Twitter Weekly Updates for 2008-09-07
- ::just bought another domain, lets see how this working on the net thing really works #
- :: i think the guatemalan system of toilet paper in a bin doesnt work if you end up knocking it into the shower while youre showering…
# - :: the pool was cold but now were back in xela drinking hot chocolate in la luna. Mine is so thick the spoon stands up! Yum! #
- ::glad to find toilet paper but y is it *outside* the stalls?? Surely people just end up taking too much? Y is the owner waiting outside 2? #
- :: the water under the pool doesnt look very deep, but then i am a tall gringo & not a tiny guatemaltecan. Ken can test it first. #
- ::after a ride & a nice walk thru the sunny fields the pool looks nice. Im not sure about the diving board though which is concrete+spring #
- ::this morning were off to study at the pool. Weird idea but there you go. Have to take a hated chicken bus to get there #
- ::its not enough that the local school plays its terrible music all day by my class? They have to start at 11pm? Roll on independence day!! #
- :: now for dinner i had to eat red chilis that my family wouldnt even try… Is that sadism? #
- :: hmmmm, Digg can display my blog? interesting… #
- :: a quick test for RSSless…. #
- :: To be a well travelled man you need to walk fast #
- ::my teacher is pissed off that i didnt do my homework or record here the cd i promised. Im a bad student! #
- :: omg! Will pay *40 for 4 of stirrup! This is killing me! #
- :: going riding without a hat or suntan lotion. Stupid stupid #
- :: for dinner my host family was offering me very hot chilis. They chose the wrong foreigner to test! :p #
- :: i was intending to go to el salvador on the weekend but now im wondering if i should go back to mexico and look for a job… #
- ::the sun is shining and im going horseback riding tomorrow morning. All is good! #
- ::hmmm,waffles for breakfast & fake maple syrup…Whatever happened to oatmeal? No wonder my host family (& half the country) has a problem #
- ::house prices fell 10% this year in the UK. Sooo glad i went travelling and arent stuck in the property well! #
:: the pool was cold!
:: the pool was cold but now were back in xela drinking hot chocolate in la luna. Mine is so thick the spoon stands up! Yum!
First 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: mistake, hassle, map, tourists, drinks, huts, wanderings, sun, cards, job, sleep, ashram, keen, money, ghettoThe tragedy and the Irony* : Facebook sucks.
Caye Caulker,
My mum doesn’t facebook. She’s one friend I don’t need to add. She can read my blog to find out what I’m up to since I now don’t really do much email. That’s fine, facebook is personal.
Yesterday three girls from England arrive in the afternoon. I told them I was Swedish to appear more interesting and to see if they really believed me. They still haven’t got it,who wants to be British on a island full of Poms. Different is good. We hang out, chat, go for some drinks that night. Great girls.
Caroline and Krishna
Next day we hang out and chat some more. My mate frog and I persuade Caroline to come down to the Karaoke for a beer and we start chatting about the hostel which turns to talk of how some hostels are brothels on occasion, like in Africa…
This isn’t going where you think :p
Well I say to Caroline about how she could never do that but it turns out she did. She was in Ghana and did a 3 months overland trip too. We chat about Ghana and the music and dancing. The usual fun of reminding each other of the great times in a shared experience of a place. I tell her that I saw the Eclipse in ’06 thinking this would impress her even more. Hey, I’m not shallow, it was a great thing to see! :p
She impresses me by telling me that she also saw it and we chat about where she spent her 3 months. I ask if she was a volunteer and when she says ‘yes’ a trail of lightbulbs went off in my head.
On my last day I went to a volunteer party… did you got to a party a few weeks after the eclipse? – Yes
I describe it perfectly for her. The court yard, the beer place, the music, the dancing. We also went off to a club together after the party.
So weird.
It turns out she also went to the same place on St Patricks Day in Accra a couple of weeks before, the Irish pub with the live band. We made a pile of shoes and danced on the concrete until they felt like velvet slippers when we were done. Such an awesome night.
It is a small world but I wouldn’t want to paint it.
So why does facebook suck?
Because now you meet people, you make them your friend and maybe someday you notice they’re in the same country and you can track them down. We’re all becoming ultra connected, how can we manage all those narrow threads of brief connections manageable. GPS and mobiles will making ‘pinging’ your friends a normal thing. Its cool to think you will know who will be in the pub that night without asking them but then so will the police if we continue towards this dangerous path along the shattered road of civil liberties.
The chances of people meeting again, randomly reconnecting across the continents is a spectacular luxury we have in the west, but one that is doomed to die. I met a girl called Rachel in New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia, the second and third time only briefly, but in the middle of nowhere. It was such fun. Maybe a well trodden route and not entirely unexpected but Ghana to Belize after 25 months is so amazing.
So guard your friend requests. Don’t make it a quest to gather up as many as you can. More that a few hundred are not your friends, they’re just names, more than a thousand is a full fledged hobby. How you people make time to make new friends I never know. I guess I should try being an attractive girl to find out.
Defriend a few people right now and see if you miss them… they wont mind, they wont even notice you’re gone. Then maybe you’ll bump into a old friend you stupidly failed to make the first time.
So where is the tragedy? That I had to wait so long to really meet Caroline. She’s great. Rest assured I have not fallen in love with her over a weird coincidence, indeed she was freaked out by the whole thing. Maybe she thought I was stalking her across the world :p We passed and didn’t connect.
The tragedy was that I didn’t make any impression on her the first time. Although she lost her photos she doesn’t appear in any of mine from the two nights in Accra. I hung back a bit, I chatted to some people but I wasn’t really there until I started dancing. As you get older you have less to lose and more to gain from being outrageous. We all want to be remembered, if only temporarily, because one day that’s all we will be.
So I will make it my goal now on to find as many people as I can to charm, encourage, humour, help and impress. I’m trying but I need to try harder. I need to be more aggressive than I am, less watching from the wings when I should be pushing towards the center of the stage. You should try the same. Who wants to be forgettable?
I believe we’re like a half marble bouncing around in a marble bag. You may never meet other half but you never will unless you try to connect with every marble in the bag. Just don’t add them all to facebook, it crashes if you have more than a million friends.
So I guess its really not facebook that sucks but me. I shan’t cancel my account just yet.
You’d impress me right now by subscribing and telling 3 more people to subscribe, my blog is now my sole income. I’m trying to travel overland to every country remember, its not free.
*If you want to add me in facebook I’m Travel Trousers, put something original on my wall. Mum, don’t even try!
Comments are back on.
Tags: third time, great time, eclipse, irish pub, brothels, new friends, hostels, frog, st patricks day, photos, slippers, freak, Travel, bulbs, thumb, dish, krishnaStill alive
Zipolite, Mexico
I came to Zipolite just for one day on the way to San Cristobal and ended up staying 8 nights. Its nice, the weather has been great, the water warm, the tourists naked, why shouldn’t I stay longer.
Not been doing much. Yesterday I went on the Crocodile tour at a nearby swamp which was good but marred by my stupidity at locking my key in my van and hence having to do the boat ride only with my point and shoot camera. Luckily the American family that was in the boat gave myself and Paula (my new Canadian friend) a lift back and I got a further lift from the owner of my hotel. I missed hundreds of shots of birds though which were all over the place. Very annoying I couldn’t use my new telephoto lens.
The town is very small, just a village really and its the low season so there aren’t many people around. Tomorrow I have a 10 hour trip up through the mountains to San Cristobal and then onto Palenque. Hopefully I will run into my South African friends up there….
Tags: palenque, girls, south african friends, point and shoot camera, american, canadian friend, stupidity, Travel, sea, zipolite mexico, blog, photographs, tourists, insurance, sunJungle boogie
Ziplote, Mexico
It was time to eat pizza, drink $1 Mezcal and dance in the local disco. So thats what we did. And after watching our new Australian friends embarrass themselves on the dance floor I was so glad I went for some salsa lessons.
Tags: dance floor, disco, salsa, pizza, mezcal, blog, drinks, salsa lessons, jungle boogie, australian friends, mexico, trousers, locals, Travel, tent, jungle
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!
Tags: hadn, blog, shopping, map, board, stupidity, ko, clothes, camping, trousers, surf board, rainThe 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
Tags: tacos, hell, eat meat, crash, locals, guitars, photos, pool, mystery, drinks, sea, nearby, set, rolandLooking 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: roland, laptops, rope, clothes, USA, shrimp, heapGringos 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
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
Tags: drinks, crotch, laugh, cereal, excuse, rocks, paragliding, tents, guitar player, tacos, photo, beers, fearFarewall 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…..
Tags: sheena, crazy germans, mexico, car door, how to mix drinks, rocks, TravelHappy Birthday to me and 150 days away…
Day 150
La Paz, Mexico
Today was a day for doing pretty much… Nothing! I played my guitar for a bit, wrote my blog, took a few photos in the garden and wondered where Sheena had gone.
Later another couchsurfer turned up, Roland from Germany and we persuaded him to come out for a drink with us in town. It didn’t take much :p Of course, it being ladies night, Sheena decided the plan for the evening. She wanted to go and see a drag show, I was too baffled to argue with her. After the events in San Diego I started to wonder if she had a gay man addiction, the kind of problem that requires sympathy and understanding :p Happily the show hadn‘t started yet so we went into town for a beer, Sheena only pouted somewhat ay the $2 cover but we would be wandering for ever looking for somewhere else. You got free jelly at the door though, awesome ! But no tequila in it Still Awesome, Jelly!
Back at the gay bar they wanted $5 each to get in so that idea was quickly rejected. I was relieved, its one thing watching semi authentic transvestites but I didn’t fancy watching a short, fat, moustached ‘woman’ taking her clothes off, or even worse singing!
bday
lazy hammock/roland/bars/gay club/tacos
Tags: surfer, chsurfer, happy birthday, trousers, hammock, addiction, transvestites, couch, guitars, hadn, la paz mexico, clothes, wanderings, couchsurfer, sheena, tent, la pazMental Hangover
Day 148 Santiparc Beach Baja California Mexico
After the fun of the previous night we were all pretty wiped and spent most of the day lazing around doing nothing. I felt ok physically but was just annoyed all day at the weather. It was lovely and warm… in the sun. Under the shade it was kinda cold, I huddled in my tent and every 20 minutes the wind would pick up and try to lift it off and down the beach for a minute. I tied it down the previous day which stopped it. Sheena slept nearly the entire day which put paid to my plans of driving into town to sort out my flat tire, by the time she had gotten up and went for a walk I was dozing myself and the day was wasted. Every night we would be woken by the trucks passing along the highway and although it was forbidden, they would all use their engines as brakes. The sound of the throbbing engines would cascade down the cove like a huge passing dragon that was thundering past, roaring as it went and for some it would be too distracting to sleep a full night.
I had set up my solar shower but it didn’t even get luke warm all day. Pat, Drake and Sheena walked over to the Jimmy Buffet night for a hamburger and a drink while I sat in the car burning DVDs. They were soon back as the place was packed out. We fired up another couple of toxic logs and sipped hot chocolate and marshmallows before retiring to the van to watch ‘knocked up’….
Tags: hamburger, weather, trucks, set, flat tire, highways, baja california mexico, hangover, marshmallows, cars, hot chocolate, solar shower, eve, lazing, brakesIm 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: solar shower, mexicans, shopping, girls, sheena, locals, american, blog, camping, sea, nearby, tire guy, toiletsBack on the beach
Day 145Â Santisparc Beach
| We woke up to a miserable day, but at least I didn’t feel too bad. The owner of the tank campsite had finally turned up and he fired up the shower for us. Literally. It burned wood and the cold water from the tank flowed through to heat up. We said goodbye to the bikers we had eaten dinner with and set off to the south once more, destination, the beaches of Mulege. We paused in the center of San Ignacio to take a few pictures but it was cold and overcast, we didn’t linger. |  2 dirty objects of wonder |
It was only 2 hours or so down the pacific highway and eventually the sun made a reappearance, as made it to the Sea of Cortez. Hopefully the water was going to be warmer than the Pacific side and with high hopes we followed the coastal road down into Mulege.
Tags: pool, bikers, logs, shrimp, sea of cortez, hot springs, buddies, sun, mangrove swamp, san ignacio, drinks, mulege, nearby, beach shelters, seaA Whale of a good time in a couple of boats
Day 144
Guerrero Negro Baja California
We had left a note on the door of the tour office saying that we wouldn’t be making the 8am tour. I had made the executive decision to go at 11am and then we would head over to the cheaper campsite nearby for another night while I went surfing. With barely any time to remember stuff I was herded into the bus with all the other tourists and we set off towards the Pacific. First we had to pass through the salt factory which employs most of the people in Guerrero Negro. Our guide, Pedro, went on and on about it, constantly watching Sheena since he had learned we weren’t a couple. I think he might have a had a bit of a crush going on He recited lots of interesting information about the whole business of salt and went on about it so much I believe he is only working the whale tour until he can get a job hauling salt about in one of the big trucks.
  The tour would last about 3 hours so we got kited out with life preservers and yellow sou’westers and jumped into the boat. I was so rushed I had only brought one memory card but it would have to do. I set it to raw and high speed shooting and after a quick race across the lagoon we were soon in the midst of hundreds of whales. Not that they were easy to shoot, they would pop up every once in a while but were usually a couple of hundred meters away. The driver would then slowly cruise over to get us a bit closer but they remained elusive. You never knew when they would pop up, and it was not often that they appeared close to the boat. |
  I shot about 200 pictures and most were pretty useless. With only the equivalent of an 80mm lens on my Canon 30D I wasn’t able to get the further shots, but at least I had a chance of something. I would stand with my camera near my face waiting for the sound of the whales surfacing and then spin to that direction hoping for a shot. I got lucky a few times but most people didn’t have a chance with their point and shoots and mostly gave up. |
  The weather was woefully overcast but at least there was no rain, that would have put an end to my picture session as I had also forgotten to bring plastic bags for protection. After a couple of hours we stopped and were passed a packed lunch and soda. The sun made a brief reappearance before slunking back behind the clouds. It cost us $50 each and was it worth it? I guess so, it was certainly a better trip than my walk through the jungle in Uganda to see Chimps which was a waste of $50. The lagoon is packed with Grey Whales and with some luck and a skilled boat driver you can get pretty close to the big fish! |
     On the way back we passed colonies of seabirds and a lone coyote sunbathing on the beach. The area is an important wildlife preserve. The local sealions use the salt shipping buoys as a place to warm themselves in the sun. They’re quite athletic in jumping back up! |
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The weather was too cold for surfing and after chatting to some people on the boat decided it would be better to head for the oasis town of San Ignacio, half way to the beaches of Mulege and a nice small town to spend the night. We went for some delicious fish tacos when we had picked up the van again and Sheena declared she wanted to marry a fish taco. I’ve been eating enough that I’m sure I’m turning into one, so you never know! :p
We made good time and were soon out of the desert and into the palm tree filled town in the desert. Following the directions of our friends on the boat we found the campsite which was basic and rather empty. A Spanish lady turned up and started chatting about the site and the cost. I only vaguely understood what she said but we were soon joined by a couple of American‘s on motorbikes, one of whom spoke Spanish and he explained that she didn’t work there but the site was open and someone else would be along sometime to take our money. The cost? She didn’t know, but no more than $10.
Camping by the muddy lake
The bikers were going for dinner in town and we invited ourselves along. They met up with another couple of bikers that they had met only that day and we drove the couple of miles into the small town square and spent a pleasant evening drinking beer, eating tacos and chatting about our adventures. I learned Sheena was a professional traveller! We all drove back to their guesthouse where we broke out the tequila and vodka but the party wasn’t going to last long because they needed to close the gates at 10pm. Since that was one hour after Baja Midnight it was pretty late, but I didn’t want to spend the night trapped there, although it probably would be cheaper than the $10 at the campground.
We went back to the campsite and since it was on a small lake we decided to go for a spin in the supplied transportation. The lone working pedalo was not a good move, since it barely moved and only had one set of pedals. I was surprised that we managed to get it back to the shore, but we had better luck with the metal canoe that was pulled up. We got some beer and jumped in, admiring the milky way over head and trying to sneak up on the bikers tent. They were only talking about motorbikes…. still! But when you’re on a trip like that I guess you become a little obsessed :p One of the guys had crashed his bike earlier in the day and was probably lucky to be alive.
Beer and boats = not a good combination!
When it came time to get out we nearly met with disaster, I foolishly pulled the canoe up directly to the shore, but not alongside it. It was a sloppy, muddy bank and as soon as she stepped on it she started pushing the canoe away. I was certain she was about to take a bath but somehow she managed to jump back in the canoe and it didn’t tip up. She got a wet backside and I got an earful :p Personally I consider her lucky not to have put us both in the muddy lake, which would have made some even better photos :p
whales/pedro crush/change plan/fish tacos/scallops/empty camp ground/bikers/dinner/drinks with boys/locked in/canoe trip
Tags: heap, sod, rain, lunch, boats, elusive, moneySomeone stole my boogie board! :p
Day 143
Baja California Sur
When we woke up we drove over to the restaurant place and then I noticed my boogie board I had attached to the roof was missing. It was blowing a gale for half the night and was just as bad that morning, so it might have blown off or been stolen. I had a look around but it was no where to be seen. Sheena and I shared a simple breakfast of eggs and beans since they charged $5 for it, plainly a rip off but I guess times were hard and there weren’t many people around. The room we sat it was typically poor and Mexican, with plastic wrappings on the paintings that were so dirty you couldn’t see what was underneath. But everyone is an art critic these days. Cruising around the huge campsite when we left, we spotted the board stuck in a bush Sheena jumped out to retrieve it. Maybe I would get a chance to finally use it, if my surf board didn’t take all my attention. It was still a bit cold, but the sun beat down from the cloudless sky and the temperatures slowly moved into the low 20s as we followed the dust swept road south.
Cacti still surrounded the road and the traffic was sparse, but still enough to slow you down on inconvenient curves. We were heading to Guerro Negro by the pacific and it was whale breeding season on the coast so our timing couldn’t be better. We passed through a curiously name town, Villa Jesus Maria and another military checkpoint before arriving in an oasis on the edge of the dessert. Couchsurfing hadn’t discovered the place yet so we cruised the streets looking for free wifi before accidentally stumbling upon the RV camp ground we were sort of looking for. $14 got us a concrete bay next to the American RV Behemoths, a shower and free wifi that was appalling slow. After washing away the grime of the road and at the recommendation of the receptionist we set off in search of cheap Mexican food. The place she recommended turned out to be a Chinese place but then she did say she didn’t speak English :p We found a nice place by a rival hotel and had a well earned beer in the 50′s decor. We only had a problem when it came time to pay and we couldn’t work out the word for ‘bill’ but some nearby Gringos helped us out and we managed to pay the guys. I did spot a disco karaoke place on the way through but we spent the evening playing cards and drinking beer until it was too cold to sit outside. Sheena is quite the card shark, I’m just glad I wasn’t playing for money… or my clothes!
Tags: mexican food, drinks, gringos, chinese place, curves, disco, cards, sheena, sun, boogie board, campsite, behemothsDesert driving
Day 137
Catavina, Baja, Mexico
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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…
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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: photo, cards, set, bravado, toll road, toilet, mexico, stupid thing, drinks, guerro, sheena, nice time, camping, tacosChillin’ by the beach
Day 135
La Mision, Baja California, Mexico
Rob took us for breakfast at a local place he knows, where they speak English and have good Mexican food, we volunteered Nathan to drive and afterwards he took us a few k’s into the mountains to see how the rain had turned everything green. The sun shone for a while but then it turned miserable again so we went back to Robs and watched Eddie Izzard on YouTube until it was time for him to go to work, Rob not Eddie. I drove him down to the hotel where he worked and said we would be back later to pick him up if he wanted. Sheena took the chance to catch up on some sleep so we missed out on happy hour with Nathan and his dad. It was cold and rainy, I was happy just to huddle inside, drinking coffee and reading. We got it together later on and went to pick him up and got a free Margarita out of the deal before returning to drink beer and watch insanely funny videos on YouTube. The Kelly shoes and lend me that top ones just slayed me and I love the one semester of Spanish Spanish love song….
breakfast/drive/eddie izzard/dropped rob at work/picked him up &Â nighth cap/kelly video/sanish love song
Tags: sleep, coffee, spanish love song, sanish, drinks, shoes, funny videos, happy hourMad as a Coconut!
Day 141 La Mision Mexico
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We woke up with Rob gone but he left us a note telling us where he was so after a shower and some coffee we went to meet him at his local committee meeting at Arthur and Molly’s house down by the beach. Keith got a shocked laugh when he immediately asked Sheena to show him her tits, but everyone soon understood when she ‘got them out’ :p We chatted to the Mexican guy who worked for Arthur and Molly on the way out and I was somewhat pleased to say that I could understand most of the conversation. He talked slowly and clearly though which is always nice. We walked another 500 meters to the beachfront for breakfast. First we got to drink the young coconut juice, then they scooped out the flesh and blended it with shrimp, squid, lime juice and chili‘s. Spicy and delicious! Only $6 too and well worth trying. We went for a walk after the food and went north along the beach until we reached the place where Rob teaches Spanish every Friday but sadly the owner wasn’t home. Rob told us he was the artist who drew Betty Boop! |
Panic at the gay disco
Day 133
San Diego, Ca
We had been invited to a brunch after the CS party but didn’t quite make it for 11am, if I wasn’t getting the full 3 hours of all you can drink champagne I wasn’t interested :p Carrisa was there with her boyfriend, as well as Lilia (who I had requested a couch with the week before) and I her surfer, Ant, a Swiss German or German Swiss guy who was travelling around the states for a few weeks. I instantly hated him, since he makes his money from Photography and Paragliding, but I soon warmed up Joan and Sheena had some food but I stuck to the coffee, almost as if I knew I would need the room. It was highly prescient as we then went right to a place called Extraordinary Desserts for $8 cake! It was rather nice though, and a good a place as any to splurge before Mexico. Ant showed us his photography portfolio which was nice, I might have to get one sorted myself. I guess I better take some good photos first :p
Brunch with Sheena and Joan
We were invited to a BBQ later on but the girls wanted to dance. We took Ant back to Joan’s for a while since Lilia was at her grandma’s for the afternoon and I took the chance to take a dip in the pool and hot tub before we went out. I sat there reading on my phone as the rain started to fall and the night moved in. It wasn’t as bad as the Wednesday night but it was just getting started. Still, give me slightly warm rain over freezing snow any day; I was glad to be back on the West coast. Earlier at the supermarket I had bought 12 bottles of beer for the road but Sheena had got herself a bargain, a 1.8l bottle of vodka for only $10 or something… She set about drinking it as quickly as possible. She employed her usual plan for getting drunk, decant it into a plastic bottle and drink for cheap all night. I didn’t want to tell her the night that got my brother in to trouble at the pub but there is a different rule for girls.
Tarted up in the lift
First we went over to Lilia’s cousins house for the BBQ which we had pretty much missed. There were quite a few people there but the rain had started up again and most people cancelled. Carisa and her boyfriend turned up though, her night out was put off and there would be no bonfire for Brad due to the terrible weather. We didn’t need blackened meat though as we’d been to Whole Foods and spent a fortune on organic chips and dips. The girls were determined to dance in a gay club and they persuaded some other people in the house to come too which was good.
The first place we went to was nice but no one was dancing, and since there were no girls to pull what else was there to do. We stood in the covered garden part where the music was playing but it wasn’t loud enough, it was just full of fat lazy gay men chatting to each other. Apparently we needed more action, so without even pausing to get a drink (and my bottom felt like one guy we were with, at the bar) we headed down through the pouring rain to another more happening club. This one was $10 to get it, and they didn’t give a straight discount but what was I going to do? I paid up and we went dancing!
I feel rather ambivalent about gay clubs, it would have been better if there were at least a few girls in the place but there weren’t. Sheena and Joan loved it though and were soon flirting (uselessly) with the guys dancing in small briefs on the two podiums. At least the music was good enough to get down and boogie, we mostly stayed in our little straight group with an occasional gay interloper but Sheena and Joan were off dancing with everyone in the place. Poor girls, surrounded by beautiful men and they were all as bent as a dogs back leg :p I shared their frustration, who wants to dance with a load of blokes? Well, other gay men I guess… I danced and danced and then I was bored with it and they started playing really crappy music, but at least the night was nearly over. Sheena came over to sit down, now rather worse for wear from the vodka she had been throwing down her neck all night and miserably complained that she had been ‘molested’ by some guy. I really didn’t know whether to console her or tell her I wasn’t surprised :p She had at least finally convinced me that she was a party animal, but if she only liked gay clubs we might have a conflict of interests…
 The girls loved the erotic dancers |
 Sheena pulled the winner of the gay fancy dress! |
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 0.9l of Vodka later, poor Sheena was feeling not so hot…. |