Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Cabo San Lucas to La Paz

January 20, 2008

Brian finally got up around nine, shook off the night before, and joined me for breakfast before I headed out. It was a good time to chat about our respective trips, share more about our lives with each other, and just be human beings (if that makes any sense to you). I enjoyed sharing some of my Baja journey with Brian and while I expected I might catch up with other riders on the way, I didn’t know who that will be or how it would go. And so I am thankful for connecting with another man who has similar stories as mine, and the mutual encouragement we gave each other on the larger journey of life. We got back to the Inn, I rolled the bike out of the lobby, I loaded it up and headed out.

That’s the thing with traveling like this: your life intersects with another person’s for a brief moment, then your paths diverge. You have your journey and they have theirs. And I am coming to accept that this is simply the way life is. And while it brings with it a degree of sadness, a deeper gratitude exists there. I am grateful to have met these people who are a part of this experience of mine, and in that are indelibly affixed into my life. I feel the same about Ian, the Lamberts, Sabine, and others I have met. It is a gift to be grateful for the moments I share with others on this journey of life, no matter how long or short these shared times are to be.

As I left Cabo I drove to the southern most point I could get to – “Land’s End” – took this picture for posterity, and headed to La Paz.I stopped into Todos Santos on the way to take some pictures of the mission there. Todos Santos is a quaint little town just off the Pacific and near the Tropic of Cancer. It has a really good vibe there and having more time (next time…), TS is a place I’d like to stay for a couple days.
Moving on from there I arrived into La Paz and immediately felt the largesse of the place. Cabo, La Paz – so different from the rest of my trip in Baja but Baja nonetheless. At first I didn’t want to spend much time in large cities – small towns and villages seem more “Baja.” But after some thought I decided: had I not gone to Cabo and La Paz I wouldn’t have had the full Baja experience. So, grateful to be in the capital city of Baja, I found my hotel and headed down to the malecon – the very popular beach boardwalk in La Paz.I sat for a long time near the big gazebo in the plaza attached to the malecon reading Rumi, journaling, people watching and enjoying the sunset. The malecon is the heartbeat of the city and on this Sunday night, many came to walk the boardwalk and cruise their cars along the boulevard. All the cruising made it feel small town and reminded me of my younger days “cruising chicks.” Ha!

So as I walked around, wouldn’t you know it but I ran into Sabine. She was staying in the same hotel as I was, so we grabbed dinner at a local taqueria near the hotel and after went back to the malecon and walked and talked until late. I retired to my room and after talking with Heather for a few minutes (I so miss our evening talks/prayers), feel asleep to the cries of a baby next door. Obviously I was tired!

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