Page 6: Mexico

Back on the road: We were sad to leave Todos Santos but anxious to hit the road again.

Packed up and ready to go:

It was a short ride to Los Barriles. No budget hotels here so we planned to pitch the tent. This is the windsurf hot spot of the Baja. We planned to maybe stay two weeks here so I can get my wind fix. Wave surfing was cool but to me it was too much waiting around for a good wave only to ride it a short distance. Windsurfing in big winds is high intensity high speed fun for as long as your body can hold on, more my style. At Los Barriles we had the camp spot practically to our selves.

Our tent was a hundred yards from this spot, pool, tiki bar, deck and beach, we are likin it! The first day the winds were cranking, people were launching their windsurfers right in front of us. I inquired about the Vela windsurf rental place and found it was just right next door but it closed for the season a few weeks ago. I can’t believe it. My only regret so far on this trip was not hauling my own windsurfer and sails. Over the last couple months I’ve had at least a dozen high wind opportunities to sail but had no rig. I kept telling myself “there’s windsurf rentals in Los Barriles”, guess it wasn’t meant to be.This was still a great place to hang out and we had a great time.

Los Barriles has some of the best fishing in the world. This guy caught two Marlins today and one yesterday. He said it took over an hour to land it and it was flying out of the water and putting up quite a struggle, how cool!

We found a health club just a short walk from our tent, $15 for a week. The owners were super friendly and everyone working out acted like a big extended family and were quick to include Heidi and I in on the fun.

Thursday came and it was the weekend of Easter, this is a huge weekend for Mexicans. The camp area and beach was filling up. We found our tent surrounded by Mexican families all setting up for the weekend. Baja Mexicans sure know how to camp bringing tables, chairs, grills, electric coffee makers, deep fryers, stereos and whatever. The gringo RV’ers were storming out not wanting to be part of the scene saying “There’s so many Mexicans here!” We thought to ourselves, Duh, this is Mexico. Friday morning Heidi and I are up drinking coffee and reading in our tent when all of sudden a neighbor pops up at our tent door with a plate of food, deep fried fish, cut limes, cilantro, mayo and tortillas, what a friendly gesture! The fish was some of the best we have ever had, it was called Cabrilla.

The Monday after Easter we go have an early workout then head out to La Paz where we will catch a ferry to the mainland.

We were too late for the ferry so we checked into a nice hotel right on the malecon, Los Arcos. We really like La Paz so it was an easy job to convince Heidi to stay here two nights.

A great lunch spot just off the malecon.

4 tacos, 2 quesadillas a beer and all the fixings, $6

The malecon in La Paz is great.

The ferry leaves at 3:00 PM today. Baja rules!

Mex 05'-6: Latest Update 4/7/05: The entire journal starts at -> Mexico 05’ <- The Ferry: In La Paz we ordered a couple lattes grande to go and arrived at the ferry terminal early. All the ferry’s I have ever been on were much smaller and cars parked on the deck. This boat is huge having three decks below for parking, private rooms, big TV room, restaurant and bar lounge. The port here is beautiful. The ride over to the mainland is over 5 hours long. We forgot our playing cards in the jeep and the parking decks are locked down until we dock on the mainland. Heidi and I are good at making the best of a situation so we snag a good spot in the lounge and enjoy the scene. Each beer comes with a half lime dipped in salt. Six packs topped with salted limes were flowing between the lounge and decks all evening long. Live music was going on in the far corner and the lounge was full of activity. Of course I pick the rowdiest group to go and practice a little Spanish with. They were all doing something to the guy passed out on the lower right in this photo. www.bajabikers.com They are on their way to Mazatlan for bike week. “Super” I said, “so are we”. They took our photo and said it will be in their web site. Nice group. The lounge was kind of low key about the live music until one of the bajabiker dudes started to sing. This guy had passion when he sang and the lounge went wild. Coming into port, Topolobampo on mainland Mexico. We look for a hotel in Los Mochas, a bigger town 6 miles away. The first hotel we check had fallen under the so called ‘Lonely planet’ syndrome, where prices have doubled and services cut in half because the hotel was recommended in the guide book. Over 40 bucks and the rooms were a hole. The next hotel was in the center of town red light area but was nice, cheap and had a restaurant for breakfast. We were seeing the bajabikers all the way down to Mazatlan. Mexico bikers. Chatting at the stops. We followed them on an alternate route into Mazatlan along the free road. In Mazatlan we get a cheap hotel right on the malecon across from the beach. We’re out walking the first day and find out Vicente Fox is in town and will speak just up the road from us. Mazatlan is great. Old town area. New tourist area, Lots of people out having fun. Great gym right on the malecon. Why do I like to work out? Lots of bikes. Nice XS650 chopper I’m on my way to the gym walking when an official looking dune buggy was coming toward me, a guy stood up, pointed his megaphone at me and said (what I picked up) “Oye! Listo por gran paseado”, “Hey you, get ready for the grand parade!” All the biker’s parade along the malecon for bike week and this is it. It seemed like everyone in the whole town was lining up along the malecon to watch. I start shooting, enjoy. The mood was ‘WILD’ Biking in Mexico is a real family affair. This biker looked about eight. These guys were doing constant front wheel wheelies. See the guy on back doing a ‘look at me, no hands’ crazy! A few wheelie guys would hold up the pack so they could do their stuff. A crash happened right in front of us from a wheelier just when my camera filled up. Bummer no shots of the wipe out but the guy hopped right back on and rode off. Shorts and no helmet, glad he was OK! Why would a guy not want to be a biker? Don’t need a Harley. or even a road bike. I never saw this guy on anything but two wheels, wow! More fun…. I thought it looked sexy when I took it…? “High fivin” the crowd. That’s our place…Hotel Del Sol …. Mazatlan kicks! Latest Update 4/24/05: The entire journal starts at ‘Journal 1’. Broken down in Mexico-2: Hotel Del Sol: Heidi & I like Mazatlan and our little hotel Del Sol a lot. We are right across the street from the beach and about midway between the busy hotel tourist zone and the old Mazatlan beach area. About a 4 or 5 mile malecon walkway connects the two areas and is always a buzz of activity. In the evening it fills with walkers, runners, bikers and skaters. Mazatlan Bike week marks the end of high tourist season, all the prices of the discount hotels drop. We go have a chat with the manager and ask what he can do for us if we stay another week. I have a lot of fun with the money negotiations and pay attention not to show our whole hand at once. I start out by asking for a quote for a week for our same small with no frills room. I said “Good, but we would like to be in another room with a kitchen” The manager quotes us another price and says “This just covers expenses” Heidi and I look at each other with a disappointed look. Then I say “What can you do if we stay two weeks” he says “how much can you afford?” Heidi fires back a quick “Not much!” Everyone is smiling and having fun with this then the manager quotes another price, 350 pesos for the best room in the hotel, I say “ Yes but 300 pesos” We end up at 330 pesos cash, about $30 US. We move into the bungalow suite and are likin it. ? The duck sprays water out of its mouth during the day. Some days we love the duck, some days we don’t. Lots of night life just up the road. A taxi to any club is $3.50 US or a bus is 80 cents a person. The malecon scene from the hotel. The beach is nice clean sand almost the whole stretch. Here are some photos of a walk along the malecon toward old Mazatlan and eventually to the lighthouse at the end of town. Mazatlan fishermen cleaning their catch. Old Mazatlan beach area. On Sundays this area fills with people. The Mazatlan malecon is filled with art. At the end of town past the port area is the second highest light house in the world. We are going to make it all the way to the top this time. Refreshments along the way. Heidi has always been a turtle lover. “Save the Sea Turtle” The climb begins. We made it, steep hike. Coming down. I help with encouraging words “Take short steps and be like a goat”, Heidi “@&%!”. Big cruise ships come in here. After a hike we sometimes stop for a little lunch. This time a snack and a beer in Mazatlan ’s old downtown area. It felt good after a long hike. We like the ceviche, the best type of fish cooked in lime juice with cilantro and tortillas on the side. You can buy anything in the old downtown area. These are all buckets filled with different types of sea food. This guy is squeezing fresh oranges for us. After squeezing, the OJ is whipped up with ice and poured into a tall glass. Market Central in old Mazatlan . This building covers a full block and is filled inside and out with tons of stuff from restaurants to sides of beef to shoes and just about everything else you don’t need. Around the Market Central. This family had a scale and was running some type of business right here on the corner across from market central. Heidi needs a pair of sunglasses, only about a billion to choose from. The open air taxis are fun and the weather is perfect for them. The mixer must have broken down so these guys were mixing it by hand right on the road. Inside Market Central. Check out the pig nose. Whole cow. Imagine the smell@. And fruit. Great goat cheese. There are great street cafes everywhere in Mazatlan. Here they tell me I have to run across the street to get the beers, fun. Mazatlan was great for us. We had enough time here to get into a good routine. We love to walk, hike, lift weights, eat good and have fun together. It is hard to imagine a better place for that kind of activity, that is I mean, one that we can afford. The weather has been perfect never needing more then a T-shirt and shorts day or night and the sun has been out every day. We constantly rethink our trip route and schedule, always telling ourselves that we can do anything, nothing is set in stone. Our adventure is more road trip from here on in. We expected it to be the other way around thinking we would do most of our driving early in the trip then find a place to stay long term. We remind ourselves that this is not a bad thing, it only means that we have liked where we were too much to leave quickly. Our trip planning was getting more intense the week leading up to our leaving Mazatlan. The guide books are out and the maps are getting marked up. The guide books are filled with warnings about roads I plan on driving and beaches I looked at checking. To me this is a willing challenge and I plan our tactics accordingly, for Heidi it’s scarier. I’ve been pouring over books for more then a year planning the trip and have had time to put it all into perspective but for Heidi this is new. We now talk about our strategy, our route and down to exactly where we plan to look for each nights lodging and for how long. I’m getting so excited I can hardly stand it and so is Heidi. Breakdown: The jeep is packed and we’re out of Mazatlan early. I’ve used the jeep very little while in Mazatlan but did notice it has been making a squeaking sound when first starting out and sometimes I felt a clunk. I’m thinking maybe playing in the Baja for a couple of months has taken a toll. I felt the clunk when we first hit the road that morning. When we got on the highway I was feeling a vibration, I tried to ignore it but couldn’t. Heidi confirmed it. The vibration stopped at times but would always come back when we slowed down then started to pick up speed again. I was hoping it was the straps humming on the luggage rack. Heidi felt the inside of the roof, no vibration there. I finely find a shady spot to pull over and check it out. I felt the hubs on all four wheels, all were cool. I crawl underneath and feel the front and rear differential. The rear diff. was hot but not burning. I figure it must get hot, that’s where all the power is transferred. I just had the U-joints replaced last summer on both the front and rear drive axle so I didn’t even check it. I readjust the straps on top and take off. The vibration is not any better. I’m having Heidi check the maps for any city of size ahead in the direction we are traveling. It’s not looking good and getting worse, going up hill it really starts to vibe. I find the first place to pull over. I felt stupid for not checking the axle slop the first stop. I crawl under and grab the axle with a rag and twist. The rear U-joint is shot and the bolts holding it in place were loose. Alarm, we are in trouble!! I get out the tools and tighten the bolts that hold the axle in place. We’re off, I was hoping that this would stop the vibration but NO, I think it was worse. We look at the map. We are midway between Mazatlan and Tepic. We know Mazatlan, we know where the hotels are with parking and how to get around. It’s also closer to the US in case we need to retreat and try to limp north back across the border. Scenarios are racing through our heads. If the jeep stays like this maybe we should just shoot for the border now. We need to cross the mountains and do some steep climbing if we go that route, not good. We were about 70 miles out of Mazatlan when we turned around, the closer we got to Mazatlan the more apparent it becomes that this needs to get fixed now, before we go anywhere. I am really bumming, not so much because I have to fix the jeep, I expect problems with a 15 year old rusty jeep, but for all the destinations we will miss if we have to abort the mission now and turn for home. We were taking it super easy and pulled into Mazatlan. I was thinking of looking for a shop first but after the second or third stop light the sucker blew! Super heavy in town traffic and we got no drive. I whip on the parking break while Heidi and I are screaming trying to engage the emergency flashers, we couldn’t find them! It took only seconds to figure out ‘stop looking for the flashers and take care of the emergency at hand’. I jump out to let the traffic know I’m not moving and to pick up what ever fell off the jeep. The traffic stayed a good car length behind, maybe because they saw our drive shaft lying in the middle of the road. Drivers in Mexico have been very courteous. The traffic is handling it so I do a little dance and go pick up the drive shaft from the middle of the road. I throw it inside the jeep and calmly climb back in, stick it into FOUR-WHEEL DRIVE and we proceed on down the road. One advantage of owning lots of old rusty vehicles your whole life is you run into lots of problems and learn how to deal with them. We were about two miles from hotel Del Sol, we pull in with no problems spewing transfer case fluid for the first mile. We have our same room back and the jeep is sitting right outside of our door, we can’t believe how lucky we are! The first thing we do back at the hotel is get some ice, mix a cocktail, flick on MTV and start talking. If I was a smoker I would be taking a couple deep drags and letting the smoke out slowly. I had all these ideas in my head after breaking down about how I was going to go about getting us back on the road and home again. Now it was time to develop the plan. Before our cocktails were half down it became obvious that I will take off marching with the drive shaft in hand. I need to get a new U-joint part, I need the old U-joint pressed out and the new U-joint pressed in, I’m confident I can stick the axle back on the jeep and all the rest myself. Heidi and I are looking up words and compiling phrases in Spanish for getting the job done. I have a cheat sheet in hand and take off on a bus. I get off at a road where I think there are maybe some mechanics. Next I flag down a taxi and ask him to take me to a Jeep shop or any grand auto shop. Two miles and $2.50 later the taxi pulls into a good mechanic that he knows. First I go next door and see if I can get the part. The guy holds up the drive shaft and I think says “No problem” I have the part in hand, about $6. I’m so happy I’m getting giddy (No, not me!) I then go next door to look for the mechanic, Sanchez. I pull out my most proper Spanish and ask for help. Before I know it I have two mechanics drop what they were doing and start working on pressing out my bad U-joint. These guys were great, they worked for over twenty minutes on getting that old rusty U-joint out and the new U-joint pressed in Everyone is smiling. I asked how much, they seemed embarrassed to ask me for so much money, $9.00. I gave the mechanics a $2 tip. Back on the road looking for a bus, but No, first I see this. Buy the looks inside I think the bar is associated with this $5.00 pink hotel next door. @ The next morning I’m on it! A part I need to keep is kind of mangled. I get out my hatchet and form it back into shape. I make the call ‘It will hold’. The high you can get after turning around a big low is hard to describe. I am one happy dude! Two quarts of fluid and we are back on the road heading deep into Mexico and beyond. ? Continued -> Mex 05'-7 <- -> Home <-

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