Shakedown Street!

"Both foreign and local drivers [in Acapulco] report being pulled over by police on trumped-up charges. Especially on  weekends and being pressured to pay a fine to avoid being hauled into custody."-Lonely Planet. More on this later...

Acapulco came in two parts...We got into town at around 4:30 on friday night and wanted to spend one night- catch the cliff divers at La Quebrada and blow out the next morning to Puerto Escondida. Well, catch the cliff divers we did and how! I think I saw these guys on espn2 about 15 years ago. They walk down through the gathered crowd and hurl themselves off a 40' cliff into a narrow slot of white surf. Then they climb up the opposite wall to a height of about 100' and after working the crowd for a few minutes they air it out. They time the swells so when they hit the water is deep enough not to die. Crazy.

Climbing..

Huge.

Minchelada bar in the trunk of his car!

The second chapter of Acapulco occurred on saturday morning as we were leaving southeast on the Mex200. You got it, pulled over. Now we've been expecting this and had rehearsed it on the drive. But to be honest, after over 2000 miles in Mexico, and having nothing but pleasurable interactions between us and the Federal and Municipal police we were....optimistic. Sure enough, they said we had ran a red a pedestrian stop (not a chance) and showed us a sketchy table of infractions and fines. About $4700 pesos.. ($400 US). We gave them my international license, just a fancy photo in a folder from AAA I bought for $20- not a legal lisence. Then being Saturday, they said they needed the plates off the car and the registration and we could get them back when we paid the court on Monday. Hmm. Think Brian, Think.... I put my hands out like they were awaiting handcuffs and said no. This stalled them for a second, but did not defuse the situation. Lots of rapid spanish ensued, and they said they could collect the money and "pay" the fine for us on Monday, while we went on our way. I was drawing a blank....They mentioned something about "no molestar & setenta dos horas." We knew this was just a scam and that we had very little risk of actually going to jail, but could not see the cheapest way out of the situation. And Bam! Lindsay did the best thing she could have and let flow some alligator tears. A lot of em. We had found the weak spot in their armor!! The offered to take just $2500 pesos. "No." Then $2000. "The most I can do is $1000." Then $1500....then a big wail from Linds (atta girl!). Then $1000. "Ok." So $1000 pesos lighter we made our way to Puerto Escondido. If it happens again, I wont speak any spanish and we'll do a lot more crying. Lindsay's high school drama class experience was priceless. Don't worry moms and dads, we had the situation entirely under control ;)

To make it all better, we surfed the Mexican Pipeline all afternoon today at La Punta in Puerto Escondido. Great times, and we look forward to the waves in Costa Rica even more now.

all better.

The cure for anything

Guanajuato is a place for lovebirds. And artists. And families. And history buffs. And foodies. And extreme bicyclists. We were pleasantly surprised that (after I was almost ran over by a bicycle!) the crooked winding streets were home to a urban downhill race our first day in town. Watching these guys (and gals!) fly around tight corners, jump over curbs and rumble down stairs was admittedly a little wracking to my nurse nerves. Luckily no one ate it too badly... that we saw. 

After we were filled to the brim with love and art and families and history and food, we packed Claudette up and headed southbound to Morelia, known for its history, infamous candy market and one of the most impressive cathedrals in Mexico. Any of you could probably guess what I was mostly excited about. 

Morelia was also the place where we decided to get an oil change for Claudette, as we had passed the 7000 miles traveled since leaving Portland marker!! Whooohooo!! (Dont worry...we had the oil changed and the van looked at in New Mexico... not as exciting, though) We found a little car shop conveniently right across the road from a pollo stand for lunch. Perfecto! The older mechanic was very patient and kind with us. The only oil they had was 25w50, which they said would be okay and our Chilton's guide said would be okay, so we went for it. Now I am not mechanically minded... so for those of you out there of the same kind... a normal weight of oil for a vehicle of Claudette's stature would be 10w30, a much less thick version of the oil that now runs in her veins. Come to find out... not the best weight for the van... so we are going to do the whole shebang again soon with the correct weight. Our expert van contact said there shouldn't be any damage to the engine. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

After meandering the interior of the country for a while, we packed it out to Zihuatanejo on the coast. Zihua is a mellow little fishing town graced by a calm turquoise bay. Lonely Planet said that the city has retained much of its charms, even though it is getting a little touristy, and we as, well, tourists, agree. Today we took a little fishing boat over to Playa Las Gatas for some snorkeling and sun gettin'. That mission, unlike the oil change, went without a hitch. Though we did wander around long enough afterwards looking for dinner fixins that we stopped for a 25 peso liter Minchelada (a delicious combo of beer, lime, salt and sometimes a dash of clamato) that Brian said was too good of a deal to pass up. And our fish market closed while we were wandering so we had a vege stir fry instead of pescado or camarones (fish or shrimp) stir fry. Still a success in my book. 

One of my favorite quotes which I find all too true sometimes; 

The cure for anything is saltwater; sweat, tears or the sea. - Isak Dinesen 

Though I find that right now my main problem is sweat from the humidity and heat that this little Portland body is trying to fight. And I guess that makes things pretty darn sweet.

The van is dirty. Kids are begging for it to be washed, haha!

Bike race in Guanajuato!

Watch out Brian!

Cathedral in Morelia. 

We were sitting on the sidewalk waiting for the mechanic to be finished when a very friendly candidate for the upcoming elections stopped and gave us a lot of swag! 

Mountains!

More mountains. Personally I cant get enough of um.

Mexicans have a love affair with the "tope".  I think I do too.  Makes you slow down and appreciate things you wouldn't otherwise see. And makes for a fun 3 second bouncy ride in the van. 

We were going for the iconic Corona commercial. Zihua in the background!

If We Just Head East, We'll Be OK!

Never, ever try to cross Guadalajara without a map and a lot of patience. We had camped the night before at a lake in a volcanic crater a dozen kilometers east of Santa Maria Del Oro. We woke up early and forego'd our showers and coffee as we wanted to reach Guanajuato, a fabled town in a narrow canyon form the 15th century. We arrived in Guadalajara at around noon. We barely got out by sunset! Every time we found a huge highway headed in the direction we wanted to go, it dwindled into a four lane road, then a two lane road, then a lonely one way dirt trail. We played this game for a few hours figuring that as long as we headed east, we would forge through this latin megalopolis and emerge on the other side (we had our compass out...). It did not work. The sun was going down.

The boys at Autozone must have saw us coming, because we left with $50 in maps. It turns out the fold out map of the entire country of Mexico is not sufficient in getting you unlost in a city of 4.8 million people.

A long story short, we got out of the city, and at around nightfall found found the small city of Tepatlitan de Morelos. This city is in none of the guide books we have -Lonely Planet, Overland guide to the Americas and Camping in Mexico mention nothing of this place. Yet, it is one of the finest Mexican cities we have ever been to. Wonderful cathedrals, beautiful architecture, cheap hotels and nice folks abounded! Ten tacos and a Coke were 70 pesos (13.3 to a dollar). Breakfast of chilequiles, eggs, beans, a quesadilla, and coffee's were under five bucks. Our hotel on the main square was US$22. Awesome.

uuuh..

one of many cathedrals in tepatitlan 

We could have stayed for days. Instead we booked it for Guanejauto. A short three hour drive and we approached the city. We had read about a city in a narrow canyon with underground roads built where rivers used to flow, but we were unprepared for this. A 15th century city almost untouched (because there is no room to mess with the city as its literally built in a ravine). We drove for kilometers underground in rough-hewn tunnels built on dry river beds under the city!

giant bag of cheez puffs!

about $10US(including beers)

view from our room!

view the other way! ($16US)

tunnels!

 It seemed the going rate for a hotel room in this place was about $1100 pesos. We were bummed. That is until we wandered around and found Hotel Diego Rivera. Not sure if the place was even in business, we crept inside and rang the bell on the wall. Really the place looked abandoned. "PASE, PASE!" Nervous, but curious, we entered. The old man looked down at us from two stories up and sized us up. "200 pesos!" he shouted. "OK!" we shouted back, and it was sealed. About $16US for a motel room in el centro de Guanajuato. The pictures don't do justice, but this place is amazing.

Oh yeah, I hit a parked car. Much drama, but cost 500 pesos($40US) and all was well. It feels good to get one out of my system :)

p.s. Apparently we are just around the corner from the birthplace of artist Diego Rivera. The name of the hotel should have gave it away. There's a museum at his birthplace that we'll explore tomorrow.

Hola amigos! I have timeshares for cheap!

A week ago we rolled into Mazatlan. Originally we would stay one night, speedily check out the old town, eat some fish tacos, and be on our way. Mazatlan is touristy, and touristy is what we are trying to avoid. After pouring over our Camping in Mexico by the Churches (our near-sacred text that we would be completely lost without), we found that it would be about the same cost to stay in a little motel with showers and free wifi (words that make us drool a little) as it would to park overnight in a dusty parking lot under the guise of a campground. Not on the beach. Hmmmm... what to do... so we found a little you-know-what-hole that looked semi clean, no cucaracha to be found (in the day light anyways) and had internet. I think the heat had maybe gotten to our heads, but the you-know-what-hole worked out.

The next day after getting a late start and a little south-o-the-border Walmart action (our french press broke!! And no, they did not have one) made us think that the five hour drive to Guadalajara was going to take us too far into the evening. Driving in the dark in Mexico is a little riskier than Brian, Claudette and myself are ready to handle. Potholes and crumbling shoulder-less roads are even more dangerous than any ne'er-do-wells that we might encounter. So we decided that Mazatlan could pry one more night out of our fingers, but we were going to stay at a different motel.

I am a believer that all things happen for a reason. The Mariana Hotel is one of those things. For about $30 USD a night we happened on an awesome little room with a amazing balcony, complete with a fridge, barbecue grill, and practically right on the beach. The owners, Alfredo and Vern are some of the greatest people one will ever meet. If you find yourself in Mazatlan, stay at the Mariana Hotel! It wasnt hard to talk ourselves into staying an additional five days. And they have flown by.

Navigating the bus system was easy, while finding our way through the Jaurez Sunday Market was not. This weekly market is the place to be on Sunday mornings, and evidently the whole entire city of Mazatlan was there. Tables and tents set up for what looked like three square miles. You can buy anything from ultra-fresh fruits and veges to parakeets to computers from the early 90s to underwear and shoes to shrimp and octopus. I really believed that if you had the time, energy and will power, you could find absolutely anything at that market. Trying to keep things simple and not too overwhelming, we stuck to pomegranates and quesadilla makings for the BBQ later that night. For under about ten dollars we had fixings for two of the tastiest dinners yet.

In between beach lounging, book browsing at a teeny used english book store, a little pool "borrowing" from a nearby resort and exploring the city on foot and by bus, we were making friends at the little restaurant downstairs of our hotel. Umberto fed us until we nearly burst at the seams while I was trying really hard to beat Brian at our Gin Rummy tournaments. Brian and Umberto bonded over the multiple sports games they watched together on the little 10" television screen.

We were especially lucky when Vern and Alfredo invited us to a BBQ and to the big Dia de Los Muertos party downtown. The Day of the Dead is a celebration of the lives of loved ones who have since passed. Far from being a morbid holiday, Dia de Los Muertos is a time for remembering, honoring,  and partying. And boy, do the Mexicans know how to throw a good party. It seemed everyone who was at the Sunday market showed up for the party and parade downtown. Many people were painted and dressed up as Catrinas, the iconic skeleton of the holiday. There were at least five brass bands playing all sorts of Mexican music. Everyone, including myself and Brian, the Catrinas, the bands and the multiple Burro-pulled "beer carts" joined into one big parade that danced itself across town. The only thing you could hear above the music and the laughter of the crowd, even more charmed by the free beer, were the booming fireworks overhead. What a night.

Tomorrow we will say "adios" to Mazatlan and our friends. Onwards to Guadalajara and a little town called Guanajuato. But I have a strange feeling that it wont be a goodbye, but a hasta luego to Mazatlan.

These feet were made for walking, and thats just what they'll do!

All the fresh fish and seafood you could dream about. 

The view from the Mariana. Not bad at all. 

Ready to bargain?!?

Master of the grill! 

Boiling and straining coffee the old fashioned way! I bet the old west cowboys used to strain coffee with their bandanas too. We miss our french press.

Sassy parade goers.

Old town. So beautiful!

Each burro cart had a different kind of beer. Yum! Beer for everybody!

I dont think the burro appreciated my advances ( :

Fabulous Catrina bride

Vern was making lots of friends!

Alfredo trying to teach me how to dance. Unsuccessfully to the chagrin of his poor feet.

Bug bites and hot nights

As Brian guides Claudette southbound on Mex 15, I sit cross-legged as the copilota counting the bug bites on my ankles, trying with all of my might not to scratch. It is all too often I give in to the urge, only to have the little bumps turn into larger, itchier, welts. The short lived satisfaction is mostly worth it. It is interesting to me how the time flows for Brian and myself these days. I don't know whether it is the country that we are driving through, or the fact that we wake up every or sometimes every other morning in a completely new place, but it feels like it couldn't possibly be only a week that has passed. So much has happened! 

I don't think I would ever tire of the Baja. The barren desert that appears so desolate, blooms into life when you move in for a closer look. We camped for free right on the sandy beaches of Bahia de Conception for a few days, never even changing out of our swim suits (don't worry, laundry was done just this morning!) While snorkeling along the sandy bottomed beach out to rocky cliffs we trespassed into another world, making the huge schools of palm-sized yellow and black striped fish hungry with curiosity, angering the funny territorial fish species, and scaring the shy sting rays almost hidden right below our bodies. 

The ferry from La Paz in the Baja Sur to mainland Mexico was an interesting twelve hours and 2,510 pesos. Our fellow ferriers were a group of high school kids, which introduced our ears to popular Spanish rap (Seems that Eminem is definitely global) and semi-truck drivers, whose rigs towered over our seemingly little van. We left at nine o'clock in the evening. The thrum of the enormous engines blowing greasy hot air into our van made for a very sweaty restless night. In the lounge the second-hand airline seats were broken and sticky, the Spanish movie skipped every 2-3 seconds, and one of the employees scolded us for eating crackers because it makes the rat problem worse. Some of the "extra" passengers were quite enjoying themselves on the trip over the Sea of Cortez. About four pelicans were taking advantage of the lights spilling off the deck in order to pick off unlucky fish near the surface of the water. Just before the sun was up, the shudder of the boat coming to a stop in Topolobampo woke us and we waited our turn to drive off the deck and back onto solid land. The next time we will ride a boat will be from Panama to Columbia. Im already getting excited about it. 

We were regaled with tales the very next night from surfer/part-time ex-pat/writer Richard. He told us about the (illegally) cartel-owned surf breaks close to our campsites in Celeste Gasca, and the near tragic fates of those who tried to surf them without paying. And I thought the tire-slashing stories of outsiders cutting into the the line-up of locals from surf breaks in Oregon were bad. Mexico is going to be great. 

San Ignacio Mission, built in 1728 

Full deployment. 

5 dust devils! 

Those are some good lookin' feet!

Our mighty barco (boat!)

Packing up for the night

Sweaty kids in love

Sinaloa sunrise. Brian said that its "artsy"!

The bugs are getting bigger!