Twitter Weekly Updates for 2008-08-31
- :: wohoo. Traveltrousers.com is up to position 4,687,000 in the world :p only a few positions to clear then :p #
- :: hmmm, going to the pastry shop so room before dinner was a mistake… But a tasty one
# - ::when you have to go… No power in xela atm so im crapping in the dark :p wonder if i should start a campaign to popularise bog seats? :/ #
- ::should i be concerned that everytime i use the unearthed electric shower in my host families house it lights up like a christmas tree? #
- @traveltrousers test! in reply to traveltrousers #
- :: what a nightmare, my usual teacher is on a course and her replacement is making me study! :p #
- ::salsa was so good, dancing as 2 couples & swapping partners after each move is such good fun! Only problem is my knees are now killing me! #
- ::while the rest of the northern hemisphere swelters in the summer heat i am stuck up a mountain in torrential rain. i should try research?! #
- ::after only 5 months i have nearly fixed my minifridge.Now it gets warm this is good, i just need to improve the cold side #
- :: My usual cafe is closed so Im forced to come to Baveria. Nice sofa, good coffee, but Lionel Richey and Whitney?? oooo soul2soul! better! #
- ::yay! After a week of frustration i have finally managed to get my firewire interface working. Dont expect a CD just yet but its a step… #
- :: im back at the cycle repair man, one of my pedals fell off. I could do it myself but why bother when it only costs 50c #
- :: does it mean im getting old because i object to people letting off fireworks outside my house at 5 in the morning? :/ #
- ::its so depressing to spend an hour in bed & you cant sleep… Maybe i Should study some verbs, that ought to knock me out! #
- :: Im sad the girl I danced with at Salsa class last week didn’t win the Miss Quetzaltenango 2008 competition :p The winner was nice though! #
- :: nice cafe? check. Good music? check. Hot coffee? Check. Interesting people? Check. Stinky chain smoking locals? Check
#
::its so depressing to spend a…
::its so depressing to spend an hour in bed & you cant sleep… Maybe i Should study some verbs, that ought to knock me out!
Tags: sleep, verbs, bedsFirst week In India
Got to Bombay at 2am, was kinda late so I checked into the first hotel I saw, $38 a night but I was tired, slept for 14 hours.
Was far too late to get up and change hotels at 4pm so I had some food and wandered around Colbara, plenty of tourists. Saw the gateway to India and looked at some shops, drank some juice and went back to bed. 14 days of working and the hassle of getting my visa the day before had taken their toll.
Next day I got up too late to get a cheaper room again, they called from reception but i unplugged the phone. No do not disturb sign…
I looked at the map and went walking in Bombay, still not sure why they changed the name. Went north from Colbara, was interesting, walked for about 3 hours. Bought a few odds and ends, nothing exciting, was nice to get out and see a whole new city, a whole new country and for the people that lived there, their whole world.
Third lazy day, another walk, same punjabi thali in the same place, same people asking me to buy their stuff. I have to leave tomorrow, still not managed to wake up early enough to check out.
I get up in the morning!! I have a thali for breakfast somewhere new, I walk up to the train station so I know where it is and use my visa card to buy a ticket to Pune (no big queues but it costs me 40p for the privilege of swiping). I store my bags, bum around some more and go to get the train. Wasted time in Mumbai, too tired, too disorganized, but I’m in India…
Late train, sleep, go to big hotel, people call me sir but its cheap. I learn Brad and Angelina left Pune the same day back to Bombay, I was hoping to meet them for a drink. Next time. I explode my backpack and set up the washing line, the water temperature in the shower is too variable to enjoy.
Call Eric, para gliding instructor, he comes in the morning and sits chatting on his phone. Busy guy. We agree to start that afternoon, he gives me a lift to my new backpacker ghetto near the ashram, I find a cheap apartment and pull my jeans back on. Time to fly.
100 rupees for the majority of the way to the school, i get VJ to take me the rest of the way. Nice guy, works the phones all night for the Americans and flies in the day. Eric is on his phone, we drive out to some fields, hike a small hill, they test the wing and then we move 500m to a flat field. Pointless, I’m in my harness and hanging around. They hook me up, give me the spiel, run here, pull this, feel the wind. Up goes the glider and I pump my legs and keep it up, rinse repeat. They ask me if I’m tired but I keep saying ‘One more’. The sun sets and we stop.
The coannell give me a lift most of the way into town, its hot, dusty and dark. The streets are packed with people, no rickshaws but after an age we find one and I head back to coffee and cakes at the German bakery and sleep. I meet Doctor George in my apartment, he’s at the ashram, digs waking my up at 5am, Israeli Australian, nice guy. I sleep.
Up early for my proper lesson, boots, jeans, gloves, helmet, check… I try for a rickshaw, they want to know where, I don’t know, I know how to get there. We agree a price despite the lack of clear goals, he refuses the meter, its too early it seems. He throws me out 4/5 of the way, I pay and walk. Wave to the locals who never see tourists on this backwater farm track. Im late, Eric is on the phone, but we sort the paper work, sign the forms and head off to the bank. Guess they want me to pay.
1/2 drive to the hill, we try a new one, its too windy, its too late. Anandvitty, the assistant, tries a few tricks. I stand around confused. I read my book some more, not been told to read it but it seems like a good idea. They fall over, give up, Eric chats to some locals for ages while we pack the wing and wait. We’ll try again in the afternoon.
I rent a scooter, fuck the rickshaws, 100rp a day, 1.20. I meet Vanessa who rents the other room in my apartment, nice, interesting, married…
No problem getting to school on time, need to get there quick so we can drink tea and Eric can take calls. Im wondering when he will start to teach me. The 4 of us set off, the guys on the toll bridge wave in anger as we refuse to stop again, Eric knows the builder.
1km to the hill base and 200m up, out come to gliders and on go my gear. I’m told the 10 checks for safety, I get a radio, don’t forget to turn it off when told, those rechargeable batteries are valuable! I kind of understand where to try to land, I kind of understand how to land, I have to be ready to run and turn, flare and fold. Its all very interesting, I wonder if I will remember when I hit the ground.
I pull, up goes the wing and you can feel the wind lifting, pulling, trying to draw you up to the heavens, and what goes up must come down. I run on command, the hill drops away, my heart beats and … I’m flying. No engine, just gravity pulling me down and the wind trying to push me back up. My heart beats on, do I feel fear? Panic? Elation? (obviously!). None of these things, i hang in the air with only string and fabric between me and a fall to my death, my heart beats steadily as if its the most natural thing in the world.
I do a couple of turns when Eric tells me through the walkie talkie, but I can’t make out anything else he says other than ‘right’ and ‘left’ with the wind rushing past. I pick my spot, I think about landing, flare (pull both brakes), run, turn, collapse the glider… The landing field is where Eric wanted me, but its me that got there, I flare as I come in like they do on TV, I run but my brain gets confused and I dont turn. Its ok, the wing comes down anyway in a mess, Ive flown and landed safely and my heart rate didn’t change…
Local boys come running, expert packers and porters so I can get back up the hill quick. They want their 20 rupees, but they don’t know the meaning of the word ‘no’. Oh they understand well enough, but their constant attempts at ‘helping’ me only makes the job go slower. Will you be there when I’m flying in Europe I ask them, but they don’t understand, they want pocket money. Eventually I get it packed, Anandnitty comes down nearby and tells me he only pays 10rp for a porter. Its not that far up, ’10 minutes’ Eric says, I wonder when he last climbed it.
Back at the top i rehydrate and get set up again, its getting late, the sun will set soon. Last flight, and the first one took 2 minutes to get to the bottom. 4 days training, with one on the ground, so 3 x 2 flights, 6 flights for 100 pounds, at 2 minutes a time, 8 pound a minute or 500 pounds an hour? Not quite what I expect, is this cheap still? Carrying, packing, sitting in a jeep…
Next flight is also great, I get lifted up nearly right away, and hardly run. My heart beats slowly, I turn and glide down, no soaring for me, landing practice, always the fun parts…. not. I come in for the field a bit too long, my angle into the wind is ok, I flare ok and am on my feet but the wind is frisky, the glider pulls and I fall scraping my arm. T-shirt is not the best idea.
Thats it, ‘lesson’ over and I once again fight 4 boys off my glider to get it packed. The money is nothing, but am I learning or just being stubborn? I join VJ and Anandnitty who fy down after me and we walk around the hill and back to the house we left the jeep, 2 km or so. VJ is cool. Its dark now, Eric sits and talks on his mobile, we refuse the offer of chai and set off back to Eric’s house. An hour later I’m back in my apartment and wondering what I’ve let myself in for.
Up early next day to make it for the 7.30 am lesson, still jet lagged, still sleeping late, I sit waiting For Eric and reading my instruction book, Anandnitty is amazed that I’m half way through it already, he has never read it, although he says he doesn’t really read. We leave about 8.30, so much for getting up early and missing breakfast… The toll guards shout at us again, I laugh.
This time I have my camera and we have guest from up country. We park a bit closer to the hill and climb up together. There are 4 of us, Eric, myself and 2 guys from Northern India who are here to fly, or buy something, or test something, I never really understood exactly what. I think their gliders were delayed on the train or something so they were just checking out the terrain for later. Happily they have a new DVD video camera they are keen to test so they point it at me for 20 minutes as I prepare and perform my third flight. “Um, can I have a copy?” :p
I get kitted up and stick my camera on the front of my helmet, for a true eagle eye view of the trip down to the rice fields. Ready, set, go! This time I seem to lift, stall, drop, speed up, repeat. Doesn’t feel like a very smooth flight, perhaps its my complete lack of training on this aspect of flying. Eric shouts some instructions into the walkie talkie, but I can’t really hear him the wind is rushing past my ears too much. I guess he wants a few turns and I oblige, I turn left and follow the ridge, but I’m not climbing, just dropping steadily, I figure I’m a little too close to the hill and turn right, only I don’t turn, I just seem to stop and at this point I’m only 15 meters or so above the hillside, I start to drop, pick up some speed as I half figure I’m about to land on a steep hillside, with no training or idea of how to do it. Like an expendable action man on a home made tea towel parachute I swoop towards the ground… and keep going! I could have reached out and touched the flowers as I went past if I wasn’t so convinced I was about to crash.
My heart decides its time to rumble into life, if this lack of control is anything to go by the landing might require some adrenaline and natural pain-killers. Two turns and its nearly time to reacquaint myself with Terra Firma, I’ve only been up 40 seconds and I have to think about where I’m going to land. Not a very thrilling hobby, and I have the hike back up to look forward to. hmmmm. I spy out the target field and guesstimate how I’m gonna get there, ie can I turn a few more times, or do I need to head straight there. The problem is you have to land into the wind, and when trying to hit a tennis court sided field (because you don’t want to piss off the other farmers) with no really experience or idea of if this is possible, it means you’re busily doing complex physics calculations in your head with no calculator, while wondering if you’re going to survive the experience, trying to listen to the distorted instructions from the walkie talkie, scoping out trees you have to fly past (or through) to the target, thinking about the procedure for landing (out the seat, pull the brakes at 5m, run, turn, collapse…), aiming the camera on my helmet for youtube, checking the canopy…. basically its a bit of a head fuck. Not really the relaxing experience I was led to expect.
I glide in, time for a small turn which is a mistake because it lowers my speed, but I’m doing ok for the field… uh oh, whats that hut thing coming up?? Didn’t seem that from the top… going too slow… line of broken trees… never gonna clear them….have to go through… stalling… IM GOIN IN!! No time to think, have to land into the wind, I drift right, no time to turn, I do the best I can, I tag a small tree on my way past, nothing to be done, flare, run, back on the ground somehow. This time my heart is awake!
For my second run the wind isn’t blowing quite as hard or steadily as the previous day and when Eric says to go I run and run, right off the edge of the hill dropping as I go…. no lift, no wind!! I’m going down, the hills is sparsely dotted with spiny thorn bushes, really nasty things to get caught on as you struggle up the hills and I’m dropping right towards one, out of control at 15 mph! My chances of having children flash before my eyes, I put my feet together and kick my way through it! Despite this I gain some speed, i seem to go up a bit, at least I’m not dropping quite so fast. Its seems ok, but no gliding, no wind, its just a quick trip to the fields for this trip.
Tags: sleep, money, keen, locals, possiblity, cards, europe, backpack, ghetto, map, thali, ashramThe day of the ‘Black Cloud’
Day 316
Coban, Guatemala
In the afternoon it started raining. I tried to ignore it despite the fact that the rain was so heavy it disrupted the satellite signal. It was really coming down. A lot!
The owner started banging on my door and I came outside to find the car park outside my room under 6″ of water, and it was still raining. I changed, grabbed my keys and went to move my car. I opened the gate to find the way blocked by the owners land-rover. He wouldn’t move it either.
He then locked the gate! I was screaming at him to open it and move his car with no joy. Trying not to freak out too much I let him explain that the road outside was lower than the car park. I move everything off the floor of my car and prayed.
Pretty soon my room was flooded :p
I waited and moved my stuff into another room. This one was on the top floor with 6 beds :p After a nervous hour (and more rain) it finally stopped and it all drained away. Maybe it was time to leave.
[ad#ad-1]
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: blog, queue, amazement, mexico, trousers, trash, money, drums, amazing service, coming home, s eve, hostel, chill, rash, photographer, tyresBack in the USA
Day 220
New York, NY
Thankfully felt a lot better after my trouble on the plane and managed to get my bags, onto the train into Penn Station and into a hostel. I didn’t feel like wandering all around Manhattan so looked up a hostel in Starbucks and wandered the few blocks to get to it. $48 for a 4 bed dorm! Might have been better value if I could have gotten up for the breakfast but it didn’t happen. I wandered around for a couple of hours and had an early night.
Next day I packed up my bags and jumped onto the Subway to where I would be spending my second night in NY, the floor of a Daniella‘s hotel room. She was over for a course for a couple of days and generously let me share her room. I dumped my bags and set off on a mission to buy a new camera lens. My 17-55mm was good, great in fact, but I was constantly finding myself wishing for more reach. A 70-300mm would suit the bill perfectly and despite the fact that B&H, the best camera shop in NY, if not the world, was closed for passover the prices were pretty much the same all over the city. I walked up past Union Square, which I didn’t even recognise in the sunshine and walked west along 17th Street to the Camera store of the same name. $400 poorer I could now stalk celebrities! After a lunch of falafels and snapple I decided to wear out some shoe leather and try to find something interesting to snap. Sadly the track of my route will never be published as I had managed to lose my GPS tracker! It was my own stupid fault for attaching it to my belt and then putting on my backpack. Bleh.
I headed east and then south, ending up under the brooklyn bridge and finding I could photograph birds with some success at last!
I also checked out the World Trade Center site again, and although construction has started on the new towers it still looked much the same as it did the last time I was there in 2002. A bloody mess!
It was a nice afternoon walk back up to the hotel, I was absolutly knackered but I had arranged to meet Dani when she got off her bus…. I took my laptop out to the local Starbucks but for some reason didn’t bother checking my mail…. duh!
I sat waiting from 11pm until 1am and she didn’t show up. I tried in vain to call her but just ended up shouting at the stupid phones in frustration. Her bus broke down and she finally turned up at 2am. If I had checked my mail I would have had a nice sleep :p
wander past union/can’t find shop/17th str photo/wander west/photo bridge/WTC/walked north/use net/meet Dani/2am/sleep on floor.
Tags: photo, trousers, laptops, passover, Travel, USA, blog, last time, camera store, tent, subway, stupidity, 55mmYou’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…
|
|
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
Tags: cable tv, accommodation, guadalajara, pot, sun, body clock, eve, paragliding, arse, cars, few days, bungee cords, valle de bravo, mexico, tent, small hotel400 km run to Mazatlan
Day 163
Mazatlan, Mexico
Time like an ever rolling stream keeps on moving and so should we, next stop : Mazatlan. A major tourist city 400km south of Los Mochis. There are toll roads on the way but we opted for the more interesting route of the free roads which snake through the mountains. Nothing really to report about the drive, we stopped at a Walmart on the way down and stocked up on crap we didn’t need, although a steering lock for my car probably didn’t fall into this category. I nearly killed us by doing a stupid u-turn in the highway and not having the space to get all the way around and nearly being beaten up for having the gall to refuse to get my wind screen washed. My car might be filthy but my windows are perfectly clean, thank you!
We got to the main town in the early evening and started looking for a place to camp before the sun set but to no avail. This was for posh tourists and there wasn’t a tent to be seen. We decided after not spending money on accommodation for the last 3 weeks that a hotel wouldn’t kill our budgets too much but were pretty annoyed to find the 2 bed room for 200 pesos on the phone became 350 pesos when we arrived, 300 with some negotiation. The usual tricks. We set off for a walk around town and saw the crazy statues all along the beach front before heading into the old part to find the funky square where everyone hangs out in the evening. Very romantic but Roland isn’t my type. It was far too expensive though so we wandered back to the hotel and happily found a street stand with tacos and roast potato that turned from being healthy to a health risk after they finished filling it with fat. Was pretty yummy though
 Roland enjoys his street food roast potato + 1/2 kg of butter,cheese, cream and meat! |
long drive/toll roads?/walmart/illegal u turn/more driving/onto the beachs/no camping/phone hotel/350 not 200/walk along beach/statues/square/catherdal/roast potato/no cafe/free wifi
Tags: set, roland, pot, sun, walmart, highways, yum, budgetThe Three (drunken) Amigos!
Day 161
Los Mochis, Mexico
Even though it was Saturday I had to get up and move my van from outside Roberto’s office. I shouldn’t complain since he was kind enough to lock it up for me overnight but I hate to get up, especially since I had won the toss with Roland and snagged the bed. I should have sensed trouble when Roberto backed his car out to take me over there right into the front of a truck behind us. This wasn’t the only crash we would be facing this Saturday…..
After a shower and not much of a breakfast we then had to wait for the local plumbers to fit the kitchen. Roberto had recently separated from his wife and was now going through the painful process of not only living 400km from his 4 year old daughter but setting up a new bachelor pad for himself, the kitchen was just a shell and needed filing out. When the kitchen fitters had finally arrived and had gotten to work we went off on our mini-tour of Los Mochis. I’m not sure you would put it down as the cultural and architectural center of Mexico but it gets a steady stream of tourists all hoping on or off the train that heads up through the Copper Canyon, Mexico‘s version of the Grand Canyon, and an arguably better version of the same. We went for a walk around the botanical gardens, which was a hot walk in the middle of the day. I’m not quite sure why Roberto though we were interested in plants but it was a nice enough place, and free, which is always a bonus. It just looked like a park to me though, if the fact that it had plants in it made it botanical so be it. Roland took up the challenge of jumping over one of the irrigation ditches which was good of him, but the photo would have been much better if he had fallen in, as I hoped :p
|
|
We did pick up an interesting snippet of information though, we learned that there was a baseball game on later on and since Roland used to play baseball a lot, and I’d never been to a game, it would be nice to check out. Best of all the tickets were only $3. Always thinking in the correct way, Roberto took us to a Taco place which he knew sold tickets and proceeded to demolish a load of food while I sat nursing my soda. Telling the average Mexican you don’t eat meat usually garners the equivalent response to saying I had castrated myself, they are horrified, couldn’t understand it and feel sorry for you… My life, my choice…. There was problem with the kitchen and we had to go back. Trying to save a few pesos, Roberto had hired some Mexican Cowboys and they didn’t have the right tools to connect up the gas and water. At least he had worktops instead of nothing as he did before.
|
|
|
We had a while to kill before the game and Roberto now confronted me, saying he was very worried about me. I hadn‘t eaten since the night before and this was a cause for concern. I did remind him that I only eat vegetables and seafood and we had only been to places that only serve meat, besides I am perfectly capable of going several days without food and not feeling any ill effects but this didn’t assuage his concern and we set off in search of a ‘Subway’. I quickly reminded him I would rather eat fish tacos and happily he knew a good place that might still be open next to the 24 hour disco. Why it seems impossible to get seafood in the evening is still a mystery to be solved, as well as the 24 hour disco conundrum but at least I got something to eat. Roberto would be remiss to allow me to eat alone and joined in with gusto.
Before the game we quickly went to check our mail at his office and I rapidly uploaded all my missing blog posts that I had spent so much time on the beach writing. I still didn’t have enough time and was transmitting them from the car as we left. There is always another connection though, and 15+ posts at once would have to do :p
I have never been to a baseball game, the majority of my experience with the game is playing it on my Nintendo Wii, so at least I had some idea of what was going on, but then not much. I quickly gathered that the main objective was to drink at least one beer per inning.We took it in turns going off looking for ‘Senor Cervesa’ but with each trip up the steps to our seats I took my turn to be concerned as our host was panting like a car trapped dog, and the stadium was tiny…. For some reason we had chosen to sit right behind the local band and infrequently they would start belting out some random tune at breaks in the game. The guys played away but as no one was bothering to update the scoreboard no one knew who was winning. I soon lost interest and started reading my book, trying to ignore the annoying samples of music they would keep playing and the nearby band. The most interesting action came from the girls who would appear and start throwing promotional items into the crowd. Like plastic cups and key chains… To see the locals go after these was like watching refugees chase a UN food truck, I thought people would start fighting if they didn’t get something. I guess baseball isn’t my sport :p
 |
 |
My First Baseball game, possibly my last…  |
 |
One of the teams won, I have no idea which, nor did most of the crowd, and we made for home. Roberto had managed to snag one of the big beer cups and was now on double portions of beer, I gave up after 4 beers and a trip to the disgusting cockroach infested toilets but my Amigos were both on double figures and were miles from home. I knew I shouldn’t have gotten in the car, I tried to persuade him to let me drive by admiring his car and asking how it handled but it was no good. It seems the idea of letting the person who has had the least to drink handle the driving is as alien as not getting completely wasted in the first place. Roberto assured me he wouldn’t go too fast, but the speed kept creeping up and thankfully the roads were quiet. He didn’t think it was a problem since he was a lawyer! Of course, you have the other drunken drivers to worry about too… ‘
By now our Mexican friend was hungry but he had a pescatarian guest to consider, luckily he knew a place that did potato tacos and we somehow managed to get there. I had 4, and probably would have had more if I had known they were only 2 pesos each! Bargain! Suitably full we went back to the apartment to get ready for an evening of drinking… it was close, we made it. Roland had set off searching for cigarettes despite my attempts to dissuade him and after smoking one agreed that is wasn’t a good idea, but there is no rolling tobacco in Mexico.
Roberto is a big Sopranos fan, as am I, and he put it on for Roland hoping to get him interested. Perhaps I should have gone to watch as well, then we might have stayed at home and lived, but it was not to be. They soon got bored and then insisted I get out my guitar, which I did. We had half an hour of painful shouting to various Beatles tunes before I had enough and succumbed to asking if we were going out. We got changed and set off to a good club Roberto knew of, after first checking we didn’t have any illegal drugs on us. A few more beers while hanging out kept the mood going and Roberto was in fine spirits as he cruised around looking for the club, telling us only the poor drink tequila in Mexico and his adventures in Amsterdam. Perhaps he should have been concentrating more on the road as he nearly killed us all by starting to turn left into the path of an oncoming car. Only my girl like screams of terror averted disaster and we pulling into the parking spot without a sound.
And we had to drive home….
The ‘club’ was empty, just a few locals in cowboys hats standing around outside so we went next door to shoot some pool and drink more beer. I’m ok at pool but its just a game, not a competition of wills, but Roland and Roberto were pretty drunk so it was a simple matter to keep playing for me. I was bored though, and soon gave up and started reading my book. By now I had gotten to the 7th book in one of my favourite series and there was a whole new novel waiting to be read, much more interesting that beer and pool I have to say. After a few hours of this the club must be busy now? We paid our tab and went out to check, I saw inside before the bouncer quickly closed the door, it was still empty but now they wanted 100 pesos to get in! Oh well at least I would be able to get started on my new book since it was too loud to talk and I doubted we would be dancing… Some Saturday night this was!
We got back in the car and went looking for something, finally spotting some police cars outside a club and calculating that if the police were there it must be good… Well it wasn’t the best place in the world, but it was busy, people were dancing, occasionally a load of teenagers would get up and play some pretty appalling music which the crowd seemed to appreciate. I wasn’t being an old fart, the music was awful, but I was still bored. I thought it hilarious to see Roberto finish his beer and then stand waving his bottle around for 10 minutes trying to attract the attention of a waiter while the bar was only 3 meters away :p Eventually the DJ kicked in and Roland and I went off to dance. Roberto didn’t want to dance with us, apparently that’s a bit gay, but eventually he came over to sit nearby while I hoped and prayed to go home to bed…
getting van/crash/shower/kitchen wait/botanical gardens/jumping Roland/tacos/baseball tickets/kitchen install/fish tacos/office&uploads/baseball match/panting Roberto/too drunk to drive/10 beers/cockroach/potato tacos/cigarettes/sopranos/drug discussion/Beatles/drive/near crash/empty club/pool/not caring/reading my book/100 pesos empty club/police club/kids/terrible band/reading again/waving bottle when bar so close/dancing/Roberto not happy/interesting girl/drive home
Tags: disco, locals, mail, Travel, cockroaches, tea, tourists, fish taco, set, spite, cruise, nearby, crash, fish tacos, grand canyon, cars, sodaRace 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: jerk, beds, photos, whore, mistake, la paz, Travel, thumbLooking for a puncture
Day 161
Los Barilles, BCS, Mexico
God it was hot! Happily I had camped closest to the wall and didn’t have too much sun on my tent in the morning, but I woke as usual at 9.30am and prepared myself for the day. After 4 days of being stinky I had another shower but only for pure enjoyment of being clean. We had kind of decided to stay another day. There wasn’t really anything to do but there was a beach nearby and a pool. When Roland finally rolled out of his blue oven we started chatting about trying to find the puncture in my air mattress in the pool and that became the activity of the day, although not in the pool. We blew it up and found one large hole using water but no more. The pool + facemask idea would have been better I’m sure as it was still leaking. We also removed everything from the van in an attempt to discover what had happened to the bottle of vodka Roland had bought in San Lucas the week before but it was gone baby, gone. Someone is going to have a nice surprise at one of the 2 campsites we dropped it at I had solved my GPS marker problem and then started looking at compressing the tracks a bit better. I was also terribly out of date in my blog and despite a few days effort was still 12 days behind. Roland fell asleep and I took advantage of the nearby electricity outlet to try to get back up to date.
Eventually hunger called to us both and we took a walk into town to fix our appetites and Internet addiction. We went for Tacos at La Curva Restaurant and had simply the best tacos yet. First they heaped fresh nachos and salsa in front of us, with guacamole to die for, and then we had fish and shrimp tacos which were piled high for only 20 pesos each. Simply stunning food and just the thing for my appetite. I got another car key cut while Roland checked his email; we had found a place to stay in Los Mochis, the next town after Topolobampo where we would get off the ferry. It seemed likely we would try to get the ferry the next day and Roland gave Roberto in Los Mochis a ring to confirm. We enjoyed our last evening in Baja by revealing to Roland my video game emulator collection on my laptop and he spent a few frustrating hours trying to get Street Fighter to play properly with my cheap gamepad. When he eventually gave up and went to bed I stayed up far too late watching Gone Baby, Gone which was pretty good (8/10) and then despite my previous loathing for Family Guy watched Blue Shift, their Star Wars parody and enormous fun. It looks like I’ll have to start downloading all of them again soon, if only I could find a decent Internet connection….
lazy/puncture/shrimps at la curva/gone baby gone/blue shift
Tags: marker, cars, vodka, salsa, gps, electricity, bam, laptop, campsite, Travel, tacos, drinks, dorms, mom, appetite, few days, clothesIm 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: convoy, high time, american, insurance, toilets, tourists, baja californiaDesert driving
Day 137
Catavina, Baja, Mexico
  |
 |
|
|
|
We went for breakfast at the hotel where Rob worked and filled up. The place was pretty quiet, which probably makes it a good place to work, or rather to sit and read and get paid. They even had a ‘mall’ ie a room with stuff to buy. Rob was a great host and really showed us a nice time in La Mision, I can see why he came for 2 weeks and stayed for 3 years. I’m not sure I would find it completely authentic or comfortable to stay in such a ex-pat community but it would be tempting. I want to get a taste of the real Mexico though, dirty toilets and all. We gave Rob and Nathan a hug and once again it was just me and Sheena. We had to get her a tourist card in Ensanada which was an hour down the toll road but they decided that since she didn’t get one at the border she would be fined $5 for the day. We tried lying and saying we just drove down but they wouldn’t budge. We didn’t tell them we’d been in the country for 4 days and it should be a $20 fine… The stupid thing was that we couldn’t pay at the bank which was 3 meters from the office but had to drive into town to pay it before returning to get the card. Stupid bureaucracy isn’t limited to Mexico and you can’t argue with such stupidity…
We followed the road south for a few hours along the coast, stopping for some nice fish tacos in a converted bus when we got hungry but we had gotten up too late to make our goal of Guerro Negro that night. We would have to stop and there wasn’t a Couchsurfing host for a hundred miles to throw ourselves on. It was hot and dusty and we had left the deserts near La Mision blooming emerald green in the late winter rains far behind. Now we were back to classic Texas landscapes with huge deformed boulders punctuating the fields of cactus and hardy desert plants. We stopped for photos and in a bout of foolish bravado plucked 2 cactus in a stupid attempt to look like mickey mouse, getting a few bloody fingers for my interference.
Just before the sun went down we made it to a small town called Catavina and it seemed like a good idea to stop for the night. The first hotel was very basic and was $350 for a night, the next place was $1000 for the night so we went back to the first one, but when we checked the rooms they had all been recently painted and I wasn’t going to spend money to get an overnight headache and cancer in 20 years. Why they chose to paint them all at once is beyond me… I think I was saying something about painting a smell instead of talking about the smelly paint but they understood me enough to direct us to another place 1km away where you could camp. Sheena didn’t understand the whole bed in the van idea but I soon showed her the way it fitted together.
It was far too early to go to sleep though so we went back into the town to sit in the expensive hotel to drink a few beers and wait impatiently for our free nachos! Back at the campground we admired the lack of light pollution out in the desert and lay in the back watching movies on the laptop. For some reason I put my boogie board back on the roof…
 |
 |
  |
 |
la mision breakfast/sheena FMT/bannk/coast/tolls/hot/cacti/boulders/catavina/smelly room/expensive/camping /beers in hotel/setting up the van/watching redition
Tags: desert plants, bravado, toilets, tacos, winter rains, beers, nice time, rain, fish tacos, laptopsJapanese weirdness and an illegal party in the Porn Studio
Day 131 LA
I managed to get up and moved my car before I was collared by the parking wardens and soon after Bonnie’s friend Susie turned up and we went for a walk. We went through the Mexican area on the way up to Little Tokyo and by then my hunger was building. The plan was to go and see some kind of art exhibition but first we needed to eat and sat in a cute little Japanese place and ate fish. I was served a mound of fresh soy beans which i took an age to shell, but they were something I had seemingly never had before. We got to the queue for the exhibition but it was 100 meters long, filled mostly with Asians who were desperate to see this show by Murakami. I wasn’t sure I wanted to wait but Susie didn’t have another chance, and surely if 500 people were happy to wait to get in it would be good. Eventually we got to the front of the queue and got in and I was amazed and confused.
Bonnie and Susie try to enjoy the huge queue.
The paintings were simply astounding, it was Japanese pop culture at its weirdest with tiny icons and cute creatures jumping about the very bizarre worlds they lived in. The same themes were evident in most of the paintings and they were weird variations on the same images. It’s kind of hard to explain. Not only were there paintings but huge sculpture of amazing creatures, the size of a room. I couldn’t take any photographs which was tragic as I could have snapped away all day. He didn’t just create sculptures of imaginary creatures but had a more adult edge too. His ‘My lonesome cowboy’ was a full sized naked manga character, erect penis in hand ejaculating his semen in a laughing whirlwind of potency around his upper torso, next to him a naked woman squeezed milk from her breasts as if in a bizarre dance.
There were also a set of 3 sculptures with a robot girl, impossibly perfect, transforming into a jet plane. I asked one of the guards if they had joints and he thought I wanted to know if I could smoke a joint :p My accent gets me into funny places sometimes
On a loop next to the sculpture of 2 small naked cyber boys, one white, one black, ran a series of ‘adverts’ which people stood watching in bemusement, shock and fascination. Click the clip below. Why anyone would want to purchase a perverted robot that feels love, albeit just like any other small child, I couldn’t explain, but the 3 clips made me feel good in that I had found something weird to freak out my friends.
Afterwards Bonnie took us out for Mexican food which she slavered with Chili sauce.
We said goodbye to Susie and went to buy wine for the evening party we would be attending later on. We then settled into wait until we could arrive at a fashionable time, Marsellus turned up and eventually a girl called Suki, but she protested her fatigue and I didn’t think she would last long…. We went back over to the Korean Area of town and found the party was taking place over a Korean Bakery, we went upstairs and happily found we were all on the guest list, saving a nice $20. The party didn’t have a liquor license so the procedure was to take your bottles of booze over to the ‘bar’ where some girls would help you pour it into a cup. We took cheap wine and I’ve no idea if we touched our bottles all night. The bar was full of booze though and you could have pretty much anything you liked, since they didn’t know what you had brought. Sweet. The music was distinctly funky in sound and I spent most of the night dancing by the two guys that reinforced the funkiness by playing drums and percussion. The club was called ‘Funky in the middle’ and this was their first anniversary. And many happy returns to them. The place was busy but not so full as you couldn’t dance and the layout of the place was kind of weird. The band were set up in a ‘corner’ that was white, with curved floors and ceiling, obviously a place to take photos. But the other parts of the studio had fake walls, fake windows and a few beds. I was partying in a porn studio!
Suki lasted about an hour before she spent most of the evening asleep.
 2 Fluffers fighting over their stud |
 When I came to leave I couldn’t find my coat, this lightweight was sleeping on it! |
Caught by the fuzz
Day 128 Yuma AZ
Staying up until 3 in the morning is never conducive an early start and it wasn’t in this case either. Reluctantly I packed up my gear into my car and said goodbye to Lashel and Grace. I had a great time in Tucson and I shouldn’t have even been there! Tamara was dead or lying in a Mexican ditch somewhere which was a shame, although I suspected the problems on the Couchsurfing website had something to do with it. I had 2 choices, south or west and hope to pick up a passenger on the west coast. It would be nice to see my old stomping grounds in LA too, and San Diego was only 5 hours away. I chose to go west and waving to the girls put the address in my GPS and set off back into the desert…
Tags: great time, set, working in mexico, shame, california border, couchsurfer, waves, wheel, cop cars, gps, girls, tamara, choices, insurance, mirrorAnother Couchsurfing Party
Day 125 Tucson AZ
Happy that I didn’t wake with a hangover I hung out on the couch for a few hours taking advantage of the girls Internet connection until their friend Patrick came over and suggested a late lunch. Leshel was mortally ill in bed and couldn’t get up so just the three of us went out for a great curry at a nearby Indian Restaurant called Gandhi’s. Patrick is a funny guy and when given a good foil like Grace even better. I learned later that they had sadly toned down their conversation for my benefit. I want the uncensored version dammit! Back at the house we learned that Leshel felt much better and was up for going to the Couchsurfing gathering that was already taking place in Tucson. I was happy I wasn’t going to have to go on my own and we even dragged Patrick along. We had hardly gotten through the door before we were engaged in a circular introduction that went on for 20 minutes, the place was pretty full and they even had some surfers instead of the usual 95% hosts and just me. We got there quite late and stayed until 9pm which is when it was due to finish. I forgot to suggest we all go to the karaoke afterwards :p We headed over to the local video place called Casa Video which was simply awesome and the only place I have seen that could fill out my missing movie knowledge. We ended up renting Crash which Patrick and Grace hadn‘t seen before crashing on the sofa for the night….
Tags: girls, Travel, curry, lunch, sofa, gandhi, karaoke, couch, friend patrick, surfers, crash, funny guy, benefit, localsSurfing in the Desert
day 124 Tucson AZ
 |
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, cool place, skype, museums, couchsurfer, mountain lions, pool, birds, hillsides, desert museum, prairie dogs, couchsurfers, drinksTime to do something….
Day 121
If you’re wondering why there is a gap of 2 days in my blog then I can fill in the details pretty quickly. I spent 2 days doing pretty much nothing at all! Absolutely nothing! I lay in bed for 2 days, reading, playing Halflife, watching TV and trying not to freeze. Occasionally I went down to the car to get some food but I just slobbed out and enjoyed the fact that I could.
However I can’t do that forever and decided it was time for action. I checked out and drove into Nogales to get my tooth fixed. I had chipped the inside on one of my upper pre-molars and needed a filing. There are plenty of places in Nogales to choose from but which should I use with no recommendation? I wandered aimlessly until I saw a middle aged gringo couple go into one… that was good enough for me I went in and asked how much it would be, $40 to $50, which seemed fair enough. I filled out the forms and waited for the dentist to finish another patient. I was interested to see how the treatment in Mexico would compare to Thailand where I spent 3 weeks and several thousand dollars getting my teeth repaired a few years ago. That’s something worthy of a post too…
Surprise! You have diarrhea!
Day 103:Arizona
As tempting as it was to stay longer in the amazing hot bed of vice and sin we had to get a hustle on back to Texas for Christmas. I was looking forward to my first Christmas in America, despite the fact I didn’t eat turkey I’m sure it was going to be a great traditional time of the year! We said goodbye to Chad through the bathroom door (Leon was off hiking again somewhere) and took the interstate back through the heart of Darkness to the freedom of the desert. We had to negotiate the Hoover Dam once again which was gridlocked with people desperate to get away from Vegas. Helicopters filled the skies overhead like carcinogenic belching dragonflies, $28 a flight the signs proclaimed but when you got there it was really $58 to see the dam. I can imagine the childrens tears as their daddy tells them he’s too cheap to spend another $30! We sat in the jam practicing my terrible Spanish over the buzzing of the propellers.
Tags: obligatory photos, amazement, wifi, green peppers, olives, pizza place, dragonflies, stupid mistake, Travel, freedom, propellers, christmas in americaWhat a Grand 100th day!
Today marked the hundredth day of my trip and was also the day I would finally get to see the Grand Canyon which always appears near the top of all the spectacular travel lists in the world. We even managed to get up reasonably early since we would be driving and walking around all day. The sun shone but there was a chill in the air which would only get deeper. We scoffed our bran flakes in the room and went off to discover the next great American State park. Daniella really isn’t a very good navigator, I had put in a random road for the town by the park village and was following those directions and we passed the turning for the south rim without me seeing it. Dani did say something but then waited for another 50 miles before mentioning that we had probably gone past the turning. The random road was the highway that leads to the village and I had obviously messed up but she should have more forcefully told me I had passed the junction. Oh well, cursing our dual doziness we had to turn around and head back. More time wasted we could be spending in the canyon though. At the junction we stopped for coffee and m&m’s. As I’m getting in the car a woman pulls up and tells me that the coffee I had just bought isn’t very good and I should be buying it from the coffee place just around the corner. Apparently they make it with ground water. Great. Thanks for telling me I wasted my $1.20! Like I’m now going to tip it away and go buy some more…..
Tags: couchsurfer, coffee, carpark, trucks, cars, bam, tyres, daniella, couchsurfers, chill in the air, peace, walmart, great american94:Carlsbad:The end of the road?
When I got up my headache was still throbbing in my skull but at least I could see and think straight, everytime I bent over my forehead would feel like my brain was trying to slosh out of my head. Still I had a job to do and it was the last day of my crazy writing tour of the South, one final line south and then the road to victory north. Daniella would finally be free to direct me as she would, preferably somewhere warm. We left Ozona temporarily to head down towards Mexico but before we made it to the Rio Grande I did a u-turn and the final line was in the making. Could you see my trip from space I have been asked? Probably not, but then it depends on how many pixels wide it was.
Tags: tarmac, ella, coffee, pizza, forehead, weather, crash, cold clouds, freedom, roswell, daniella, mcdonalds, sun, wifi, u turn, beds, wind turbines