Still alive
Zipolite, Mexico
I came to Zipolite just for one day on the way to San Cristobal and ended up staying 8 nights. Its nice, the weather has been great, the water warm, the tourists naked, why shouldn’t I stay longer.
Not been doing much. Yesterday I went on the Crocodile tour at a nearby swamp which was good but marred by my stupidity at locking my key in my van and hence having to do the boat ride only with my point and shoot camera. Luckily the American family that was in the boat gave myself and Paula (my new Canadian friend) a lift back and I got a further lift from the owner of my hotel. I missed hundreds of shots of birds though which were all over the place. Very annoying I couldn’t use my new telephoto lens.
The town is very small, just a village really and its the low season so there aren’t many people around. Tomorrow I have a 10 hour trip up through the mountains to San Cristobal and then onto Palenque. Hopefully I will run into my South African friends up there….
In search of an ATM
Zipolite, Mexico
Paula and I went into the nearest town to get some cash from an ATM. I was down to coins having spent nearly all my money, including my emergency stash! Naughty!
On the way back we stopped at Puerto Angel and anchored out in the harbour was the Catamaran : Java. The same boat Kira and I have spent a couple of days fruitlessly chasing in March. I wondered if she was aboard….
Paula shocks the local fauna with her skimpy attire.
Jungle boogie
Ziplote, Mexico
It was time to eat pizza, drink $1 Mezcal and dance in the local disco. So thats what we did. And after watching our new Australian friends embarrass themselves on the dance floor I was so glad I went for some salsa lessons.
Just a short stay on the beach
Zipolite, Mexico
I spent the day just hanging out, exploring the town or rather village. The water was semi fierce, safer than Puerto Escondido though and it was famed for its liberal attitudes to nudism. If middle aged ugly people want to get naked that’s fine with me, I can always look at my book.
This was in the local supermarket. Does anyone buy this stuff afterwards?
I checked out another few places since the hotel I was in really wasn’t doing it for me. Lino floors which stay wet from the sea spray tend to have that effect. I had pizza on the beach and got talking to a girl from South Africa called Paula who was staying for a while. She read me my fortune and we arranged to meet up the next day.
So much for staying 2 days….
Moving on
Zipolite, Mexico
I had had 2 weeks on the beach, time for a town. I thought I would stay in Zipolite for a night, no more than 2 and head over to San Cristobal. I got another place with a pool. Until I saw it.
I don’t think I’ll be going in there. Zipolite seemed pretty quiet. Maybe things will pick up on the morrow.
The beach of Death
Puerto Escondido
Day ??
I’m on day 8 of my visit to Puerto Escondido and thoroughly enjoying doing very little. I’m with 3 charming sisters from South Africa that I managed to persuade to share my van down to coast from Mexico City and I’ve been teaching them to surf. They’re very enthusiastic and between them seem to spend all day a the water on my board and a long board they rented. We spend half the time checking out the dead animals washed up on the beach though. 2 days ago we had great fun trying to help the lifeguard pull a dead and very rotten turtle up onto the beach so he could burying. What a stink. We also keep finding dead sea cobras. I want one for the hood of my car!
Its a nice little beachside town not that I’ve done too much exploring. Maybe its best to stay in the hotel, 2 people were kidnapped at gunpoint yesterday at a nearby restaurant. The sun shines in the morning but has started to disappear in favour of an afternoon shower that comes in varying degrees of ferocity. Yesterday it came down HARD. The little restaurant we had lunch at was leaking water everywhere and then the huge guttering inside collapsed under the weight of the water. If anyone had been underneath it they would have been killed.
Our Israeli neighbours standing in water with the electricity still on….. :p
Caryn cleans her feet
Back in Mexico
Mexico City
I’ve just had a few more days in the capital doing random tourist things. I went back to Hostel Amigo, despite my better judgment, but it seems this time the noise didn’t bother me as much. What bothered me was finding out I was paying 120 pesos for my room and other people were booking online and only paying 70! I certainly missed a trick there.
I made friends with 3 sisters from South Africa, Sarrane, Caryn and Lauren and will be giving them a lift down to Oaxaca and then onto Puerto Escondido. Free surfing lessons might also be on the cards, although I could probably do with a few myself. I still didn’t do all the tourist things I had planned on but it was more fun to do random things with Saranne for a few days than wander around museums on my own. We went to the main market (disgusting animal section, no water in the cages and most of the poor creatures were sharing their cages with dead relatives!), Cultural Museum and post office. I also went to see the new Indiana Jones movie which was rather crap.
6 pints of bitter and a night sleeping in Sals toilet. Great Success!
Went out to the Ol Brown Jug, got trashed with Sal, Tim and Skinner. Nuff said.
Is it really waterproof?
Drip!
Not sure what’s going on here :p
Pigs eh? 
Terrible accident on my plane
Day 219
New York, NY
I thought I was getting better by the time I made it onto the plane and indeed everything seemed to be fine, but disaster was looming. I had my meal (I don’t recommend the Continental Seafood choice, unless you like nasty canned tuna) and settled down to endure as much of ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ as I could bear. I managed about half before my mental nausea got the better of me and I went to wait for my the toilet. I was feeling much better, I was a bit gassy but I had mostly lost my physical nausea from the morning and was feeling much stronger. I waited for ages and ages, after maybe 15 minutes I went to sit down again and the woman soon came out. Little did I know there was about to be an explosion!
I went up to the toilet and locked the door. My stomach rumbled, I could sense an after effect of the bad meal from the day before bubbling away in my guts. The fans whirled in the bathroom and I savored the feeling of simple privacy being alone gave me. I felt the usual feeling of minor flatulence from an upset stomach and let out a little gas.
I froze in shock and disgust for just second.
There is always a time for a first experience and this was one of those moments. I just hope its my last.
I spun around and ripped my trousers down faster then I have ever done, dreading more disaster and reeling with the horror of what had just happened. 24 hours later the dodgy lentil soup which had caused me so many problems had reappeared at a most inopportune moment and with the same consistency. 
I was properly horrified but the size of the problem wasn’t as great as it could have been and mercifully limited to my my underpants. I carefully removed my clothes and cleaned myself up. I had suspected I might not get my bag delivered so had a some spare clothes in my hand luggage. This was the second slice of luck, if you can have such a thing while soiling yourself on a plane. The first being of course that the accident only happened while I was in the bathroom.
I’m sure they thought I was mixing noxious chemicals in the bathroom since I was in there forever but luckily no one else was waiting when I was finally ready to leave and I dashed to get my spare shorts. If I was going to get a repeat of the disaster I would like it with another layer of protection. I wasn’t even carrying any imodium in my bag. I must have traveled 200,000 miles over the last few years, always with something to protect again such a disaster and now I didn’t have any. I would just have to pray there wouldn’t be more trouble.
Sick and tired of it all
Day 219
Mexico City
Well if seems like its that time to put my trip on hold for a month, I will be back in the UK on Saturday after 3 days in New York. I was lucky I made it to the airport. I was woken up multiple times by the ignorant French wanker who moved into my dorm yesterday. I needed to get up but I felt really awful. I staggered down to breakfast and only managed a small plate of fruit. I was convinced I was going to throw up sooner or later but somehow I avoided it. I guess I will blame the lentil soup I ate for lunch yesterday, I can’t think what else it could be. Max and Josca were fine, but they had pasta.
Josca gives me some ears while Max dishes up the Jamaica
I hovered around the toilet for ages but eventually I had to get my stuff packed and get myself to the airport. I took the Metro and by the time I got here I felt somewhat better, I was shuffling around like a zombie though. I’m soooooo tired!
New York here I come!
Playing tourist
day
Mexico City
Museum/irish/murals/zoo?/art gallery/monkeys/josca birthday/beer and cards
Planet earth is slowing down
Day 211
Veracruz, Mexico
God its been hot! After my day at the pyramids outside Mexico City I headed over to the gulf coast, something I haven’t seen since Naples in Florida back in October. No dolphins this time though. My vague plan was to spend the night in Tuxpan and then cruise down to Veracruz, visiting some other Pyramids on the way. I never found them. It was 36C by the time I drove past where they should have been and after shouting and cursing the lack of road signs I went by them and kept going. You can keep your damn Pyramids I’m not interested!
In Veracruz I found a cool little town on the coast with plenty of plaza’s with things going on. Bands and dancing, people out enjoying the evening, music and life. No tourists either really, at least none that I could spot in my wanderings. I found a nice little room at the top of a cheap hotel with the benefit of a breeze blowing through it to supplement the ceiling fan but the disadvantage of a direct audible route to the local Mexican Indie Rock Pub. Normally this would be a plus, but the bands they seem to feature don’t seem to be able to write any good songs. All I hear in noise, try some damn chord progression and melody…
I feel like I’m killing time. I just read a lot. I managed ‘To kill a mockingbird’ in 24 hours which is fine since I will now forget it and get to enjoy it again in another decade. I remember watching it as a play with my old friend Spec when I was in college but all I remember of it was seeing one of the actors get spat in the face.
There is a nice little vegetarian restaurant where you get a good set meal for 45 pesos which i have been eating at. You get a choice of dishes but nothing is written down so I have to guess at what I’m getting, its usually a pleasant enough surprise.
I should have left for Peubla today I guess but since I hadn’t packed up the night before it was unlikely I would get out and get off. My inaction and generally lack of motivation is not too serious, its been so bloody hot that I have hardly been able to move. Today was better though, just high twenties so the fan gets a well earned rest. I’m now constantly aware of the fact that I have one week left, but its more like a week in England than being in Mexico. Since I booked my flight I feel like I have been unable or unwilling to stray too far from Mexico city, if I drove 2,000km I would only have to drive them all the way back. So I’m trapped in a small circle of states, waiting, just waiting…
A 6 peso sponge isn’t in the budget!
Day 203
San Juan Teotihuacan
I don’t see the point in washing cars, its a waste of time and resources. But when people keep writing ‘puta’ or whore on the side I figure I had to take action, I was secretly hoping someone would do some amazing artwork in the dust. After 7 months and 19,000 miles the green goddess finally gets a wash….
Then I went to the supermarket and couldn’t find it when I came out because it was so clean
You’ll never catch the Assman alive!
Day 201
San Juan Teotihuacan
Somehow I got up, got my car packed and left Valle de Bravo. The question of whether there was any paragliding to be done was unresolved. I didn’t see anyone in the air during the 4 days I was there. I wasn’t in the mood to find out it seemed.
I had no idea where I was going.
I looked at the my Lonely Planet in a vague attempt to at least work out my next destination. Roland had texted me to say he was on the beach with his friend but that was a bit to far to go and then head back to Mexico city after only 2 weeks. I figured I could make it to the pyramids near Mexico City, they had a cheap camp site and it seemed a good enough idea. My only small problem was getting there, but it didn’t seem to far… Driving in Mexico is easy, navigating is not too bad, but there was only me, and driving and looking at maps isn’t a good idea. I was about to have maybe my worst day in the country…
The first few hours were fine, I followed the road towards the capital intending to avoid it at all costs. 25 million people would be a lot of traffic… I also realised I had another problem, it was Friday. Mexico City has a law, not a bad law either, that restricts cars with the last number on the plate from using the roads for one day a week on a rotating basis. So on Fridays the numbers 0 and 9 were banned. I planned to follow the highways around the capital anyway so I figured I would be ok. As soon as I started getting close to city I became increasingly frustrated in a way I hadn’t felt before in Mexico. The road signs would direct me to various suburbs but wouldn’t tell me how to get clockwise around the capital. I had to keep pulling over to consult my map which was proving to be reasonably useless, I couldn’t find any of the places on the signs and eventually found myself driving into the city. Not good. I turned around and came 10 miles back out which was a waste of time, then found the toll road and figured that had to take me North and towards my destination. Regretting the 33 pesos it cost me I had found the right road and joined the speedway drivers taking advantage of the comparatively empty road. I figured I would be able to get to the main town to the north of the capital and the carry on to the pyramids but ended up getting off at the next exit.
My map was off scale, I couldn’t find any where on the signs (half of which were obscured by graffiti), I kept trying to steal glances at my map but at one point nearly came off the road and decided I would rather live. I was getting slightly annoyed. I had no idea where I was so drove onto the next sign. I was soon waved over by a police car on patrol. Uh oh. I shook his hand and gave him my licence and then as usual asked if he spoke English. I knew I was in trouble, but I knew also it wasn’t really a big deal. I felt quite justified being in the wrong place at the right time… fix your bloody signs! The cop started going on about the plates and numbers and althought I didn’t know the specifics of what he said I could guess what the problem was right away. I got my dictionary out and replied as best I could to his questions, mostly I said ‘I don’t understand’. After 10 minutes or so of telling him I didn’t want to be there and I was lost he gave me my licence back and told me to keep going and I would get to the pyramids. I asked if I should go back to the toll road once he showed me on my map where I was but he said ‘just keep going’. Maybe this ‘no driving on friday’ law wasn’t that strict after all…
I did another 10 miles or so in thick and fast traffic. I saw a few cop cars but they didn’t see me. I started to relax… The traffic started to get more stop and go and I pulled up to some lights and a couple of cops were standing there just waiting to bust someone. A fat grey haired codger and his younger, equally rotund companion. That someone was me. They took my license and I pulled over. They didn’t speak English either but they had a nice tatty folder explaining the law in English, as if I didn’t already know. They told me I couldn’t drive until 10pm, they also mentioned fines and then wandered around trying to find someone who spoke English. I acted as though I was quite happy to wait around until 10pm, I asked if there were any hotels nearby. I figured I wasn’t in any immediate danger of being arrested. I looked at them a bit closer. Were they really police men? They didn’t have guns or handcuffs. They seemed quite reasonable really. They mentioned ‘Multa’ a few times, the Spanish for fine, but I mostly just ignored the word and asked if I could just hang out until 10. After 20 minutes of hanging around the fat older ‘cop’ handed me back my licence and told me to drive around the block and wait until night. It was about 5pm now and I was still miles from San Juan Teotihuacan where the pyramids are…
I got back in my car, turned left to go around the block… and kept going. It felt so wrong to driving away from the cops but after looking at the map I figured I wasn’t actually in Mexico City anymore. With a deep sense of unease I picked my way through the back streets until I was a few blocks away from my second encounter with the cops. I seriously considered implementing the ‘Assman’ card but then figured what was the chances of getting caught again. I got back on the main road and was stopped at the next lights. This time they really were cops and not just part time security guards dressed up as them.
Bollocks!
Of course they didn’t speak English but I guess they didn’t need to. I pulled over and was directed to a side street where a very seriously looking cop did all the talking. He blathered on for ages, I didn’t understand 10% of what he said but I just played it dumb as much as possible. When he used a word a few times I looked it up in my dictionary. He also kept going on about fines. I tried to bore him by asking where I was on the map, an insisting I wasn’t in the capital anymore. I asked about hotels and waiting around, he told me the fine was 4000 pesos. I ignored that and went back to trying to find out if everywhere nearby had the same law. He said he could let me off for 200 dollars. I said I didn’t have any dollars. I got my wallet out and opened it. Happily it had 20 pesos in it. I pointed to the ashtray full of change I had. He didn’t notice the 450 pesos that was sitting on the seat next to me partially obscured by my guidebook and I ignored it, and covered it up whenever I could. If he asked for my passport I would have been screwed because I always keep some cash with it.
He consulted with his colleague. I guessed I was going to be taking a trip to the station… Instead he gave me back my licence, then gave me directions to the pyramids and… gave me a receipt for the fine I just hadn’t paid ! I drove off quick before they changed their minds!
This is all you have to do if you’re in DF illegally.
I was still deep in Mexico city suburbs though and I didn’t fancy wasting another 20 minutes on cops who may, or may not, get bored with my lack of Spanish. Lets face it if they took my keys and passport I would have no choice but to pay them. And they had guns. It was getting late, I was tired, I just wanted to get to the campsite and go to bed. I knew I was breaking the law but instead of the police enforcing it properly they were just trying to shake me down for some cash and my licence was giving them all the excuse they needed. I felt I had no choice but to go Assman on them.
I pulled over and removed my licence plates.
In New York I had been on the Kenny Kramer tour, the inspiration for Kramer in Seinfeld, one of my favourite shows. In one episode he accidentally gets sent the wrong licence plates which he put on his car. Kenny also sells these along with his T-shirts and mugs. I bought one myself.
I would never dare to do this in the States but I decided I was either going to the pyramids or to jail, I was bored with listening to crooked cops…
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I made it to the Pyramids eventually via the most convoltuted route you could imagine, cursing all the way, but I didn’t get stopped again!
Day 200 – but am I happy?
Day 200
Valle de Bravo, Mexico
After a few days in Morelia I headed closer to Mexico City on Sunday and made the mistake of checking into a small hotel with cable TV and the Internet. My body clock was messed up in Guadalajara and this hasn’t helped. I was supposed to be paragliding in Valle de Bravo but I didn’t go down to the place they rent gear until yesterday afternoon and the answer was ‘were shut, come back tomorrow at 9am’. Not exactly what I wanted to hear… I was also getting constantly asked at the hotel how long I was going to stay. In some ways I’m the perfect guest, I don’t want my room cleaned everyday, but don’t ask me how long I want to stay because I really don’t know. They asked me so many times I felt I should be moving on.
If the truth be know I have been feeling a bit down. I should be looking forward to coming to the UK but I would now have to try to find somewhere to leave my stuff, get some accommodation in New York… It felt like my trip was coming to an end and all roads were now leading me inextricably towards Mexico City and that flight I had booked. Mexico is cool, but its not exactly overwhelming me with potential travel partners. maybe I’m just looking in the wrong places, but I was beginning to think that I needed someone to get my arse out of bed in the morning and doing something more than reading my latest book or waiting for a movie to start.
I was also slightly annoyed that someone had stolen the wood from my roof in Morelia. They weren’t proper thieves though since they left my bungee cords on the top. But still!! No more car camping for me!
200 days? bleh
Hacking my maps
Day 196
Morelia, Mexico
I spent 2 days messing about with my maps, getting them linked to my blog posts, and its been a minor nightmare. Its not good to have to edit them manually so I’ve been working on automating the whole process through macros. After much effort I finally succeeded and so now I only have to press a few buttons and its mostly sorted out.
So, in case anyone is interested, here is the code. I will do a better post sometime in the future. Maybe. The results should be apparent in a few hours…
Sub Macro1()
‘
‘ Macro1 Macro
‘ Macro recorded 1/19/2008 by Travel Trousers
‘
‘ Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+q
‘
‘initial cut to 10kmh subroutine
‘Application.ScreenUpdating = False
‘delete first row
Range(“A1″).Select
ActiveCell.EntireRow.Delete
Range(“A2″).Select
Do
If ActiveCell.Offset(0, 5).Value < 10 Then
ActiveCell.EntireRow.Delete
ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 0).Select
End If
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
Loop Until IsEmpty(ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0))
‘delete last row
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 0).EntireRow.Delete
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
‘delete unneeded time and distance columns
Columns(“E:F”).Delete
End Sub
Sub Macro2()
‘
‘ Macro2 Macro
‘ Macro recorded 1/19/2008 by Travel Trousers
‘
‘ Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+w
‘
‘second macro to halve the output each time it runs
Range(“A2″).Select
‘Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Do
ActiveCell.EntireRow.Delete
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
‘ActiveCell.EntireRow.Select
‘ActiveCell.EntireRow.Clear
Loop Until IsEmpty(ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0))
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
End Sub
Sub Macro3()
‘
‘ Macro3 Macro
‘
‘ Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl+Shift+E
‘
‘make sure we can see the date
Columns(“D:D”).Select
Selection.ColumnWidth = 20
Dim startdate As Date
Dim datenow As Date
Dim days As String
Dim blogtitle As String
Dim blogpage As String
Dim blogloc As String
Dim currcell As String
‘define start of trip
startdate = “13/09/2007″
‘start at row 3
Range(“A3″).Select
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Do
‘check if the dates change
If ActiveCell.Offset(0, 3).Value <> ActiveCell.Offset(1, 3) Then
‘select the row under &
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
‘make a new line for kml info
Selection.EntireRow.Insert , CopyOrigin:=xlFormatFromLeftOrAbove
‘remember active cell
currcell = ActiveCell.Row
‘copy the date now
datenow = ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 3).Value
Range(“K1″).Select
blogtitle = ” No blog entry for this day”
blogpage = “”
blogloc = “”
‘work out the date and then pull the info from the list of points from the K column
Do
If ActiveCell.Offset(0, 1).Value = datenow Then
blogpage = “http://www.traveltrousers.com/blog/?p=” + ActiveCell.Offset(0, 0).Text
blogtitle = ActiveCell.Offset(0, 2)
blogtitle = “<![CDATA[<p><A href=" + Chr$(34) + blogpage + Chr$(34) + ">" + blogtitle + "</A>]]>”
blogloc = ActiveCell.Offset(0, 3)
‘info found so exit loop
Exit Do
End If
‘move down to continue loop
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
Loop Until ActiveCell.Offset(0, 0) = “END”
‘start back at the top
Range(“a1″).Select
‘& go back to previous cell
ActiveCell.Offset(currcell – 1, 0).Select
‘work out how many days have passed
days = Application.WorksheetFunction.Days360(startdate, datenow)
‘fill out the cell with the info
ActiveCell.Offset(0, 0).Value = “</coordinates></LineString></Placemark><Placemark><name>Day ” + days + “</name><description>” + ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 3).Text + blogtitle + “</description><styleUrl>#msn_ylw-pushpin</styleUrl><Point><coordinates>” + ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 0).Text + “,” + ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 1).Text + “,” + ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 2).Text + “</coordinates></Point></Placemark><Placemark><name>” + blogloc + “</name><description>” + ActiveCell.Offset(-1, 3).Text + blogtitle + “</description><styleUrl>#sn_ylw-pushpin</styleUrl><LineString><coordinates>”
‘move on if succesful
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
End If
‘move down to continue loop
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
Loop Until IsEmpty(ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0))
‘delete the unneeded columns
Columns(“D:N”).Delete
End Sub
I’m going home….
Day 194
Morelia, Mexico
I bought a flight back to the UK today. I guess I had no choice, who else would be my Brothers best man? :p So on the 22nd of April I will be flying up to New York for 4 days before heading back over the Atlantic for 3 1/2 weeks. I’m not sure whether to be happy or depressed :/
Spent the day wandering around Morelia, which is a pretty nice town and took a few pics. Here are some of the better ones.
The Mexican Mirror Scam
Day 192
Guadalaraja, Mexico
I finally got some new mirrors so I’m gonna be out of here tomorrow. With Easter making all the shops close for a week I didn’t want to have a 400km journey over to Morelia with no mirrors, or even my little hand held mirror taped on… I went down to the ‘Spare parts’ district on Saturday after I found everywhere was closed from Wednesday onwards and you should have seen the guys running after me when they spotted I didn’t have any mirrors. One guys seemed to think he could get some but after standing around for 5 minutes I drove off, much to his dismay, I’m perfectly capable of getting my own mirrors… Some other guys stopped me, and wanted …. $120! wow! They dropped down to $90, and kept going on about original parts. Big deal, they’re only mirrors, and they’re probably MY original parts. I wasn’t prepared to negotiate from such a high figure so left the area. Its a great scam, I saw a few other people with US plates looking for mirrors… Steal their mirrors, sell them to the shops and everyone is happy. Apart from the gringos.
I went back this afternoon and got 2 mirrors and the plates for $40. I probably should have haggled harder. He started at $60 and kept making a show of calling someone on his mobile to get a cheaper price. As usual the threat of walking away got the price down, but I suspect you could get exactly the same mirrors for $20 in a US breakers yard. So if you’re driving south bring a spare mirror, or 2. There’s a good chance they’ll be broken sooner or later anyway. So after 2 weeks of hanging out in a large city, reading, writing and learning Spanish I really have to get a move on.
With some luck I will be doing some more paragliding later in the week, apparently a place called Valle de Bravo, near Meico City, is quite good for it. Wish me luck!
Merry Easter
Day 188
Guadalajara, Mexico
I woke with a jerk this morning. Or should I say this afternoon.
I’ve been in Guadalaraja for over a week, just wandering around in the day, eating at a nice cheap veggie place I found, sitting in the plazas reading and learning Spanish, playing my guitar, but sleeping later and later. I set my alarm and just ignore it. Its a hard habit to break. I was going to leave today but yesterday, when I eventually got up at 2 PM, found all the car parts places were shut due to ‘Semana Santa’ or Easter as its known here. I can’t go driving without mirrors so I was stuck. But I’ve been paying for my room and playing it by ear, they asked how long I wanted to stay at the start and I said ‘Quién sabe’ or ‘Who knows’… They don’t speak English here though, but I know enough Spanish now to let them know when the light stopped working or that I didn’t need the woman cleaning my room every single day. I’d just prefer it if they bought a toilet seat and killed the mini cockroaches in the bathroom. :p
But the owner was hammering on the door just before noon and just before my alarm sounded. He had shown me sign yesterday that said checkout was at noon, which I knew, but I wasn’t checking out… I was reading in my guidebook that you should book ahead for Easter in some places but I didn’t think much of it, apart from when I got woken up and then he wouldn’t take my money for another night. Great. I understood enough to work out the room was already booked, probably for the weekend. What was I going to do now? Well, there is always the beach… only 5 hours drive away.
Guadalaraja is nice, lots of old buildings and ambience. Its been getting busier in the run up to Easter though. Yesterday the center was pedestrianised and it was bedlam, people everywhere and impossible to walk around. I had set off towards the west side with a map in my head and an address, always the best way to find somewhere. I wanted a cable to connect my flash to my camera, since I lost my wireless receiver on day 5 of my trip. They didn’t have any, but I still had to go off to see some upstairs who spoke English so the assistant could ask ‘why? It connects on the pins’. The assistant only works in a camera shop, its not enough for him to understand that Canon sell them, I want one, ‘why’ doesn’t come into it. I guess I should have told him to go to www.thestrobist.com but its all in English.
I started packing my stuff, took down my mosquito net, which is now saving me from daily ravishments by the local insect population (I put it up when I woke to find my forehead bitten a dozen times…. I must buy some anti-malarials soon too….) and got my shit together. I went down to talk to the owners wife, she was either afraid or liked her distance as she kept backing away from me :p She explained I could move into the little room on the rooftop. Fine with me. I finished packing my stuff and then she comes to tell me I don’t need to move after all. Kind of even better, despite the fact that I’m ready to go.
At least I saw a Easter miracle today. I rose from the dead in the morning
Bloody kids!
Day 182
Guadalajara, Mexico
I go outside to my car and find some ass-masters have stolen the glass in my rear view mirrors! I thought about getting mad but then…. they’re only mirrors…
Wandering around Guadalajara
Day 181
Guadalajara, Mexico
I was getting close to finishing off the current book I’m reading, an Umberto Eco novel called ‘The island of yesterday’ which was a tour de force of brilliance but was slightly distracting in my quest to be a tourist. I must try not to read when I wake up as there is a natural tendency to fall asleep once more, which is of course what happened. It was afternoon by the time I woke and I wandered up into town to find something to eat. My car was sitting baking in the sun and I opened it up to find the new wax on my surf board had melted and dripped all over one of my camping mats :/
The city center isn’t very far so I decided against putting my bike together and just walked up. The traffic was pretty bad, but this being the second largest city in Mexico would only be eclipsed by Mexico City, a place I’m not looking forward to driving in, but shouldn’t be any worse than anywhere else, it would just be more crowded. People in the states told me that Boston had the worst drivers but I didn’t particularly find that to be true just as people in Mexico warn me that Mexico City is a nightmare to drive in, but I’m not so sure. I’m sure its only as bad as Bangkok or Kamapala in Uganda. More traffic means you go slower but also means its safer. Then you only have the problem with the cars around you. I’ve found Mexican drivers to be rather selfish though, the usual stupidity of third world thinking where everyone is looking out for number one. Yesterday I saw a ambulance sitting at the traffic lights with his lights flashing and no one moved. So either it wasn’t a real emergency or the driver realised that even using his siren wouldn’t get them out of the way. This is the scariest thing I guess, you can crash your car, get some help and the traffic still kills you on the way to hospital.
Surveys show that the vast majority of people consider themselves to be an above average driver but this is clearly impossible. I find it better to regard myself as a below average driver since I am regularly doing what is the most dangerous activity in my life it is better to regard the whole act of driving as a easy route to my own death and I would be better thinking I barely knew how to drive. Hidden oil spills, dogs on the road, blown tires, mechanical failure, gravel, dust and sand, huge potholes…. the list is endless and all waiting for an unwary driver to not be concentrating. Dying in a car crash is surely the stupidest and most pointless way to die as its highly preventable. Dying in a drink driving crash is far, far worse, but we’re in Mexico… It happens.
Maybe I should go shopping, Guadalajara has loads of stores and I think my current wardrobe is rather lacking. At least I don’t have to carry any clothes In the city center I set off in search of something to eat but I didn’t seem to have much luck. Everything seemed so… meaty! I wasn’t going to starve though I’m sure, and I’m happy to back into size 32" jeans once more, maybe I can get it down to 30" before the end of the year, something unseen for 10 years. Kira reminded me about a water/maple syrup/cayenne pepper/lemon juice diet with daily sea water enemas which would probably do it. 10 days of that and I’d be really able to eat like crazy for a few months :p If only I could find some food. I found myself in the wedding dress district which was clearly the wrong place for a hungry tourist although it was packed with hopeful looking girls all window shopping for their perfect dress, whether they had the perfect man to go with it was unclear.
Guadalajara isn’t a bad place to get lost searching for something to eat though, the architecture is stunning, with sunny plazas around every corner and neoclassic buildings towering overhead. Its still typical Mexico though with plenty of street sellers hawking their wares; beggars and buskers. I finally gave up and headed for Sanborns, a slice of the 50′s and somewhere I had eaten in before. I was disappointed to see that they give you Nescafe if you order coffee with hot milk, although I’m not sure whether that was a better option than the weak Americano coffee with those awful non-dairy creamer pots you get. What’s so wrong with milk?? I spent far too long reading but tempered my guilt with going through some Spanish-English flash cards and hopefully sticking a few more words to my dull brain. By the time I was onto the last chapter it was dark outside but it was still early and I hadn’t even eaten. I then realised that I had gone through a time zone and lost an hour, but this is hopefully the last one I will have to suffer. I really don’t like going east!