Southern Exposure

Wednesday, November 19

We finally have begun the trip proper. We arose early today, and actually got on the road at a decent hour without incident. We got off at the last exit before the border and picked up insurance for Mexico.

After reading about all of the border experiences of other travelers, I think we both had a lot of anxiety built up about crossings. Neither had ever taken a vehicle through customs before, so we were expecting quite an ordeal and had only the modest goal of Ensenada for the day.

It’s strange to me that there is no exit process to leaving the US. It’s just all of the sudden you’re off the freeway and you’re in Tijuana. It was easy enough to follow the signs to temporary vehicle importation office. Tijuana is just as beautiful as you’ve heard, a true paradise.

Once at the customs office, I left Inna guarding the bikes and took our mountain of documents and photocopies inside. It was not clear at all where to start, but I was soon pointed to the immigration. I was moving in circles between immigration, the bank, and the aduana (customs). Only the customs officer spoke english, but I was really happy with how much spanish I had retained. I was able to get through the conversations without struggling too much.

The one obstacle I had worried about but had no answer to in advance was importing two vehicles in my name. The customs officer did not like that at all and wouldn’t permit entry. His solution was to sign the bike over to Inna on the spot. I really didn’t know what else to do at this point. It was either sign it over, or go back to the US and magic up a solution. I hovered over that title for a few minutes, but eventually just signed over the title. The customs officer was happy and the rest of the paperwork went through just fine then. I worry this decision will have repercussions at future borders, but only time will tell. The entire process took about an hour and half.

Once we were out of customs and on the road, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I know that’s probably going to be the easiest border of them all, but it was nice to have the experience behind us. It was a nice turning point from endless preparation to riding south along the Pacific Ocean.

We rode the toll road through two tolls, and then decided to get off the toll road because it seemed like a waste of money. The free road turned in from the coast at one point and rode through the hills in the desert, which I quite enjoyed. I’ve always liked desert riding. Riding a ribbon of asphalt through expansive vistas and the sense of open space really strikes a chord in me.

We rode through Ensenada and I don’t really have anything nice to say about it. There were two cruise ships docked there and it just seems like a tourist dump to me. We rode through town, headed south, and as it was about 3 pm, decided to double back to the beach area of La Bufadora. We expected there to be a beach town at the end of this road, but it just went from road into a tourist trap line of stalls before you got to some sort of sea spout in the rocks that we didn’t even bother to look at. We rode back towards the main road where we picked a surprisingly nice little hotel around 4:30. We unpacked the bikes, locked them together, and had an early dinner before retiring.