BodesWell

Guayabitos

Posted on March 24, 2010 by jason4 Comments

We continued to back-track and headed north to Rincon de Guayabitos. Aside from hearing good things about the town, we’d been told my multiple people that we had to go to the big VW show.

Guayabitos is a pretty cool place and not your normal gringo vacation destination. It’s a normal Mexican vacation destination. That’s what makes it so cool. It’s built up for tourism, but mostly for weekenders from Guadalajara and other inland cities. Each weekend they come from all over Mexico and take the place over. During the week, you’ve got it to yourself.

We found a beach-side hotel that let us camp in their parking lot and use their facilities. This place was oozing with old-school charm and long-faded grandeur. We were camped just a few steps from a tranquil pool and a few more steps to a completely packed beach. Starting on Friday afternoon and throughout the weekend, the beach was absolutely filled to capacity and everyone was having a good time.

There were still tons of vendors on the beach, but this time they were selling practical necessities instead of the PV tourist junk. Coco frio? Si si. Fish on a stick? Bueno. Giant blow-up floaty things? Bode wanted one, but maybe next time.

By the time Saturday afternoon rolled around, we were done with the beach and went a few blocks into town to check out the festivities. We heard the show started at 5 pm. At 5, we heard that 5 really meant 8 and that it was just a big cruise and street party.

By early evening, most every block had vintage VW’s parked up and down it and people were all over the streets. There was a wedding that afternoon and I had to wonder if the bride was aware of her timing. No word on whether or not she left in a VW limo, but I doubt it. It was a big production with a huge reception on the beach that night with multiple bands, a Jumbotron(?) and fireworks. If you’re interested, the bridesmaids wore orange and red.

We wandered the streets and talked to all sorts of nice folks and found out that the actual show started at 9 am Sunday morning. We figured that really meant 11.

The streets kept getting packed and the cruise started. I don’t know if it’s a regular Saturday night thing or not, but all sorts of other custom cars showed up too. Low-riders with hydraulics and neon and such. Most people seemed to stick to the sidewalks and cheered when a VW drove by and jeered when any non-VW drove by. It was pretty funny and all good-spirited.

Later, the burn outs and testosterone-stroking started and we took it as our cue to leave. It was about 9 pm that night, and we could tell things might start to get out of hand. Safety wasn’t really an issue so much as just not wanting to be around so many people that had been drinking in the sun all day. There are only so many things we’re ready to explain to a four year old.

We learned all sorts of other stuff that night.

If you drive a dune buggy or any sort of vehicle with large tires, you absolutely MUST park with one tire over the curb. This is essential to promote your coolness.

Those bikini girls you see in car magazines draped all over the cars? They seem to be walking around for hire. They have a handler and everything. We have no idea what it costs, but Angela was the first to suggest we should hire them for some photos with Red Beard. We didn’t.

You can comfortably fit 7 guys in a VW Thing (Safari.)

You think a VW bug is small? You can make it WAY smaller.

Salem Imports

Posted on November 18, 2009 by jason7 Comments

We’re not really ones to offer endorsements or name names – good or bad. It’s more of a privacy deal. Sure, we give first names to tell the story.  In one case, give up the name of a con-man to warn others.  Otherwise, you can rest assured that if we come across each other some day that your privacy will generally be protected whether you want it that way or not. But, here’s one exception… Mark at Salem Imports.

Jeff and Teri (and Karl, and others as well) told us about Mark in Salem, VA. We had no idea what we were about to find. Mark is, well, my new idol.

One hell of a nice guy, VW guru, raconteur, bee-keeper, college football nut, moonshine aficionado, and I could go on… Oh, and we just met him.

We pulled in to the shop with Jeff and Teri – they were checking in on next year’s charity bus, which Mark is donating his time and space to help restore. From the street, the place would appear to the casual onlooker as a bit of an eyesore, but I was in awe.  Bays, splitties, panels, bugs, squarebacks, vanagons, a 23 window deluxe… all just around. The green splittie above had been in the shop for a complete restoration. While we were there, the owners just happened to drop by to check on it – from Ohio.

Mark’s crew replaced just about every piece of metal that could be replaced and it looked perfect. It was acquired after a divorce sale. Part of the job was to go to the house, remove all the large rocks piled in front of it, chainsaw away the trees that had grown in front of it, and extract the bus. We talked to one of the guys in the shop and he said he’s been working on the body for 6 months straight.

Anyway, Mark and his guys were nice enough to drop what they were doing to come check out Red Beard and give it the full look-over. The dual-carbs were tweaked up, new points and cap for good measure (I should have seen/done this earlier), and fixed the breather oil leak.  He drove it around the block and the engine got the thumbs up.  Some of those squeaks didn’t sound right, so next it went on the lift and got more inspection… greased the rear bearings, front beam, and everywhere else that hasn’t seen attention in noone knows how long. While it was on the lift, Mark walked us around and showed us a few more things in need of eventual attention.  More things for the list.

We drove away with a happy, happy bus.

Maybe the best part of the trip was just shooting the breeze with Mark while all the work was being done. He’s a huge Hokie fan – something I’ll forgive, since he can recount individual plays from particular games and he didn’t rub in the Sugar Bowl victory years ago over our Longhorns.

His toy collection… mind-boggling.

Beekeeping is something I’ve long-threatened to start doing – partly to vex Angela, but also because I think it’s really interesting (and the honey!)  Mark’s even made his own honey centrifuge. We shared theories on the mass nationwide bee deaths. He’s thinks there’s merit in the cell phone theory, but I’m going with pesticides.

The hives are right next to the shop and the bees float all over the place. It takes a little getting used to, but the guys at the shop just wave them off as they’re working.  “Get on, honey bee!” was overheard a few times.  Some of the nectar is coming from plants growing right out of the old VW’s… Mark claims this gives it a special flavor. He didn’t say it was a good flavor, but if you’re allergic to old VW’s, this might be the stuff to try.