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Maps
Map of
Baja
in baja norte
Tijuana
to El Rosario
El
Rosario to Catavina
Catavina
to Bahia de Los Angeles
Bahia
de Los Angeles to San Felipe
Mountains
of Baja Norte
Canyons
of Baja Norte
in baja sur
Mulege
The Islets
of Bahia Coyote
La
Trinidad
>Guerrero Negro and Dunas de
Soledad
courtesy of
Erik Gauger
copyright 2003
notesfromtheroad.com
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5
Along the way we
happened across our third overturned truck. This one hadn’t been so lucky,
considering the black ash surrounding its hull, the ambulances. The
chassis may be Mercedes or Freightliner, “but,” said Father, “the
weight-load is sometimes four times capacity. The truck just buckles under
the pressure.” Overturned trucks are commonplace in Baja; northward
freight is a tight business, deadlines are tough to meet, roads have tight
curves; a recipe for disaster.
We stopped at a Federale
outpost, for questioning. A
shrimpy sport said, “You speak Spanish?”
“Absolutely not a word.”
“Open your trunk.”
“Nice
backpack,” the federale said to my brother.
“How much does it cost?”
“Two hundred.”
“Two hundred pesos?”
“Two hundred dollars.” He
examined it with his counterpart, looking at the straps, and the way the
cumberbund was fashioned. I respected the admiration, because it spoke of
their tough desert training, and respect for quality.
Unlike the local Policia, the young Federale
is motivated not by corruption, but by adventure. The shrimpy Federale
said, “you want to learn some Spanish?”
“Yeah,” Hans said.
The boy
hung his hands below his chest and said, “Chicas. You like Chicas?”
His pudgier comrade with an AK-47, who was watching a fly, took a
moment to pause and say, “Chicas,” he said. “Chicas.” North of Guerrero
Negro, we followed the tangled system of unused roads to the sea and left
the truck in the road. Brother and Father walked north, into miles of
white-grey dunes. I began to set camp before following their footsteps
along the sea, where dunes spilled into a slender bay - part of a system
of lagoons that bear the annual migration of the once extinct-bound gray
whale.
  
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