Hola Amigos!

Hi friends!

Internet in this part of the world seems to be a hit or miss kind of thing - there are plenty of places advertising it but it rarely works, and half the time it´s just a computer in someone´s home. All in all it´s been a bit more difficult than I had hoped it would be to keep this updated.

My friend Eleise flew into San Jose Del Cabo on the 17th and Mirko and I picked her up at the airport. We stayed in Todos Santos for a few more days staying on random people´s floors, spent a night camping in La Paz on a patch of sand between the ocean and the freeway (not exactly a peaceful night). Some paper work, a lot of waiting, and several hundred dollars later we finally boarded the large Baja ferry in Pichilingue towards Mazatlan. The ferry was interesting and I found out I don´t have the sea legs I thought I would - all the tacos and beans combined with the rocking of the boat didn´t sit too well with my stomach and I slept for most of the 18 hour ride. It wasn't until we arrived in mainland Mexico that we were able to really start our journey south.

The mainland was much different than any of us had imagined it to be and was a very pleasant change from the touristic desert of Baja. Our first night we spent at a campsite in Sayulita, a small town just north of Porto Vallerta. While still a tourist trap it isn´t a desert; there are beautiful mountains and hills covered in green, and there are citrus, mango and avocado trees everywhere. Since Sayulita was a little out of our budget we packed up early and headed south looking for "real" Mexico. We sped through Porto Vallerta and tried not to look at the hideous resorts, Walmart superstores and every fast food chain you´d find in the states, covering the coastline. Finally away from mini Vegas and getting close to sunset we pulled over in a tiny fishing village called Chamela (population including dogs and cows: 50). There we found our own private beach that a family let us camp on and use their outdoor shower for a hundred pesos. The landscape was beautiful and helped us forget about the small dinner of rice and beans and the fact that three of us are crammed in our tiny tent. (The larger tent we were supposed to have was left in Baja with Mirko´s friend Franco who decided at the last minute not to come with us.) We all wanted to adopt one of the family´s adorable puppies that didn´t want us to leave in the morning, but after one of them bit me with his sharp little teeth we decided it would be more trouble than it´s worth.

We headed south looking for a place to chill for a few days and came across Barra de Navidad. This is a popular Mexican tourist destination and is very charming. The people here are friendly and the whole town has a lot of character. It´s set on a small peninsula and there is plenty to do. The locals tell us we´re here during the low season and the only english speaking tourists we run into here are surfers. We've been here a couple days now and will probably head further south tomorrow or the next day. We made friends with a local who owns a bar here and he´s cooking shrimp and vegetables for us tonight - no more tacos!

We've learned a lot of things the hard way and every new town brings surprises and valuable lessons. Hot showers are a luxury and a thing of the past, we each keep taking turns with small bouts of a stomach flu but there is really nothing to complain about. Laying on the beach, eating ripe mangos, learning Spanish (slowly but surely), and meeting lots of interesting people is our daily itinerary... not too bad if you ask me!

In the beginning...

It's been less than a week since I left San Diego and though it took a couple of days to shake off the stress of preparing for this adventure, I've slipped easily into the traveller's schedule. Which is of course - no schedule at all.

Monday afternoon Mirko and I crossed the border into Mexico with our fingers crossed - a little anxious that we may not have the right documents, enough money, a reliable car, or enough luck on our side. So far we have been very fortunate. A few hours south of the states we found a cheap campsite for the first night. Worried about missing daylight to set up camp we forgot to stop and eat and since there was nothing nearby we had a hearty meal of tuna, canned corn, and cashews.

The next day we woke up with the sun and set off on a long, hot day of driving. Most of Baja is brown - brown trees, brown roads, brown mountains, and even brown skies. After seven hours of brown and frightening winding roads, the turquoise of the bay at Bahia de Los Angelos was shocking and beautiful. After arriving in town and asking a few locals for directions we found Mirko's friend Mauro. Being a seasoned traveller himself, Mauro and his family made us dinner and took us to a hostel that he is in the process of building to let us stay for the night. Even unfinished it was a gorgeous place to stay with a view of the bay and the whole town (and all 1,500 people who live there). It may have had a hole for a toilet and cold showers, but they were showers nonetheless and the best night's sleep I've had so far.

Making our way south again, through more brown nothing and across the border of north and south Baja we made it to Loreto at dusk and set up camp at an RV park. While setting up we were invited to a party across the street by Marc, a friendly Canadian celebrating his birthday. His friends and family welcomed us warmly (thanks Roch!) and we had a great time. There was cake, guitars, and some amazing home cooked Mexican food - made with cactus! An older Mexican gentleman at the party told me that we couldn´t miss the sunrise, so we went to bed early.

The sunrise was well worth the early morning wake up and it was exactly how the gentleman the night before had told me it would be - "the water is silver, the mountains are black, and the sun is gold". The perfect way to start a day. We didn't have to drive quite as long to reach our destination this time and arrived in Todos Santos in the early afternoon. Mirko has spent a good amount of time here in the last five years or so and knows many people in town. The scenery changed a little the further south we got - still a lot of cactus and dirt but there is green, blue, and many beautiful flowers here also. We are staying with Franco (a Mexican/Italian friend of Mirko's) who treated us to a nice dinner last night. This morning we slept in (until 8am!) then I joined Franco at his yoga class, after some tacos and a siesta in the hammock I finally found a computer with internet access (very slow internet access) by the bay windows where all I can see is the ocean and a few palm trees.

All in all it's been a good reminder that a simple life lived on pennies a day is sometimes the best kind of life.