Do I even need to
start my posts with apologies for being so behind anymore? Seems I'm
making a trend of it… oops, I swear mom, I'll try harder. Anyways,
here is my long delayed first post of two about my trip to Mexico
over New Years.
Although I like to
think my life over the last 30 years has been more than just my
amazing journey across Africa (dig back through the archives if you
are unfamiliar), it seems to be the thing people often define me by,
and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little tired of it. Ever since
returning from that admittedly formative part of my life, I have
begun a new and completely different stage of life on a tiny island
in the Pacific Northwest, and as far as I am concerned, this is me
now and for the foreseeable future. My life went from being both
interested and able to travel the world without a second thought, to
living on and rarely leaving an island you can drive across in a few
minutes. And I've been more satisfied with this new life than any
other time before it. That said, I had the itch to go on another
trip out of the country for a few weeks and the slow winter was the
perfect time to do it.
The reason I choose
Mexico was primarily because hell, it's our neighbor to the south and
I still had never been! Years ago I intended on doing a big road
trip through Mexico and bought a 1970 Baja Bug with the intention of
driving that, but I found myself traveling Asia instead, then Africa,
then moving to the island, so it never happened. But now I felt I
wanted a big change of scenery, a little 'vacation' which I'd never
truly done before, and needed to scratch the international travel
itch again for the first time in two and a half years. This is how
it all went down:
Shortly after
Christmas, I loaded up my backpacks, the same two I've traveled with
for years, and got on the plane. I had three weeks ahead of me and
no real plan, but my goals were simple: surf, drink beer on the
beach, read, swim with whales harks and eat tacos. I wasn't looking
for a serious or in depth cultural experience, I just wanted to have
fun. And I had this crazy idea in my head I was going to actually
just hang out on the Baja Peninsula and relax for three weeks…
I had a late night
flight to Texas for a layover, but that allowed me to fly from Texas
to Cabo San Lucas in the daytime and enjoy the scenery changing out
my window. Arriving in Cabo was just as I imagined it would be: the
sun shining, blue water, picture perfect sandy beaches… and huge
resorts as far as the eye could see, exactly what I had ZERO interest
in seeing or doing. But it was OK, because I was not going to spend
any time there, I was headed north to Todos Santos.
Ever since I started
my travels and once I returned to America, I've worked to set my life
up in a way to allow a great deal of freedom and flexibility. My
boss has been great with that, and he actually connected me with his
uncle Gail (left), who owned some land in Todos Santos and was
willing to not only let me stay with him for a few days, but was even
going to pick me up at the airport in Cabo. This was all perfect,
and an awfully easy to begin my time in Mexico.
Gail had a piece of
land north of town, and when he bought it a few years back there was
no paved road and very few neighbors. Today the road is paved and
other non-Mexicans, mostly Americans and a few Canadians, are
building 'vacation mansions' all over the place. He calls it
“Gringo-landia” and it's beginning to feel a bit like the
suburbs. Gail has more simple tastes though, and for the time being,
just has a small building with a roof-top deck and two trailers on
the land. He uses the large one when he comes down and has a smaller
one for guests or to tow around Mexico and beyond.
After getting
settled a bit, we drove into town. Gail headed off to a meet some
people and I did what I usually do when I travel: wander the streets
to get a feel for the place. Todos Santos was even smaller than I
expected it to be, and it didn't take long before I'd walked every
street in the core. It certainly has a strong expat vibe to it, with
plenty of shops and restaurants (and pharmacy) for tourists and
American residents, but it still seemed to have a lot of soul. I
have to say, I did enjoy the 'developing world' feel of some of the
streets, but in general the town center is clean, organized and
developing fast.
With 'eat tacos' as
one of my primary goals for my time in Mexico, when Gail and I met up
that evening for dinner I had a few tacos as well as a torta. And I
have to say, the food was delicious
and cheap.
The
next day we headed out for a walk into the hills behind his place.
It was hot, dry and sandy, with the ground covered in low brush
mostly, but as we headed over a few hills and to a small drainage
where water flows in the rainy season, we found ourselves surrounded
by cactus about 15
feet tall. Very cool stuff.
In
the afternoon Gail continued to show me around. For this round, we
hopped on his quad and drove down to the beach which was maybe half a
mile down from his property.
It
was a perfect Baja day with the sun shining, the waves breaking
towards the yellow sand and hardly a cloud in the sky. I wandered
down the beach for a while and eventually sat down to read a book,
another thing on my 'to do' list for this trip.
(So
this is a lousy photo, but I hope it gets the idea across.) As it
turned out, my trip lined up perfectly to see the gray and humpback
whales. Both from the beach and from Gail's rooftop where this photo
was taken, I could look out at the water and at almost any time see
one, two or even three whales jumping, slapping their tails or firing
water from their blowholes. It was really incredible, and I watched
for a very long time, making reading my book a bit challenging. This
photo is also a good representation of the kind of vacation homes
foreigners are building in the area.
As
I said, I watched for a long time, and from the rooftop was treated
to fantastic sunsets every night.
One
of my main goals for this trip was to spend time surfing. I've only
been surfing a few times in my life so wasn't any good yet, but I was
hoping by this trip I'd spend a lot of time on a board and improve my
skills. Life seemed to have another plan though, and a week or so
before I left on the trip, I hurt my back…
That
said, I still wanted to get out and play in the water and decided a
body-board would be a decent compromise given how I was feeling. So
Gail and I loaded up the truck and headed to the Los Cerritos Beach.
His favorite water activity is long-distance swimming, so he went
out for a swim, while I hit the waves.
With
my injured back my abilities were limited, but the water was
comfortable, the beach was rock-free and I caught a lot of nice waves
before heading back to land. To be honest, the place was a bit of a
zoo, but it's clear that it's the perfect beach for easy waves and
beginners, so the popularity makes sense. It was also pretty clear
how fast the place was developing, soon I'm sure road will be paved,
new resorts will move in and the shoreline will fill with expensive
rentals.
On
that note, Gail decided to show me the scenic route back north to
Todos Santos, and we took the dirt coast road. He said this was
where the hippy surfers on the 60s and 70s set up their camps and
while you still saw a few of those holdouts, the land now is all
divided up into small parcels and people are building fancy homes all
over the place.
A
little wildlife as we drove the sand/dirt roads back into town.
Another
sight we went past on our little tour/exploration was some pretty
surprising farmland. This area was surrounded in dry rocky hills on
both sides and the “soil” if you can call it that seemed to be
nothing but beach sand, but they were growing amazing looking
basil and other crops! Of course I live on a small scale vegetable
farm back home so I notice this kind of thing, and I have to say I
was impressed. Confused, but impressed. I guess they just spray a ton of fertilizer on it?
Like
every night, Gail and I went out to dinner, eating delicious Mexican
food for just a few dollars usually.
New
Years was upon us and while I'd been really enjoying my time with
Gail, I decided I wanted to find some people my age and find a party.
The obvious choice in the area was Pescadero Surf Camp, a
backpackers/surfers place that I knew would be full of people looking
to hang out and have fun. It was just what I was looking for, and I
quickly met a bunch of people my age and found the party for the
night.
Naturally
it was a 'gringo-party' but I have to say it was a lot of fun, and
whatever, I'm a gringo too.
Huge
bonfires on the beach, giant mansions, bands, DJ's, pools, bars and
people in cat costumes with suspiciously large pupils, it honestly
looked like something out of the movies. After a while the fires
burned down and I climbed in the surf-van of a Canadian I'd met at
the surf camp (there were a LOT of people from BC down here) and
headed back to the after-party at the camp and then to my tent to
sleep. It was just what I imagined it would be like.
New
Years day I got a ride back into Todos Santos with some other
travelers in their rental car (which seems to be the best way to
travel around down here if you want to camp/surf and have much
flexibility). There headed to the clinic in town to get a shot for my
back pain. In true Mexican style, they didn't even ask for my ID, or
anything else before giving me meds, but I loved how easy it was and
pondered how much effort it would have taken in the USA. For the
service, meds and 3 shots over 3 days, I think I paid less than $20.
I told them I didn't want a pain killer, I just wanted an
anti-inflammatory, and received a shot that made me feel better
almost immediately. Then I went back to Gails where I googled it and
found out it was an opioid based pain killer…. Oh well.
Since
I was unable to surf as I'd hoped to do when I thought up this trip,
I felt I'd pretty much exhausted the options in the Todos Santos area
and took a bus to La Paz. My time there was nice though, and my host
Gail had been wonderful, a great introduction to Baja and an awfully
easy way to begin the trip. I still don't know what I was going to
do with the next two and a half weeks, but I felt like I had my feet
under me now and was starting to get the hang of the country already.
The bus was nice and modern, the road was pretty good but had that
'not quite up to Western standards' feel to it, and in a short time I
found myself on the inland side of the Baja Peninsula, in the city of
La Paz.
It
was surprisingly difficult to find a cheap place to stay, as one
place I looked for no longer existed and the next place was closed
for the weekend (huh?) but I wound up, as many backpackers do, at
Pension California. It was just a few blocks up the hill from the
water, has a big colorful courtyard and lots of international
travelers, I met many cycle tourers in particular. I wanted to relax
for a few days in this town because it seemed like a particularly
nice place, so I got myself a cheap room that had two beds, a private
bathroom (with limited hot water) and a TV that got one static-filled
channel of Mexican news.
After
settling into my room and laying down for a bit (I must be getting
old) I went for my usual walk around town. The stats say the town
has 215,000 people, but it felt much smaller than that. The 'old
town' where I was staying was easily walkable, beyond that seemed to
be sprawling houses and a modern shopping mall full of American chain
stores I'd seen on the bus in. I did find the old town center and
wandered into the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de La Paz which was
nice, despite the gaudy “Jesus and Winter and Christmas Lights”
scene you would expect to see in a tacky American shopping mall.
Back
at the malecon, the waterfront area, I wandered from the hart of the
action to the very edges, stopping to admire the pelicans and gulls
on the way.
More
beach scenery.
Postcard
perfect sunset over the beach. That night I wandered around by
myself, feeling 100% safe by the way, in search of some nightlife and
people to socialize with. As it turned out, there wasn't any… Most
of the restaurants closed very early, I'm talking like 7pm early, and
a few of the expensive waterfront bars remained open but had few
patrons and didn't look like much fun. I was surprised, and ended up
eating dinner alone at one of the few places I found that was
actually open.
One
of the big draws for visitors in La Paz is the whale sharks. After
shopping around a bit, it seemed everyone was just offering the same
thing at about the same price, so I got on board a boat from the
beach and headed out.
The
boat had about 6 people besides myself, and after 15 minutes or so we
were on the other side of the low penensula outside of La Paz where
the whale sharks (which are actually large filter-feeding fish) hang
out. The boat was extremely unprofessional, and didn't even have
working snorkel gear for everyone, despite that being one of the
promises of the tour operator… glad I had brought my own mask and
snorkel…
To
be honest, I knew what I was getting myself into when I signed up,
but I couldn't help but feel a little bad for the fish. The outing
essentially consisted of the boat I was on, plus half a dozen others,
chasing these fish around, then letting the tourists jump out to swim
with them, many people (not myself) grabbing the fish, the fish
swimming away, and then climbing back in the boat to chase them
again. This seems to happen all day, every day.
That
said, the fish themselves were pretty stunning. It is something I've
always wanted to do, a goal of mine that was foiled way back when I
was in Africa thanks to a hurricane, so now I was finally making it
happen. The fish we saw were “young ones” and only about 15-20
feet in length, but to be in the water with such a creature was
really something special. And I have to say, they seemed
surprisingly undisturbed by the presence of all the people.
After
chasing fish for 45 minutes or so, everyone on the boat was tired
from swimming, and we headed back into town. The short nature of the
trip, which was said to be 'half a day' and the total lack of
equipment made it feel like a rip off and I was pretty annoyed with
the place I'd signed up with, but it wasn't worth fighting over and
the experience was honestly worth it.
The
swimming and the time in the sun did tire me out pretty effectively
though, so I had an easy rest of the day. After dinner at a local
place that was supposed to be a 'sports bar', which like before was
one of the only restaurants I could find that was open, and again, I
was pretty much alone in, I bought some beers to take back to the
room and laid in bed to watch some Star Trek, haha.
Staying
with the water theme, as is pretty much the focus of much of the
action on the Baja peninsula, the next day I went on the day trip to
Isla Espíritu Santo, a small and uninhabited island that is a
protected nature area. I'd read a little about it, and the highlight
was supposed to be the ability to swim with sealions (seeing a theme
here?) but I honestly didn't know exactly what to expect. Myself and
the rest of the group who signed up hopped in a van and drove about
40 minutes outside of town, passing the ferry terminal where I'd find
myself returning to shortly.
The
boat was pretty basic, but large and well suited for the trip. After
everyone got wetsuits, fins, masks and snorkels at the marina, we got
under way.
As
I said, I didn't know what to expect, but what I found was mile after
mile of truly dramatic and unique coastline. The tremendous variety
of rock formations along the way, combined with the clear waters
below made for an amazing contrast.
After
about two hours on the water and a great conversation with a woman
from Iran who worked at the IMF in Washington DC, we arrived at the
last little island in the chain, Los Islotes, where the sea lion
colony lived. On this small jagged piece of rock, largely white from
gull poop, sat dozens upon dozens of sea lions laying in the sun.
Of
course the big event here is to swim with them and I donned my
snorkeling gear with excitement.
I
was amazed how they seemed totally comfortable with people around
(and there were a few boats worth of people), but watching their
agility as swimmers, it was clear we were very much in their world.
It was mostly the young ones in the water, but they were active,
playful and curious. They seemed to be enjoying themselves as much
as us people did!
Even
though the sea lions were great to watch, I also found myself
enjoying the tropical fish and small bits of coral. Now this was no
huge coral reef or anything, but there were some pretty interesting
fish and plant life, and it was great fun to explore this new world
with my camera.
This
little one swan straight towards me and right over my shoulder.
After
the group had it's fill of snorkeling with the sea lions and
exploring the area, we regrouped on the boat and headed to make our
lunch stop. This ended up being in a tiny little cove ringed with
more great stone and a perfect white-sand beach. Naturally, I had to
drive off the bow.
The
boat from our lunch spot. Pretty nice huh?
It
had been a few years since I've spent any time with a mask and fins,
but it felt great to be back in warm waters again and testing my
limits when it came to staying under.
I
had already felt like I'd gotten more than my monies worth from this
outing, but we had one more stop, a tiny island with a huge bird
colony. Covering the entire surface were cormorants, gulls,
pelicans, herons and blue footed boobies.
We
watched the sun go below the horizon with the sound of the birds in
the background and I though to myself how glad I was to be there
right then.
At
this point I was really unsure what to do with all the time I had.
Because of my back problems I couldn't surf, the main reason I came
to baja, and after reading some advice for the area, I felt like I'd
kind of already seen the highlights, though admittedly only at a
glance. So I walked and I wandered and tried to figure out what to
do next.
Naturally,
I had tacos and beer frequently, even with a hurt back I could do
that!
On
the advice of an older traveler I met at the hotel, I hopped on board
a local bus, a diverse fleet made up of old American school buses,
and went for a ride. The buses here just meet at a central location,
near the main market, then drive in various loops around town. So I
paid my couple of pesos and took a tour of the neighborhoods in the
area.
There
were a lot of similar looking dusty streets with small cinder block
houses, but there were also a number of new developments in the area
such as the condos on the hill here. Although I wouldn't say the
place felt particularly dynamic, there was an obvious sense of
modernization and development, and unlike in Todos Santos, this was
not based on foreign tourism.
Wandering
through the market. Unfortunately I didn't need a cowboy hat, nor a
pink guitar at the time.
One
of many, many churches I walked past.
For
dinner, instead of going to a normal resturant, I just went to the
food court in the market. This entire plate of chicken, beans, rice
and salad was about $2, and was fantastic.
A
statue on the water front.
By
this point I'd decided I didn't need any more beach and because I
wasn't any good at relaxing after all, decided to change my flight.
Instead of spending the entire three weeks on the baja peninsula and
flying in and out of Cabo, I'd take the ferry to the mainland, work
my way down to Mexico City and fly home from there. I wish I'd
picked this option all along, but I had this crazy idea I'd be happy
relaxing on the beach. Silly me.
The
ferry only goes from the peninsula to the mainland twice a week so I
had some extra time to kill in La Paz, but once the day came to catch
the boat I was excited to be on the road again and looking forward to
seeing some fresh scenery in this great country.
I
arrived at the terminal, which was surprisingly nice and began to
wait. And wait. And wait. As it turned out, the boat was running
about 6 hours behind schedule and didn't arrive until nearly 10pm
that night, giving me a solid 8 hours to sit around. It wasn't too
bad though, because I met a few other travelers also waiting, had
some surprisingly great food from one of the windows in the terminal
and go to see a fantastic sunset, though it would have probably been
nicer from the water. The journey across the Sea of Cortez to
Mazatlan was supposed to be 16 hours, but would turn out to be a bit
longer.
Now
of course I live on an island and much of life there runs on the
ferry schedule, so I have a special interest in ferry boats. This
particular boat was like none I'd ever seen. Built in Korea in 1978
and only recently acquired by the Baja ferry system, it has a rear
opening bay and a tremendously strange looking series of levels and
ramps for cars and trucks, and a tight, steep multi-story
stair/ladder climb to the top for passengers. It was a strange and
sort of unfriendly feeling ship, but I thought it was pretty awesome
and was looking forward to exploring.
Above
the car levels, there were two levels that were made up of overnight
rooms for the passengers, a dining area, a movie area and a large
deck at the rear of the ship to watch the scenery.
After
spending a few hours in the waiting room together before the boat
finally arrived, both myself and the other travelers, from Austria,
England and another American, were ready for a few beers. There were
a handful of other western and/or white people on board, but it was
pretty much a local affair. And then it turned into a bit of a
party, with people of all types buying by the six-pack and drinking
up. After a while we connected with some young Mexicans, who were
part of a traveling band and it was fun talking to them out on the
deck of the boat until late into the night and into the early hours
of morning.
Many
people traveling by the boat buy a room to sleep in, but as many or
more don't. At some point in the evening, the locals started rolling
out blankets, setting down pillows and claiming the choice spots on
the floors or in the movie room chairs to sleep. I planned ahead as
well and brought my pad and sleeping bag, and decided I'd figure it
out at some point.
At
about 3am all the beer was drunk and even the young Mexican guys had
gone to sleep somewhere, so when no one was looking I climbed onto
the roof of the boat next to one of the smoke stacks and decided to
sleep under the stars. This turned out to be a less than brilliant
idea, because it was way too cold even with my gear and I got very
little sleep.
Shortly
after 6am, it began to get light and climbed down to the main level
outside and watched the sun rise over the water. Because it had been
dark when we began the journey I never saw the shore, and now that it
was finally light I looked out expecting to see land, but was greeted
by calm waters in every direction I looked. It was beautiful.
That
said, after a long night and almost no sleep, I was tired, and the
scenery outside (water in every direction) wasn't changing much, so I
went inside to the movie room. They played a mix of movies, from a
serious drama to a comedy, to a kids movie to some action movie that
seemed way to violent for kids. I thought that was funny. They were
of course all in Spanish, but they were nice enough to turn the
English sub titles on most of the time.
I
couldn't watch movies all day, so I'd alternate between movies and
the sun deck. Outside I mostly just leaned against the railing and
stated at the water, but a number of times I was lucky enough to see
whales in the distance and even a few dolphins swimming and jumping
in the wake of the ship. Yep, I was in the Sea of Cortez alright.
In
the early evening we were still a long ways from land and many people
gathered out on the deck to watch the sun go down and I've got to say
seeing the sunrise that morning and the sunset that evening from the
boat was pretty cool. A bit after 8, more than 20 hours after
starting, the boat finally made land and my new traveling friends and
I found a hotel room to share. From when I arrived at the terminal in La Paz on the Baja peninsula to the terminal in Mazatlan on the mainland: 34+ hours.
We
were now in Mazatlan, a place I knew nothing about, but I knew the
name as a big vacation destination for Americans and expected an
exciting night life and beach scene. So we set out into the night
and found…….. nothing. I was amazed, it was a ghost town. I
think we walked for at least 3 kilometers down the beach, and found
less than 5 open restaurants/bars. There was a beautiful waterfront
area, there were restaurants, bars, hotels and condos everywhere, but
every one of them seemed to be completely empty. What happened to
this place? We asked one of the few locals we saw and he told us
“Just wait till the weekend!” but I didn't really believe him.
Waking
the next morning.
Deciding
to give the place another look (and with plenty of time to kill) we headed down the same area in the
daytime, found breakfast somewhere and walked the same waterfront.
Yes, there was traffic this time, and it looked like the
postcards, but it still felt totally empty and dead. I was very
confused.
From
there all three of us went to the bus station and bought tickets to
three different locations. My bus and the bus from the other
American weren't for a few more hours, so we walked the town together
and found ourselves in another colorful market.
One
of the larger and more interesting squares in the area, with a large
chapel along side.
Great
color and an architectural style I really enjoyed.
A
smaller area and bit of beach south of the main waterfront of
Mazatlan, I thought this was especially nice looking area.
By
the evening it was time for me to catch a bus, and I was heading
inland to the city of Zacatecas, the cite of one of the Spanish mines
that made them great riches in the new world. I was really ready to
get away from the beach by this point, because although swimming with
whale sharks and sea lions was awesome, at some point a beach just
feels like a beach anywhere and I was ready for some diversity. It
was clear that Mexico had a lot to offer and I was ready to explore.
Well,
that was part one, the 'water' part of the trip. Next up will be the
'land' section with highlights including the impressive colonial town
and silver mine of Zacatecas, horseback riding to a volcano,
exploring Mexico city and the Teotihuacán Pyramids.
