Baja Walk 2012 - San Ignacio Lagoon to San Juanico

We left San Ignacio Lagoon in the early morning and the first day on mud flats was easy going and very little mud, more like a highway of mud, smooth and flat. Finding a place to camp was difficult, but we did find a place behind a sand dune, next to a dry lakebed, it was nice, quiet and out of view of the “road”. The second day was exactly the same, with the only real problem being the choices of roads, literally every few hundred feet we would be offered  a choice of 2 or 3 roads, or path choices. We only made a wrong choice once, somewhere near “no town”. We figured it out quickly enough, turned around, and got back on track. On the second day, we made it to El Datil. We spend the night with Minerva and Hugo, camped on the porch of their tienda. These were two extremely nice people, so much so, we have made plans to come stay with them again at their home for a couple of weeks, so Hugo
can teach me to be a panga fisherman. PHOTOS on the porch :)

During our visit in El Datil, our new friends Tim Sanchez the “Desert Bull”, and John and Seth Beck showed up after spending the day searching for us. They came walking in just as we were showing photos of them and the day we met south of San Ignacio. YouTube video of their search for us: 

The next two days were by far the toughest we had encounter to date. There was a stretch of road that we had to pull threw of soft sand up to the axles. It was brutal. We had to camp in view of the road, but there was little traffic. The road was rough and rocky and made pulling the wagon difficult, but we made good time and good distance. The next day was a race to San Juanico and one of the hardest days because of the rocky road and the non-stop hills to climb.

About 6 miles from San Juanico, Tim, John, and Seth showed up again to check on us, and to let us know they were just about to BBQ. Of course, we said we wanted to continue and we see them around 10PM, however, by the time they had turned the truck around we changed our minds, so we marked the road with a stack of rocks and went into town. We enjoyed a great evening of conversation along with hotlinks on the barbeque and lots of great veggies, not to mention the hot shower, cold beer, ceramic toilet, and comfortable bed.

The next morning they took us to breakfast at El Burro Restaurant and drove us back out to the rocks on the road, so that we could finish the remaining miles to town. When we made it into town, we were walking to center of town on the only paved road, when we looked ahead and noticed school kids pouring out of the school into the street. Rachel and I crossed to the opposite side of the street to avoid the activity. However, moments later a woman crossed over to us and asked us to come back to the other side, so we did. It was at that moment we realized all the children from the school were lining both sides of the street and they were there for us. We walked the gauntlet as the children cheered and sang for us. It was a very moving experience and made everything we’ve done worthwhile.

That night, they had a special Mexican birthday dinner prepared especially for us by a wonderful woman in town named Secarro; we had dinner on her patio, and then returned to John Becks home, for cocktails and more conversation. The biggest surprise was when John came out with a chocolate cake he had baked for my birthday, adorned with burning wooden matchsticks, since there were candles to be found in town. It was the first cake he had ever baked and it was fantastic.

Apparently, while Rachel and I were out walking they had planned all of this and not only the dinner and cake, but also they rebuilt the wagon with new barring washers, grease, and spacers and made it better than it has been since we first began using it.

Today, they took us to the beach. Seth gave me a board and we sent the morning surfing. Well, Seth surfed, while I made many attempts, and got some good rides, but don’t know if I would have called it surfing. I surfed as a kid, but apparently, surfing is not like riding a bike.

We are rested, happy, and ready to start walking. Tomorrow morning we will be leaving bright and early, pulling our rebuilt wagon with restocked supplies. We expect it will take about 5 days to reach Insurentes and two weeks to reach La Paz.