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Posted on March 10, 2010 by jason
We have been persistently pushing south the past few days because we had a date in Puerto Vallarta. We made it exactly on time in order to take advantage of an incredibly generous offer from Dee. She set us up in her condo here for an entire week! Amazing!
We were hoping that she would be able to join us for some relaxing in the sun, but it turns out she could not make it. Sorry we missed you and best wishes Dee! Thanks again!
On the way down, we stopped near a sleepy little town called Monteon, right on the beach. Nice place – very quiet. We then cruised to the airport to pick up a visitor… Julie! We didn’t scare her off the first time, so we’ll see what happens this time.
We retired to the condo to start the R&R proper. It’s nice – REALLY nice (thanks again Dee!) Bode is in heaven, with multiple pools and giant water slides right on the beach. Without a doubt, this is the nicest place we’ve stayed over the entire trip (no offense to anyone who’s hosted us, but you don’t have a giant alligator water slide in your backyard.)
A few nights ago we met a guy that gave us a little barrel of tequila (he was on a bike and couldn’t carry it.) Angela’s rule for the week is “You can say ‘no’ to anything you want all week… except the tequila.”
Also, if you are up on your Portuguese, we were just mentioned here.
Posted on March 7, 2010 by jason
Some folks had asked about the custom sleeping platform up top, so here are some photos. I also posted a full how-to over at TheSamba. Enjoy.
Posted on March 5, 2010 by jason
Today we didn’t really have a destination as much as a general direction. We headed south, avoiding the newer toll roads and took the free (”libre”) backroads through the small towns. We spent a fair amount of time behind slow trucks, farm equipment and a never-ending number of topes. No matter, we weren’t really in a hurry.
The buses are in a hurry. The local buses here have an impressive amount of acceleration and will pass you on any curve or hill regardless of perceived danger or oncoming traffic. You will pay attention.
We decided to head down to Teacapan and find a camping spot right on the beach. It’s mostly farm land and a very nice and slow drive. When we got to Escuinapa, I looked over to see the Policia standing on the side of the road and waving me over. Great. I tell Angela to get ready for the ole’ back and forth and that these guys were going to try to liberate some cash from us. Even if it takes an hour, we’ll stand our ground and won’t hand out any propinas.
Communication is tough because of my limited Spanish, but they tell me I was speeding. They have no radar and I never saw any signs, so I actually don’t know if I was or not (doubtful.) They take my license and go back to congregate behind the bus and I expect the worst. The kind officer comes back and tells me to slow down and have a nice day and we’re free to go. What about all those bribes and crooked cops we’ve been hearing and reading about?
It’s coming eventually, I know.
We found a nice spot just outside of Teacapan right on the beach with a palapa for a whopping $6 USD a night.
One fisherman walks up with the largest shrimp I’ve ever seen and is looking to sell. When he walked up, I thought he was holding lobster! I was plenty tempted, but we already had food we needed to eat and I didn’t want to store the shrimp. I’ve been thinking about those shrimp ever since.
A bit later, another local fisherman and his two sons row up in front of us and spread their nets just offshore and then pull them in from the beach.
I don’t know what it is about watching other people do strenuous manual labor that is so relaxing. It just is.
They catch about 20 medium keepers, throw back two giant puffer fish and a ray and are on their way. Bode watches the entire process from 2 feet away and they don’t mind at all.
We start a fire, cook some dinner and have a nice quiet evening with just us and the mosquitos. It’s quiet. Muy tranquillo.
We sleep great and then lazily start the next day with some fresh coconut from one of the nearby trees. I’ve missed my regular dose of macapuno from Tucker’s in Alameda. And, it feels good to put the axe to use on something other than dead wood.
Mental note: don’t park under a coconut tree.
Also, if anyone’s interested, we’re featured on the Drive the Americas web site today. It’s a neat site that is aiming to be the central source of information for driving all of the Americas. There’s lots of useful information there, so if you have any interest in what’s involved in, say, crossing the Honduran border, then you should check it out.
Posted on March 4, 2010 by jason
We shipped ourselves as cargo to Mazatlan. From the time we drove onto the ferry to the time we drove off was about 21 hours. Total cost to ship the three of us and the bus from La Paz to Mazatlan was $290 USD. Three people and 5 meters / 1800 kg of vehicle. We chose Transportation Maritima de California (TMC) over Baja Ferries simply because of the large difference in the cost. TMC is the freight carrier and it seems some folks don’t know they exist and insist Baja Ferries is the only option. Maybe because it’s hard to find. If you want to make the trip, here’s a quick summary.
Drive out to Pechilingue to the shipyard and pull in through the main gate. On your left is a set of lanes you can’t enter and on your right is drive-through customs.
If you don’t have your vehicle import permit for the mainland, just park anywhere and walk through the gate on the left to the big yellow building to find the permit office. Ask for “vehicular permissio” if you can’t find it – it’s about $30 and is good for 6 months. You can’t go through customs without it. You’ll need photocopies of everything – passports, license, registration,etc.
Now, get back in the bus and drive through customs and you may or may not get inspected. Next, drive onto the scale right in front of you- “Bascula” – and get weighed. You’ll be asked for your carrier and destination (you won’t have a ticket yet.) They’ll give you a paper with your vehicle weight and length and now you can go buy your ticket.
On your right is a permanently closed TMC office and an open Baja Ferries office. If you want a cabin and a nicer boat, Baja Ferries is for you. Everyone there speaks English and they have another office outside the port as well (go past the entire terminal on the main road and turn left after the fence.) If your family is cargo (like us,) loop around the scale and park next to the other big yellow building and go find the TMC office. No one in here will speak English, so be prepared. All prices are clearly posted. We came here a week prior to make a reservation, but no one seemed to be interested in looking it up – we just bought our tickets on the spot.
Figure out when to load (usually two hours prior to departure) and drive over to the ship and wait for someone who looks official to recognize that you want to get on the boat. He’ll go through all your papers and tickets. Before driving on, ask if you can be loaded on top. If you’re on the bottom, your car will be sealed up and you won’t be spending any time at your vehicle. On top, you have fresh air… and you get to ride a big elevator.
Officially, on both carriers, you are not allowed in your vehicle at any time during the trip. The closer you get to the boat, the more lax personnel get about this regulation (at least on TMC – Baja Ferries may be more strict.) Just keep asking. We stayed in our bus for most of the trip (16 hours on the water) and slept in it – way better than the seats in the tiny passenger cabin. Apparently, dinner is included with your ticket in the little galley, but we skipped it and had sammys in the bus.
The other passengers are almost exclusively truck drivers and most of them sneak away to sleep in their vehicles too. Everyone we encountered was very nice. Walking around the boat is not really something you want to do unless you need to. The ride was pretty wild, and the boat not exactly the safest place for a child. Angela, who has never been seasick, had to take Dramamine. There are bathrooms and showers, but you will probably want to avoid these too if you can. This is not the Love Boat and there is no one named Issac mixing drinks(”Outta sight!“)
We arrived in Mazatlan exhausted at about 11 am (now, two consecutive nights of very little sleep) so we grabbed another cheapy hotel (about $20) right near the Old Town and took naps before wandering around. Oh yeah, driving in this town is crazy. Maybe it was because there were two cruise ships in the port and taxis everywhere, but it was total mayhem. Stop signs and individual lanes aren’t really recognized here. Multiple close calls with tour buses and plenty of loco taxi drivers later, I tried to park the bus… and backed into a tree… twice. They let the trees grow out of the street here. Pick your parallel parking spot wisely. Fortunately, our rain gutter took all the impact.
Shopping seems the be the primary activity here, so we got bored pretty quickly after one day. A trip to the aquarium was the highlight. For $6, it’s also the best bargain in town.
Mazatlan is a nice enough place, but we decided we were done and continued south.
Posted on March 2, 2010 by jason
After a few days in the arroyo it was time to say goodbye and make our way back to La Paz to catch the ferry. We did get to see the wild beach burros we were told about just before we left.
It was at least a 3 hour drive (slow) around the tip. All dirt roads with some wash-outs, but nothing too bad. We’ve covered Baja pretty thoroughly and driven several hundreds of miles of unpaved roads – and I’d say that the only requirement for driving here is a high ground clearance vehicle just like our bus – don’t try it in your low-rider. 4WD just isn’t necessary unless you want to drive right on the beach sand. Granted, it never rained on us once and that could make things more difficult.
There are plenty of more boondocking places – empty arroyos and open beach – all the way around with only limited development or houses. There is also plenty of well-signed private property with nothing on it.
We stopped at a some little settlements like Cabo Pulmo – basically a collection of a few houses, restaurants and a tienda, and checked out the beaches some more. We decided to drive all the way up to Los Barilles to camp at a trailer park so we could have flushing toilets and bathe in something other than the ocean.
We were warned about this place by Daphne. She learned to like it, but told us about all the gringos on ATVs. She was right. Gringos on ATVs everywhere. Getting groceries, shuttling the dog to the beach, etc.
This is a big windsurfing and kitesurfing destination too, but we didn’t really have time to check it out. Besides, it’s windy. We got our hot(!) showers and internet fix and crashed for the evening.
All we had to do the next day was drive a few more hours to La Paz. For us, this is a lazy day’s drive with frequent stops for tacos, beer and candy.
Posted on February 26, 2010 by jason
I was impressed to find my brake line (two of them!) waiting for me the next day at the parts place. In no time I replaced both front brake hoses and we were off to Los Cabos.
First up was Cabo San Lucas. Angela came here years ago, but recognized nothing. I’ve never been here, and pretty much just saw a big resort town. Not much character, but not too ridiculous either.
The highlight for both of us was tacos at Gordo LeLe. He’s a huge Beatles fan and will occasionally serenade the patrons, but we missed out. No worries, as we were busy with killer tacos. He said the record was six and we could eat free if we could match it. We barely finished two each.
The beaches here are nice, of course, but a little crowded. Bode managed to make some buddies and help bury one kid in the sand. We learned that putting boobies on someone buried in the sand is funny in any language.
Not twenty feet from where we plopped down, some guys came out and started excavating turtle eggs from the sand. It was marked with a stick. Fifty or so eggs came out – they broke one. I guess the turtles don’t know there are para-sailers, glass bottom boats, jet skis, banana thingies and all sorts of people screaming up and down the beach during the day. Not exactly the kind of place you want to be hatching little turtles.
Again, we parked the bus near town at an RV park next to some mega land-yachts and more permanent installations. This time, the permanents were over the top. Gourmet outdoor kitchens and outdoor flat screen TVs and such. It’s a different world. As always though, we met some friendly (Canadian) folks parked next to us and spent the evening outside chatting with them.
The next morning we headed out looking for the right sized bolt for our shock and we found it at a place called Tuercas y Tornillos (Nuts and Bolts.) Guess what they sold. I was sure to add lock washers and copious amounts of thread-lock before re-bolting both front shocks on. So far so good.
Then, off to Cabo San Jose for a quick lunch and look around before heading farther East back to the dirt roads and empty beaches.
Posted on February 25, 2010 by jason
After sort of making our reservations for the ferry, we had some time to spend wandering around the Cape. For no particular reason, we decided to make a clockwise loop and go to La Ventana since some folks we met earlier recommended it. When we got to the turn-off after La Paz, for we randomly went towards Todos Santos instead and headed West. Sometimes the bus just knows what to do.
We pulled into town and Angela and Bode stopped at the town square with a playground and I went off to find somewhere to camp for the night. There’s a place close to town, but it was pretty sad looking. The owner’s over-eagerness to have me pay immediately (asking multiple times before I even looked around) raised my suspicions a bit too, so I headed back to the square to pick up the crew and make a new plan.
Fortunately for all of us, Bode had already made friends with Maya on the playground and her cool parents (guess what, they’re from B.C.) invited us back to stay at their place.
Nicole and Dave live up near the Alaskan border most of the year, but rent out a beautiful hacienda down here every winter. Nicole has been coming here for the past 12 years and has a keen interest in moving here permanently. We can see why – it’s a really comfortable town with a great vibe and great people. They also inspired us a bit to just settle down and relax in the same spot for a while – a really appealing idea after being on the move continuously for so long.
I’ve been really impressed with Bode’s ability to make fast friends – something I’ve never been the best at – and in choosing really great kids as friends too. We all made dinner together and the kids had a blast playing all evening.
The next day I had some time to take a look at a recurring issue – those damn shocks. Before we left, I splurged and installed all new shocks – the German Boge original equipment – and the most recommended ones out there (granted, everyone has an opinion.) The ride and handling has been fine, but the sturdiness leaves a little to be desired. We’ve just stressed the end connectors beyond what they can handle and the rubber inserts don’t like the Mexican roads. This time, the end bolts and the new giant washers came loose and disappeared. I suppose this is why it’s not supposed to be mounted like that.
Anyway, while I was taking a look I found a bigger problem. I was leaking brake fluid all over the right side – coming from the rubber hose connecting the brake line and wheel. I don’t know if it split from age or if it was hit by a rock or something else (like a flailing shock.) Regardless, we weren’t going anywhere until it was replaced.
I went to the local parts store and the best they could do was order it and it would be available mañana. Mañana doesn’t necessarily mean tomorrow – just not today – so I was not encouraged. All the other parts places had the same story. They are really just tiny shops to buy oil and other miscellaneous fluids and place your order for real parts. It seems everything around here has to come from La Paz. No one would give the price either – wait until mañana. Also, no one had the right bolt, so it is back to driving with no shock.
Anyway, I decided to drive it sparingly and be ready to grab the emergency brake if needed. So far, we’ve done a pretty good job of breaking down in really nice places. We set out to go find a beach and wait for mañana.
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