I've completed my 4 day journey down the Baja. More about that after I talk about my time in Tijuana.
First of all, Tijuana is probably the scariest city I've ever driven in. It's a crap shoot of highway bridges, exits, construction, crazy driving, and people coming in and out of the boarder crossing. Tijuana/San Diego is the fourth busiest boarder crossing in the whole world.
Apart from that, my experience in Tijuana was very fulfilling. I was living on a missionary base, volunteering in what ever way they needed me too. Often helping with gardening, hospitality, and kitchen duty. I also got to be apart of a Thursday night ministry for families living in the Zona Norte red light district of Tijuana. Zona Norte is one of the largest red light districts in North America known for its brothels, prostitution, and illicit drug sales. It is a very humbling place to witness. This ministry has created a community center to help educate children and families. It brings them together in a safe environment to keep them off the streets, pointing them in a positive direction so they do not resort to prostitution and crime. The impact they've had on the community in the last 14 years is incredible to see and be apart of.
On Monday morning I left Tijuana to begin my 4-day, 1000-mile descent down the length of the Baja Peninsula. The Problem with driving here is that I need to be at my destination before sundown for a few reasons. There are many large potholes which you can't really see at night, animals come out on the road, motorcycles have lower visibility to other drivers, and night time is when people could get robbed or worse. Because the sun in setting so early this time of year, I have less hours on the road. In Canada, I would often do 600 miles and 8-10 hours in the saddle because I had more daylight and I could just pull off and set up camp on the side of the highway. So here, it takes a little bit longer to travel on multi-day stints. On the bright side, it gives me more time to explore and meet locals in the places I'm staying. The last 4 days were roughly 250 miles and 5-6 hours in the saddle.
My stops down the Baja included:
San Felipe
Guerrero Negro
Loreto
La Rivera (current)
Here near Cabo, I was able to make it to a friend's house for Thanksgiving. It is so nice to be in a good place with familiar people after my long, lonely 4 day journey of eating minimally and sleeping on the ground.
It is amazing to see this grand plan unfolding and how God has provided the means of making a lifelong dream come to life. Not to mention, the further south I go, it gets more and more tropical and wildly beautiful.
This is the type of adventure that makes a guy say "hell yeah". It's absolutely epic and rugged and just the right amount of danger. Though it is difficult, nothing makes me feel more ALIVE.
What we say and do echos
into eternity...
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