Mulege and more!

The crew at the Las Casitas in Mulege this morning…from left to right it’s Joaquin, Javier, Joe, J, Tim, Buffalo, Dave, Jim, Pete, Mike, and Dan.

We are having an amazing ride.  It’s been one of the best ever, and this is a fantastic group of guys.  That photo above?   It’s the group and our host for last night (Javier) at the Las Casitas Hotel in Mulege, Baja California Sur.   If it conveys a great group having a great time in a great place, my Nikon is doing its job well.

Yesterday we rolled out of foggy Guerrero Negro after a wonderful day of whale watching the day before.   We rode roughly 60 miles south on the Transpeninsular Highway to the road that lead to the Sierra San Francisco cave paintings, deep in the mountains along the eastern edge of the Baja peninsula.   It was 25 miles of a delightful road through the Vizcaino Desert floor, and then fantastic twisties in the mountains until the paved road ended.  From there it was another 10 gnarly miles on a very rough dirt road, but the ride was worth it.  The cave paintings were spectacular.   They always are.

Joaquin on the road to the cave paintings.

J, Dave, Buffalo, Tim, and Dan in front of the entrance to the cave paintings.

Captain Dave, lost in thought.

Our guides yesterday are Baja royalty.  They are direct descendants of the Arce and Buenaventura families, the folks who have lived in this extremely remote area for a century or more.   Their parents were the ones who guided Earl Stanley Gardner so he could “discover” Baja’s cave paintings, and we all had a good laugh about that.

Joaquin with the royal family, our cave painting guides.

The area is so remote that the folks make many of their own items, such as shoes and knife sheaths.   Cool stuff, this was.

A handmade knife sheath.

Handmade shoes.

One of the stars of this ride is Joaquin, who speaks Spanish fluently.  We’ve been lucky on our CSC Baja expeditions in many regards, one being always having a Spanish speaker.   Joaquin, a genuine good guy, has made the ride a lot easier for me.   On past trips it’s been Willie and Carlos.   We are indeed fortunate to have such great friends.

Joaquin, a great guy and wonderful travel companion.

And speaking of great friends, we picked up a rider along the way.  Meet Mike, a fellow we met while refueling at an impromptu roadside fuel stop in Catavina a couple of days ago.

BMW Mike, who really wants an RX3.

Airborne!

Mike rides a BMW GS1200.  We were chatting in Catavina when I noticed the jump wings on his GS.  I asked, and yep, he’s a former US Army paratrooper.  That makes three of us on this ride (with me and Tim being the other two).   We’ve had a lot of fun with Mike.  We told Mike we wanted him to ride along with us so it would be easier to find the Starbucks coffee shops.   One of the guys on our ride says BMWs are equipped with a Starbucks location feature.

As it turns out, we have several former military guys on this ride, and one active duty fire captain.   And, one exceptional artist.   Our good buddy Buffalo (christened on this trip as Baja Buffalo) is the real deal…an artist of exceptional talent.  If you don’t believe that, here’s a link to Buffalo’s website.  Check it out…I did and I enjoyed perusing his paintings.

Buffalo, Pete, Dan, and Jim at the cave paintings.

The Las Casitas Hotel is perhaps my most favorite place to stay in all of Baja.   Javier, the proprietor of this amazing place, prepared a special chile relleno dinner for us last night, and it was exceptional.    We are in great spirits and we are having a great ride.

Dinner at the Las Casitas Hotel…it was awesome!

Chile relleno…my favorite!

Grand times, folks.   It’s down to Bahia de Concepcion today, a U-turn, and then back to Santa Rosalia’s Frances Hotel for tonight.   We are having a fantastic time.