Once is enough

I have now experienced driving the Baja Peninsula once and once has turned out to be all I will ever need. Harry drove the entire 1,000 miles while I whined and cried. We encountered two major road construction projects. One of them meant we had to drive the 2-lane Baja in the dark, which is a no-no, but we had no choice. There were two military inspection stops that turned out to be major wait-in-liners, so as darkness fell, there was no stopping or going back. We arrived in Ensenada in the dark, with the rain falling after a 12-hour drive. The other major construction zone was near the border and it seemed like it went on for days.

Major road work in Mexico does not mean you are provided with a little well-constructed detour route. No, it means you are driving on a horrible, dark, dirt road that is one major rut and bump after another. It is frightening and exhausting, but you just have to keep going. And yes, even under these road conditions from hell, drivers continue to pass. Harry is an extremely skilled driver, thank god, and I was counting my blessings the entire way. The road up the Baja is 95% two lane and sometimes it becomes more like 1 and a half lanes. Guard rails on the high mountain "curva peligrosa" roads are the exception, not the norm. Following a big slow truck is a comfort because if someone does pass in a no-passing zone, or if a cow happens to be on the road as you take a major blind curve, you figure the truck will take the major impact, not you.

We had a couple near misses with cows and reckless drivers, but got lucky. There was much beauty to behold on the drive for sure, but I don't need to do it again even with all the road construction completed. I am a wimp who flies down the Baja. The passenger wimp who didn't want to drive the Baja for one single, solitary mile.

And just in case this sounds like a Jeremiad, I'll add that driving the Baja is 95% heaven and only 5% hell.