What Drives You?

What drives you? Day after day, long hours on never-ending roads, on those freezing mornings and blistering hot afternoons, in the pouring rain and sand storms, through jungles and deserts, and mountains and endless plains. What makes you get up? With the broken body and a heart shattered a few times, with no future in … Read more

Dear Mexico

Dear Mexico, When the immigration officer at the border gave me a six-month entry, I cycled like a mad man screaming with joy. The Mayan pyramids of Yucatan peeped out of forest canopy just to see who had arrived. I can write about your landscape, from rugged mountains to canyons, from lush jungles to deserts, … Read more

Endless Story—Baja California Star Trails

A cactus tree stands beside my tent like a sentinel. I sit on a rock looking at the stars wondering who has set the wheel of the sky in motion? Is the universe dancing in unison with a whirling dervish? What are these lights? Is the sun shining on the night ocean or the roof … Read more

Signpost: Mexico–Pakistan

If you draw a horizontal line on the world map at the 30.963280° latitude, somewhere this line is going to cross my hometown Layyah in Pakistan. During my bicycle trip from Argentina to Alaska bicycle tour, I crossed this latitude near San Felipe in Baja California, Mexico in January 2018 and thus, was in perfect … Read more

Coco’s Corner

I stopped at a turn off the Highway 1 where a dirt road went to the mountains in the distance. Looking behind there was nothing except one long black line in the desert. Maria had disappeared behind the horizon. Before leaving she had told me about a man with the name Coco who lived in … Read more

Born To Be Wild—Maria Garus

Somewhere in the wilderness of Baja California in Mexico, the road stretches forever through infinite desert plains. My map indicates a blue lake to the right side of the road, but in reality, a vast dry basin lies naked behind layers of scrubs. I stand beside an isolated restaurant staring upon trees, planted in front … Read more

Layyah Signpost in Mexico

If you draw a horizontal line on the world map at the 30.963280° latitude, somewhere this line is going to cross Layyah city in Pakistan. About 9 km south of San Felipe in Baja California, I push my bicycle through the desert. After half an hour of walking in the soft sand, I take a … Read more

Starry Sky in Baja California

It is another night in Baja California and the desert is my home. A cactus tree stands beside my tent like a guard. I sit on a rock looking at the stars wondering who has set the wheel of the sky in motion? Is the universe dancing in unison with a whirling dervish? What are … Read more

A Starry Night in Baja

As darkness fell upon the Baja California desert in Mexico, cacti silhouettes appeared like giant hands of a skeleton rising out of the sand. I set up my tent near a cactus and sat in the door. The sky was full of stars. It reminisced me of my childhood when I used to count stars … Read more