Bike touring can be pretty hard, especially when you bike through the desert and your bike suddenly breaks. Thanks God, there is a lot of pick-ups and nice people in Latin America always ready to help. So this is our story how we try hitchbiking with bikes to catch the whales in Baja California.
Hitchbiking to hot springs
We “lost” one week in San Felipe but we wanted to see the gray whales in the Laguna Ojo de Liebre. Pregnant whales are coming there to give a birth and they are usually leaving the lagoon with the baby whales by the end of March. Also, it was the beginning of the pandemic and everything began to close. We had to somehow speed our journey up.
There is no public transport on the Highway 5 south from San Felipe, so we tried to hitchhike. Or should we say hitchbike? 🙂 Anna used to hitchhike a lot but this was first time when we tried it with the bikes. And it was incredible fast. It was a third car – pickup, which passed us. We put our bikes and all the luggage on the back and got in the car. It was a super nice old Mexican who took us until Puertecitos – a perfect spot to celebrate Anna’s birthday in the natural hot springs under the clear sky 
Becoming hitchbiking professionals
The next day we hitchbiked the remaining 300 km to Guerrero Negro in two parts. The first part we could ride again with a pickup. Our second hitchhiking with bikes took us minutes. A friendly American left us on the crossroad in the middle of nowhere. So we had very good luck that two Mexican truckers were so friendly to take us directly to a campground called Mario`s tours & Restaurant in Guerrero Negro. We also booked our whale watching tour directly there. We were super happy that we made it and also that they still offered tours. It was absolutely amazing!
Whale watching in Lagoon Ojos de Liebre
Every year, thousands of pregnant whale mamas travel along the coast from Alaska to the protected waters of different lagoons in Baja California Sur to give birth to one calf. The calves are born in December/January. Until they are big and strong enough for the long journey back to Alaska, they stay in the Lagoon. We experienced that the babies as well as the mothers are very curious and playful. They come close to the small boat. <Sometimes it is even possible to touch them. We didn’t feel like invading into their territory since they approached the boat and not the boat approached them. An absolutely unique experience.
Guerrero Negro
Guerrero Negro is a little city which was built because of the sea salt ,,mining,,. During some parts of the year, the salty fields reminds famous bolivian Salar de Uyuni`s and you can take there very nice pictures. Our camping was directly behind Mario`s restaurant and it was nice and clean. They also cook very well. In the morning we were so ready after hitchhiking with bikes and whale watching to finally go back on saddles, but guess who got a flat tire 🙂 Any way we managed as usual and after successful hitchhiking with bikes to catch the whales – hurray cross the desert more south!
