After six weeks of enjoying the Mexican mainland, we hopped on the overnight ferry to the Baja California peninsula and into a very different Mexico.

Baja is a desert: its rugged beauty captivated us and the heat knocked us over. We had hoped that we would sneak our visit in before the full strength for summer hit, but the heat had come early. Otherwise idyllic beachfront campsites were simply too hot to laze about in and we decided to keep on moving.

We still enjoyed some great riding along the Sea of Cortez and through the rocky mountains of the Sierra de la Laguna. The desert landscapes were strewn with all variety of cacti that looked like they’d jumped straight out of the pages of a Dr Seuss storybook.

Click photos below to enlarge and see captions. More photos are in our online gallery.

Just arrived in Baja California Sur on the overnight ferry from Los Mochis to La Paz.

Our new Brazilian riding friends that we meet on the ferry.

Our campsite by the Sea of Cortez (or Gulf of California) at Los Barriles.

The Jesuits came to Baja too. This mission in Loreto was founded in 1697.

A roadside shrine on the Bay of Conception.

High tempretures along with Mexico being out of favour with American travellers are leaving campsites like this one empty.

Looking up to a tall cactus. The cacti in this area are the tallest in the world.

We found many varieties of cacti along the highway.

The 350km “gas-gap” between Gerrero Negro and El Rosario is an obvious opportunity for some.

On the Ruta del Vino celebrating our final dinner in Mexico and Latin America – with a local white of course.

We reached our 40,000km mark just before the US border.