Welcome to Guatemala
Flores, Guatemala
No breakfast for us, Katrijn and I set off early for a very sweaty walk back to the car. Once there we found that Bill had patched up my leak with some JB Weld and we poured in a quart of oil and held our breath. It seemed to hold so in went another gallon and we ran it for 5 minutes. It was already roasting so didn’t take long to get very hot. It seemed we would be able to leave that day.
I took a few photos of Bill and his wife Katherine since they wouldn’t take anything for their trouble. I found out Bill is from Hendersonville in North Carolina, the place I spent my very strange thanksgiving last year. I promised to send them a copy once I got Internet access.
We left their little slice of heaven and drove gingerly along the rutted track, inevitably we snagged a few rocks on the way and each time I hopped out to survey the potential damage. Luckily I was careful enough to make it back to the paved highway, from now on it would be plain sailing.
We gave a lift to a local into San Ignacio which was much closer than I thought and we decided what to do. It was 11.30am by now and San Ignacio didn’t look that exciting. We had some lunch, worked out a few financial sums to make sure we had enough cash and headed towards the border. Hopefully we would be in Flores sipping beer by the lake very soon.
It was only 9 miles to the border and it didn’t cause any major problems. I got myself stamped out of Belize, canceled my car importation, paid my $37.50B and drove over no mans land towards the Guatemalan border. You have to drive through a building that sprays your car which proved completely ineffectual as by the time I had the windows up it had sprayed mostly the air in front of my car and little else.
No visa was required for me, I stood in the line behind a tiny Guatemalan lady and paid Q10 (€1) for my 90 visa. Next I did the paper work for my car which required my title and a copy of my title and passport. It cost Q40 which was payable at the nearby bank and I was given a sticker to place in my window. A border guard checked my paperwork and after paying a further Q50 cross the bridge we were in Guatemala and I was on country 5 of my trip.
The roads were worse than Belize which seemed strange and half of the trip over to Flores was on a rough, but mostly flat dirt track. I was just happy to get through the border in only an hour and relived my oil pan was still holding out.
I still wasn’t driving through the deep jungle I was hoping for, most of the roads look pretty much alike, houses and shops every once in a while and the usual hazards of dogs, horses and motorbikes. Flores was only a couple of hours away and a major tourist stop. It sits in the middle of a lake and we were early enough to check into one of the best and most popular hostels, Los Amigos.
We met Eva in the street and decided to give the tourist stuff a miss and spend the next day chilling out. I had ten million photos to process and lots of blog entries to write. Seemed like this was the place to do it, and when that was too boring I could go and visit the mythical city of Tikal. More ruins…. I think my last for a good while!
walk to car/bill and katherine/Â jb weld/photos/lift to local/lunch/money-atm/hour at border/ok roads/flores/met eva/los amogos/shower/blog
3 thrills a day
Hopkins, Belize
Visiting a salsa factory isn’t really very thrilling but its interesting to see. Marie Sharp is a Belizean legend and her hot sauce is on over table in the country. Pop into the factory for a tour if you’re passing that way. 
After that we went swimming in the Blue Hole park. Nice and fresh. Vanessa got a thrill when we floated down the river and were nearly sucked into the underwater tunnel. I saved her 
Then we went nearly a mile into the cave nearby with only a small LED flashlight. That was fun. Vanessa was kinda scared :p
Then the biggest and best thrill was saved until last but we didn’t take any photographs. We couldn’t and I will explain why.
When we had driven down to Hopkins a few days before we passed some people in a horse drawn buggy who we assumed to be Amish. We soon learned that they were Menonites, and they had a sizeable community out in the jungle. On the way back up we decided to go and have a proper look.
4 miles up a dirt track from the main road we found a set of farms and houses. No electricity poles or cars were about but there were quite a few people. We stopped to chat to a local on the road and asked if there was any where we could get some food nearby. The community didn’t have anything as advanced as a restaurant but he suggested we pull into someone’s drive and eat with them.
This seemed a bit crazy, to just invite yourself to dinner with a random family but when I suggested we choose his house he told us to give him half an hour and let us know where he lived. We carried on up the road to explore some more.
Vanessa and I wanted to photograph the people but knew this would be rather rude and managed to restrain ourselves. We turned around and stopped again to chat to a guy loading up some lumber at the lumber yard. He was also dressed the same as all the men in the area. Straw hat, blue shirt and a long beard.
Abraham, it turned out, was the brother of John, the man who had invited us to dinner and we waited a while talking about their life in the village and what we were doing in the area. At least until we had to move out of the way of horse and cart that wanted to get past. This was the closest to a traffic jam that you can get around here.
We drove back to Johns house and met his wife Margaret and learned they had 11 children running around, ranging from 7 months to 14 years old. The three boys were outnumbered by their sisters slightly but they were all curious as to what we were doing and what we looked like. I have no idea what they thought of my long hair but they all stared when I took off my hat.
John was building onto his new house so we sat in that and talked some more. Some of the children had had some vaccinations that morning so were somewhat afraid of strangers. They also dressed in the traditional way and John explained how they bought cloth and made their own clothes.
He took us on a mini-tour of their farm and showed us their horse drawn washing machine and how they could change the belts around to power the corn grinder and even a drill. Chickens were running everywhere in the yard, jumping over broken farm equipment and being chased by the barefoot children.
In the field nearby they kept horses for transport and cows for dairy produce. The Menonites are all vegetarians but they are not against using animals to make money. They must be quite well off since they came and bought 3,000 acres in the valley. 35 families lived there and they had only been there 12 years but were well established with a church, school and market.
A spring from the hills provides all the families with a gravity fed clean water supply and the land was green and fertile, perfect for farming. The Menonites provide 80% of the countries local produce and with no real costs for gasoline or other resources were in a great position to profit from the worldwide increases in food prices. I only hope they don’t also suffer from this, people can get very jealous from others’ success.
We learned they sometimes even had people coming to rob them with guns and someone was shot through the hand a few years back. Now they don’t keep too much money in the houses.
Dinner was finally ready so we washed our handed and all 15 of us squeezed around the table, the adults at either end. Vanessa my ‘wife’ and I sat together, we both felt it best not to correct them on this point, it was hardly relevant.
We bowed our heads for a silent prayer and passed around the bowls for a simple meal of vegetable stew, rice, cottage cheese and soup. The children were learning English in school but their main language is Low German which they would mutter amongst themselves. They didn’t really speak to us but we knew at least some of the older ones understood what we were talking about.
Vanessa and I were desperate to photograph this beautiful scene of the family sharing a meal by lantern light, the girls in their black bonnets and simple dresses, the boys in blue with perfect, blonde bowl haircuts but we could hardly jump up and retrieve our cameras from the car. We had both talked about doing an article on them for the National Geographic, which was mostly just conjecture, but here we were having dinner with people who are managing to avoid the crazy materialism we are obsessed with in the west. It was such a nice feeling that we were doing something very few people would ever experience, but even nicer to be reminded that there are friendly people all over the world.
After dinner we continued to talk about their lives and what we were doing. John asked where we were staying that night and I replied that I didn’t know, it would probably be a hotel. He offered to let us stay and I should have agreed immediately, sadly Vanessa and I don’t really know each other that well and she didn’t think I wanted to stay, so she said no.
After we said goodbye and set off to the main road in the dark we realised our mistake but it was too late. They would soon be in bed so we could hardly go back. John did say we would always be welcome, so maybe someday I will return, but who knows. We would have to settle for a night in a dingy Chinese Hotel in the capital, Belompan. What a great day.
A menonite buggy
leaving kismet, photo kids, new arrival, palencia?/late/marie sharp factory/blue hole pool/underwater current/drive to next cave/1 light/scared/muddy/menonite turning/4 miles in/chatting to john/up to nersery/chatting to abraham/back to johns/wrong turn/john + margret + 11 kids/14 to 7 months/3 boys/sat and chat in new house section/no photos/trad dress/vaccines/blonde/waching machine/corn grinder/drill/makes shutters/various carriages./horses and cows/bread fruit tree/chickens/dinner/silent prayer/rice/stew/soup/bread+corn syrup/pineapple and mango/kick in the head/well behaved/long hair/vanessa wife/lanterns/no photos/offer to stay/regrets/drive up to capital/cheap chinese hotel/vanessa asleep
Belize without a map
Belize City, Belize
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
These ruins are ruined!
Bamamku Ruins, Mexico
More ruins? I was reaching saturation point by now but these were just over the road from the campsite and quick to get to. So why not?
I then only had 200 km to get to Chetumal where I could spend one night before heading into Belize. It rained on and off on the way and I picked up some replacement car fuses for the ones I had blown the previous night. My AC adapter worked too, for a while. Then it overheated and started melting. I’ve bought three of these damn things, lost one and 2 don’t work. Its getting rather annoying.
ruins/some rain/fuses/melting adapter/last day on the border
Driving a robbers highway
Palenque, Mexico
Time to go. I got sorted out and got the van. Gladly it was still there since I had parked on the street. My luck was still holding. The road North was Zapitista country, the local rebel groups in the state of Chaipas. Tourist had been kidnapped here before but not for a few years. Hopefully my luck would still hold.
It did for a while.
I got to Aqua Azul, a series of spectacular waterfalls which were very photogenic and great for swimming. After paying 2 entrance fees for a total of 30 pesos (and getting stopped by the local banana mafia with a rope across the road) this is the photo I took 1 minute after I got into the car park:
I parked up and it started raining. I waited 5 minutes and then carried on to Palenque. It rained for the next 3 hours so I made the right choice.
I had dinner with the Belgian couple I met in Zipolite and then had an early night. Tomorrow, more spectacular ruins. As long as the weather didn’t spoil it…..
Still alive
Zipolite, Mexico
I came to Zipolite just for one day on the way to San Cristobal and ended up staying 8 nights. Its nice, the weather has been great, the water warm, the tourists naked, why shouldn’t I stay longer.
Not been doing much. Yesterday I went on the Crocodile tour at a nearby swamp which was good but marred by my stupidity at locking my key in my van and hence having to do the boat ride only with my point and shoot camera. Luckily the American family that was in the boat gave myself and Paula (my new Canadian friend) a lift back and I got a further lift from the owner of my hotel. I missed hundreds of shots of birds though which were all over the place. Very annoying I couldn’t use my new telephoto lens.
The town is very small, just a village really and its the low season so there aren’t many people around. Tomorrow I have a 10 hour trip up through the mountains to San Cristobal and then onto Palenque. Hopefully I will run into my South African friends up there….
The beach of Death
Puerto Escondido
Day ??
I’m on day 8 of my visit to Puerto Escondido and thoroughly enjoying doing very little. I’m with 3 charming sisters from South Africa that I managed to persuade to share my van down to coast from Mexico City and I’ve been teaching them to surf. They’re very enthusiastic and between them seem to spend all day a the water on my board and a long board they rented. We spend half the time checking out the dead animals washed up on the beach though. 2 days ago we had great fun trying to help the lifeguard pull a dead and very rotten turtle up onto the beach so he could burying. What a stink. We also keep finding dead sea cobras. I want one for the hood of my car!
Its a nice little beachside town not that I’ve done too much exploring. Maybe its best to stay in the hotel, 2 people were kidnapped at gunpoint yesterday at a nearby restaurant. The sun shines in the morning but has started to disappear in favour of an afternoon shower that comes in varying degrees of ferocity. Yesterday it came down HARD. The little restaurant we had lunch at was leaking water everywhere and then the huge guttering inside collapsed under the weight of the water. If anyone had been underneath it they would have been killed.
Our Israeli neighbours standing in water with the electricity still on….. :p
Caryn cleans her feet
A 6 peso sponge isn’t in the budget!
Day 203
San Juan Teotihuacan
I don’t see the point in washing cars, its a waste of time and resources. But when people keep writing ‘puta’ or whore on the side I figure I had to take action, I was secretly hoping someone would do some amazing artwork in the dust. After 7 months and 19,000 miles the green goddess finally gets a wash….
Then I went to the supermarket and couldn’t find it when I came out because it was so clean
You’ll never catch the Assman alive!
Day 201
San Juan Teotihuacan
Somehow I got up, got my car packed and left Valle de Bravo. The question of whether there was any paragliding to be done was unresolved. I didn’t see anyone in the air during the 4 days I was there. I wasn’t in the mood to find out it seemed.
I had no idea where I was going.
I looked at the my Lonely Planet in a vague attempt to at least work out my next destination. Roland had texted me to say he was on the beach with his friend but that was a bit to far to go and then head back to Mexico city after only 2 weeks. I figured I could make it to the pyramids near Mexico City, they had a cheap camp site and it seemed a good enough idea. My only small problem was getting there, but it didn’t seem to far… Driving in Mexico is easy, navigating is not too bad, but there was only me, and driving and looking at maps isn’t a good idea. I was about to have maybe my worst day in the country…
The first few hours were fine, I followed the road towards the capital intending to avoid it at all costs. 25 million people would be a lot of traffic… I also realised I had another problem, it was Friday. Mexico City has a law, not a bad law either, that restricts cars with the last number on the plate from using the roads for one day a week on a rotating basis. So on Fridays the numbers 0 and 9 were banned. I planned to follow the highways around the capital anyway so I figured I would be ok. As soon as I started getting close to city I became increasingly frustrated in a way I hadn’t felt before in Mexico. The road signs would direct me to various suburbs but wouldn’t tell me how to get clockwise around the capital. I had to keep pulling over to consult my map which was proving to be reasonably useless, I couldn’t find any of the places on the signs and eventually found myself driving into the city. Not good. I turned around and came 10 miles back out which was a waste of time, then found the toll road and figured that had to take me North and towards my destination. Regretting the 33 pesos it cost me I had found the right road and joined the speedway drivers taking advantage of the comparatively empty road. I figured I would be able to get to the main town to the north of the capital and the carry on to the pyramids but ended up getting off at the next exit.
My map was off scale, I couldn’t find any where on the signs (half of which were obscured by graffiti), I kept trying to steal glances at my map but at one point nearly came off the road and decided I would rather live. I was getting slightly annoyed. I had no idea where I was so drove onto the next sign. I was soon waved over by a police car on patrol. Uh oh. I shook his hand and gave him my licence and then as usual asked if he spoke English. I knew I was in trouble, but I knew also it wasn’t really a big deal. I felt quite justified being in the wrong place at the right time… fix your bloody signs! The cop started going on about the plates and numbers and althought I didn’t know the specifics of what he said I could guess what the problem was right away. I got my dictionary out and replied as best I could to his questions, mostly I said ‘I don’t understand’. After 10 minutes or so of telling him I didn’t want to be there and I was lost he gave me my licence back and told me to keep going and I would get to the pyramids. I asked if I should go back to the toll road once he showed me on my map where I was but he said ‘just keep going’. Maybe this ‘no driving on friday’ law wasn’t that strict after all…
I did another 10 miles or so in thick and fast traffic. I saw a few cop cars but they didn’t see me. I started to relax… The traffic started to get more stop and go and I pulled up to some lights and a couple of cops were standing there just waiting to bust someone. A fat grey haired codger and his younger, equally rotund companion. That someone was me. They took my license and I pulled over. They didn’t speak English either but they had a nice tatty folder explaining the law in English, as if I didn’t already know. They told me I couldn’t drive until 10pm, they also mentioned fines and then wandered around trying to find someone who spoke English. I acted as though I was quite happy to wait around until 10pm, I asked if there were any hotels nearby. I figured I wasn’t in any immediate danger of being arrested. I looked at them a bit closer. Were they really police men? They didn’t have guns or handcuffs. They seemed quite reasonable really. They mentioned ‘Multa’ a few times, the Spanish for fine, but I mostly just ignored the word and asked if I could just hang out until 10. After 20 minutes of hanging around the fat older ‘cop’ handed me back my licence and told me to drive around the block and wait until night. It was about 5pm now and I was still miles from San Juan Teotihuacan where the pyramids are…
I got back in my car, turned left to go around the block… and kept going. It felt so wrong to driving away from the cops but after looking at the map I figured I wasn’t actually in Mexico City anymore. With a deep sense of unease I picked my way through the back streets until I was a few blocks away from my second encounter with the cops. I seriously considered implementing the ‘Assman’ card but then figured what was the chances of getting caught again. I got back on the main road and was stopped at the next lights. This time they really were cops and not just part time security guards dressed up as them.
Bollocks!
Of course they didn’t speak English but I guess they didn’t need to. I pulled over and was directed to a side street where a very seriously looking cop did all the talking. He blathered on for ages, I didn’t understand 10% of what he said but I just played it dumb as much as possible. When he used a word a few times I looked it up in my dictionary. He also kept going on about fines. I tried to bore him by asking where I was on the map, an insisting I wasn’t in the capital anymore. I asked about hotels and waiting around, he told me the fine was 4000 pesos. I ignored that and went back to trying to find out if everywhere nearby had the same law. He said he could let me off for 200 dollars. I said I didn’t have any dollars. I got my wallet out and opened it. Happily it had 20 pesos in it. I pointed to the ashtray full of change I had. He didn’t notice the 450 pesos that was sitting on the seat next to me partially obscured by my guidebook and I ignored it, and covered it up whenever I could. If he asked for my passport I would have been screwed because I always keep some cash with it.
He consulted with his colleague. I guessed I was going to be taking a trip to the station… Instead he gave me back my licence, then gave me directions to the pyramids and… gave me a receipt for the fine I just hadn’t paid ! I drove off quick before they changed their minds!
This is all you have to do if you’re in DF illegally.
I was still deep in Mexico city suburbs though and I didn’t fancy wasting another 20 minutes on cops who may, or may not, get bored with my lack of Spanish. Lets face it if they took my keys and passport I would have no choice but to pay them. And they had guns. It was getting late, I was tired, I just wanted to get to the campsite and go to bed. I knew I was breaking the law but instead of the police enforcing it properly they were just trying to shake me down for some cash and my licence was giving them all the excuse they needed. I felt I had no choice but to go Assman on them.
I pulled over and removed my licence plates.
In New York I had been on the Kenny Kramer tour, the inspiration for Kramer in Seinfeld, one of my favourite shows. In one episode he accidentally gets sent the wrong licence plates which he put on his car. Kenny also sells these along with his T-shirts and mugs. I bought one myself.
I would never dare to do this in the States but I decided I was either going to the pyramids or to jail, I was bored with listening to crooked cops…
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I made it to the Pyramids eventually via the most convoltuted route you could imagine, cursing all the way, but I didn’t get stopped again!
Day 200 – but am I happy?
Day 200
Valle de Bravo, Mexico
After a few days in Morelia I headed closer to Mexico City on Sunday and made the mistake of checking into a small hotel with cable TV and the Internet. My body clock was messed up in Guadalajara and this hasn’t helped. I was supposed to be paragliding in Valle de Bravo but I didn’t go down to the place they rent gear until yesterday afternoon and the answer was ‘were shut, come back tomorrow at 9am’. Not exactly what I wanted to hear… I was also getting constantly asked at the hotel how long I was going to stay. In some ways I’m the perfect guest, I don’t want my room cleaned everyday, but don’t ask me how long I want to stay because I really don’t know. They asked me so many times I felt I should be moving on.
If the truth be know I have been feeling a bit down. I should be looking forward to coming to the UK but I would now have to try to find somewhere to leave my stuff, get some accommodation in New York… It felt like my trip was coming to an end and all roads were now leading me inextricably towards Mexico City and that flight I had booked. Mexico is cool, but its not exactly overwhelming me with potential travel partners. maybe I’m just looking in the wrong places, but I was beginning to think that I needed someone to get my arse out of bed in the morning and doing something more than reading my latest book or waiting for a movie to start.
I was also slightly annoyed that someone had stolen the wood from my roof in Morelia. They weren’t proper thieves though since they left my bungee cords on the top. But still!! No more car camping for me!
200 days? bleh
Merry Easter
Day 188
Guadalajara, Mexico
I woke with a jerk this morning. Or should I say this afternoon.
I’ve been in Guadalaraja for over a week, just wandering around in the day, eating at a nice cheap veggie place I found, sitting in the plazas reading and learning Spanish, playing my guitar, but sleeping later and later. I set my alarm and just ignore it. Its a hard habit to break. I was going to leave today but yesterday, when I eventually got up at 2 PM, found all the car parts places were shut due to ‘Semana Santa’ or Easter as its known here. I can’t go driving without mirrors so I was stuck. But I’ve been paying for my room and playing it by ear, they asked how long I wanted to stay at the start and I said ‘Quién sabe’ or ‘Who knows’… They don’t speak English here though, but I know enough Spanish now to let them know when the light stopped working or that I didn’t need the woman cleaning my room every single day. I’d just prefer it if they bought a toilet seat and killed the mini cockroaches in the bathroom. :p
But the owner was hammering on the door just before noon and just before my alarm sounded. He had shown me sign yesterday that said checkout was at noon, which I knew, but I wasn’t checking out… I was reading in my guidebook that you should book ahead for Easter in some places but I didn’t think much of it, apart from when I got woken up and then he wouldn’t take my money for another night. Great. I understood enough to work out the room was already booked, probably for the weekend. What was I going to do now? Well, there is always the beach… only 5 hours drive away.
Guadalaraja is nice, lots of old buildings and ambience. Its been getting busier in the run up to Easter though. Yesterday the center was pedestrianised and it was bedlam, people everywhere and impossible to walk around. I had set off towards the west side with a map in my head and an address, always the best way to find somewhere. I wanted a cable to connect my flash to my camera, since I lost my wireless receiver on day 5 of my trip. They didn’t have any, but I still had to go off to see some upstairs who spoke English so the assistant could ask ‘why? It connects on the pins’. The assistant only works in a camera shop, its not enough for him to understand that Canon sell them, I want one, ‘why’ doesn’t come into it. I guess I should have told him to go to www.thestrobist.com but its all in English.
I started packing my stuff, took down my mosquito net, which is now saving me from daily ravishments by the local insect population (I put it up when I woke to find my forehead bitten a dozen times…. I must buy some anti-malarials soon too….) and got my shit together. I went down to talk to the owners wife, she was either afraid or liked her distance as she kept backing away from me :p She explained I could move into the little room on the rooftop. Fine with me. I finished packing my stuff and then she comes to tell me I don’t need to move after all. Kind of even better, despite the fact that I’m ready to go.
At least I saw a Easter miracle today. I rose from the dead in the morning
Bloody kids!
Day 182
Guadalajara, Mexico
I go outside to my car and find some ass-masters have stolen the glass in my rear view mirrors! I thought about getting mad but then…. they’re only mirrors…
Wandering around Guadalajara
Day 181
Guadalajara, Mexico
I was getting close to finishing off the current book I’m reading, an Umberto Eco novel called ‘The island of yesterday’ which was a tour de force of brilliance but was slightly distracting in my quest to be a tourist. I must try not to read when I wake up as there is a natural tendency to fall asleep once more, which is of course what happened. It was afternoon by the time I woke and I wandered up into town to find something to eat. My car was sitting baking in the sun and I opened it up to find the new wax on my surf board had melted and dripped all over one of my camping mats :/
The city center isn’t very far so I decided against putting my bike together and just walked up. The traffic was pretty bad, but this being the second largest city in Mexico would only be eclipsed by Mexico City, a place I’m not looking forward to driving in, but shouldn’t be any worse than anywhere else, it would just be more crowded. People in the states told me that Boston had the worst drivers but I didn’t particularly find that to be true just as people in Mexico warn me that Mexico City is a nightmare to drive in, but I’m not so sure. I’m sure its only as bad as Bangkok or Kamapala in Uganda. More traffic means you go slower but also means its safer. Then you only have the problem with the cars around you. I’ve found Mexican drivers to be rather selfish though, the usual stupidity of third world thinking where everyone is looking out for number one. Yesterday I saw a ambulance sitting at the traffic lights with his lights flashing and no one moved. So either it wasn’t a real emergency or the driver realised that even using his siren wouldn’t get them out of the way. This is the scariest thing I guess, you can crash your car, get some help and the traffic still kills you on the way to hospital.
Surveys show that the vast majority of people consider themselves to be an above average driver but this is clearly impossible. I find it better to regard myself as a below average driver since I am regularly doing what is the most dangerous activity in my life it is better to regard the whole act of driving as a easy route to my own death and I would be better thinking I barely knew how to drive. Hidden oil spills, dogs on the road, blown tires, mechanical failure, gravel, dust and sand, huge potholes…. the list is endless and all waiting for an unwary driver to not be concentrating. Dying in a car crash is surely the stupidest and most pointless way to die as its highly preventable. Dying in a drink driving crash is far, far worse, but we’re in Mexico… It happens.
Maybe I should go shopping, Guadalajara has loads of stores and I think my current wardrobe is rather lacking. At least I don’t have to carry any clothes In the city center I set off in search of something to eat but I didn’t seem to have much luck. Everything seemed so… meaty! I wasn’t going to starve though I’m sure, and I’m happy to back into size 32" jeans once more, maybe I can get it down to 30" before the end of the year, something unseen for 10 years. Kira reminded me about a water/maple syrup/cayenne pepper/lemon juice diet with daily sea water enemas which would probably do it. 10 days of that and I’d be really able to eat like crazy for a few months :p If only I could find some food. I found myself in the wedding dress district which was clearly the wrong place for a hungry tourist although it was packed with hopeful looking girls all window shopping for their perfect dress, whether they had the perfect man to go with it was unclear.
Guadalajara isn’t a bad place to get lost searching for something to eat though, the architecture is stunning, with sunny plazas around every corner and neoclassic buildings towering overhead. Its still typical Mexico though with plenty of street sellers hawking their wares; beggars and buskers. I finally gave up and headed for Sanborns, a slice of the 50′s and somewhere I had eaten in before. I was disappointed to see that they give you Nescafe if you order coffee with hot milk, although I’m not sure whether that was a better option than the weak Americano coffee with those awful non-dairy creamer pots you get. What’s so wrong with milk?? I spent far too long reading but tempered my guilt with going through some Spanish-English flash cards and hopefully sticking a few more words to my dull brain. By the time I was onto the last chapter it was dark outside but it was still early and I hadn’t even eaten. I then realised that I had gone through a time zone and lost an hour, but this is hopefully the last one I will have to suffer. I really don’t like going east!
400 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
Sushi by the sea
Day 162
Los Mochis, Mexico
The next morning we had a serious problem (not counting 2 hangovers), we couldn’t get out of the apartment. The previous night we had set the big dead lock and now it wouldn’t open. We pulled it, tried all the keys, tried taking it apart, climbed through windows and tried to open it from the outside, pushed it, shouted at it, bashed it, removed more screws, used some pliers, gave up and went back to try it all again before Roland just pulled a knob on the end and the door opened. Beer creates these fuzzy thoughts but it seemed quite obvious once we had done it once.
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We went back to the Pacific for a look at the beach and being Sunday it was pretty busy, families with kites and kids in their expensive cars and clothes, the usual nonsense.
The Batless Bat Cave
There was also a bat cave but after exploring it (which took 20 seconds) we gave up and went back to town. I wanted to stay and watch the bats come out, but I wasn’t the driver, Roberto preferred to drive us up to the top of some hill to see Los Mochis at night, it was just a load of lights….
Rolando is stunned into retardation by the view
Stuck lock/walmart/sushi/beach/bat cave/look out/potato tacos/
The 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
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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.
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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
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My First Baseball game, possibly my last…  |
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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
Looking 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
Looking 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
Shocking 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!
Another dodgy place to sleep
Day 157 Los Cabos
After what can only be described as a pretty restless night I woke to a knock on the window from Roland. He had slept soundly in his tent on the roof by Eduardos room and learned he had come home really dunk at lord knows when and passed the tent without so much as a glance or recognition that we were waiting for him. We went for breakfast and then went to use Eduardos shower and have a chat. He gets by by selling crystal rocks to tourists, seems to suit him as he didn’t look the person most likely to get up at 7am without fail. The first warm shower in 5 days was rather nice, but I don’t think I was smelling too bad, my salt crystal deodorant had been working wonders now since Toronto and day 2. I felt glad to be alive when he told me this was a area with a crack problem and he always locked his door. That made me feel super about sleeping in my car! Maybe we’ll see him in his home town soon, but since his Canadian friend left him a load of food he said he may stay longer in Cabos just to eat it.
Ah, Beach Life
We had arranged to meet Betsabe at 2pm so wasted the time by going to a nearby beach, Santa Maria, which was quite nice and quite hot. We spent most of the afternoon watching 3 girls chase each other up and down the beach in an attempt to throw one of them into the sea. It was very warm though so after some reading and Spanish lessons I went to tidy my car and check why my cooler is no longer cool. I put all Roland’s stuff on one side and then had a minor crisis when I couldn’t find my replacement camera charger. Not another $40!! Time flies when you’re having fun and after sorting out my increasingly untidy food box was nearly ran over by Betsabe as she came to join us on the beach. We then froze as we watched a completely crazy whale jumping about and smashing its tail into the water over and over. Roland went for another suicide attempt on the cliffs and happy with living for another day we went over to Betsabes house after picking up some groceries and made dinner. I’m not sure I was a very good guest since I spent nearly the entire time getting my Internet fix. Still no word from Sheena, 5 days now, I wonder when the FBI will be wanting to ask me when I last saw her… :/
We spent the evening with a surfer and made dinner for her flatmate and boyfriend but when it got to 11.30pm we didn’t have a couch to sleep on and headed back to the beach we had scouted out earlier, but it was too close to the center of San Lucas and we couldn’t even say goodnight to Betsabe without being hassled for change. Not a good place to spent the night and we went back to our RV beach which we found packed with Mexicans partying on the beach in their 4×4′s. The music was pumping across the dunes at party levels and despite driving up tired as hell, by the time I got my tent up I was wide away and ready to dance, if not for the god-awful Mexican ‘music’ and their bloody trumpets! You’re on the beach for gods sake, buy some Bob Marley! They soon gave up though and we retired, happy to know the van would block the sunrise this time and the bulldozers nearby would be at morning Mass.
Gringos 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/
Surfs up!
Day 154
The beach!
Wednesday 13th February
God damn sun woke me too early, but I was on the beach and the waves were just crashing into the bay and god damn its good to be alive! The milk was still cold in the now semi working cooler, so after cereal and coffee I really didn’t have an excuse to not walk down to the water, with my surfboard and to try not to embarrass myself again. On went the board shorts and I tip toed into the water. At least the water has the decency to wash over your fear just before you get out deciding its too cold. I always get up to my crotch in the water with no problem, but getting my chest and beck wet just never wants to happen. The brilliant surf soon took care of my ‘neshness’* and I got down to the challenge of getting my hair wet. Wait for a nice breaking wave and hurl yourself into the white froth and my hippy hair was soon bedraggled all over my sun screen plastered face.
Before getting in I had done my ‘jump up on the board’ prepatory exercises, just as my instructor in Byron Bay told me how to surf all those years ago. But its hard, so damn hard! I had a much smaller board than the one I had last been on in Cornwall so that didn’t help, although I do think I’m thinner than I was on that trip…. Its time for an embarrassing photo…..
Steady on girls, his friends reckon he’s gay… :p |
And the before… I have lost weight!! |
I messed around in the surf for a while longer but then I needed a drink, or a shower, or anything to get me out of the water. Life is so brutal for my readers, I’m able to go surfing but I’m just a bit too lazy :p I intended to have a productive (by my standards :p)day and got my guitar out and proved to Roland that, without doubt, I was a rubbish guitar player! :p I don’t play enough and I was starting to think I shouldn’t be distracting myself with literature when I could be singing/playing, learning Spanish, moving myself around a bit or chasing girls :p Oh and eating! Ah the 5 great truths of travel. No time to spend enjoying yourself, there is work to be done! I coaxed a couple of songs out of it eventually, which Roland reluctantly said were ‘not bad’ and then it was time to annoy everyone else on the beach properly.
My friend and I often say to each other, upon hearing the twang of nylon or steel on a fretboard “There’s always some twat with a guitar!” to which the standard reply is ‘Yeah, and usually its YOU!” and we laugh, but we retrieved the Frisbee from the car and attempted to act like Alpha Males. This was far worse than some random noise pollution which could be blocked with ear plugs or an ipod, we were throwing a deadly weapon! At least I could do my mis-throws into the car park, Roland would try his trick shots and nearly decapitate a gringo playing some dumb bag throwing game! We were joined by a third player in the form of a crazy dog who loved our toy. His owner came to tell us he wouldn’t bite, us or the Frisbee, and the dog would be safe, ba-tsssshhhhh! The owner, and the dog for that matter, was fascinated by hooplike Frisbee. He looked about 80 though and declined my offer of a game by telling me he had just broken 5 ribs. Nasty. He loved the thing though, I wonder where they’ve been hiding him…
I even got Eduardo, our camp neighbour, to give me a go on his skim board! (I was crap)
The day progressed with another surfing attempt for a while, but again my heart wasn’t in it and watching the other people have more luck was no fun, but I’ll be back at it, just wish it wasn’t quite so cold! We went over to the other side of the bay to watch the sunset and drink a beer. I asked our neighbour to watch our van and set off. Roland said something about rock scrambling and I guess I should be putting him off but he’s a big boy now. You could see the whales off the bay, loads of them and then we saw some breaching, leaping up towards the blue and red heavens before crashing back with the pull of gravity. Why do they do that? Probably the same reason I look at gulls flying past and breathe to myself ‘I wish I could do that…’. I will have to go paragliding again soon!
* Neshness: Stokie# word meaning ‘unable to take the chill of water cos he’s a big girls blouse’.
# Stokie: Someone from Stoke on Trent, my home town.
surfing/guitar/watching tents/surfing/sunset/whales/todos/no tacos/drive back/fire/halo moon
Farewall yer salty dog! :p
Day 152
La Paz, BCS, Mexico
We dropped Sheena off with her sailor at noon as directed today, he seemed to still be a bit sick, I hope she’s ok.
Captain Scott, Roland and Sheena
Scott is sailing to Columbia and after sailing 6,000 solo from Hawaii obviously needs some help :p Sheena knows how to mix drinks though so I’m sure she’ll be fine :p
Roland and I took a drive up to one of the beaches north of La Paz, Balandria, or something. The water was azure blue and quite refreshing. I tried to muster the courage to get cold and go snorkelling, while Roland went rock scrambling, I offered him my biking helmet but he refused. He nearly lived to regret it…..
When he was up, he was up…
and when he was down, he was down (and lucky to be alive)
He only fell 2.5 meters but landed on his side, between some large and particularly sharp rocks! Crazy Germans! Roland is travelling for a few months in Mexico, and speaks Spanish, he’s a useful guy to have around. I would have to work on reducing this, expensive behaviour :p
Back at the car park, all bones checked for breakages, we discovered that my car door was unlocked…… uh oh. Some guy came to tell us someone was messing with my car and had just ran off. Nothing was taken so we were lucky. I really need to get all my windows tinted and an alarm…..