Twitter Weekly Updates for 2008-08-24
- :: i just swept my room & collected a huge pile of dust. I guess this is to be expected when you live under the shadow of an active volcano #
- :: i dont want to complain but i really wish people wouldnt give me meat and then laugh when they realise. Its very rude :/ #
- ::the hike was good,without the projected storm.we had to baby sit a moaning american mom/daughter all day though.if youre sick stay home! #
- ::its 6am & im up to go climb some mountain with school. I thought saturdays were for lie ins & football. Maybe i get one later…A match… #
- :: hah! I broke twitter! #
- :: 100 facebook friends! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm carrot cake and coffee! # - :: i just looked in my mirror to see the car behind doing a 180 spin! Home safely in 10 mins after a 6 hour drive. Zzzz #
- :: guatemalan customs arent that bad. Im @ the border renewing my car permission & everyone is very helpful & no one is asking for bribes #
- ::will i really go to hell for using a computer program to conjugate the verbs in my spanish homework so i ago in our dancing? :p #
- ::after 15 minutes of whispering in the dark we are finally able to dance to rhianna. Why do the police hate gays so much? :p #
- :: is it really wrong to change salsa schools just because the other instructor is really hot? :p was fun dancing with someone new though… #
- bleh #
- ::why is my website such a pain? I change one little thing and then RSS stops working…. its a learning experience I guess… #
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2008-08-24
- :: i just swept my room & collected a huge pile of dust. I guess this is to be expected when you live under the shadow of an active volcano #
- :: i dont want to complain but i really wish people wouldnt give me meat and then laugh when they realise. Its very rude :/ #
- ::the hike was good,without the projected storm.we had to baby sit a moaning american mom/daughter all day though.if youre sick stay home! #
- ::its 6am & im up to go climb some mountain with school. I thought saturdays were for lie ins & football. Maybe i get one later…A match… #
- :: hah! I broke twitter! #
- :: 100 facebook friends! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
- mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm carrot cake and coffee! #
- :: i just looked in my mirror to see the car behind doing a 180 spin! Home safely in 10 mins after a 6 hour drive. Zzzz #
- :: guatemalan customs arent that bad. Im @ the border renewing my car permission & everyone is very helpful & no one is asking for bribes #
- ::will i really go to hell for using a computer program to conjugate the verbs in my spanish homework so i ago in our dancing? :p #
- ::after 15 minutes of whispering in the dark we are finally able to dance to rhianna. Why do the police hate gays so much? :p #
- :: is it really wrong to change salsa schools just because the other instructor is really hot? :p was fun dancing with someone new though… #
- bleh #
- ::why is my website such a pain? I change one little thing and then RSS stops working…. its a learning experience I guess… #
::the hike was good,without th…
::the hike was good,without the projected storm.we had to baby sit a moaning american mom/daughter all day though.if youre sick stay home!
Tags: Home, american, Day, momHeading to the beach
Caye Caulker, Belize
| I filled my backpack and headed down to the pier in time for the noon ferry over to Caye Caulker, a little strip of land that I should probably have gone over to the week before if Vanessa hadn‘t distracted me :p At least the weather seemed more reasonable, the water was even blue instead of the brown I was used to seeing. Maybe I would be diving the Blue Hole in a few days?!? |
|
The ferry was 50% tourists so I guessed it was a pretty popular spot, I paid $20 us return and sat listening to American Archaolgogy students chat to a Norwegian couple about their plans to visit Europe. An hour or so later we we at the island and I set off with a vague idea of where I wanted to stay. Daisy’s place smelt of mildew so I settled for Marins. Shared shower, double room for $15 us. I was hoping to meet up with Katarija again who had told me she would be heading over about the same time but a walk around town didn’t make her appear.
I was pulled up short by a local guy, Charles, who made me feel bad by trying to brush him off. “Relax man, meet the locals!” he told me, so I stopped to chat. Two minutes later he was trying to sell me drugs and telling me where the island brothels were. So much for being friendly.
We’re only on a strip of land 700 meters by 100 so its pretty small. Up at the ‘split’ there’s a cool bar with a diving board and a broken up concrete pier where the tourists lie basking like seals all day. Its hot, sunny but with a fresh breeze, the hurricane near Florida was blowing all the way over. Not a bad place to chill for a few days.
Chilling by the beach
Belize
Just a quick update while I wait for my turn on the connection. I’m currently about to leave Hopkins in the middle of Belize with a charming American girl (they do exist!) called Vanessa on a trip back to the north to see some caves, temples and wildlife. Staying on the beach wasn’t a great success, there has been so much rain recently the normally green water is brown and churning up foam! Hopefully the weather will improve on the way into Guatemala. I will have to fulfil my minor ambition of swimming in the Caribbean when/if I get to Honduras, although that might then be the bay of Honduras. This geography thing is so confusing!
 Spashing down the Manatee highway! |
Belize without a map
I finally got my oil changed on my last day in Mexico. I rotated the tyres, changed the air and oil filter and had a confusing conversation about the fuel filter in Spanish. I didn’t care I didn’t understand any more, it was time for country number four on my world tour. After 4 months in Mexico it was time to leave. I had a final breakfast at a local cafe and dumped about 40 coins for my 52 peso bill before heading off the to the border. After seeing all the Belizean cars queuing for fuel I thought it best that I get in the line as well, just as well, I would later learn that gas is $11 a gallon over the border. Why do the Americans complain?!?
The guard at the border hit me for $10 to leave and had the gall to suggest other tourist pay him $25 for the amazing “service” of pointing out where the car import office was. I don’t think so. I sorted out my paperwork and headed over into the free trade zone between the borders. I got my $5 wheel spray and waved off the guys attempt to sell me insurance. I couldn’t just drive through though as one of the customs ‘helpers’ was keen to point out. He jumped in and we went back to get my wheels sprayed, at least that’s where we were going until I told him, to his amazement, that I had already done it. He also wanted to sell me insurance but I said I had no cash. We turned around and went back to the immigration place. Somehow I got away without giving him any money.
I was given 30 days and the same for my car. My papers all in order I drove my car to the border where it was vaguely inspected by the disinterested guard. He mostly wanted to know how much my bike was worth. $100 if I was lucky, I didn’t mention the laptops, camera gear and guitar. All of this business was conducted in English which was nice, its always nice to be understood. I was soon through and went to the office over the border to pick up some insurance. Since its $29B for a week and only $60B for a month I went for the longer time*. You never know. Sadly I learned that the disease of speed bumps has spread to Belize too but the roads weren’t too bad, the lack of signs sent me off down a dirt track that I learned would have soon brought me to my destination but taking no chances, and possessing no map, I turned back to seek out the highway turning I had missed.
A hour or so later I was in Orange Walk and with some local currency in my hand happy to be able to buy a drink. I am slightly ashamed to say I was glad to see the Queens face on a bank note. Kinda feels like coming home somehow. Now should I stay or should I go. Accommodation options in Orange Walk were limited, and most people only stopped to go on the river trip to the local ruins. I had just come from 3 major Mayan ruins so wasn’t that bothered about staying. Belize city was only an hour and a half away with more options, certainly for accommodation so I picked up some supplies and got back on the highway. I say highway… it was a paved road. Mostly without potholes.
Outside the SEA hostel I met the Canadian guy I had been chatting to the previous night but some strange force made me keep going to my other choice, the Seaside Guest House. It sounded so tranquil, serene and peaceful. What could go wrong?
The gate was opened by some aging American dude who obviously had had a few too many beers. He was followed by an older American woman who was shouting at him. I had them pegged as other guests and hoped they wouldn’t cause a problem. I stood in the common area trying to get some service for 10 minutes but there was no one about. It looked like a cool hostel though, lots of drums everywhere and a great library. I found some staff upstairs and it turned out the drunk couple were the owners. Seems like they had been at this all week.
I met up with the other guests, got checked in and a group of us headed over to find some Chinese food. We managed to pick up a local bum who I had asked directions from, which ended up costing me a bottle of coke to get rid of him. We were also on the street it says specifically in the guidebooks not to walk down during the night. 6 people shouldn’t cause a problem, right? Belize city is pretty grotty, the roads are in terrible shape, people hassle you for change everywhere and there is too much trash. Shame really, they have some nice architecture and the working people are friendly enough.
Back at the hostel we found there were another group of guests checking in so we all moved upstairs with a few beers in an attempt to be social. Mitch, the owner, brought us up a couple of drums and we started talking about buying a batch of local rum. His partner Diana had been drunk and embarrassing downstairs with the new guests and she soon came up to have a chat. She then started ranting about being mugged at gunpoint and how the Belizean Tourist Board were going to close them down if they had any more complains. It seems the tourists have been complaining about the hostel. We all wondered why. The other guys seemed to find it highly amusing that Diana seemed to take a shine to me, but at least she was being nice.
It started raining outside and we all felt sorry for poor Mitch who was out getting our booze. He came back and we started doing some serious drinking. Everything was fine, we had the guitars and bongos going.
I found out Vanessa had the Canon 40D and we chatted about photography. She said she was a photographer but I soon caught her out on that one by finding out she didn’t know how to set the white balance :p Faker!
Then everything seemed to go wrong. Diana was getting increasingly drunk and shouting about tourists ripping her off. Mitch managed to calm her down and send her back to bed but she was soon back up and not only shouting at poor Mitch but also now accusing everyone upstairs of not paying our bills. We had a tab open downstairs so thought this wasn’t a problem. I got my guitar out too and was trying to teach Mitch a song when she came over, grabbed the bucket of ice and threw it all over him. I didn’t get wet but I moved my guitar into the wall. I wasn’t impressed!
The rest of the evening consisted of everyone else talking to both of them trying to calm them down but mostly just trying to get rid of them. Mitch wanted to stay with us and chill, Diana wanted to kill him. She came up and kicked the locked door in, was screaming and shouting. We wound up retreating to one of the dorms and whispering behind the doors. Even that wasn’t enough and we got told off for that too. It was a very weird night.
Mitch and Diana. More drama than Mexican Soap.
* 1 day – $12.50B / 2 weeks – $46B
oil change/breakfast/getting rid of change/queue at gas station/border/$25 guard/spray/belize border/insurance-12-30-46-60/wrong road-no signs/orange walk-atm/belize city/heat sink paste/chinese directions/meet the canadian outside SEA/finding hostel/bad roads/drunk owners/hangin downstairs/check in.park up/invited to dinner/olly.jo.vanessa./ATM-shower/belgian couple.john-laurie/walk to chineese/pick up bum for directions/coke/peotry back to hostel/new arrivals downstairs/few beers/row/uncomfortable/go up stairs/rain on baloncy/dog shit/bongos-mitch.diana/diana talking to me/rows restart/mitch goes for rum/guitar/throwing ice/vanessa photographer/diana accusing us of not paying/getting weird/kicking door in/hiding in dorm room/3.3-am
Tags: free trade zone, peace, gas station, map, locals, dorm room, car import, rain, coming home, wheels, thumb, beds, eve, river trip, shame, dorms, carsStill 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….
Tags: zipolite mexico, sun, boat ride, stupidity, blog, mountains, point and shoot camera, weather, birds, mexico, tourists, mate, animals, photosWandering 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!
Tags: eclipse, rash, novel, ears, stupidity, camping, rain, tires, set, wanderings, tent, mexico, lipsTime to leave
Day 179
San Blas, Mexico
Everyone had gone! Even the two American girls camping under Cabana had left, heading into town for a hotel room before their early morning bus ride, there was only the German group left and they weren’t too keen on speaking in English all day. Maybe I should have gone to Sayalita with Ben and Noah, but they didn’t ask and I didn’t push. I made some tea (my coffee had run out) and sat on my balcony for most of the day trying to get back up to date with my blog. I wrote and I wrote and slowly the days disappeared, its funny how long it takes to get back up to date, even when you’re seeming doing very little. My legs and arms were a galaxy of red stars though, the sandflies setting off supernovas all over my body that itched like crazy. I was thinking it might be time to get out of San Blas, really break the curse and move on, I would head to Tepic and decide from there.
Tags: eve, morning bus, red stars, Travel, keen, german group, flies, american girls, balcony, blog, girls, set, american, curse, mexicoRace to the Ferry
Day 159
La Paz, BCS, Mexico
It was time to leave Baja after nearly 4 weeks of fun but the whole of Mexico was still stretching before me. We got up, packed up and made our way back up to La Paz to get the ferry back to the mainland. The ferry left at 3pm, but you had to be there 3 hours before, ie noon. It was a simple calculation to make and a simple mistake. The road went north from the RV park and so did we. It curved around the coastal road and traffic was light. We passed the places we probably should have been camping for free but then I can confess we sneaked out in the morning without paying for the second night :p Roland‘s idea! The road became really quite bad, strange for a main road, sometimes the fallen rock debris forced us into one lane and the tarmac had fallen into the cliff on the right more than once. Up and down, around treacherous bends and over rutted sections we finally came to a place where the tarmac ended and it was just a dirt track. This obviously wasn’t the main road! We needed to go inland to get back to La Paz and we had just driven for half an hour north on the wrong road.
Nice View on the Wrong Road |
Cursing our stupidity we turned around and went back on the same terrible road, now an hour behind schedule and wondering if we should bother going to La Paz at all. We had been to the terminal before and it states quite specifically that you must be there 3 hours before. We would be there 2 hours before, but it wasn’t an international flight, and hey! We’re in Mexico! I was half hoping La Curva would be open for breakfast but it wasn’t and we found the proper road and put the pedal to the metal. Around 1pm we made it to La Paz and then went up the 25km to the ferry port but we need not have hurried, they would actually sell tickets up to 45 minutes before departure so we stood in the queue, I paid $180 for a 6 hour ferry ride and we went for a much deserved breakfast of fish tacos from the van near the entrance. So long Baja, hello mainland Mexico!
| The ferry ride was pretty mundane, Roland was kicked out of my van and I had to negotiate the boarding alone, which was mostly waiting around for the lorries to get on board. It was a pretty big ferry, and I was soon sitting on a ramp inside and trying to work out what I needed for the journey. I took so long that eventually the ramp behind me was raised and I stood there for another 15 minutes waiting with a deck hand for it to move. When I eventually set off to find another way out and wandering the |  The scary ferry ramp! |
lower decks for 5 minutes I ended up at the same point I started but with the ramp now down. Well I do like to explore. I found Roland and we stood in line for our included meal before going out to watch the ferry depart. A completely unremarkable journey, it soon went dark but the wind was enough to get us inside pretty quick and we read, I watched the end of ‘Stardust’ until my batteries ran out (the ferry had a non standard plug 
) and we tried to ignore bad American movies dubbed in to Spanish.
|
Why is Roland wearing a dress? |
Roland had organised another Couchsurfing host in Los Mocis, a town of a quarter million people some miles inland from the port, so we gave him a ring and met him at a supermarket near the highway. Roberto was a big guy, talks good English and the only host in the area, so I guess we were lucky. He showed us the room we would share and then took us out for some 10pm tacos and we discussed a few things to do over the weekend. He works as a lawyer so I guess out timing was pretty good, however Roland had to head off to pick up his father soon so the timing was getting tight….
Waiting on the ferry…
up/wrong road/la paz/ferry terminal/shrimps/ferry/meal/laptop power/coffee/roberto/dinner
Tags: wanderings, set, blog, girls, rv park, journey, jerk, queueLooking for a shower
Day 160
Los Barilles, BCS, Mexcico
Roland had most of the shade under the campsite tree and hence was getting more sleep than me, I got up at 9.30 as usual when the suns heat on the tent became unbearable and went to work on my latest obsession, putting the date information on my GPS track. Using Excel I was slowly working out how to search through the information until the date changed and then put in a marker which would also be a link to that days blog entry, but my lack of knowledge of excel macros was holding me back and I couldn’t understand why it was giving me errors. My laptop battery doesn’t last very long anyway and Roland blearily enquired from his tent which bastard was running a generator so close to his head so early… I told him it was 10.30am and shocked him into getting up. We had kind of decided to leave and go north somewhat, if only to look for a shower. Roland is cool, if I had wanted to stay another day it would have been no problem, but we were both getting a bit smelly and the milk had run out! :p
Back on the appalling road we learned it soon became sealed and then we only had to watch for the usual insane pot holes dotted around the highway and the ever present ‘topes’ or speed bumps. There was an occasional cow wandering too and we saw a couple of escaped horses but I kept my speed down enough to avoid such dangers. Later on we saw a rolled car, complete with emergency vehicles right outside a school along with scores of on looking children and a body on the ground… Not the way I want to go…
Up at the next town, Las Lagunas, we drove around looking for a Taco place and checked out the beach. There was no surf as promised in our guidebooks so we looked, reversed and drove off towards Santiago. We needed somewhere to camp, with a shower and we hoped to find somewhere there. The weather is just great now, its mid twenties all day and the nights are usually cloudless with a nearly full moon, cold enough to enjoy a fire but not so cold to be uncomfortable. Perfect weather, it can’t last. When we eventually found Santiago we discovered a charming little town with no cheap food and no where to camp. The one hotel/bar in town was no longer allowing camping and again we couldn’t find a Taco place. I was getting very hungry now after only eating half a papaya in the morning but Los Barriles was only 25km away and I thought I could make it.
It would take longer since seeing my first dead Mexican…
Los Barriles is gringo-ville but still we couldn’t find a cheap taco stand, there was a nice seafood restaurant though and after not paying for accommodation for 10 days or so could afford to spend the $10 on the seafood soup which was very tasty but not very filing. I will get the special Tacos tomorrow then, Marlin, Octopus and Shrimp. If I didn’t eat seafood now I would be losing lots of weight or possibly ballooning out on cheesy quesadillas. The town was dotted with RV sites and after checking out the nice, but empty beach we decided to splurge on the $13 to park up and get a hot shower. The RV park is really just a big car park for Americans but lots of them stay here for months and make their spots really quite nice, planting fauna around and even building their own shower blocks on their sites. We settled for a place to pitch our tents and I got the usual regular comment about my Massachusetts licence plate. ‘Yes I have come quite a way….’.
Tonight was a lunar eclipse at 8pm so we showered, went to get beer and went over to the pot luck by the beach to watch the show. Roland didn’t know what a pot-luck was and seemed disappointed when I explained it wouldn’t be a party for stoners :p It was moderately cloudy but regular breaks meant that we saw most of what was going on . I have seen 2 solar eclipses but can’t remember if I have every seen a lunar eclipse. They happen regularly enough but its usually too cold or late to watch them. Either that or I have something more interesting to do. It wasn’t exactly mind blowing so we finished our beers and then went looking for some action in town, which basically meant we went for a walk because there was nothing going on at all…
Doing gps logs/papaya/sealed road/crappy beach at next town/no camping at santiago/up to los Barillos/seafood soup/shower at camground/130 pesos/out for beer/lunar eclipse/looking for bar/charlie wilsons war
Tags: crappy, sea, highways, disco, balloon, tent, laptops, campsite, set, Travel, eve, heap, sun, rolandShocking roads
Day 158
Somewhere in Baja California Sur
After getting gas and not having to worry about driving like a maniac the dusty, sandy road we had attempted the previous day didn’t seem to bad. We soon learned our mistake in that the road was really only rocky at the start, there were plenty of campsites soon after we gave up the previous evening and we had enough gas to get to the next station. However hindsight is always 20/20 and prudence is not always a bad thing, especially when you’re facing the possibility of getting stuck somewhere dangerous. It seemed Betsabe drove horrendously slowly and since we didn’t have her rolling along in front of us made much better time. The road up the coast was best in a 4WD but easily done in a regular car, as long as care was taken when the rocks started poking up. The amount of property for sale out there was astounding, it made little sense to me since there was little water available, the road was bad and there wasn’t electricity. All they had in abundance was sunlight and sea. I’m not sure what people will do when gas becomes so expensive they can’t afford to ship water in. It only rains for a month a year…
We made it up to Cabo Pulmo after only 2 hours, which was much less than the projected 10 hours from the previous day, but then once you hit 40mph on the slightly rutted roads you stop bouncing and glide over the mini-topes. It was pretty windy now, so no weather for snorkelling or diving, we had lunch at a place on the beach with the other gringos and drove back to Los Arbolitos to find a camp spot. Any spot on the beach would blow our tents away pretty quickly and we faced the challenge of getting my van onto the beach safely, and the greater challenge of getting it off again without being towed. We settled on the better option of camping near the road under a nice tree which was only 2 minutes walk to the water. The place was full of semi-permanent Americano’s with their satellite dishes and solar panels. Down by the beach there was a ramshackle village of mostly abandoned huts and shacks, I wouldn’t have risked sleeping on the mattresses down there though. We collected firewood for our new spot and Roland went off rock scrambling again. I went looking for him as the sun set as I didn’t fancy carrying him back in the dark. Why do I get stuck with the ones with the deathwish?? :p
Another perfect camp spot!
Tags: thumb, baja california, roland, rain, dishes, rope, sea, sun, sal, mistake, cars, los arbolitosGringos Locos
Day 156
Los Cabos, BCS, Mexico
The local friendly Canadian tourist information neighbour had some tips for us when we were making our coffee in the morning. She had 4 dogs and many complaints about the nearby puppy farm. I wanted to ask her why she had one of their puppies herself but didn’t dare. She was bigger than me. We went into San Lucas for a look around and come breakfast. Still loving those fish tacos. San Lucas was the picturesque tourist trap of the 2, a typical Mexican town resided behind the facade at the beach and we ate there. I bought some heavy duty hooks, now I just need a hammock. My eyes are open for a nice one from now on. We dutifully drove back into Cabo for our appointment with Mona but we got the cancellation text just after we parked up and had spent 10 minutes washing on the street and changing clothes. It was time to hit the beach then! We walked back through the harbour and headed for sandy gringo central. Across from the Arch in the bay were a long line of hotels. Maybe one of them would have a shower! It was 4 days now and I wasn’t starting to smell like a goat. We found a nice hotel and went and sat by the pool, white skin is sometimes useful, before going for a swim and a game of pool volleyball with our American cousins.o
There is swearing the the rest of this post, I was a bit drunk when I wrote it
The end of the Sur
Day 155
Los Cabos, BCS, Mexico
We finally got as far south as we could in Baja California today, the place known as Los Cabos, the 2 towns furthest down the coast. Tourist city? Traveller hell? The highrises, hotels, expensive bars and the nightmare that is the Hard Rock Cafe all gave it away as hell on earth that the gringos go to to get drunk and have sex. But who am I to pass judgement? As far as we could get and all the kilometres further south only helped the sun to get hotter and more brutal. After a few days without Internet that would be a goal for the day along with the usual problem of finding somewhere to stay. We parked up and went for a walk around town. Near to the harbour the white flabby faces were everywhere, Americano’s on vacation, 2 weeks of release from the burden of being the richest people on earth but still on the edge of ruin. Go Barack, go!
I didn’t get a Valentines Card on the porch of my tent but the sings were all over the town, little children ran around with red heart lollipops not knowing what it meant. I’m sure there were a lot of romantic proposals in town that day but it mostly passed me by. I’m sure my true love was waiting for me somewhere out there in the vast sea of humanity, maybe I had already met her… or maybe today was the day…
Roland had some notion of seeing some arch in the town and since I hadn‘t bothered to read my guidebook how could I gainsay him. Baja is big, I’m small, I’m not going to see it all and since I have someone with an idea of what to do I was happy to release my less immediate goals to other people. We asked one of the multiple tourist information booths where we could find it and they gave us a map and tried to get us on a tour but we fooled them into giving us the information we were after before sneaking off. Waltzing through the harbour we admired the expensive gringo powerboats, but they held no allure for me, I would rather be racing with the wind as I’m sure Sheena was doing right then. We skirted around the guys selling silver necklaces like he had leprosy and made our way around the harbour area. Tourists were flocking like rich seagulls all around us and the other touts ignored us after one look at our clothes. We’re rich too! I silently yelled but they ignored us and concentrated on more affluent white people. Past the port and over to the beach we finally saw some indications of proper life and hints of nature. The pelicans squatted on the small boats in droves, too lazy to even float in the heat and the sand shimmered before us reflecting the sun from the mountains across the bay. That was our destination but somehow we had to get there. The free map hinted at a road but the touts that instantly attached his self to us the moment we entered his ‘patch’ assured us we wouldn’t be able to get there by car. I promised Roland he was lying but due to language issues beyond my control he was soon negotiating a ride on a boat over to the arch. 10 pesos each, 8 with no discussion, ‘tell her 5 and I’ll walk away’ was my suggestion which worked perfectly. It was a small victory however, we soon learned we had haggled down to the standard price. :p
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The glass in our glass bottom boat wasn’t so clean but the sea was clear and quite a few people were diving as there was no fishing in the area and the fish were crazy for the rich tourists and their bread. Just like the Mexican touts. We splashed around by the point, looking at the tourists crammed into their expensive boats on their expensive tours, although I suspect they would be shooting over the waves as soon as they were done. I had reached as far south as I could go on the peninsular and it would soon to be time to head over to the mainland on my way to Cancun and temporarily home.
After our boat tour we went to find fish tacos in town. I had also been working on a plan for some business cards and today was the day to get them sorted out. We found a photography place and sat eating tacos across the road until it reopened at 3pm. I made up a card and then the plan was to put 4 on a 4×6 photograph, print them off and cut them up, 40 cards cost me $3 which was a better option than getting 500 cards and then throwing 90% of them away when my phone number changed in Guatemala.
I already have a new version ready to print, I forgot my email address :p
I hate the Hard Rock Cafe’s even more because of Rod Stewarts Trousers!!
Mexican Parking: Front and back…. Maybe I need a car wash…
We went to find a beach to camp on after we had spent a couple of hours in the Internet and eventually found a load of RV’rs off the highway between the 2 main towns. Our Canadian neighbours assured us it was a nice place to camp but we couldn’t find the original planned beach of La Playita, but where we were was good enough for one night. The moon was shining brighter each night as it waxed towards fullness and we drank a few beers and played ‘find the dropped nacho’. Not so easy on a moonlit beach!
drive to cabos/walk around/boat tour/photo cards/tacos/expensive internet/looking for beach/hide the nacho/
Tags: fishing, few days, clothes, gringos, map, Guatemala, Travel, trousers, photosLarento
Day 149
Larento, BCS, Mexico
The plan called for a 9am start to drive the convoy south but I still didn’t have a new tire. Leaving Sheena and Pat at the beach Drake followed me back up Mulege to get a new tire. The first place said they could get one for me if I wanted to wait 10 minutes. 30 minutes later they turned up with the wrong tire and we carried onto the place recommended by the owner of the bar on the beach. This met with more success and after trying one that didn’t work I finally got myself fixed up with a used tire for 400 peso’s. I was tempted to get a spare wheel with tire to replace the crappy spare but it was getting late and we had a long drive to Larento. More desert and another military checkpoint later we drove into Larento and started looking for somewhere to stay. There were no couchsurfers in this part of the world but after checking our mail learned that we would be able to stay in La Paz with a German documentary film maker called Mike so we were sorted for a few days. We found an RV campsite and negotiated a camping rate for the night along with a $2 charge for use of the Internet. I attempted to put up my tent but it was just too windy and I also discovered one of my poles had a split which needed fixing. I gave up and decided Sheena wouldn’t be sleeping alone that night…
In Larento town we had lunch with a couple we had chatted to at the previous beach and I finally picked up a Mexican sim for my phone. Telcel apparently have the best coverage and for 300 pesos I got a sim and 300 pesos of credit. They still have the retarded American system of paying for incoming calls though, but my T-mobile sim was hardly connecting anymore and I needed a reliable connection to the rest of the world.
up early/tire saga/drive south/larento/new sim/met other campers/rv park/dinner/no sleep for sheena
Tags: sim, mulege, spare wheel, american, t mobile, rest of the world, sheena, surfers, checkpoint, chsurfer, desert, Travel, mexico, drakeIm on vacation!
Day 147Â Santiparc Beach, Baja California, Mexico
Pat and Drake had made friends with an Israeli couple that were cycling south; we passed them 2 days before and they came over to have a go on the kayaks. I was mooching around the van, gluing flapping parts and spraying WD40 on rusty bits and messing up Sheena bed in the back in the process. I had to have a bit of a tidy though, it was messed up. Its simpler for her though since all her stuff is concentrated in one backpack and my gear is stowed all over the place. The wind was blowing around, on and off, strong then soft, making it cold out of the sun and then too hot in it. It didn’t know what it was doing. We said we would give them a lift into town when they came back and figured they would be about an hour but they were gone ages! The wind was blowing right out from the beach though so they had a nasty headwind to overcome to make it back and we were just getting more worried when they rounded the headland and came into view. They were cycling around the world, I’m guessing a little breeze wouldn’t tax them too much…
We formed up the convoy and went into town, it was high time for me to do my laundry so I dropped it off and met the 3 others at a local taco place for some great cheap food, which was generously covered by Pat. Its a good job I eat fish now as the fish taco places are all over and cheap and delicious. I had some shrimp ones and they give you a case full of salad and condiments to drape over them. Really good stuff. I dropped Sheena at the Internet cafe and then went looking for a tire place to fix my flat. The only place I found couldn’t repair it and didn’t have any spares, I would have to find another solution as the spare was useless and also meant my insurance was currently worthless. The tire guy suggested a place 20km south of town and didn’t mention anywhere else nearby so I thought his was the only show in town… Across the road I filled up our containers and the solar shower as the campsite was ‘dry’, they only had long drop toilets and the hot showers were $3 each in the morning. Still, at $7 a night it was nice, there were only a few people on our section of the beach, the only slightly annoying thing was the irregular stream of Mexicans driving up and attempting to sell us all manner of tourist tat. I wanted a hammock but after asking for some of their prices on stuff decided I would be better off in a shop where I could walk away if I didn’t like the haggling. Besides I was on holiday and didn’t want people constantly offering me things which I almost certainly didn’t need.
| I took a quick swim before the sun went down and earned a beer from Drake in the process, he didn’t think I had it in me, and neither did I. I just remembered the warm solar shower waiting for me up on the beach. We walked over to see how the Israelis plan of cooking up the hundreds of clams was working out. Pat was determined to get completely shit faced and was drinking a $2 bottle of tequlia which smelt lethal. |  |
We loaded up on beer and walked across the bay to the other side, pausing to take a drink at Ana’s Restaurant on the way. Pat is sweet on the girl who works there and after drinking the gasoline/tequila above was knocking back the normal stuff like water.
Brett, Jack, Drake and Sheena.
The Israelis neighbours had found a huge stack of driftwood somewhere and were planning on burning it until 3am. They also had 72(!) beers to get through before heading back to the US and we had to give them a hand!
It didn’t look like the Scallops were going to be cooked but something started to happen in the ‘kitchen’ but it was decided we were too many people for only a big bucket of scallops and we should go and eat at the Restaurant.
Seafood is weird!
We gave Pat a chance to flirt with his girl and he proceeded to order a *load* of food. I felt kind of uncomfortable and admitted I had forgotten my wallet…. So had Sheena…. So had Drake…. Pat just said ‘Its ok, Im on vacation!!’ before ordering everyone beers and shot after shot of tequila for himself…
The Campers                                         Pats fav barmaid.
We were making real racket and it didn’t look like we were going to make it back to the party, but everyone else seemed to be having a good time regardless. We paid and got up to leave but then started talking to a group of American, Canadian and Australian Couples and then we were trapped for another hour. Drake was trying to charm the ladies and we thought at one point he was going to get into a fight when he split off one guys wife for a more private chat. We retreated to the bar for another final drink and we realised the big group had gone and Drake was no where to be found. We were about to head back to our camp site to see if he was there and finally he responded to our cries of his name. He was in a 80 year old widows RV and couldn’t escape. His gratitude was written all over his face and we headed back to the party to find everyone still there and the wood pile only halfway down.
I can’t believe I let Pat drive us all home. :p
Tags: sim, good job, wd40, gasoline, showers, hammock, american, sun, condiments, tourists, thumb, Travel, heapSplashing around the SuperBowl
Day 146 Santiparc Beach, Baja California, Mexico
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I got my chance on the kayak in the morning which was great. The sea was calm, there was no wind and the water was clear enough to see a few fish. Drake had already headed out while I was eating breakfast so I was slightly unsure of where he would be but I made it to the first island and messed around there until I finally caught sight of him. We met up by a nearby rocky outcrop covered with sea birds and he offered me a beer. It was only 9.30am!! :pWe went north for a while and then Sheena turned up in her sweats, halfway through her morning run. Drake offered her his kayak and we headed back to the camp, pausing to admire the washed up dead fish. The beauty of a waterproof camera is being able to throw it to someone in another kayak and not mind when it falls in. I had to get it out! |
 Drake finds some beach kill |
 Fishing up my camera |
Back on the beach
Day 145Â Santisparc Beach
| We woke up to a miserable day, but at least I didn’t feel too bad. The owner of the tank campsite had finally turned up and he fired up the shower for us. Literally. It burned wood and the cold water from the tank flowed through to heat up. We said goodbye to the bikers we had eaten dinner with and set off to the south once more, destination, the beaches of Mulege. We paused in the center of San Ignacio to take a few pictures but it was cold and overcast, we didn’t linger. |  2 dirty objects of wonder |
It was only 2 hours or so down the pacific highway and eventually the sun made a reappearance, as made it to the Sea of Cortez. Hopefully the water was going to be warmer than the Pacific side and with high hopes we followed the coastal road down into Mulege.
Tags: sun, Travel, trousers, mud, kayaking, blog, san ignacio, pasta, tentA Whale of a good time in a couple of boats
Day 144
Guerrero Negro Baja California
We had left a note on the door of the tour office saying that we wouldn’t be making the 8am tour. I had made the executive decision to go at 11am and then we would head over to the cheaper campsite nearby for another night while I went surfing. With barely any time to remember stuff I was herded into the bus with all the other tourists and we set off towards the Pacific. First we had to pass through the salt factory which employs most of the people in Guerrero Negro. Our guide, Pedro, went on and on about it, constantly watching Sheena since he had learned we weren’t a couple. I think he might have a had a bit of a crush going on He recited lots of interesting information about the whole business of salt and went on about it so much I believe he is only working the whale tour until he can get a job hauling salt about in one of the big trucks.
  The tour would last about 3 hours so we got kited out with life preservers and yellow sou’westers and jumped into the boat. I was so rushed I had only brought one memory card but it would have to do. I set it to raw and high speed shooting and after a quick race across the lagoon we were soon in the midst of hundreds of whales. Not that they were easy to shoot, they would pop up every once in a while but were usually a couple of hundred meters away. The driver would then slowly cruise over to get us a bit closer but they remained elusive. You never knew when they would pop up, and it was not often that they appeared close to the boat. |
  I shot about 200 pictures and most were pretty useless. With only the equivalent of an 80mm lens on my Canon 30D I wasn’t able to get the further shots, but at least I had a chance of something. I would stand with my camera near my face waiting for the sound of the whales surfacing and then spin to that direction hoping for a shot. I got lucky a few times but most people didn’t have a chance with their point and shoots and mostly gave up. |
  The weather was woefully overcast but at least there was no rain, that would have put an end to my picture session as I had also forgotten to bring plastic bags for protection. After a couple of hours we stopped and were passed a packed lunch and soda. The sun made a brief reappearance before slunking back behind the clouds. It cost us $50 each and was it worth it? I guess so, it was certainly a better trip than my walk through the jungle in Uganda to see Chimps which was a waste of $50. The lagoon is packed with Grey Whales and with some luck and a skilled boat driver you can get pretty close to the big fish! |
     On the way back we passed colonies of seabirds and a lone coyote sunbathing on the beach. The area is an important wildlife preserve. The local sealions use the salt shipping buoys as a place to warm themselves in the sun. They’re quite athletic in jumping back up! |
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The weather was too cold for surfing and after chatting to some people on the boat decided it would be better to head for the oasis town of San Ignacio, half way to the beaches of Mulege and a nice small town to spend the night. We went for some delicious fish tacos when we had picked up the van again and Sheena declared she wanted to marry a fish taco. I’ve been eating enough that I’m sure I’m turning into one, so you never know! :p
We made good time and were soon out of the desert and into the palm tree filled town in the desert. Following the directions of our friends on the boat we found the campsite which was basic and rather empty. A Spanish lady turned up and started chatting about the site and the cost. I only vaguely understood what she said but we were soon joined by a couple of American‘s on motorbikes, one of whom spoke Spanish and he explained that she didn’t work there but the site was open and someone else would be along sometime to take our money. The cost? She didn’t know, but no more than $10.
Camping by the muddy lake
The bikers were going for dinner in town and we invited ourselves along. They met up with another couple of bikers that they had met only that day and we drove the couple of miles into the small town square and spent a pleasant evening drinking beer, eating tacos and chatting about our adventures. I learned Sheena was a professional traveller! We all drove back to their guesthouse where we broke out the tequila and vodka but the party wasn’t going to last long because they needed to close the gates at 10pm. Since that was one hour after Baja Midnight it was pretty late, but I didn’t want to spend the night trapped there, although it probably would be cheaper than the $10 at the campground.
We went back to the campsite and since it was on a small lake we decided to go for a spin in the supplied transportation. The lone working pedalo was not a good move, since it barely moved and only had one set of pedals. I was surprised that we managed to get it back to the shore, but we had better luck with the metal canoe that was pulled up. We got some beer and jumped in, admiring the milky way over head and trying to sneak up on the bikers tent. They were only talking about motorbikes…. still! But when you’re on a trip like that I guess you become a little obsessed :p One of the guys had crashed his bike earlier in the day and was probably lucky to be alive.
Beer and boats = not a good combination!
When it came time to get out we nearly met with disaster, I foolishly pulled the canoe up directly to the shore, but not alongside it. It was a sloppy, muddy bank and as soon as she stepped on it she started pushing the canoe away. I was certain she was about to take a bath but somehow she managed to jump back in the canoe and it didn’t tip up. She got a wet backside and I got an earful :p Personally I consider her lucky not to have put us both in the muddy lake, which would have made some even better photos :p
whales/pedro crush/change plan/fish tacos/scallops/empty camp ground/bikers/dinner/drinks with boys/locked in/canoe trip
Tags: soda, ears, heap, weather, tequila, san ignacio, locals, bikes, rashSan Diego rain
Day 135
Los Angeles
| Somehow I managed to get to the place Sheena was staying at for noon exactly. I warned her not to expect this ever again, although I had spent 15 minutes around the corner tidying up all my junk. She wasn’t completely ready anyway so I didn’t need to hurry. She wanted to see Venice Beach and I didn’t have the heart to tell her I had seen it the day before. The weather was just as crappy as the previous day and we wandered around, took a few photos and then went into Santa Monica to get some food before heading south. |  Even the palm trees have Graffiti in LA. |
Sheena was nursing a slight hangover and professed to be something of a party animal, something I was eager to test out! :p However it was too early for that and San Diego was too far away. She had arranged a place for us to surf with a girl called Joan and after huddling outside Panera Bread trying to keep our lunch dry we set off into a rain shower down the highway towards Mexico. I discovered she had nice taste in music which is good and that she wasn’t getting enough sleep as she nodded off halfway down. There wasn’t anything to see except the highway which I’d already seen and we arrived in San Diego after a uneventful couple of hours.
Joan was fretting over us finding her place but we got right up to the door thanks to my GPS, Mexico will require me to reacquaint myself with paper maps! Joan was fun, never shut up, talked all the time like a maniac. We decided to go out for dinner up in the “gay-berhood”. Not knowing each other very well and with no one wanting to take charge we wandered around 5 Asian places in the rain before I got made the decider and we went for Thai. Well I wasn’t going to eat American junk was I? As we sat eating noodles and curry the rain really started to come down. You could see all the drains overflowing outside in the street and then all the emergency services seemed to be driving past us every few minutes. San Diego gets rain, special report…
Tags: gps, sleep, girls, drains, american, lunch, highways, blog, maniac, tent, huddle, asian places, beachesSurfing in the Desert
day 124 Tucson AZ
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I made a couple of Couchsurfing requests the previous night and when I pulled up to Starbucks the following morning I got a call from Lashel, one of the girls I had asked to stay with. She wasn’t 100% sure it was cool since her sister was still in bed and would probably want consulting but she said we could still hang out even if I didn’t stay, she needed something to help her to avoid studying :p I said I would come over later and sat drinking coffee |
for a while and chatting to my old UK friend Tim over Skype. I learned he was once more due to become a father. News to me! I was still waiting on my site to be indexed by Google properly but checking it every 10 minutes didn’t help, it was going to take days… I finished my coffee and drove over to Lashel and Graces place where I was hoping I could stay over the weekend. Grace had finally got up and given her approval so everything was hunky-dory. After apologising multiple times for the state of their house (which was only slightly untidy) Lashel offered to show me the Desert Museum near Tucson so we set off in Graces car to do some touristy stuff…
Tags: gap, photograph, couchsurfer, drinks, apologising, cacti, scrub, hummingbird, showers, Travel, deserts, multiple times, glass cages, girlsGoodbye Mexico
Day 113
El Paso, Tx
I only had 4 days left on my visa and wasn’t really sure what my plan was now going to be. Dani was leaving back to Montreal the next day but at breakfast I was told ‘so you’re leaving today then?’ and I didn’t quite know what to say. It was kind of bizarre living with a family that all speak rapid Spanish, are all quite friendly but I wasn’t able to really communicate with them. Dani was kind of trapped as well, it would have been nice to set off to see something else after Christmas but then I became trapped and bereft of options. I still had a nice, and vitally, interesting time, but its always good to be able to decide your own destiny. My brother had finally asked me to be his best man at Christmas so I now had a date to alter my trip and I wasn’t sure I liked it. Freedom is probably the best thing in life, and I wanted to enjoy it as much as I could. But now I was about to be set free again I hadn‘t the faintest idea of what to do with it. We went and picked up Dani‘s laptop from the Cafe and then went to buy some flowers for our hosts and some tequila for Dani‘s dad. I said goodbye to Dani and for want of something better to do went back into the States…
This time I was stopped at the border and searched properly, but the guards were quite nice about it, asked if I was writing a blog, were slightly interested in the fact that I could own my own car in the states but were happy to let me come back in. Seems crossing the border was becoming less and less stressful…. :p I went back to Circuit City to see if they had any cheap laptops in stock. They didn’t but I was assured they would be back in on Friday. That was when the truck would be turning up. Hmmmm. Should I stay or should I go…. Checking the couchsurfing site I learned there was an American girl heading south into Mexico around the 12th and she would be flying into Tucson which was pretty close. I would have to leave the states on the 6th but there was a chance I could get back in, my Australian friend Renae had done it. I decided to get a cheap laptop on Friday and then drive over to the border at Nogales. It was only 2 days.
In the meantime I went and bought 6 months insurance for Mexico for $200 and went to watch ‘Aliens vs Predator Requiem’ which was simply terrible (5/10) followed by a night in a cheap hotel.
Tags: laptop, laptops, stress, heap, couchsurfer, best man, own destiny, el paso, heading southI am a Leg End!
Day 110 Sunday
El Paso, Tx
That night I had gotten my camping mats out and slept away from the kitchen table. All the events in Ruidoso needed to be explained to the rest of the family that were left behind and they were chatting, laughing and smoking long into the night. I tried calling some insurance places in El Paso but they were all closed, although I did get a few addresses. I gave my parents a much overdue call and then Dani and I went back into the States to go shopping. The border wasn’t too bad, although they did take my Organic eggs. As if you can get those in Mexico! I couldn’t complain and off we went. I was looking for a small computer to replace the hopelessly crap one I had, an Asus EEE which is a tiny thing and rather cheap but after checking multiple stores couldn’t find one anywhere. So much for the American Shopping Sensation! In circuit city they had a sale on and had 14″ laptops for only $500 which was pretty good and go me thinking….
I dropped Dani off with her mother-in-law and instructed her to get as much free stuff from her as possible while I went geek shopping on my own. I didn’t do much as I found a free wifi spot and spent most of the time chatting to Miriam on Skype. She was getting excited now by her looming trip to Europe and had bought her ticket. She still couldn’t find her passport though which might be a problem. I’m sure she’ll work it out. I picked up Dani and we went off for a nice Indian meal and then went to the cinema. Why is it that Will Smith takes classic novels and manages to pervert them into a action flick? Like ‘I, Robot’ before it, ‘I Am Legend’ was only loosely based on the novel of the same name and managed to pack in machine guns and hand grenades aplenty. Fun, but ultimately puerile. 6/10.
Tags: mother in law, el paso, kitchen table, laptop, free wifi, heap, circuit city, laugh, i robot, multiple stores, mate, classic novels, crap