“Welcome to Tijuana, tequila, sexo y no caravana” ~ Manu Chao, 2019
Full feel & music by Manu Chao
Not quite the holiday destination, especially after all the news and turmoil about the migrant caravan. However, leaving the US and getting into Mexico went much smoother than expected. We rolled our Whikes without any trouble through customs, collected the stamp and off we go. Ok, that was quick and easy!
Controversial border crossing point
Getting through Tijuana was actually more of a challenge. It’s a very large city and build on a hill. Getting through town, we were quite the attraction with our funky looking bicycles. Even in the red light district the transgenders would take their phones out and giggle away while shooting a short video of us passing by. When Jakoba got referred to as ‘barbie’ we figured we had entered Latino country and were now seen as ‘gringos’, or ‘guerras’.
First moment of panic
Once we got on toll road 1D we had a wide shoulder to cycle on. Apart from the few police cars that stopped to check out our strange looking vehicle, we had a very relaxed lunch overlooking the pacific and a nice cycle to Rosarito. Here we went to the large supermarket to get our hands on our first peso’s, buy some groceries and wait for our host to return home and guide us to her house.
Ok, we have to admit we were extra on our guard today. We had been warned about going into Mexico by numerous Americans. The border crossing itself, into one of the most dangerous cities in Mexico, was enough to get the adrenaline going. Although everything went much smoother than expected, Jakoba got a bit worried. Matthijs was going to find an ATM to get pesos while Jakoba overlooked the whikes at the supermarket restaurant. It took 15 minutes, no sign of Matthijs. Having lived in India, we are used to things taking longer than expected. After 30 minutes, still no sign of Matthijs. Jakoba got slightly uncomfortable and started to think of some horror scenarios. However, the ATM was right here in the supermarket, he could not be far, right? Jakoba sent a sms, but it would not reach Matthijs his US phone. After 45 minutes Jakoba reached a rational mode of panic.
I NEED TO FIND HIM, forget about the bicycles and our stuff! Just when Jakoba wanted to start sprinting through the supermarket, Matthijs came walking back leisurely. He seemed to be in one piece. Turned out that there was a very long queue at the very slow ATM. How these simple things can make you lose your mind in new circumstances. We just reminded ourselves that we may have to take Mexico a bit more ‘tranquilo’. The pumped feeling quickly turned unexpected. On the large television in the restaurant our Wheels on Wind introduction movie was playing! HUH? THAT’s US!? Thus far this tv was playing Spanish music videos. The guy on the table next to us started chuckling. Via bluetooth people can play their favorite youtube movies. Since our website is clearly stated on our bicycle sails our neighbor started playing our movie on the tv. We all had a good laugh and our previous worries melted away.
Madre de tierra
Our host Ix Chel went for a hike in the mountains and was running a bit late. It provided us with extra time to get the hang of a Mexican supermarket and decipher all the products that we needed for the Shakshuka dinner that we were going to cook.
Test ride – approved! 
Madre de Tierra
In broken Spanish we communicated with Ix Chel and understood she was going to guide us through the streets of Rosarito. In the dark we followed her car and after several crossings, right and left turns we entered a small area where her trailer was located. We were friendly greeted by her dogs. Ix Chel and her friends luckily also spoke some English and with hands and feet we could have a fun conversation while we were cooking the evening meal.
Fitting right in 
Baja sunshine
When we sat down for dinner, Ix Chel explained a bit more about her determination to advocate for Mother Earth. A lively story followed about how she got inspired to choose this path when she touched, kissed and exchanged eye contact with grey whales in Guerrero Negro. She studied herbal medicine, became part of environmental groups and started educating on several subjects like plastic waste and the extinction endangered Vaquita Marina (a small porpoise/dolphin that only lives in the sea of cortez). We were inspired by her choices in life and her strong will to change the world as Madre de Tierra, even if it was only a little bit. We were thankful for this intimate conversation and a first safe night in Mexico. What a positive surprise this first day!
Gastronomic pre-Christmas celebrations
We looked up the route south and figured it would be nice to spend Christmas in a larger city like Ensenada. This provided us with some extra time to explore the Mexican wineries in Valle de Guadalupe. As this area is still relatively close to the US, most of the wineries and gastronomic experiences are focused on tourists from the north. An excellent opportunity for a special pre-Christmas lunch at an up and coming young chef’s restaurant: Fauna. We stayed at the airstream campsite and enjoyed the tranquillo atmosphere at this hidden gem in the valley.
Starting colorful 
Craft beer on its way up 
Guadalupe Valley 
Airstream glamping
We whiked our way to gastronomy and did a quick wine tasting at Domecq before we indulged in an extraordinary lunch at the long communal tables. The lunch was paired with wines, craft beer and mezcal (Mexican ‘jenever’). It was a spectacular experience only by looking at the dishes that we were served. Extremely pleased and slightly tipsy we got back on our bicycles and safely cycled back to our airstream.
All I want for Christmas…
It was Christmas eve and Lizet was so nice to be willing to host us in Ensenada, even though her family was over and there was little space left. We collected the groceries for the cookie baking next day and our Whikes have never been heavier; 4kg of flour, 2.5kg of butter, 5kg of sugar, 24 eggs and some stuff for toppings. Wow, I don’t even know how we managed to add that to our normal luggage on the bicycle! When we tried to reach Lizet’s house up in the hills of Ensenada, we failed miserably. As they were out for a family meal we didn’t want to bother them with our problem and checked into a small hotel. Our room even had a Christmas tree! Not too bad after all.
12kg of goodies 
Mud race – Matthijs won
Christmas day started with a video call home, so that we could at least a little bit be part our family celebrations. So nice to be able to connect home. Unfortunately our mood wasn’t reflected by the weather. It was pouring rain and super windy. How are we going to get those eggs, groceries and our regular luggage to the other side of Ensenada? It became a very wet and muddy 20km ride where Matthijs had to push Jakoba out of an extended mud pool at some point. Luckily we arrived soon after and got a very warm welcome by Sandy, Randy and the ten girls of safe house El Refugio!
Is baking cookies with the girls of El Refugio!
After changing into a dry set of clothes we were treated to some delicious Tamales, a traditional Mexican Christmas meal which the girls made the day before. Fully fed it was time to get to grips with the cookie baking! Although we are not quite the cookie baking experts, everyone can probably do it with a nice recipe, so here we go. All the girls were keen to help out and soon we had a few teams and the girls taking turns in mixing the dough. With 12kg of ingredients you can imagine it required quite some muscle power to mix it all up. They did a great job and we were happy to be able to add 23 eggs, as only one of them didn’t survive the journey.
Muscle power 
Rollin’ 
Nom Nom
After a good two hours we were ready to actually start baking the chocolate chip, peanut butter and oatmeal cookies in the oven. The whole process turned into a well oiled machine and we did about 15 baking sessions as we had limited oven space. Finally, after five hours of hard work and quality testing (nom nom nom) we had over 200 cookies ready! These we would distribute to families in a migrant camp and in the neighborhood the next day.
First it was time for Christmas presents! These were all neatly placed under the Christmas tree and after a beautiful story by Sandy the girls could open their presents one by one. The gifts were send by American families and every girl was treated to a box full of their wish list items, from shoes and clothes to hair curlers. It was lovely to see how happy they were with these presents. Afterwards it was time for dinner and card games. They managed to beat Matthijs, which only rarely happens. Well done girls! We felt so blessed being part of this extraordinary family on Christmas day and went to bed with a big smile on our face.
Present time 
Happy faces
Waking up and making breakfast with ten ‘sisters’ is kind of chaotic, but above all a lot of fun! Today we were going to gift the cookies and all together we hopped into the big van and drove to a migrant camp out of town. Living circumstances were really poor, but it was heartwarming to see their faces when they received the cookies for their families. The remaining batches were gifted to less fortunate families in the neighborhood during a walking tour which ended at the beach, watching the sunset. Amazing to be called ‘amiga’ when walking the streets arm in arm on the way home. We helped out with dinner and got to do a little educational session afterwards. We explained about the Netherlands, our trip and our floating house which were are all ‘muy loco’! The girls asked very intelligent questions and it was great fun to share stories about our adventure while they are being part of it.
Surprising families 
Sunset cuddles 
Amigas! 
Cookie happiness
Señoritas con bicicletas
The next morning we found out that all the girls have a bike and were excited to take them out to cycle with us. Now it was getting real and they were in awe of our sailing cycles. This was definitely the best send off we could have wished for! We gave all of them a hug before we got onto the main road. Our hearts filled with love and gratitude and our mind set on the horizon.
Best ride out of town!
South into the desert
On our way to Santo Tomas we came across a zipline experience and went for it. Quite cool to walk/run the hanging bridges and zipline down the valley with considerable speed. We coincidentally met up with Lizet on the road, yay, we finally got to meet! We made it to the deserted campground which had no water and went for dinner at the next door restaurant. Strangely enough the campground had some caged animals including a monkey and turkeys.
Zip it down 
Another one bites the dust
The next day we battled some severe road works and rode to Punta Colonet, a small village with some shops and luckily for us a nice small hotel that could fit our bikes. We cooked our own meal for a change and enjoyed a relaxing evening. From Punta Colonet it was more cactuses, great sailing and some considerable uphill before arriving in El Rosario after 115 kilometers. Another big day followed, it actually turned out our toughest day thus far. We battled 1,500 elevation meters into the desert mountains to find the restaurant shown on google maps being closed. Luckily our thirst and hunger was stilled in a tiny living room restaurnt 12 km ahead. While we were wolfing down quesadillas we were greeted by Carla and Jonathan who stopped when they saw our ‘crazy rigs’ outside. A very nice couple that invited us to stay with them in Posada Conceptión, some 600 kilometers south. Great, we looked forward seeing them again. We continued our way to Cataviña and had good winds for some sailing to complete our 122 kilometers that day.
Celebrating new year in the middle of nowhere
Cataviña is a cute little desert town mainly inhabited by cactuses. We stayed in a nice hotel and the legs enjoyed some rest. The party scene for New Years consisted of some ‘snow birds’ (pensioners dodging the cold in the US) and families passing through. We ended up with the ‘champagne of beers’ and kissed each other a happy new year a few hours early. Ah well, all the exercising and early mornings make for a good excuse to sleep through the annual flip over ;)! We hoped for some good winds in 2019!
Rusty Duke 
‘Champagne of beers’ 
Only way is up 
Jakoba & the giant
Be careful what you wish for
And windy it was! 2019 started with a significant storm and we were forced to take the sails down after 20 kilometers as we were afraid they would be ripped apart. We tried to find some shelter and awaited the rain while geared-up in all our warm cloths and gain gear. It took more than two hours and we decided to ask help from passing cars. No wonder nobody stopped when we were hiding in our hoodies while waving at passing cars.
In the eye of the storm 
LOW RIDER
Luckily creativity is triggered at these moments of despair. We figured out a way to take our sails down and stored the parts conveniently on top of our side bags. The ‘LOWRIDER’ was born! The only thing that we now need to change is our answer to one of our most frequently asked questions: “Do you ever take the sails down?” – NO, but we guess this is now a YES. After 20 kilometers mostly downhill we dodged the heavy storm and hoisted the sails again. The wind was now in our favor and we sailed in no time to Punta Prieta, right before sunset. We were about to try and find a camping spot around the small supermarket when we found out that there was a restaurant with some simple rooms in town. We could not be happier – the cherry on the cake for our inventive and challenging day!
Crossing into Baja California Sud, there was more wind and definitely more adventure to come…
Onto more adventure