We woke up the next day reluctant to leave our new friends, but eventually managed to pry ourselves away, pack our luggage and ride off after hugs and promises to meet again in Puerto Peñasco at the end of the week.

Because we slacked off so long, Alan and I ended up riding to Hermosillo in the hottest part of the day. This wasn’t a huge problem until we hit the city traffic and slowed down. Dirt bikes really hate idling in 100+ degrees and before long my yellow “engine hot” light came on and then the “pull over now dammit” red light. We stopped into a gas station to give the bikes a rest.

Alan goes back to messing with his chain, which is still destroying the tire. I check the oil in my bike and it’s not even registering on the dipstick. My DRZ is not usually an oil burner, but he’s not liking this heat. I pour in some of the spare oil I keep on hand and we both have a soda from the machine and rest a while. No one seemed to mind us sitting around the gas station.
I have an address for our host, but only a vague idea of where that and so we set out again with me leading and flipping up my helmet to ask directions from strangers at traffic lights. Before long the yellow warning lights are back on and we decide to hire a cab to lead us the rest of the way. We are exhausted and just want to get there.
Just as we are pulling up to the address, my red overheating light comes back on and Alan’s radiator boils over.

We park the bikes in the garage and Mijail takes us out walking to explore the city.

We had fun with the giant globe, pointing out all the places we have been and want to travel to.

Cool old cathedral

The main square where old people hang out.

I played with the little kids in this fountain and Mijail laughed because they called me “Doña” which is a term for older women. The woman at the restaurant in La Manga called me “Guerita” though, which means “little white girl”. I guess age is just relative.

These are the Mountains of the Bells, apparently when the rocks break and fall, they sound like bells ringing.

When we returned from our stroll, I didn’t see the bikes in the garage and started to worry, but Mijail’s mother had rolled them into the back yard area and taken good care of them.

I wish I would have taken pictures of his parents, they were so sweet to us, making us delicious dinner and breakfast the next morning.

We met some friends for the evening and had some drinks and split a five foot long burrito (not an exaggeration) before calling it a night.

The next day he took us out to the museum, in this very cool castle with dungeons and everything.

They had a display on the Seri Indians that I found fascinating. I really wanted to make it to Punta Chueca on this trip to meet some of them, but it didn’t pan out. ( I’m looking at possibly trekking down there with some other lady riders this winter though!)

Then we went over to his friend Adrian’s house to cool off in the pool before driving up to the top of the Bell Mountains to watch the sunset over the city.

Our wonderful host, Mijail.

Here’s another shot for the ladies.

We took a bunch of goofy pictures…

Okay, okay no more pictures of us.

That cross was erected in memory of all the children who died in 2009 when fire broke out in an understaffed day care. There were additional memorials throughout the city and the people are still in despair over what happened.
The sun crept below the horizon and we headed back down to wander the city.

This artist made really cool paintings with spray paint in minutes.

I would have bought one if I wouldn’t have completely mutilated it bringing it home.

We went home, slept, woke up to delicious Mexican breakfast and then headed out towards Santa Ana.

Can you spot the self portrait?

It was so hot that took to completely soaking my shirt in the gas station sink and putting it back on. It seemed to dry out in minutes. We rested, ate ice cream and drank sodas until we felt ready to continue.

We parted ways here, Alan heading back home to finish some Spanish homework (he was ironically skipping class to come to Mexico with me) before coming back down to meet me in Puerto Peñasco for the big couchsurfing meetup. From Santa Ana to Puerto Peñasco would be my longest solo stint in Mexico, but I felt confident it would be okay…