Julie’s Brother’s Best Friend’s Girlfriend’s Brother
Our next day-trip was to Quimizto. Julie’s brother’s best friend’s girlfriend’s brother lived there. The problem was that we didn’t actually know his name or contact info. We decided to just go and ask around – how hard could it be?
We made it about 1 km out of the condo and – this has never happened before – something actually fell off the bus. The right rear shock. The third shock absorber to fail (hello… is there a shock sponsorship out there?) I’ve seen the bumper stickers that said ‘honk if something falls off’ on plenty of buses and always thought it was funny. I never thought it would be necessary.
If anyone recalls, we had some some major vehicle problems the last time Julie tagged along, so we figured something had to happen this time to keep our streak alive. Not too bad.
You can’t actually drive to Quimizto – you have to take a boat, so we went looking for the boat launch in Mismaloya. The thing is, there isn’t one. You can hire a boat off the beach for the day, but we just wanted a ride a few towns down the coast.
Incidentally, our guidebook said Mismaloya was a ‘don’t miss’ place to visit. We suggest otherwise.
We drove another 10 minutes south and we found Boca de Tomaltan, where we could catch a water taxi. I was on my second Pepto of the day and our family loves to put people with weak stomachs on a boat. I’d like to blame it on food, but I think it had more to do with the tequila the night before.
The boat ride was faster and bumpier than I would have liked and once we got there, there were 2 things to do: eat or ride a horse to a waterfall. Any other day the second option would sound great, but I wasn’t up to it. The others didn’t seem to interested either so we hit the restaurant on the beach.
There’s a guy holding an iguana for you to take a photo with when you get off the boat, but he apparently also works at the restaurant. He placed the iguana up on the rafters of the palapa just over Jason’s head. It was an interesting meal and we all expected something eventuful to happen with an iguana hovering over our heads, but nada. Later, the guy came and got the iguana and threw him in the ocean for a swim. They are good swimmers, but look pretty out of place in the water. “Like a swimming iguana” sounds like a great similie, but I’m not sure where I would use it.
On our way out, we saw one salty looking American guy that seemed like he might live here. It’s a small town and he din’t quite fit in with the rest of the locals. Jason went up to ask him if he was Tatiana’s brother. He was not, but he did know Julie’s brother and best friend to Tatiana’s boyfriend. Enter Andy.
Apparently, there’s an actual underground network of stoner surfer beach bums – and they all know each other. Saying we knew Steve-O was enough to let us into the network. Andy is practically a clone of Steve-O.
Andy used to work with special-needs kids until, he says, the previous Bush administration made such sweeping cuts to special education programs that he found himself out of a job with no prospects. He couldn’t find any work, so he sold everything – bought an old ambulance – and drove to Mexico. He traveled around for a few years and went as far south as Panama. He has been beach bumming and living all over Mexico ever since.
I assumed all along that the ambulance was re-painted and converted into some sort of camper with no emergency lights or anything. Thinking about it now, I’m not so sure this was case.
Anyway, Andy was a nice enough guy and offered to put us up as long as we needed (normally we’d take it, but we had luxury digs this week) and share his connections and travel advice with us. We hung out with him until our water taxi arrived and headed back to PV.
That night, Bode wanted to take advantage of our giant tub and insisted on a candle-lit bath. “It’s like a spa,” he says. “There’s nothing better than this!” I’m pretty sure Andy’s place didn’t have a spa tub.
Am curious about your constant shock dilemma.
When you bolt them down, is there any rattle between the bolt and the mount location? i.e. is there a spacer keeping it from rattling so it doesn’t vibrate off?
Also, have you tried a little blue loc-tite to keep the screws from backing out? Option three – safety wire.
-Peter
I like the fish photo. It’s my screen saver.
constant shock dilemma? constant shock syndrome? all MY fault? hhhmmmmmmm ….
This time the bolt rattled off – I found one at a shop in town the next day. It could have been prevented with thread lock. However, both front shocks failed because the rubber inserts blew out. The bolts and all were still mounted fine. In all cases, everything was mounted tight with no room to rattle or vibrate.
Wow Jason..it sounds like you better stock up on a case of those shocks, the way you are going through them! Curious, are you going with the Bilstein shocks? I’ve had ’em on my van for years…but I’ve not been abusing them on Mexican roads either!
Safe travels,
Jim
p.s.
A friend just told me about this website for info on the Pacific Coast of Mexico…thought it might be of use on this leg of your journey….
http://www.tomzap.com/
peace,
Jim
P.s.
a friend just told me about this site…covers most of the Mexican Pacific coast.
I thought it might come in handy on this part of your journey…but maybe you’ve come across it already.
http://www.tomzap.com/
peace,
Jim
P.s.
A friend just told me about this site…I thought it might come in handy on this part of your journey…if you haven’t already found it. Pretty extensive info on the Mexican Pacific coast.
http://www.tomzap.com
peace,
Jim
p.s.
crazy..I’ve tried several times to post this but it’s not showing up..Sorry folks, if this comes up multiple times.
A friend told me about this site…it covers most of the Mexican Pacific coast, and I thought it might be of interest for this part of your journey, if you haven’t already found it.
http://www.tomzap.com/
peace,
Jim
Just found your site and it brings back many wonderful memories. I did the same trip in my 71 westy back in about 1988. I blew out a cv joint on the mountain road leading into PV. At night, with no handbrake and a non functioning starter. More excitement than can be shared… I highly recommend Gabriel adjustable shocks on the rear and lock- tite everything. Don’t miss Barre de Navidad because “the Sandbar of Christmas” is a wonderful return address on postcards. Also if you’re lucky, the bio-florescence will be happening at night in the surf there…
Wait–I realized that you crossed the Tropic of Cancer a while back. Was there a picture with the sign? Was there a sign? Did I miss it? I live for these kinds of details….
Alright,
whc03grady.
I’m not sure if this has been mentioned before, but somewhere in some book they talk about off-roading and how some people wrap a wire or coat hanger around the shock and the mount just in case the bolt comes off or part of the shock busts at the end. It might be good to try.
P.S. You guys are my heroes. I would love to do something like this with my wife. We always have the cats to blame though. I don’t think they’d travel well!
Tropic of Cancer- there is a sign on the main highway in Baja, but not on the road we took. We looked. There may have been some sort of landmark – a sculpture or something, but we either missed it or it wasn’t significant enough to stop.
i brought bailing wire – I’ll give this a try.
Jim-
My spam filter thinks you’re riff-raff!
Jason
Jason;
Well after all those posts…I can see why I might be a spammer!
Opps!
BTW..I’m Lovin’ the photos..I have to say th one of Bode and the little blonde girl, from a couple of weeks ago is one of my faves…Too Cute!!!
Jim