SPOT. in costa rica. will be here for awhile.
Unit Number: 0-7341800
Latitude: 9.1206
Longitude: -83.7061
Nearest Town from unit Location: Ballena, Costa Rica
Distance to the nearest town: 2 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 12/11/2007 03:27:24
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=9.1206,-83.7061&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
This is going to be a long post. I have 10 days worth of catching up to do, starting with Amigo’s Bar in Belize…
Actually I’ll get to that in a second. I picked Ben up in Cancun. And at this point I need to give big props to Ben’s wife for letting him join me on my adventure with a 6 week old at home. My laundry wasn’t done yet so we spent some time in the hotel parking lot organzing the truck and we stopped to eat lunch. Once the laundry was packed (have you ever seen a pair of gramici quickdry shorts pinned to a hanger? Odd) we set out for Chitzen Itza. We arrived in Villadolid after dark, found a cheap hotel and crashed. Spent the next morning wandering around the ruins and chotchke vendors. The ruins themselves were very impressive but the site had a very sterile feel to it. I don’t want to use the term Disneyland but it wouldn’t be entirely inappropriate. I didn’t want to say anything and ruin it for Ben but on our way to Tulum I mentioned it and he said he felt the same way. Both sort of disappointed. Tulum was cool, got there at sunset and the light was perfect. Crowded but cool.
I fixed my headlight and after a nice dinner we set out for Chetumal where we would sleep before crossing the Belize border. Border was a bit nuts trying to track down cash but the crossing itself was a piece of cake. Easiest of the trip so far. We stopped in Orange Walk for lunch. Fresh bananas, bbq chicken, red beans and rice. The central square was full of life until the rain hit. Then everyone bailed for cover except the two of us and crazy single tooth man who felt like ben wanted to talk to him from a distance of 6 inches. I ate my food, drank my coke and laughed at the scene. 2 white guys and crazy man alone in the previously bustling square soaked to the core. We set out for Belize City. The roads in Belize were excellent, even the dirt ones, and the country side was beautiful. Belize has a far more Caribbean than Latin feel. Both in the people and the architecture. Sugarcane farms broken up by the occasional village of pastel colored homes and vibrant colored laundry on the clothelines. Felt like a place where we could spend a few days. Then we got to Belize City. Ben was driving, I was navigating. Figured we head to the waterfront as in most costal towns it is heart of the city. A few miles of filth and squalor and we reached the dirty ocean. Nothing there. Ben didn’t want to ‘run the gauntlet’ back out of the city but we had no other choice. The streets were small and crowded and we laughed all the way through them. The juxtaposition of Public Enemy playing as the locals all stared and pointed at the gringos was just too surreal. Once out of the city we stopped to replace the pillows left in the hotel in Chetumal then back out to the country side. We set up camp at a butterfly farm in central Belize. Clean, safe and with showers it was a comfortable place to open up the tent and wander around taking pictures. I really like the rural areas of Belize. Belize City was gross, dirty and felt very unsafe. A huge contrast to the rest of the country. After we found our campspot we decided to head up the road to grab some food at Amigos. (the only restaurant for miles)
As we pull into the parking lot we realize it is happy hour. This should be fun. Climb out of the truck and hear someone slaughtering ‘honky tonk blues’ on a karaoke machine. I’m already laughing. We walk in and the room is a square bar, surrounded by black Belizeans, one family in a corner at a table and karaoke on the tv. We choose a table next to the bar and sit down. We order some more chicken with red beans and rice. I’m sitting nearest the bar. I hear people behind me arguing. I can’t tell if they are serious or not. Ben is just staring at them. The mix of English, Creole and Spanish makes it hard to understand what is going on. The girl gets her food and heads out. The voices get louder and this exchange occurs as she is walking out the door..
“I know what you are”
“oh yeah, oh yeah”
“I know what you are”
Door shuts
“you’re nothin but a whore”
Door opens
“what did you call me, you didn’t’ call me a whore”
“you’re nothin but a fucking whore”
By now the girl is back in his face and they are yelling at each other. She is dressed to the 9s for Saturday night, gold shorts, tight tank top showing off her “trust no one” tattoo on her back and big gold earrings. He is a large man, 6’ 4” or so looks like a construction worker. They shove each other a few times. I am not ‘looking’ but can tell what is going on over my shoulder. I see Ben flinch to stand up. I think he is going to intervene since the other 15 patrons are just going about their own business. I say ‘don’t.' He looks at me with fear in his eyes. The girl has a beer bottle and is threatening to crack it over the bar to use as a knife. Someone finally steps in. Some more yelling and pushing and finally she is escorted out. Everyone settles back in. And for the most part start laughing. Then the guy takes out his knife and starts flashing it around and yelling at the whole bar ‘you don’t think I can cover my own ass.’ Ben comments “Trust No One” is out getting her gun and on the way back to finish the fight. I say no matter what happens the 2 white guys are going to jail and getting blamed for it. Our food shows up and we eat as quickly as possible. No more than 5 mins later karaoke is back up and I find myself clapping for one singer after finishing off a rousing version of All My Love. The songs went on and on. Neil Diamond, the Bee Gees, Elvis. Duets, solos, our waitress, patrons. Just nuts. We paid our bill and went back to camp. Laughing the entire time about how unbelievable the last 2 hours had been. I’m still pretty sure “Trust No One” is out looking for a gun.
Next morning we crossed into Guatemala. Met some fellow Overlanders on bikes from Canada. The first 20miles of Guat was slick slimy mud. A Snickers bar and a Coke from a roadside stand hit the spot just right. Peanutopolis is what I tasted. We arrived at Tikal about 2 in the afternoon. Tikal was amazing. The only reason we left was because of darkness. The jungle, the lack of people, the ruins, the views all incredible. Our hopes for seeing a Puma was the only expectation unsurpassed. We ran into some more people on motorcycles. They told us about the town of Flores being nestled onto an island near Santa Elena. It looked like a perfect place to crash. It was. Felt like an Italian city far more than northern Guatemala. Narrow one way streets that were more like alleyways. Buildings stacked on top of each other. Abundant restaurants and nice people to talk to. We had dinner on the edge of the lake and crashed in our cheap hotel. In the room next to ours? The Canadian couple from the border crossing earlier.
And I’m going to break this into 2 posts. For my benefit and yours. I need to go eat breakfast. More to come this afternoon.
Dave Connors
Lead - Expedition Americas
http://www.expeditionamericas.com/
Well I find myself in a hotel bed for the 3rd night in a row. Let’s just say my wish came true and now I’m drinking coke with ice in it and brushing my teeth with local water. If I’m going to be sick I might as well enjoy the little things.
I’ve added pics to the gallery. Some taken by me, some by ben over the course of the last 10 days.
In addition a page has been created for my fine sponsors that can be found here
I’ll be posting a nice long recap of the last 2 weeks events later tonight.
Dave Connors
Lead - Expedition Americas
It’s late, I’m exhausted, my eyes are burning, I just ate French Toast at Denny’s (in the parking lot of the Costa Rica hotel) of all places and I’m pretty sure I lack the ability to write a coherent or properly spelled post this evening. But damn it I’m going to try. I’m burning 6gb of photos to DVD so I need to use this time wisely. I feel almost as messed up as I did last night after taking an Ambien to sleep in my sopping wet tent and then trying to stay awake.
So Ben and I wanted to camp on a beach last night and spend the day playing in the surf. After wandering in the dark down potholed roads nears San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua we decided we need to ask for directions. I had bet Ben that the owner of Latin Latitudes B&B were white folk when we first drove past it. Once asking was agreed upon we pulled up to the gate and began our conversation with Alan from Ontario, CAN. yep, white. His b&b was undergoing maintenance so he couldn’t offer us a room. He recommended a few places back in town (20mins away) and we were set to leave when he volunteered a level spot to park and open the aforementioned wet tent. It turned out to be ideal. Slept well with the help of narcotics (the heat, moisture and humidity were too much) and woke up to the sounds of a Alan’s dog and crashing surf. We spent some time in the ocean and used his outdoor shower. The chances of us stumbling down that dirt road, at that time of night and deciding to break down and ask for help are very slim. It was pure luck that we ran across a nice place to stay, a beautiful beach, and shower to boot. Too bad my down comforter is now in the trash. I need to figure out why the tent was wet. Thank you Alan. I can only reiterate how grateful we are for your generosity.
If that good fortune wasn’t enough he recommended a nice place to eat lunch. While eating lunch in a tiny sandwich shop in San Juan del Sur we talked to a guy who grew up in Morgan, UT. Less than 30 miles from my hometown. Currently living in GA but still mighty bizarre to find ourselves talking to a Utahn so far away from home. Oh and I passed 10k on the odometer yesterday. 10k in one month. I kick ass. Or am just an idiot. Hopefully 3 weeks in Costa Rica will help balance it out a bit.
Unfortunately our good luck ran out at the Costa Rican border crossing. 4.5 hours of just standing and sitting and standing and sitting and then more standing and more sitting. It was sort of expected but still frustrating. Late drive into Alejuelo so I can take ben to the airport tomorrow morning. I will struggle with the solitude I’m sure once he is gone. I’m thinking a week of Spanish school is in order. Pics tomorrow.
Dave Connors
Lead - Expedition Americas
http://www.expeditionamericas.com/
SPOT. lost in some jungle with my boy benji. probably honduras
Unit Number: 0-7341800
Latitude: 11.1847
Longitude: -85.8134
Nearest Town from unit Location: Escamequita, Nicaragua
Distance to the nearest town: 2 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 12/07/2007 03:30:43
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=11.1847,-85.8134&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
SPOT. lost in some jungle with my boy benji. probably honduras
Unit Number: 0-7341800
Latitude: 13.7776
Longitude: -86.5533
Nearest Town from unit Location: Los Planes, Nicaragua
Distance to the nearest town: 1 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 12/06/2007 19:01:26
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=13.7776,-86.5533&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
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The Torneo Uncaf finale was held in Tegucigalpa (yeah if that sounds like jibberish you now know how i feel everytime I get an answer to a question in Spanish, Central Amierican club soccer championship is the translation) this fine evening. Benjamin Butterfield and I were the only 2 white people (that I could see) in the entire stadium. Apparently Motagua is not the most popular futbol team in Honduras but I would never be able to tell by the fireworks and enthusiasm in the stadium tonight. What a foreign experience. $5 ticket, ga section, beer being thrown, fireworks being launched, unified chants, they had it all. We left with about 5 mins left to avoid the chaos that would ensue afterwards. Motagua beat the Costa Rican team 2- 0. This was just one of many events I have used the word ‘bedlam’ to described since Ben joined me in Cancun.
Last night at the Guat/Honduras border we spent three and half hours surrounded by squalor and confusion. Poor kids trying to milk us for any money possible. Some idiot telling the border guard our car wasn’t US despite all the paper work. Claimed it was a diesel. We still can’t figure out his motivation. Ginny (or jenny) stuck around after her shift, and the border, closed to help us out. I think she was smitten with the blonde haired, blue eyed Benji. When we first got there she was a bit cold but after awhile she warmed up. As it was we made it through with $1 us left to spend. They wouldn’t take Guat money, banks were closed in Honduras, and we only had $20 in US and they wouldn’t/couldn’t make change, too much was considered a bribe and wouldn’t take it. I scrambled and search to no avail. Ginny loaned us her own money to help us through. She was indeed an angel. We did our best to pass on her generosity. Ben had befriended a teenage kid named Byron at the border while we waited. We ran into him later that night at a gas station. We gave him some cash, coke, gatoraid and a loaf of bread. He was headed our way but we had no room for him. Was a nice kid a bit lost after he left school. Family didn’t want him and he was just hoping to land somewhere.
We slept in a dive motel after dinner at a crappy bar in Santa Rosa de Copan then came to Tegu this morning. Unlike the cluster known as Guatemala City, Tegu has been a nice city. Dirty but nice. Honduras in general is beautiful. Mountain and farms, and land cruisers everywhere. Even the woman are far more attractive than in Guatemala. I’ve lost all my pics from Antigua, Guat so that will have to be saved until I find them. Tikal, Antigua, and Amigos for another time. All deserve their own post when it’s not 2am and I’m covered in beer, diesel soot and cigarette smoke.
Dave Connors
Lead - Expedition Americas
http://www.expeditionamericas.com/
(drove my first Toyota diesel tonight too, wonderful)
SPOT. lost in some jungle with my boy benji. probably honduras
Unit Number: 0-7341800
Latitude: 14.3093
Longitude: -88.1656
Nearest Town from unit Location: Intibucá, Honduras
Distance to the nearest town: 1 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 12/05/2007 16:06:13
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=14.3093,-88.1656&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
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No internet in belize and benji and I are having way too much fun to post anything long. Tikal is amazing. Amigo’s bar 15miles west of Belmopan is the craziest place on the face of the earth and 3 hours there made my trip worth it. I’ll explain it in detail later when I have the time.
Dave Connors
Lead - Expedition Americas
SPOT. i'm in mexico. yep. mexico. but i'm sure you knew that.
Unit Number: 0-7341800
Latitude: 17.058
Longitude: -89.1479
Nearest Town from unit Location: Unknown
Distance to the nearest town: Unknown
Time in GMT the message was sent: 12/02/2007 16:26:40
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=17.058,-89.1479&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
SPOT. i'm in mexico. yep. mexico. but i'm sure you knew that.
Unit Number: 0-7341800
Latitude: 18.4863
Longitude: -88.3993
Nearest Town from unit Location: Subteniente López, Mexico
Distance to the nearest town: 0 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 12/01/2007 16:48:55
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=18.4863,-88.3993&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
Leg two is about to be cut off. I’ve received a few emails about how quickly I have been moving. Yes I am, I switched from Victor to Captain Chaos after I got off the ferry and blasted across the country. When planning began I looked at my budget, looked at the land mass and unfortunately Mexico was the country to be put aside. It’s proximity to the US makes it too easy to return. Having spent some time here I will come back.
I loved Baja and already talked about that. I felt a weird disconnect with Mexico proper. Okay disconnect is not the right word. That implies some sort of active process going on. I was never able to connect with Mexico proper. It was just a country I was driving across. Until I reached Campeche. I loved the town of Campeche. I ate some shrimp in my attempt to enjoy seafood (too much ahead of me on my trip) and actually did. I posted pics of the view from my table of the old church and the town square. I walked around the city for about 90 mins. Strolled the waterfront, got gas, bs’d with the guys at the military check point. I’m not sure why I connected to Campeche but I did and it was a good thing.
I cashed in some Marriott points here in Cancun and stayed in a brand new hotel last night. Did my laundry, reorganized the truck, sent out emails, sat in the hot tub. My time in 2 huge tourist destinations, Cabo San Lucas and Cancun have been spent in bed or running errands and I haven’t regretted it at all. I did find a top 2 or 3 taco stand in all of Mexico (in my experience) last night. No complaints there. Mexico is huge and I’ll be here a few more days. Tomorrow I’ll be wandering around Chitzen Itza with Ben. He doesn’t know it yet but my next blog post might be by him. But essentially Mexico is over. It’s an amazingly beautiful country and I have experiences I still need to document but the Mayan exploration and bureaucratic nightmare that is Central America begins at 2 this afternoon. After going 8K miles in 3 weeks I’m looking forward to hiking around some temples and small towns over the next few weeks. I love to be behind the wheel but it’s time for a break.
I appreciate your interest in my trip and keep the emails coming. The recent happenings in Venezuela and Bolivia have me a bit concerned but I have a lot of time and ground to cover between now and when I get there. And I’m looking forward to that ground and experience all that it has to offer.
Dave Connors
Lead - Expedition Americas
have been added to the gallery. They are interspersed throughout the other pics. I forgot to put my camera on continous so it reset every time I emptied the card. Should be good going forward. Enjoy.
http://www.expeditionamericas.com/gallery1.html
Dave Connors
Lead - Expedition Americas
SPOT. i'm in mexico. yep. mexico. but i'm sure you knew that.
Unit Number: 0-7341800
Latitude: 20.5728
Longitude: -89.9464
Nearest Town from unit Location: Santa Cruz, Mexico
Distance to the nearest town: 2 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 11/28/2007 05:03:09
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=20.5728,-89.9464&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
When last your humble narrator posted he was melting away in his 85 degree tent on the Pacific Ocean. This post comes to you from the dirty and warm Atlantic Ocean. Somewhere near Ciudad del Carmen. I’m not sure how many of you found the same definition I did for the word cantinflear but it went like this…
“roughly means to talk a lot but say nothing of substance” the following post sort of feels like it will be that way.
So I can’t speak well enough to make any cultural observations but I have spent enough time in the seat of this truck to make one about the driving in Mexico. So in the US whenever you come across a car going really slow and holding up traffic 9 times out of 10 it is a Hispanic. The 10th time it is Brandon Madsen. In Utah the majority of the Latino community is Mexican. I have figured out why they drive so slow. They are completely overwhelmed by other drivers actually staying in their own lanes, obeying speed limits and stop signs. This confusion forces them to drive slowly. Down here it is total bedlam. Not to say it is chaos. There is order and pattern to it but it has nothing to do with obedience to the laws of the land. So you figure it out as you go. Then as soon as you get a grasp on it you enter a different state or city with totally different patterns. So now I am the white guy, driving slow and holding everybody up. Yes I am aware of the irony.
Another thing to concern yourself with is the effects of everyone speeding is the counter measures. Topes, Vibradores and reductor de velocidad. Variations on the speed bump. It is no secret I prefer 2 lane roads to freeways. So I’ve been taking a bit of both through Mexico. As you roll down the road you get passed on blind corners, cutting people off, on the right etc. No one obeying the speed limits. You hit a small town and boom, a speed bump of some kind. Each have their own characteristics. Topes, normal speedbump but in sequence like 10 to 12 of them. So even though it’s 40mph you are going 8. They have them on both ends of town. In the middle they’ll have a Reductor. A HUGE speedbump. 18 in high, 3 feet long. Sometimes they are covered with small ripples like on the side of US freeways to warn you you’re drifting. Those are called vibradores. Well after a few hundred of those in a day you figure it is worth it to get back on the toll roads. Which also vary in quality and price from state to state. 12 pesos here, 148 there, 72, 28, just random numbers. I did however drive one of the most scenic highways I’ve ever been on. I think only Calgary to Jasper is better. It was better than i-70 between Grand Junction and Denver. Better than the Columbia River Gorge. Better than I80 through the Sierra Nevadas. The place it reminded me most of was the road between the Cassiar Highway and Prince Rupert, BC Which is just a horrible analogy because that is road I doubt anyone reading has driven. So let me lay out the day first.
I camped at 9k feet on a dormant volcano east of Puebla. I woke, descended to the valley, drove through corn fields, at 8k feet for 2 hours. I come to Ojo de Agua. I am thinking this is like the heart (or the eye) of this farming valley. Nope. Surreal. 35 foot tall Joshua trees. Prickly pear cactus 15 high. Something akin to a yucca 8 feet tall. Then nothing but dirt. So the eye of water is actually desert. Odd. I climb from the eye to another ridge, through 2 hours of speed bumps and corn fields and join the Autopista headed to Orizaba. At this point I’m about 8k feet. Within mins I see a sign about a steep slope ahead. 15 miles later I have dropped into a canyon 5k feet deep. Just gorgeous. Then the rain came and I lost all sight. But that 15 miles of highway were gorgeous and fast.
So speaking of Peubla. Me and cities…
After leaving Manzanillo I drove to Toluca and stayed at a hotel. Time for a real shower again. I woke early and headed into Mexico city. I found the historic downtown. Drove around looking for places to park. Too tall or full. Sundays are busy. Spent an hour. Decided to give up and go find lunch in a less hectic part of town. Made a wrong turn. Hung a right down into the outdoor market. 30mins to go a mile. Basing it from a large concert venue or sporting event I bet I saw 75k people in those 30 mins. What a mistake. At one point 7 lanes of cars, then 2, then 4 then back to 1. A random bus or cop driving the wrong direction. I was surrounded by vw beetles. Counted 26 at a stop light. Nuts. Found my way out of that mess. Ate a damn good hamburguesa from a road side cart and headed toward Puebla. Figured it would be a good town to venture into. Nope. Same thing except this was worse. All the parking garages had heights listed outside. Saw one with no height on a tight street, headed for it. Turn in, guy screams at me. Too tall. Okay now I’m screwed. What do I do. Well I get to back out, and push back the 4 cars behind me. Then I get to 48 point turn on this tiny little road. 2 sidewalks full of people stopped watching me try and turn around in this cobble stoned alley. So I gave up. Then I found a high end mall. Liverpool, with Prada, Hugo Boss and Omega and ate dinner. Excused myself to the bathroom, came back to coke on ice. I have now exposed myself to the water. So far? no harm no foul. And the coke was excellent. The 4 cheese pizza not too good. I wandered the mall listening to Spanish, watching the Christmas shopping bonanza and went out to find my 40degree camp spot and it was pure bliss compared to the coast.
After descending the afore mentioned canyon I’m back on the coast. After Mexico city and Puebla I became very insular. Eating junk food from my own cache. Not talking at gas stations. Just hoping to find something familiar. Bad idea. Made it even harder to want to stop. I had to get fuel and take a leak in Coatzacoalcos. I forced myself to find a place to park and get out. It was dark but I managed. I ate 3 quesadillas and a coke for 25 pesos. Bought a loaf of bread and picked up a Valencia Futbol jersey for $20. Mainly because it said Toyota on the front. It was nice to overcome my insulation instinct and venture out. All day I was hoping to find something familiar. Something I knew. Knowing it wasn’t out there only made me more reluctant. But I managed to overcome it. Wandered a few more hours east, talked a security guard at a little beachside pool to let me camp in the parking lot. Slept miserable in the heat and humidity but eventually dosed off. He woke me at 6 to get moving before the staff showed up. So been on the road since 6:30. Camp tonight, hotel tomorrow. Pick up ben on thurs and then off to the ruins and costa rica.
Wow. Rambling non linear post today. A bit of cantinflear if I do say so myself. I uploaded pics last night. Tonight I’ll put them in the gallery.
Dave Connors
Lead - Expedition Americas
http://www.expeditionamericas.com/
SPOT. i'm in mexico. yep. mexico. but i'm sure you knew that.
Unit Number: 0-7341800
Latitude: 18.4381
Longitude: -93.2304
Nearest Town from unit Location: Las Flores Segunda Sección, Mexico
Distance to the nearest town: 2 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 11/27/2007 05:57:09
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=18.4381,-93.2304&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
SPOT. i'm in mexico. yep. mexico. but i'm sure you knew that.
Unit Number: 0-7341800
Latitude: 19.1582
Longitude: -97.9231
Nearest Town from unit Location: Pinar, Mexico
Distance to the nearest town: 1 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 11/26/2007 06:20:18
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=19.1582,-97.9231&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
…but I am pretty sure I’m getting close.
This does not have to do with the fact that I am on this solo journey. It has a little bit to do with the fact that my first night in Mexico, after a full 7 hours of driving, 5 in the dark, that I pull into, within a 100 yards, a camp spot, where 6 months previous I had managed to spend an hour for lunch. Never any doubt I could find it. Yep, I tend to remember where I’ve been. But that’s not totally unusual. Yesterday was the day of enlightenment. (or just a reminder why I am here)
The plan was to take it easy. Get some PM done and drive an hour or two. I didn’t climb down from the tent until about 9:30. Slept in to honor Thanksgiving. I drove the 3 short miles to the beach and opened the tent back up to air out the bedding, rotated my tires, swam, respooled my winch cable, swam again, organized my truck, swam again, messed with my electrical gremlins, swam and then got in the truck about 3:30. Plan was to make it to Tepic at sunset, find an ipod cable, grab something to eat and set up camp. Seems simple enough right?
Decided against the pricey Autopiste for the back roads. Stopped to dick around some more with my faulty passenger side low beam. Still not fixed. Got lost in Tepic. Not once, not twice, but 3 times looking for any store that would have an ipod cable. No luck. Got gas. Ate dinner. Spoke and entire paragraph in Spanish and more importantly understood the answer coming back to me the first time. Hit the road about 8 hoping to find a spot to camp about an hour away. Well being completely out of my element in the jungle, one hour became 2, then 3 then 4. About midnight I stopped for a Military checkpoint. Asked the guy where I should camp. Said the area was unsafe and to head to Puerto Vallarta. Not too far out of my way to Guadalajara so of I went. This beach private. That beach no camping. This beach scary as hell at 1 am. Head into town, look for a cheap hotel or RV park. See a sign for a cheap hotel. Very cheap. Hourly. Skip it. No luck. Wander some more. Find the Walmart, no camping. Go back into town, look up hotels on my phone. Give up. Buy some more caffeine, and these damn vanilla wafer cookies dipped in chocolate I’m addicted to now, and back into the jungle. Head up the coast. Awesome, all private. 4 Seasons resort, Jack Nicklaus Course, Gary Player Course. Yeah this will work just fine for some stinky kid to camp. Find a dirt driveway with some name on the sign. Looks like the road hasn’t been used in awhile. Also just enough room in the field for an 80 Series Land Cruiser. Let’s see, 3:45am, I can be up and moving at 7. They’ll never know I was here. Back the truck in, bugs everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Time to climb in the back. So I push all my crap to one side. Grab my sheet to lay on and go to sleep. Didn’t send the SPOT signal because I wasn’t confident in veracity of the ‘okay’ statement. Grabbed my signal flare for safety and went to sleep. Slept sticky, sweaty and rolling to the driver’s side all night but not bad for 3 hours. Hopped in the driver’s seat drive 3 miles back toward town to a scenic viewpoint, I mean trash pile, grab the pillow and sleep another 2 hours in the front seat as buses rumble by with the engine break on for the sharp turn. Wake up to see a naked Mexican man changing into a swim suit to head down fishing. Beyond him and out of focus to my blurry eyes is a whole truck full of middle aged men staring at me.
So the part that makes me a freak? It was one hell of a day. Not great, but pretty good. That is why I’m doing this trip alone. As I was chuckling to myself wandering through Puerto Vallarta at 2am I tried to think of how all my friends would have been reacting at that point. It would have made a long day for anyone, it was for me, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Today more of the same, 90 mins in PV looking for an IPOD cable. (I have 16 more cds of Spanish lessons I need to load up) A truck that is 2.59 meters tall and a seaside tourist town do not combine for convenience in parking. So a lot of walking, 5 stores, finally lowered myself to hit up Walmart. Have felt guilty for it all day. Took a pic of some A arms laying in the parking lot. I guess they have white trash using Walmart as their driveway in Mexico too. Hit the road again south. Plan to get to Colina then head east. Spent too long in Manzanilla looking for a cheap hotel. The RV park was in the industrial section and I didn’t want black lung when I woke up, so now I’m down south on some stagnant beach, not an ounce of breeze, 85 and muggy. Sweating as I type this in my sweltering tent. Tomorrow I head east into the mountains and hopefully some heat relief. I decided to nut up and go into Mexico City. If all the rumors are true if I can survive there and not get robbed or accosted the rest of the cities in my future should be much easier. Hoping Sunday will not be too crazy. We’ll see.
So with that being said I’m going to continue to celebrate the long holiday weekend and watch a little Vacation before I go to bed.
‘excuse me, does anyone know which way to the expressway?’
Dave Connors
Lead - Expedition Americas
http://www.expeditionamericas.com/
SPOT. i'm in mexico. yep. mexico. but i'm sure you knew that.
Unit Number: 0-7341800
Latitude: 19.0004
Longitude: -104.2604
Nearest Town from unit Location: Caliguana, Mexico
Distance to the nearest town: 1 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 11/24/2007 01:36:49
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=19.0004,-104.2604&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1
-741537.JPG)
‘Tyler you are, by far, the most interesting single serving friend I’ve ever had’
‘how’s that?’
‘You see I have this thing, that everything on a plane is single serving’
‘Oh I get it. It’s clever.’
‘Thank you.’
‘How’s that working out for you?’
‘What?’
‘Being clever.’
‘Great.’
‘Keep it up then.’
That is about as close as I can get from memory but essentially one of my favorite exchanges in Fight Club. Or any movie for that matter. Well, I met my first single serving friend yesterday on the ferry from La Paz to Topolobampo. Hopefully, one of many I’ll document over the course of the next year. 25 year old kid from San Diego moving to Ixtapa named Mitchell. I agreed to give him a ride into Los Moochis to the bus terminal since it was late and he was unsure of his ability to get one at the dock. I didn’t think to ask how much stuff he had; skateboard, backpack, 2 surfboards, and 2 suitcases. We made it work. Ended up camping with him on some derrick south of town. Me in my tent, him in the back of the Cruiser. Gave him a ride all the way to Mazatlan, had lunch and said goodbye. It was nice to chat in English with someone for a day or so and realize I’m not the only American wandering down here with limited language aplomb. Can ‘limited’ and ‘aplomb’ be used in the same sentence? I guess I just did it. Anyway Mitchell good luck on the new life and good luck with the waves.
Mexico proper. Not what I expected so far. I travelled through a well developed agricultural region today. With the occasional coco palm here and there to remind me I wasn’t in the Sacramento Valley or Central Oregon. Lush green fields of corn lined the hwy and there seemed to be less trash on the road. Even the roads were in decent shape. I miss Baja. Mitchell made the comment that he thinks most Mexican Nationals view Baja the way we view Alaska and I happen to agree with him. It’s remote, it’s separated from the rest of the country’s land mass and it’s unbelievably rugged and beautiful, but why do people want to live there? Well having now spent some time in the former and lived a number of years in the latter I can think of few places I would rather live all things being equal. I ventured out to the beach tonight, about 30miles south of Mazatlan, and decided I didn’t need another windy night. So I found my way down a dirt road to a shallow lake or estuary full of birds. There are times where you can pick the perfect camp spot, have the perfect sunset and know everything is going to be just fine. I like to think of Long Canyon in Moab, Hells Backbone in Escalante, or the Dollhouse. Then there are times when you just get lucky. Tonight was one of those nights. Just enough of a breeze to keep the very few bugs at bay. A picturesque sky as the sun fell behind the trees. A local fisherman, off in the distance, singing every time he pulled in his nets. Ideal temps to wander around taking pics of the cranes and herons filling the shallow water. I got lucky tonight and I’m thankful. Or maybe I earned it for helping Mitchell out. Regardless tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I’m trying to keep the proper attitude about how fortunate I am. Except…
I get to spend my turkey day rotating tires, centering my steering wheel, figuring out why my washer fluid pump stopped working. Wait I’m still a very lucky man.
So on this eve of reflection. I need to thank a few people, publicly, who helped put me down here in such a wonderful place.
Kevin Smith
Jason Lee
Carter Beauford
Stefan Lessard
Josh Carmack
Neil Young
Larry David
Dave Matthews
Ben Harper
Ed Abbey
Wallace Stegner
Christy Turlington
Jerome Garcia
Indiana Jones and Han Solo
Marty McFly
Goose
Oh wait people I actually know and not just celebrities and superstars..
In no particular order…
Ray and Linda Connors, Travis Jeremy Farnes (the strangest, most eccentric and best friend a person could ever have, but truly just bizarre, insanely bizarre), Will Carroll, Jen Carroll, the 2 Carroll Kids. The Websters, The Trunk Monkey, Kurt Jeffrey, Ryan Davis, Kaleb Galbraith, Dustin Francis, Trent Ashby, Adam Tolman, Johnny and Angel Lange, Pablo and Kiddo May, The Morgans, The entire Call clan, Dr. Stephen Lewis Petersen (for the half a tank of gas in the paypal account tonight),Henry Cubillan (the real reason I’m in this mess, him and his damn stories) Eric Vogt, TJK, Troy Seinfeld, My Boy Beef Stew, Jeremy LaVar, Trent Anderson, Bart Anderson, Ken Thibault, Brother and Sister Hardass, THE 2007 WORLD CHAMPION BOSTON REDSOX, Alancia (or however the hell you spell your name),The Roses, Jack C, Dan D, Mr. Trent Taylor, Worm, Worm’s Twin Brother, my surrogate family the Muirs for teaching me that weird is good and home is wherever you make it, I miss you guys more than you know, Maddog, Ty Maddog, Brad Gillespie, Robert Segal, Wes Johnson, Scott Brady, J and Trevor Ralls for allowing me to live their dreams for them, Benji Butterfield, Crazy George, Hampton the Dopefiend Killah, Brian Hanson, Kent McComb, McArthur, Ivan, Ophir Nuiqsit, Jim Jackson, Curnutt, Scott Simpson and for real, Josh Carmack. Thank you all and to everyone else who has helped me over the past 6 months, or past 10 years. No more sappy crap from now on. Tomorrow curse words and sarcasm.
Gracias and buenas noches,
Dave Connors
Lead - Expedition Americas
http://www.expeditionamericas.com/
oh I included a pic I’ve been meaning to post for a week now, this is for the Petersen clan and my bro, (I already emailed you so you know about it already but here is proof)
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