Baja Road Report 09/05/06

We just got to San Jose del Cabo after a drive down from San Diego. Don't make this trip unless you absolutely have to. There are rock slides and washouts everywhere from Santa Rosalia south. (and one major rockslide north of S.R.) It looks as if Santa Rosalia has major damage from mud and rockslides, although Rt. 1 is passable through town. The square is covered with feet of mud and the benches are torn up and scattered on top...possibly 5 ft. high.>From there to Mulege the road is a mess and very slow going. Trailer trucks are stopped everywhere and the majority of vehicles getting through are SUV's and light trucks. Occasionally a small car will make it, but with a push now and then over some of the rock piles. Every vado is washed out, with only makeshift detours. We saw only one place where repairs were being made by a lone front-loader. Mulege was dark and filled with trucks, so we just drove through to Loreto. That trip was harrowing in the dark, but a few of the washouts had been marked, and cars kept an eye on each other. We also found soldiers at one point who hopped out of a truck to put up a better barracade at a washout. We got the last room in a little hotel in Loreto, and this morning the drive was much easier. There was more evidence of work being done on the roads, and much more equipment and manpower in use. After Ciudad Constitución there was no highway damage until the road from Todos Santos to Cabo, where there were a couple of small washouts. The amazing thing was that yesterday no one knew anything about the condition of the roads in front of us. Only one soldier at a checkpoint warned us of the rockslide before Santa Rosalia; other than that no police officer, soldier, or gas station attendant had any idea if we could get through or not. It was only the fact that cars were driving toward us on the roads that led us to think we might get through. This morning in Ciudad Constitución a station attendant told us the road to La Paz was passable.Fortunately, trucks are getting through from La Paz south. I don't know how long it will be before Mulege is going to get supplies, there are just so many places that are impassable for trucks on both sides of the city.Pray for all of the road workers, electrical line workers, police, and soldiers. They are so overworked and the job ahead is huge. They are earning their pay this week.