Baja California

San Quintín & KIFONS broken down!

That's it, we're here!
¡Qué viva Baja California, Mexico!
Here, the world changes.
30 feet past the border, nobody needs to remind us we're not in the US anymore. We're entering another dimension.
Like a good American, I ask the customs officer if I can light a cigarette while I wait for my visa. He bursts out laughing and reminds me I've just arrived in Mexico.
The streets are lively, every facade is splashed with color. Mexicans are friendly. You can feel a breeze of freedom here. Feels good!

We stock up at the Walmart in Ensenada and confirm that the cost of living is way lower. Our usual American groceries, normally 250 USD in the US, come to 100 USD here.

We leave Ensenada to head further south. We get to San Quintín, where we... Break down! Holy cr*p!

We spend the night of October 29 at Rancho y Baja to see if the electronic glitch will fix itself overnight... Well, no! KIFONS isn't a magician yet!
Despite all the offers of help from the Mexicans, we have to order the parts from France.
Speaking of which, a huge thank-you to Philippe CHARNEAU of SDVI (IVECO ORVAULT). Fast and trustworthy. After a diagnosis over the phone, he confirms that it's the ABS sensor on the rear left wheel that needs replacing.
He ships me the parts and the repair manual within half an hour, via FEDEX. I'll pay him a few days later! Thanks again for the help!
Because of shipping times, we spend the nights from October 30 to November 4 in the parking lot of the Molino Viejo, a restaurant 125 miles south of Ensenada, a really nice spot for this forced wait!
Our FEDEX package takes less than 48 hours to reach San Diego. Then it takes 5 more days to cover the last 90 miles to Ensenada.

Ensenada and Antonin and Astrid's warm welcome

From San Quintín, we decide to drive back up to Ensenada to wait for the long... awaited part!
125 miles with the speedometer stuck at 28 mph on the roads of Baja California is quite the workout.
That said, in 4 hours of driving, not one honk, not one sign of annoyance from the Mexicans toward our KIFONS, which isn't speeding anywhere anymore!
Here, even if the road looks more like a video game than anything else, people manage to respect each other, as long as you understand the rules of the road...

Only one lane each way? Everybody helps themselves and somehow a third lane appears in the middle.
A truck turns on its left blinker? That means you can pass it... Except someone's coming the other way!
A sign warns of a dangerous curve to the right? Too bad, they must have run out of the right sign... The dangerous curve is to the left!
Cars with no license plates? Who cares. They're not insured anyway...

It's pretty wild, but we have a good laugh about it. KIFONS between 2 big rigs (one in each direction) on a two-lane road. We clench and squeeze through, easy does it.

So we roll into Ensenada looking for somewhere to sleep. On the road, while driving, a guy calls out to me, "Are you French?" I answer, "Yes, and I'm in deep sh*t."
15 minutes later, we're settled in at his place.
KIFONS is parked in a privada (a gated community). It will stay there for a week.
A week to get to know Antonin and Astrid, who've lived here for 2 years. He's French, worked in Montreal and decided to settle here after meeting her in Tijuana. He speaks perfect Spanish.
She's Mexican, in her last year of medical school. She speaks perfect French.

We spend a really great week in Ensenada. They show us around and lend us their pickup, no problem, so we can explore the city.
Their door is always open. We feel right at home.

We all end up together, with our friends from Vancouver and several French students, drinking beers at the Mariachi bar in Ensenada.
Patricia babysits the kids.
We wrap up at 2 a.m.

The next day, KIFONS is fixed. Time to leave, but we hang around at their place a little longer.

The 4 of us go visit Galinette, Antonin and Astrid's new horse!
He had a motorcycle that wouldn't start. He just traded it for a Chevrolet Camaro (which doesn't start either) and a pretty horse.
All the charms of Mexico!

Original video (Picasa), sadly no longer available.

At Cantina HUSSONG'S, the 2nd oldest bar in Mexico!

Original video (Picasa), sadly no longer available.

In Ensenada, aboard the sailboat DayBreak Océane

On the road!
The road is beautiful.
Cacti, deserts, flowers, armies of butterflies... and of soldiers!
We go through 5 military checkpoints in less than 930 miles.
Each time, KIFONS gets inspected for under 5 minutes.
The first time, the kids are impressed. By the fifth, they don't even bother looking at the soldier who's supposed to be in charge.
No sniffer dogs; each inspection is more like a guided tour of our RV:
"¿Los baños?". Yep, we even have a bathroom. The soldiers are thrilled to tour our CasaMobile!
We open one cupboard: the kids' schoolbooks. We open a second: the clothes. We open a third: Mag's thongs.
The soldier blushes and gets right out of KIFONS. And we're off again!