October 31st, 2008

Well, I’m not going to be able to upload this blog until we find an internet connection, but that doesn’t mean I can’t write it. We had a lovely morning in Melaque, though we probably could have used the extra hours we spent chatting to our wonderful neighbours on the road. It was nice to get a chance to talk to some fellow Canadians, and they were generous enough to give us a bit of hose to help with our water siphoning. So if you are reading this guys, thanks a lot. We had breakfast at the place we were recommended for dinner, Senor Froy’s. The food was fantastic and the owner was great, his wife played with Eir the whole time we were at the restaurant, both enjoying each others company equally I think. Heuvos Rancheros, Pancakes and a bacon omelette, all very tasty and I would highly recommend a visit if you ever find yourself nearby. So we got a late start to our day of driving, which would wind us up doing a little Mexican night driving which does not come highly recommended. These roads were intense, if you wanted proof all you needed to do was look at all the skid marks in the pavement. Some of which were coming from the poor Californian ahead of us desperately trying to keep his trailer from pushing him down the hill into the semi ahead. So yes, Dora was shredding it up in the mountain roads of Mexico, Shona was looking green in the backseat and Freja was up front enjoying all the donkeys and cows we passed by. There were moments of sheer beauty, but most of those were accompanied by sheer cliffs with no guard rails on the side. Mum, if you’re reading, stop shaking, it’s okay. This stretch of highway also did not have a variety of options for gas and we found ourselves cutting it close again, but thankfully 50 kilometers out of our destination there was a PEMEX (Mexican Gas Company) oasis and we all breathed a sigh of relief. We filled up here, the gas station attendant saw Eir in the back and immediately started taking her out of her car seat to show her off to her coworker at the other pump. They giggled and played while Mum went inside to get a couple snacks to tide us over until dinner. We haven’t been eating that well on the road, as our time is limited with not being able to drive at night and all. So chips and junk food for lunch and usually a good dinner. We could probably make it work a bit better if we had a little more time, but we’re cutting it real close to get to Guatemala in time for Spanish school. Anyway, I digress. So, our destination for last evening was a little beachside town called Playa Azul. We pulled into the town after dark, which always makes it that much more difficult to find our preferred camping destination, even more so when we’re still not 100% comfortable with our Spanish. After a few directions and a few missed turns we made it to the Hotel Playa Azul, which according to our guidebook had a few camping spots with hookups out back. It did. Nothing to write home about though, a caged in parking lot, some bathrooms I would try to avoid and a few palm trees. It would do. Famished after our diet of mostly chips and raisins we headed to the restaurant to get some food. We screwed up fairly bad in Sayulita and didn’t take out enough cash to last the night. The last of it was spent on toll roads and the half tank of emergency gas. Luckily the hotel would take a credit card for the room, which was a life saver. What we didn’t realize is that they couldn’t for our meal. We didn’t realize this until we’d eaten our meal (which consisted of 3 sub-par hamburgers), and wanted to pay for it. Oops. After a search around town for a bank and some sort of Spanglish communication we worked out that we would go to a bank and pay in the morning. Off to bed we went and woke up the next morning, got packed up and headed for a bank. The nearest bank was quite a distance and by the time we got there and back (about 2 hours), we were hungry again and had breakfast. Yay, another late start.

Anyway we ate and hit the road, which was much easier to drive than the last stretch so we made fairly good time. We arrived at our campground just outside Aculpoco at sunset and got settled in. The owner brought us some food from the restaurant and filled up the little mini-pool so Freja and Eir could have a splash around. The food was great, the Ocean is right at our doorstep and we even got to eat fresh coconut that the guard cut open for us. A little pricey, but $47 for a place to stay with our own private wading pool and 3 meals isn’t that bad I guess. So it’s here that I leave you about 8km's outside of the first major tourist town in Mexico. The ocean is really rough here and the waves are almost shaking the van. Very cool. Buenos Noche mi amigo’s.


November 1st and 2nd. Los Dias de la Mortes

No internet again today. We did try to find a cafe this morning but being a national holiday, everything was closed. It’s The Day of The Dead today. For those of you unfamiliar, it’s a celebration with origins in the Mayan Belief that on or near this day, the dead could walk with the living. So Mexicans have been adorning there friends and families tombs with all sorts of decorations, though most have a specific orange flower, I’m not sure what kind it is or the meaning behind it, but if it’s not on graves it’s piled high on vehicles or being sold at the many roadside stands. Some go party at the graves, pouring tequila to their fallen comrades and some go and weep. It’s quite the deal. Anyway, back to how we got where we are right now, which is a hotel room in the area of Mexico called Chiapas.

We awoke in our campground just outside Aculpoco to find that our garbage had again been ravaged by dogs. Every night that we leave our garbage hanging from the van, you can guarantee that it will be strewn all our the campsite by morning. So we got up, cleaned up the rogue animals handiwork and did our daily pack the van routine and headed off to find some groceries. We bypassed Aculpoco, not really being interested in putting up with the tourist traffic which we were told one could get stuck in for 3 hours. Not exactly what we were looking for in 30 Degree heat. I’m not going to tell you where we ended up getting our groceries, I’ll leave it up to your imagination. Just know that I didn’t for a moment feel proud of it. They did have a good organics selection though, which seems to be difficult to find in these parts. Mostly because they’re all sent up to Canada and The States. So packed up with groceries we set off for Puerto Escondido which translates as “The Hidden Port”. It was during this drive I should have learned the lesson that could have saved us today, and that lesson is don’t trust a CAA/AAA Map. According to our AAA map of Mexico, the area we were travelling through was...

Not Safe
Very Difficult to Get Unleaded Gas In.

As for the not safe part, it seemed like everyone in town as we drove through would honk, wave or give us the peace sign, so it seemed pretty friendly and safe to me. And there was a gas station every half an hour, so I began to feel a bit neurotic filling up every time I saw the PEMEX logo. The gas operators would look at me funny to as I say fill the tank in horrible Spanish only to put 3 litres in it. Oh well I should have learned my lesson about that stupid map, but we didn’t. More on that later.

It was a long hot drive though. Lots of “Topes” which I believe the English translation is something along the lines of “Annoying Giant Bumps that Seem to Pop Out of Nowhere While You’re Travelling at 80 km’s an Hour and Your Wife is In the Back Yelling at You for Hitting Them When She Doesn’t Have Her Seatbelt on Like You Could Somehow Have Magic, Psychic Powers and See The Invisible Humps and Warn Her So That She Could Somehow Brace Herself”. Though I might be a little off. This drive also had many animals on the road, as it was a farming and cattle grazing area. Kind of surreal to see cattle grazing next to palm trees for a prairie boy. We had our first full on military check, in which I had to get out and show them around the van. In all honesty though I think the guy just wanted to show off his english skills and his buddy was more interested in how much I paid for my tattoo. He was floored when I said $80 because I think he thought that I meant 80 Pesos which would be $8. After our little stop, we soldiered on (Pun Intended) and beside one more embarrassing stall as I was reaching out to give change to some girls collecting for their school, it was good. We did have to do a bit of night driving though, which was rewarded in the end by the hospitality and friendliness of fellow Canadians, Paul & Kim who have just taken over the trailer park in Puerto Escondido. We felt welcome from the moment we pulled in until leaving the next morning. We spent the night chatting away, swapping stories and drinking the Mescal that I got pressured into buying at a local shop. A really beautiful night. We made fairly good time getting ready in the morning and after an unsuccessful search for some internet connections we were on our way towards the Guatemala border. This road had less topes, but definitely more drama. Everything was going fairly smooth until we hit the city of Juchitan. It was here that we started falling apart at 4pm. We took a turn and then thought that we were wrong so went back into town to go the other direction. That direction took us down some very narrow, one way city streets that looked like an earthquake had hit and after a while of that, turned around again to try another direction By this time I was getting antsy as I did not want to drive at night again. So tempers flared, directions were lost and it wasn’t until 5pm that we realized the first road we took was actually the right one, had we only waited another 5kms.

It got worse. The sun went down quick and we found ourselves doing the one thing all the guidebooks we have agree on and that is, Never Drive at Night. I now understand why. We came to a crossroads and took an exit that was very badly lit and hard to understand. It was here that I started stressing out. Pitch Black, Winding Mountain Road in the narrowest bit of Mexico that is notorious for a constant 50/mph wind. Yikes. After passing a fallen tree, getting passed by double trailered Semi’s and winding through a barricade on a bridge under repair I noticed that our destination wasn’t on one of the signs I passed. I immediately called out the names to my co-pilot in the back and we discovered that we on the wrong road. So we stopped at the next town and asked the gas station attendant, well more like told him, “We’re Lost”.

It was then we figured out that we should have taken the other exit some 30 kms back. Now I know to some of you, 30 km isn’t that far. But when you are driving a VW bus with two screaming babies, wind gusts, blowing you off the road and donkeys, cows and horses on the side of the road, 30 km is far. Very far. So we turned around at around 7:30pm and headed back to our missed exit. It was another treacherous drive, but we finally made it. Exhausted, Hungry and really needing a beer. We decided instead of pulling everything out of the van we would get a cheap motel room and get a real early start tomorrow for the border. $30 for the room, and $15 for food and beer. Which leads me to right now. Food is finished, there is one more sip of beer left and everyone is sleeping. So that’s where I’m going to go. But before I do, I’d like to say, “Muchos Gracious Mexico, Me Gusta Tu!”

Until next time....

For Photos Visit..

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=68317&l=c66c6&id=516192577