small farmers town we were warned by the locals not to loiter around as some guys on a black motorbike were trying to rob other motorists. We were lucky and didn’t encounter any trouble.

Because todays distance was 500+ kilometers this is the bit where I wanted to drive faster to make up some time and reach Puerto Penasco before nightfall. Speeding along highway 3 we quickly left civilization behind and into the desert were I crashed straight into this massive hole in the road.

Jeanette was behind me and could barely avoid it but I boinked through the hole going about 100km/h (~60 mph). Miraculously I came out fine at the other end but my wheel didn’t survive. A big dent on the right side, smaller one on the left and the tire didn’t hold air anymore.

After gathering my wits for a few minutes and cursing Mexican roads, Mexico in general and everything in it we decided to head back to the last town, some 20 kilometers back. This of-course took ages with a bent rim and an almost flat tire. We did find a friendly mechanic who had no tools to actually do anything useful but he tried to bend the rim straight with a massive wrench. Despite his good intentions he didn’t have much luck.

His advise was to head to a bigger town further down the road;
“Which town?”
“The one with a traffic light in it.”
“Right, we saw a traffic light. How much further is that?”
“Oh, just 10 or so kilometers.”

Having little choice we limped there, which took a good 30 minutes. After looking around a bit we found ourselves in a similar situation. A car friendly mechanic with few tools. He did manage to make a weak seal with paper and oil so we could carefully drive to a better repair place… But as soon as we left his workshop the tire deflated again. So that was a wasted effort.

BMW roadside assistance is a joke

While the 2nd mechanic was working on trying to get the tire to hold air we called BMW roadside assistance and spend 2 excruciating hours on the phone with their incompetent callcenter only to realize that no help was coming. It took almost an hour before they understood our problem, who we were and that we definitely had a BMW motorcycle. We provided pointless details and endless explanations and wasted a lot of time before they to promised a tow truck that never came. We got promised a hotel in the wrong city. And they would send a local taxi that doesn’t exist and then the connection was lost, or they hung up on us. When we finally got them on the line again they basically cancelled all service because “They do not provide service for BMW”. Oh, right, of-course… What were we thinking calling the BMW service number?!

So with no hope of help arriving anytime soon we paid the mechanic for his time and drove 27 more kilometers on a flat tire in the dark along a rural highway to the first place that looked like a city. Google Maps said it had a motel so we could get some dinner, rest up and rescue ourselves.

It’s now over a week later (at the time of writing) and we’re still ‘waiting’ on that tow truck, a taxi and for them to call back. You know, because BMW cares for our safety and wellbeing…

Anyway, we made it to a hotel in Guadalupe Victoria at around 10 at night. Exhausted, frustrated and me wishing I could ride this damn bike of of a cliff and go do something fun again. I was convinced our trip would be over, or at least be delayed for several months while we waited for a new wheel and BMW to finally do something useful – Since they control the parts and repairs.

Fixing a bent rim in 3 easy steps

We found some helpful people in the motel who assured us it wasn’t a big deal and we’d be on our way the next day. I wasn’t so optimistic. But whatever… If everything got screwed up further I needed a new rim already anyway. Or so I thought.

Step 1 – get directions

The next day we decided not to bother with BMW roadside any longer and figure things out ourselves. We extended our hotel stay for a few more days and headed into town – Explore a bit, see what’s what and try and find some capable help. We spoke to a few cops that were posted near the hotel and asked where they’d service their bikes. Officially in Mexicali, far away, but they pointed us to a place near the local hospital. On our way there we spotted a Michelin tire service center with in it a well connected guy who pointed us to a rim repair shop and a mechanic. Aha!

Step 2 – Hiring scruffy dudes to make stuff happen

The rim repair shop turned out to be a welding shop and after showing him a picture of the rim his only request was to bring the bare rim and he seemed confident to be able to fix the thing. No biggie he said. Great!
A few minutes later at the mechanic shop we were assured they could help and they claimed to have tools to remove the wheel – Which was only half true, but they managed with ‘only’ minor damages to the rim to get it off the bike and remove the tire from it.

Then, after lunch, back in the welding shop the guy used a blowtorch, a mallet and a grinder to convince the wheel to be round again..

He spent about 45 minutes on it and afterwards we tightened up all the spokes and spun the wheel for a few minutes to eyeball its roundness and some minor adjustments and 300 pesos later I was on my way back to Michelin to ask if they could put the tire back on with their magic tire machine. As I didn’t trust the mechanic guys to handle it without causing more damage.

Step 3 – Putting things back together

Michelin kindly put the tire back on and inflated it. We checked if the air stayed in by dunking it in a bathtub full of water which it did. We then measured it to be 32psi and I could head back to the mechanic to reassemble the wheel onto the motorbike. They somehow managed and 500 more pesos and 20 minutes later I could ride my bike again.

All in a days work, for less than $100US I had multiple people work on my wheel and fix it sufficiently enough to ride again without noticeable difference. I think. Not too bad!

2 days left

Since we extended our hotel stay with a few days we spent those putting the stress behind us, curse BMW roadside a bit more and exploring this dusty town, city, whatever…
We found the people to be amazingly welcoming friendly. Especially when they found out we weren’t Americans and even more so when we tried to speak Spanish. Which was a very weird but welcome experience after all the stress and miserable experiences of the last few days.

We wandered around the small town center, tried some of the local restaurants and stumbled across a 2nd hand street market which was full of curious and friendly people as well. And finally we would attempt our Sonora desert crossing again the next day.

Finishing our ride to Puerto Penasco

We headed out again, riding at a slow pace this time so we could avoid the thousands of potholes. I managed to crash into the first one, but many more followed. Occasionally we followed in the slipstream of trucks swerving all over the lanes avoiding holes for many kilometers.
As soon as we crossed the Sonora state border the road got much better and we could speed things but considerably.
We made a brief stop for drinks and fuel in a small town called Golfo de Santa Clara.

And another stop for some photos at a large salt flat.

And overall we had a nice sunny ride to our destination. The first 100 kilometers or so was very intense for me as I didn’t trust the wheel. Every little bump and vibration was butt-clenching suspicious. But over the past week I rode about 1100 kilometers on it and it seems fine. I’ll probably replace the rim when I arrive in Yucatan.

Sometime in the afternoon we finally arrived in Puerto Penasco, 4 days later than planned, and quickly headed to a hotel and then the beach to enjoy the nice weather and sea view there.

If you recall, I mentioned the desert crossing consisted of 3 segments. I’ll talk about those other two in the next post where we continue our adventure to Hermosillo and Guaymas in Sonora.

May 18, 2023

From Baja California Sur to Yucatan [part 1] – Heading north

In 2023 Jeanette and I make another large journey through Mexico. This time we’re headed from La Paz in Baja California Sur to the Yucatan area. We’re not sure exactly where we want to end up. As usual for us we try to ride as few toll roads as possible. And we try to avoid ‘regular’ tourism as much as possible.

I’ve been planning the route for the last few months. And on April 24th we left La Paz with all our belongings strapped to the bike and started our big adventure. We hope to get a good look at Mexico post-chinese flu. Our trip will be about 8800km (~5500 miles) long.

Jeanette rides her BMW G310GS and I’m on a BMW F850GSA. Both bikes have been modified a bit with pannier racks, sidecases and GPS phone mounts. Jeanette also has a 4 liter RotoPax fuel tank.

Loreto and San Javier

Our first stop was Loreto. A silly little town full of American tourism. Our main reason for stopping there was to visit the tiny village of San Javier a little ways into the mountains. Loreto is nice for its restaurants and hotels but has otherwise very little to offer to us. We spent 2 days here, 1 day exploring the town center and the next day we went to San Javier.

In San Javier the main attraction is the old mission church and what’s left of the garden/grounds behind it. Most of it is in ruins, but the main church building is fully preserved which was very nice to see.

Mulege

After Loreto we moved on to Mulege, another small town where we spend the night.
Mulege is a bit of an oasis town which has a small river and some trees which was a nice change from living in La Paz where most nature is arid desert most of the year.

Mulege also has a old mission church, which was closed. I was hoping their old Prison would be open, apparently there is a nice museum in there, but it was closed as well. So instead we explored the town and its surroundings for the afternoon and moved on the next day.

San Ignacio

San Ignacio is another oasis town, mostly known for its town square and preserved church, which has a small museum next to it. Some of the clergy quarters and such are preserved. The museum was open, and lucky for us, free of charge. We also found a small museum that had replica cave paintings found in the area. Which was nice to see as well.

Also here, we explored the town and tried the few restaurants and had a nice time here.

Guerrero Negro and the cold front

Unknown to us a cold front had snuck up on Baja California. Which presented itself to us on the way to our next stop – Guerrero Negro. First as clouds, but later a firm northern wind hit us head-on as well. Suddenly we went from sunny 25-35 celsius to 8-15 celsius temperatures and a thick cloud cover. We stayed in Guerrero Negro for 1 night mostly to split up the long ride to Ensenada. But it was the coldest night in weeks…

We both kept adding layers of clothing to keep somewhat warm, but that only works for so long. So we felt a bit miserable in our summery clothes.

In Guerrero Negro we strolled around town a bit looking for a decent restaurant but not much was available. The ‘hotel’ was one of those places where you’d expect a cockroach in every corner, but actually was pretty good. Still, we felt we made a poor choice in hotel somehow. At least the shower was hot…

El Rosario de Ariba and Ensenada

The next day we headed out into the pervasive northern wind which was even colder than yesterday. Our next stop was El Rosario de Ariba, a small farmers village, again to break up the long ride to Ensenada. We found a nice hotel there with an attached restaurant which had great food, yay! This cheered us up from the freezing cold quite a bit. The hot showers also helped a lot.

And the next day we started our 3rd day into the strong winds for the final leg to Ensenada.
The ride to Ensenada was scenic at times, with ever greener mountains and long stretched valleys. But the endless wind sort of ruined our mood. The road was narrow and didn’t allow for much stops, so we kinda had to get a move on and we arrived in Ensenada in the afternoon.
Ensenada, the touristy bit anyway, seems to be a small-ish sleepy town. Until a cruise ship arrives. Then suddenly all shops open up. The actual Ensenada is of-course much bigger and a ton of people live here.

Also the weather cleared up a bit, which was nice. No more clouds, woohoo!

We explored the touristy bit first and the next day the ‘regular’ city center as well and found the excellent Casa de Cultura, a preserved hacienda style building with a large garden that apparently has been used as a casino, hotel, bar, disco and a bunch of other purposes over the years. According to the lore the Margarita drink was invented here.
Currently it’s a bit of a museum and has a small bar kind of setup in the courtyard. A nice place to sit and have a drink.

Onwards!

Soon we’ll head east into Sonora and onto the rest of our journey trough Mexico. Some 7000 kilometers to go. Hopefully in nicer weather than the last few days.

March 24, 2023

Day trip to Leona Vicario from Cancun

It was my first ride outside the city of Cancun and off the highway into the Mexican countryside. Following the D180 National route to Leona Vicario, a sleepy little Puebla 45 minutes outside Cancun.

Leona Vicario is named after the wife of Independent figure Andres Quintana Roo. This little village had about 6500 inhabitants in 2010 and I doubt any more have been added over the years. Because it is away from the tourist area it was my first taste of Mexican life in the countryside. And I must say: I like what I see.

Little did I know when I took that trip that I would see so much more authentic Mexican villages, unspoiled by tourism. But this was a good start. If you ever plan on going there: Across the cemetery there is (or was when I was there) a burrito restaurant that has great food! And you can enjoy the mural of the cementario while eating.

I made a short video impression, walking through the town, and a visit to the tiny colorful cemetery.

January 9, 2023

Riding a motorcycle in Mexico City for the first time

With the metropolis of Mexico City approaching quickly my worries also grew. I love riding a motorcycle but I prefer the more quiet roads, paved and the sun in my back. Mexico City appears to offer none of that. Looking at maps, I saw endless roads, flyovers, red markings for heavy traffic, and tons of road crossings and bypasses.

On top of all that I heard some pretty bad stories about riding a motorcycle in the Mexican capital. People told me I would be robbed while waiting for traffic lights and I would be pulled off my motorcycle.

Not the kind of stories I wanted to hear and that made me ride very stressed. I seriously considered taking down the GoPro and the GPS that day because they’re in plain sight. Me with my vivid imagination was totally worked up and nervous the night before.

Luckily for me the road towards the city was quite awesome. Arnan picked a twisting road through the mountains with lots of nature, forests and sunlight filtering through the trees. It was a good road too. You really had no idea that you were approaching one of the biggest cities in the world. Well, have a look for yourself.

After arriving safely at our hotel in the middle of Mexico City I realized that things weren’t as bad as people make it out to be.

In 2021 Arnan and I did a motorcycle trip through Mexico

Driving through Mexico City was but a small part of our large trip through Mexico.

More than 9500 kilometers (~6000 miles)
From Cancun to La Paz
Avoiding toll roads where possible
We drive through the heart of Mexico
from north to south
from the East coast to the West coast
from state to state
from Pueblo to Pueblo

You can download our routes from city to city Cancun to La Paz here. These routes include all the information you need for an amazing and hopefully safe road trip through Mexico in GPX files that you can import into most GPS systems.

Included with the routes you’ll get Points of Interest which include:

Gas stations
Lunch Stops
Hotels
Government checkpoints
Illegal checkpoints and caution zones we encountered
And for some segments; Road Conditions and warnings

The entire route is split up in segments which makes it easier to use the routes also for day trips.

November 25, 2022

Dealing with checkpoints and road blocks in Mexico

There are lots of stories going around about Mexican government checkpoints, not all of them are good. And many people experience checkpoints as the scary part of their motorcycle trip filled with uncertainties and risk.

Mexico has a lot of checkpoints. Especially in the Yucatan and Quintana Roo area and in border areas there are plenty of them. Commonly found at important intersections in rural areas, in front of rural police stations/compounds and on state/city or municipal borders. Sometimes a stop is required, but often times most traffic is waved trough. It’s common curtesy to slow down to a walking pace, even if a stop is not required, this helps officers on duty to see what you’re up to and do a quick visual inspection without having to stop you.

We use the iOverlander app a lot to scout routes and attractions and when you check their database you read the most outlandish stories of checkpoint experiences mostly jotted down by paranoid American citizens. During our motorcycle trip from Cancun to La Paz we waited in line on several occasions while a vehicle from the USA before us bursted out in panic and overly dramatic nonsense when a the checkpoint police officer ask simple questions about where they’re going or where they came from.

We all know the stories of illegal checkpoints and roadblocks, often operated by cartels stopping you or sometimes corrupt police officers. But during my trip I noticed something; Checkpoints aren’t half as scary as some of the overly-dramatic Americans make them out to be.

If you are uncertain about checkpoints during your motor ride through Mexico, just ignore the ‘reviews’ or stories. But also if you’re curious if there are any on your chosen route every route all routes available on MotoTravel have a points of interest file with the checkpoints and chokepoints we encountered on our travels. This will help you plan and prepare for such eventualities.

The federal government is working hard to eliminate corruption

This is a big focus point in the modern Mexican army and amongst the various police services, both municipal and state police. But also within the Guardia Nacional, who took over the Federal police a few years ago. Simply because the Federal Government wants every citizen and tourist in Mexico to feel more safe.

Do not make drama when you get stopped, these people are simply doing their job in most cases.

For the most part I have found them to be very polite, for safety purposes they document everything they do, either through a body camera or a colleague with a camera or phone, expect documents such as your drivers license or ID card to be photographed as well.
A few army checkpoints near the US border seemed a bit more strict and demanding with a hint of impatience for you to open bags and cases if they want to look inside though. Some of them were build-up like proper defendable positions with sand-bag barriers, walls and machine guns.
These look a bit scary and the realization of a gun barrel pointing at your from the fortifications is a bit weird.

Overall though, most of the inspections and checkpoints we’ve gone through were done professionally and without foul play.

And that is exactly why I write this post, to give balance to the idiocy that is going around on the internet over checkpoints in Mexico.

In my opinion, many of the stories floating around are fuss about nothing or outdated, or are just incidents. I suspect due to the skittish behavior of the passengers in the vehicle being stopped. The drama I have witnessed when US citizens get pulled over in a checkpoint is beyond belief. I do not envy the persons on duty that have to deal with these people.

I think I might have seen one cartel checkpoint but did not have to pass through them, but they did not look all that scary. Even though the dudes were heavily armed, they only seemed to stop trucks coming from the opposite direction as we were going to. We did encounter many illegal checkpoints, and at one point I used a car as a shield to pass through the checkpoint simply because I did not feel like stopping to pay a their illegal tolls.

We also passed a few Immigration Checkpoints. Most of the time I could just ride through without stopping at all. In another checkpoint I had to unpack my bags, and a few times I had my paperwork for the motorcycle checked.

One time it was a sanitization stop for covid-19 and I got sprayed down with something – probably a disinfectant. That was hilarious, I could hear Arnan through our helmet intercom talking to the guy like: “What is this stuff, why do you do this???” as no explanation was given. It made me laugh.

Other times such checkpoints are to counter things like birdflu. These have no interest in civilian traffic and only check trucks with livestock and food stuffs.

In the videos below you’ll see some checkpoints we passed through.

A large Immigration checkpoint near the Chiapas/Oaxaca border.

And a compilation of various other checkpoints throughout Mexico.

Are you planning on taking a Mexican Road trip?

Don’t let the bad stories deter you and start planning your adventure.
Please check out our tracks and routes in the MotoTravel webshop.

These routes and segments have been carefully prepared so everyone can use them. They include many Points of Interests including all checkpoints, official or otherwise, we’ve encountered as well as hotels, fuel stations and more.

November 18, 2022

The Bicol Zigzag route on Luzon in the Philippines

When you are riding in the Philippines and follow the the Pan Filipino Highway through Quezon heading south, towards Bicol you’ll find the old Bicol ZigZag route between Pagbilao and Atimonan. A 2-lane twisting road through a forested group of hills which is pretty amazing to do by motorcycle.

We I left the hotel that morning I did not know what was coming, Signs at the intersection happened to point us this way and seeing that most heavy highway traffic would go the other direction way this was my chance to ride at ease for a while. TYP

The whole area has the main highway build around it but the old route still exists for a more leisurely crossing through the nature preserve. It is the old version of the Pan Filipino highway, leading through Quezon protected landscape. Inside the preserve there are several spots to stop and take in the sights, explore some of what the park has to offer and just enjoy yourself in the forest.

It is as if time had stood still here, the ancient old forest makes you forget all the business of the surrounding area.

It is known by many names

The road come with many names. And therefore it might be confusing to find information about it. But on Google maps it’s simply called the “Old zigzag road”.

Some of the other names include;

Altimonan Zigzag Park
Altimonan Forest park
Altimonan Zigzag route
the old Zigzag route
Quezon Zigzag route
Pagbilao Road
Butikang Manok Road
EME Road

And I am sure locals will come up with more names for this road.

The Zigzag route

When you take the turn of the highway and enter the forest, the first thing you notice is that there is way less traffic, certainly no heavy trucks and trailers. A few kilometers in you’ll see why. Steep slopes and hair pin turns make up the famous Zig Zag road. Impassable for modern large trucks.

September 30, 2022

Roadside assistance for the BMW G310GS

Yesterday we were headed out to Todos Santos for lunch and icecream and just a leisurely drive. After stopping for fuel near the Walmart in La Paz the BMW G310GS wouldn’t start anymore. Dead battery – Not just low voltage, but actually dead.

We know a local guy which provides great service – And also does comes to your aid as it turns out. So with waiting and checking the battery and replacing it we were back on the road 2 hours later.

But it made me wonder, the symptoms match a lot of quirks my F850GS Adventure has… Maybe that one is bad too?

Update: I have recently replaced the battery in my F850GSa and since then none of the software, abs, brake and brake light issues have reared their head. Which made me realize all the electronics on it are kind of a luxurious pest.

August 29, 2022

Roundtrip to Cabo

Yesterday I went to the Cabo area for some exploring and alone time. Along the way I found a jungle like area that reminded of me of the Philippines. Having barely dodged a rain storm everything was nice and freshly green after the rain forced the dust to the ground.

May 24, 2022

An afternoon in Cabo san Lucas

In May of 2022 I drove down to Cabo san Lucas for lunch and a bit of fun. Living in La Paz is great, but the city as a whole doesn’t have much to offer and a change of scenery is nice from time to time. Cabo is supposedly only a few hours away. And it almost is. The plan was to leave somewhat early, have some fun in Cabo and ride back at the end of the day. Simple as that.
Continue Reading…

May 6, 2022

Ruins on the beach

Somehow this restaurant failed. All that is left are some walls and floors.

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