Week Nine, Hello Belize

Week 9

Goodbye Mexico, Hello Belize

May 18^th- 24th

Day 57-59, Mon-Wed.: Bacalar, Mexico

On Monday we went into the town of Bacalar and were able to do some internet, specifically to contact the Belizean Agriculture Department. We had forgotten that we needed to apply for a pet application to take Wallace into Belize, so we called them and requested one (hoping that it wouldn’t take too long). She told us that we just had to fill out the application in an email she would send us and wait for it to be returned to us in the next few days (It only took 2 days!). John walked around town and did some light shopping while Kindra did some internet in the central town square where the internet access was free. After asking around town for other camping in the area we realized we had already found the best spot in town! We decided to stay there for the rest of our time in Mexico while waiting for Wallace’s application. The rainy season is starting here in Central America and we had been experiencing torrential downpours in the evenings. We’ve been really blessed to have the camper during these midnight storms, its stayed dry and we only have a couple small, fixable leaks. John found that the best way to stay “dry” and fix last minute leaks while the rain was coming down was in the nude. No wet clothes and a shower all-in-one!

After doing some minor tune ups on my bike, John rode into town the next day to buy groceries and do more internet. Bacalar is a nice little town with a friendly feel. We originally had thought we would stay in Chetumal but really fell in love with the little campground and lagoon. Kindra stayed behind to hand wash some of our laundry. We had the camp to ourselves except for one other couple tent camping next to us. The spot where we were camping was a little piece of property that was owned by a family, and maintained by a couple of sweet older ladies. John had a close call with a falling coconut just about hitting him over the head as he came out of the camper that afternoon. And his first experience cutting open a fresh coco with the “multi-tool shovel” that Dan and he had bought at the gun and knife show in Tucson. We relaxed most of the rest of the day did a little swimming laid in the hammock and repeated. We were mostly waiting for Wallace’s paperwork to cross legitimately into Belize with him.

(picking coconut)

Again John rode his bike into town to check on a few things online and to replenish our water. We have been more careful here on the mainland about drinking filtered hose water, and have been buying the bottled variety instead. The bottles are extremely cheap and it’s just a lot safer than taking the chance even with our filter in the camper. We also haven’t had much luck finding hoses with sufficient water pressure to use the filter anyway. We received word from the office in Belize processing the paper work for Wallace that we would be good to cross the border on Thursday. That afternoon we did some snorkeling in the lagoon, Wallace watched from shore. We made a fresh batch of caramels to take into Belize, as our last batch from the Baja was getting a little stale. We hung the hammock that evening and did some reading and watched the sunset together. We made dinner that night with the remainder of our fresh veggies as we wouldn’t be able to bring across the border.

Day 60, Thur.: Barton Creek, Cayo District, Belize

Thursday was along day. We packed the truck and camper in the morning and headed towards Chetumal to find a larger grocery store for some dry food staples, and things we weren’t sure we would be able to find anywhere except Mexico. We had been joking that just as we are getting used to the food in the country we leave, but we were sure to stock up on the essentials. Lots of cookies, pastries, real butter and hot sauce, because obviously you all know we are the perfect models of health and healthy eating, yeah right. After driving around town we found a Mega Bodega and loaded up. We have been trying to find an air filter for the Dodge for about 2 weeks now and they are seemingly impossible to find. We stopped at a diesel specialty store in Chetumal and after waiting for 15 minutes for service then another 10 for them to look for the filter we ware turned down again. We headed towards the Belizean border and the first stop was the exit out of Mexico. After being approached by 2 different “helpful” young men offering to speed up our exit process (whose services we thankfully turned down) we had our passports stamped, and paid our exit fees. The next stop was the Banjercito where we canceled our vehicle permit for Mexico. It was any easy transition, not a lot of traffic or confusion. So our first journey down though Mexico was a complete success! We would like to take the opportunity to have you all now breath a sigh of relief knowing we are out of the much feared, dangerous and dreaded land of violence and swine flu… alive and healthy!!!

Next stop Belize 100 more meters down the road… our first order of business was vehicle insurance that we bought as soon as we crossed the river into the country. This was something you have to do before anything or you cannot drive n the country. Our first impression of Belize was: informal, unorganized, and multi-cultured as we were flagged down by a man, not in uniform, pointing to us to park and buy insurance. We reluctantly did so, and after entering the office I realized it was a legitimate establishment (the only one in town) and purchased 2 weeks worth of vehicle insurance for the truck. Next we checked ourselves, the truck and Wallace in at the customs office. After a brief inspection of ‘Little Boy’ (Wallace) and the contents our truck and camper, we had the truck fumigated and we were street legal for Belize. The whole processes, including leaving Mexico, only took a few hours. We stopped to get some local produce and had some lunch at a small park on the ocean. Since Belize is so small we decided to head straight for some free camping that we were given directions to just outside of San Ignacio (just near the Guatemalan border in the west). The northern part of Belize is similar to the Baja, dry and more arid than the further south which is more tropical and jungle-ish. They speak a form of English here called Creole or Kreol, and use the standard measurement system so all the road signs were back to a familiar language and demarcation. The sun quickly set and we were in the dark for the last part of the drive. The road into Barton Creek Outpost was awful and long. We had no idea we would be crossing any water (which we had to do) luckily it was more of a shallow broad stream than a river. The first of this type of thing we have encountered it was a little unnerving in the dark of night, but not a big deal. Getting closer to our destination we saw some head lamps come out of the forest towards us. We were a little freaked out to see 2 young girls and a boy all dressed in Mennonite (similar to Amish) clothing staring at us as we drove by… can you say ‘Twilight Zone’ or ‘Children of the Corn’ MUCH? The volunteers at the Barton Creek Outpost warmly welcomed us and we posted up camp for the night.

(Wallace'a purple butt!) (the stream we crossed at night that looked much deeper in the dark!) (gotta love hitchhiking)

Day 61, Fri: San Ignacio, Belize

It was a beautiful sight in the morning; Barton Creek Outpost sits on a beautiful piece of jungle property on a river surrounded by trees and tropical flora and fauna. In our haste to arrive the day before we didn’t have time to re-stock our produce and we were out of much needed propane so we headed out towards the town of San Ignacio. Just before leaving our ‘little boy’ had his first unpleasant experience of the trip. There were two large Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs on the property that did not have a chance to properly meet Wallace the night before. When they “met” the next morning they charged Wallace and gave him a souvenir he will never forget, they literally ripped the little guy a new one! We stayed calm and cleaned the little guy up and headed into town for some vet advice. Little did we know that the medicine spray he gave us would dye his little butt purple! On our way back from Barton Creek we picked up a backpacker also heading out of the back country area who had been camping on the Mennonite land for a few days. We had a nice chat in the truck and he gave us some info on the people who are apparently responsible for a major part of the agriculture here in Belize. There are over 40 families of Mennonites in the area. After groceries, and some medicine for Wallace we filled the propane tank with butane (what they use in Belize) and followed our couch surfing host’s directions to the Parrot Nest. (If you aren’t already signed up on couchsurfing you should, it is a great way to meet people and help out travelers in your area or if you are on the road and need a place to stay!) The Parrots Nest is a hotel for travelers in Belize that is set up like a hostel with a communal dinning area, bathrooms and 4 or 5 cabanas all sitting on a small peninsula of a river that flows out of Guatemala. We were greeted by some of the workers who said Marcus (our contact) would be back later. We put up the camper and later that day met the owners Theo, Marcus and there kids Chloe and Katia and their 3 dogs and 10 puppies. There were also a handful of other guests staying at the “nest” that we were able to mingle with and later do some day trips, have dinner and, watch movies with.

(Katia and Jasmine) (Marcus and Skip) (Papusas...all gone!!!)

Day 62, Sat.: San Ignacio, Belize

On Saturday we went into town to the Saturday market, a ‘Belizean’ Tiangues (the outdoor markets in Mexico). Our new friend Skip was generous enough to take us and two of the girls staying at the Nest all in his vehicle. We ate some local food called papoosa and drank fresh ice cold watermelon juice (Kindra’s favorite). Skip bought some shrimp for dinner that night. After a brief tour of the town we headed back to the Parrots Nest for a swim in the river. The water temperature is amazing here and the current is just right for relaxing and cooling off. Kindra busted out her jewelry making stuff after the swimming and had the girls make some jewelry for themselves. We seemed to have really found a great spot, and some great people. Her research and our new membership to Couch Surfing has really paid off!! We were treated to dinner that night and the seven of us ate all together outside on the large back porch of their house.

(one of the Mennonite women) (John & Marcus in the cave) (Big Rock Waterfall) (Rio Frio Cave)

Day 63, Sun: San Ignacio, Belize

Sunday was awesome… with some amazing sightseeing and adventure! Marcus and Skip took us on a tour of a few of the local natural “gems”. The first place we drove to was Rio On Falls, a series of small waterfalls that flow into separate pools leading down a mountainside that creates a sort of natural water park. Wallace was in heaven and we all got a nice waterfall massage. Next we went to the Rio Frio cave, a massive cave that cuts under a huge mountain with ceilings hundreds of feet above your head, stalactites and stalagmites that hang down, and a crystal clear river that runs through at the base. It was truly amazing and a breath taking place. The last of three spots was Big Rock (falls) where we did some sweet cliff jumping, swimming, and playing around in an awesome waterfall. When the rain started to fall we decided to head out but still got caught in the downpour. Good thing too because the steep climb back to the top was mighty muddy and the more it rained the worse it got. On our way home we stopped at a jungle Cantina where Kindra sampled some of the local distilleries; Caye-luea (Kahlua), coconut rum, Be-lize (Baileys) cream and 100% blue agave mescal from the Tequila region of Mexico. The bar owner and his friends fried up some homemade cheese stuffed spicy peppers, fresh from his garden, and they were delicious! John enjoyed watching the guys polish off ¾ of a bottle of Tequila… and he drove home the rest of the way!! We made curry for anyone who was hungry and we watched the movie “Twilight” with two girls staying here (Alex and Yasmina, super sweet) and Skip (super awesome).

Ciao for now… love John and Kindra

P.S. Our plan for next week is to leave our truck here and get a lift into Belize City where we will take a boat to one of the islands (Caye Caulker). We will be there a few days snorkeling our butts off!

Week Eight, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Week 8

Quintana Roo, Mexico

May 11^th-17^th, 2009

(View from where we camped in Catemaco)

Day 50, Mon.: Catemaco, Mexico

The drive to Catemaco was amazing; it was apparent that we had finally entered a tropical zone. Mango trees were everywhere and the humidity was kicking! We were both awestruck by the rolling hills, the most beautiful deep green forest, views of the jungle and mountain farms. Kindra and I both agreed it was some of the most beautiful scenery of the trip thus far. We stayed in a small lake town called Catemaco where we camped one night next to a small restaurant with a grassy lot for campers. Catemaco was a little higher in elevation and gave us a break from the humidity of the beach.

(John's b-day at the ruins in Palanque)

D 51-54, Tues-Fri: Palenque, Mexico

We woke the next morning to the sound of a thousand birds screeching and calling in the huge tree above us. I took Wallace for a nice morning walk on the malecon (boardwalk) and we packed up and headed out. Although it we were next to a lake it wasn’t as tranquil as we had thought. We decided to head out towards Villahermosa… when we discovered that the place to stay that was recommended in our travel book was a spooky parking lot at a fairground! We decided to drive the extra 100 plus miles to Palenque where we encountered our first Mayan ruins of the trip. Again the drive was full of wonderful jungle scenery and extreme sticky humidity; love that AC in the truck (although we only use it 5 percent of the time… when Wallace looks like he is going to pass out from so much panting)! We are scared to think that it is only May, what will June be like?!!!! We arrived late afternoon in Palenque and found a nice camping spot called Mayabell’s Campground that was snuggled back in the jungle and surrounded by palms, huge jungle and ginormous trees. We passed out early as the drive from Catemaco to Palenque was one of the longest days we’ve had.

(Mayabelles campground)

So this next part is really cool, we had read in our travel books that this place was special and some interesting things usually happen at night time. I was woken out of a dead sleep to the eeriest most exotic sound I had ever heard. Around 1am, I woke Kindra up (she had her earplugs in) to hear these sounds I thought for sure to be Aliens coming to take us away or the Mayan gods calling out to us for our sacrifice. I seriously have never heard anything even close to these sounds; it was like a cross between a huge mountain cat screaming, a dog howling and an alien spaceship landing, in stereo, coming out of a rotary speaker, all around us, going on for at least an hour. We had read about the howler monkeys at night in this area, but had no idea it would sound like this….what a way to start my Birthday!!!! The next day Kindra and I hiked up to the Ruins, walked all around and took pictures of the amazing structures, temples, tombs and residences. Palenque is said to be some of the most impressive of the Mayan ruins in Mexico and we were glad to have caught them, even if we did sweat more than either of us ever have in our lives! After coming back to the camp that afternoon, we went into town to get water and Kindra surprised me with some b-day pastries from the market yummy… ‘fatties must eat’ on their birthday!!! Then again later that afternoon we heard the monkeys up in the trees and were actually able to catch a glimpse of a baby and one of the larger males, moving from tree to tree. This was my first experience seeing monkeys in the wild and on my birthday to boot! There was live music every night at the Mayabell campground in Palenque, Kindra and I mostly enjoyed the music from the camper. The nights in the jungle were extremely hot and humid but thanks to our new fan we managed to stay ventilated. Because we would be crossing into Belize soon I decided to try and re-head my Asiko drum with the goat skins from Ramon in Guadalajara. The skins had a lot of small holes all throughout them and I was unable to use the one I soaked. The other two I gave to one of the worker/volunteers at the camp ground because he said he had been looking for some and wanted to make a drum. It would have been too much of a hassle to try and bring the skins into Belize.

Day 55 & 56, Sat. & Sun: Bacalar, Mexico

We left Palenque around 10am that day and headed towards Chetumal. It was a 300 mile drive, but it went surprisingly fast. It was so worth the trip; we arrived around 7pm and happened to find the most amazing camping spot we have seen yet!! While searching for a place in one of our Mexican camping books, we stopped to ask a local a good place to camp. He directed us to an unmarked lot on the “lagoon of seven colors”. We pulled in and were amazed at the small grassy lot, surrounded by palms and covered in grass. The lagoon was fresh crystal clear, refreshing, blue water. The sun was beginning to set and there was an amazing cooling breeze coming off the water. The two of us enjoyed the rest of the daylight and the tranquility of our jewel of a camping spot!! Sunday is a crowded day for any beautiful spot in Mexico. All the locals seem to know where all the good public swimming holes are. The beach/campground was buzzing with Sunday picnickers and day-trippers. Kindra and I busted our snorkel gear out and took Wallace out for his first boogie board ride while we checked out the underwater life. There are 2 large shade structures on a small peninsula where people hung their hammocks and had lunch. It was a lazy day for all of us and a great way to end the week! Sorry for the delay on the last 2 weeks of bogging it has been difficult finding internet. Also, we have read that the internet in Belize is few and far between and supper expensive when you find it. We will most likely post when we get into Guatemala.

(Clear warm fresh water!!! Oh yeah!)

Ciao and love Kindra and John

Week Seven, More of the Mainland

Week 7

Mainland, Mexico

May 4^th- May 10th

(The region of Tequila, Mexico)

Day 43, Mon.: San Sebastian (south of Guadalajara), Jalisco, Mexico

After leaving San Blas we headed east to the city of Guadalajara where the family of Louis, Kindra’s dad’s employee, live. The drive east was nice and easy and we stopped on the way to pick up some local unusually shaped bananas. They were happy to have us stay in there home in a small suburb of Guadalajara called San Sebastian. Chuy, Lois’ sister greeted us at their front door and invited us in for dinner, a nice surprise after the long drive from San Blas. That evening we relaxed, and met the rest of the family including Louis’ dad and mom and Chuy’s adorable daughter Nayeli. Marcos, Chuy’s husband, informed us that it would be safer if we slept in their house at night and park the truck in a gated lot just across the street from the house where it too would be safe. Ramon, Louis’s father, invited us to see their ranch the next day. We chatted about politics, the swine flu, and Catholic Saints… we tried to follow and understand some of his stories (all in Spanish mind you), Kindra interpreted for me!! We were warmly welcomed and given a soft bed and our own room with a bathroom. After both taking much needed showers we went to bed.

(Luis' mom, me, his siter Chuy and her daughter Nayeli)

Day 44, Tues.: San Sebastian

The next day we slept in a bit and went for a walk to small neighborhood market and bought some fruit and bread for breakfast. Louis’ mom and Chuy made us a delicious breakfast, and we headed over to the ranch with Ramon. On the ranch they raise pigs, goats, chicken and cows and have a few horses. They also grow corn for the animals, alfalfa, parsley and beets. It was one of two ranches we would visit and a beautiful piece of land. The truck had been running kind of hot the last few drives through the mountains and I was not sure if it was just the elevation or the thermostat going bad. I purchased a new one just before we left Tucson and decided to switch them out just to be safe. Unfortunately I didn’t have one specific tool and was unable to do the repair without the help of a local mechanic who I asked for help the next day. After attempting to work on the truck. I took a long nap while Kindra went out to do laundry, buy a fan for the camper and some internet. We all had an early lunch/dinner of chicken sopa and sopa de fideo for Kindra (sin carne, without meat). Later that evening we went on a tour of downtown Guadalajara with Cesar (Chuy’s cousin) and Chuy. It’s a beautiful city and was nice to have someone who new it well to drive us around. When we got back to the house Kindra and I were a bit hungry and we remembered we had seen people selling assorted fried foods in the village square so we deiced to check it out. We had a nice conversation w/ the woman who sold delicious homemade potato chips and french fries. Then went back to the house for nice healthy dinner of chips and fries before bed!

(Guadalajara center) (Wallace's intro to goats) (John on the ranch with the cows)

Day 45, Wed.: San Sebastian

Again sleeping in the next day, we woke up to a nice big breakfast of chilaquelas, frijoles and tortillas mmmmmm!! Marcos called a mechanic down the street from the house that morning. He came to the lot where the truck was parked and helped me change out the thermostat that morning for only $50 pesos, that’s about $4 bucks!! We went to visit Ramón’s other ranch property where they make feed for the cows, raise roosters, have more goats and grow saud. I don’t know if I mentioned or not but back on the Baja the head to my Ashiko drum split while we were in the mountains of San Javier, I was totally bummed. Well anyway I noticed at this other ranch there were a number of old goat skins dried out in the sun. I offered to buy some of them and the nice man to whom they belonged said he would give them to me as a gift!!! What a nice surprise and now I can re-head my drum…again (pardo ate the original!!) That evening Marco and Chuy took us into the state capitol of Jalisco called Tlaquepaque. We walked around the town square and sampled some of our first street food, sweet corn tamales. Again it was a real treat to be taken to a place w/ people who knew the area. We are so grateful to have stayed with Chuy and Louis’s family. They were more than kind to us and sent us on our way with full tanks of water, a wonderful feeling of hospitality, and the love of a beautiful family. Our time in Mexico was truly enriched by the opportunity to stay with such wonderful people!!

(The local mechanics helping John get the right tool)

Day 46 & 47, Thur & Fri.: Erongaricuaro, Michoacán, Mexico (Bosque Village)

From Guadalajara we trekked east into the mountains to a small sustainable living community called the Bosque Village. Located just outside of the town of Erongaricuaro, the village is set up in the mountains and the setting reminded us more of Colorado than Mexico. The elevation was a bit higher than Evergreen, CO at around 7,500ft above sea level. Brian and Marie welcomed us and we had a nice dinner of raw cabbage salad and lentils. The land that the village sits on is about 90 acres and has about 5 to 8 small cabaña/dorm quarters for residence and volunteers (and many spots for tent camping!). They use self composting toilets of which there were around 5, and they are fully into and practicing permiculture. Kindra and I had access to a small communal cabaña near the entrance where we ate breakfast for 2 mornings and did some light reading and a bit of yoga. We would have liked to have spent more time here and possibly volunteered but our time in Mexico was quickly winding down due to our Mexican auto insurance running out. We only stayed 2 nights but it was a refreshing, relaxing experience for sure, and we picked up our first “hitchhiker” her name was Emily. Emily was hitchhiking through Mexico down Central America and to Peru; we gave her a lift to Puebla, on her way to Oaxaca.

(The common room at the Bosque) (Composting toilets) (Our hitch-hiker Emily)

Day 48, Sat.: Atlacomulco, Mexico (near a national forest)

On our way to Puebla to avoid Mexico City we went south and stayed in a nice foresty area just outside of the town of Atlacomulco. Here we had a nice night and some good sopa de fideo in the camper w/ our new house guest Emily. There were some neighboring dogs (at least we think they were dogs, we doubt they were coyotes because we saw some dogs nearby earlier when we set up camp) that were hanging around the camper that night and bustling the leaves… a bit spooky! We headed out the next morning and again went a southern route to avoid the inner city of Mexico City.

Along the way we encountered the first of three authority figures of the day. While passing through a small town a local police vehicle pulled in front of the truck and signaled me to pull over. I pulled over and the officers explained that I could not have the goat skins on the roof unless they were in a bag, a little shaken but unscathed, I hopped up on the camper roof and wrapped the skins in a tarp and headed off after a bit of persuasion. The next, of our three encounters, was heading up a mountainous road where another local group of police signaled us to pull over, and informed us we were not permitted to drive a diesel truck on Sunday and we needed some sort of code to continue down the road that he would happily give to us for a “fee”. After explaining to the officer we had no money he proceeded to ask for the sunglasses clipped to Kindra’s sun visor, after which he inspected and realized they were cheap dollar store shades he waved us on. At this point the delays had taken up a bit of daylight and we were loosing time to get to our destination. We arrived just outside of town and decided to ask where would be a good place to camp from some of the locals. They then directed us to a vacant auto lot around the back of town. It seemed safe and a nice woman told us she would notify the local police we were staying there the night and to patrol the area for us. Later that night the Mexican police showed up and we all had a very friendly and comforting conversation about the town and our safety. A few of them spoke English, and Kindra and I learned what a “Sancho” is. I’ll explain it some other time.

Day 49, Sun.: Veracruz, Mexico

We left the next morning on our way to Puebla, we dropped Emily just outside of the city and she headed out to hitchhike down to Oaxaca. Kindra and I were planning on having some Mole in Puebla as we heard it was very good but were unable to find a good place to park and a restaurant where we could have Wallace so we headed to Vera Cruz. A girl that we contacted on Couch Surfers met with us and tried to explain where to find the restaurant, but to no avail, thanks for trying Zeo! We arrived in Veracrus just before the sun went down and finally found RV park just outside of town. We were worried to see no one there and the gates were locked… oh no! Kindra called the number that was in this great “Mexican Camping” book that we bought before the trip, it has been our bible! Someone came within minutes and we were in! It had showers, electricity, and a pool down the street that we could use. We had the whole place all to ourselves and were right on the beach. It was super humid and sticky though and a expensive! We decided one day was enough.

Week Six on Mainland Mexico

Week 6

Mexico (Mainland)

April 27^th -May 3, 2009

Day 36^th, Mon: Los Cascabeles Lake

On Monday we had a long day of driving and went all the way from Guaymas to Culiacan. Culiacan was a pretty big city and we were surprised to see Wal-Marts and Home Depots… AHHH global capitalism! This was a long drive day for us on little sleep so we were hoping to find a nice place to camp for the night. Thanks to the trusty GPS my dad got me… I was able to see that there was a lake nearby and we took a chance that there would be a place to camp. We stayed there just outside of the city on the beach of the small fresh water lake where local farmers brought their cows and goats to drink. It was nice and quiet and we both got some good rest… and it was free!

Day 37, Tues: Mazatlan

We headed out early the next morning on our way to Mazatlan. We’ve made it almost all the way up to this point on WVO (waste vegetable oil). When we got into Mazatlan we noticed a lot of chain restaurants like McyD’s and Murder King. Well I couldn’t help myself… I had to see what the oil situation was like at places like this in Mexico. I had refrained from asking places like this in the states due to the corporate world catching on to the use of WVO for biodiesel and most places selling there oil to big biodiesel making companies. McDonalds was my first stop, no luck though apparently a guy was already on top of the used oil scene in town and came around once a week collecting it. Burger King next, hooraaay they had around 10 gallons of good oil for me that they gladly poured into our jugs. I proceeded to walk around town and ask just about every establishment if they had any waste oil. Kindra meanwhile got us set up on “Couch Surfing.com” where a nice fellow by the name of Bryan got a hold of us and let us crash at his place for the 3 days we were in town, thanks a million Bryan! We had a shower, a kitchen and place to fill our drinking water… not to mention his air-conditioned apartment where we watched movies in the evening.

Day 38, Wed: Mazatlan

On Wednesday we drove around town stopping at a about every chicken fry and taco joint we saw and managed to gather another 10 or 15 gallons of oil, so all together about 25 gallons in 2 days!! (Mazatlan is a pretty typical tourist town with lots of resorts and big stores.) So I have to tell a little story to all of you following our follies. I made a bit of a mess on Wednesday during my pre-filtering session. On my search for oil I came on a restaurant that had close to what looked to be like 10 gallons of oil. Upon my return to the truck and before filtering it, I realized it was mostly dirty water with a little bit of oil mixed in. So I had to figure out what to do with this dirty oily water right? Some of you may or may not know most of Mexico does not have sewer systems (I did not know this). I did find what I thought to be a storm drain on the wall next to our friend Bryan’s house. I thought this probably leads into the sewer and water treatment facility for the city right…wrong! Turns out that the drain was some sort of overflow catch for rain water for the house next door’s bathroom. A man was waiting outside for us when we got home from town that day holding a bucket, asking why we had poured oily water into the overflow. I was totally crushed, embarrassed and stupefied. I had no idea that was where the drain led and feared I had ruined this nice man’s bathroom water. After a stressful 30 minutes to an hour I figured out a few phrased to help explain myself, offer my help and apologize. The man did not want my help and seemed rather indifferent about the whole thing so I gave him some caramels and told him if there was anything I could do to right my wrong to let me know. Of course all the while I was under the impression that this man I had been so apologetic to was the home owner. Well in an effort to inform all the involved parties I told our host Bryan of my mistake and he basically laughed out loud when I told him. I asked, “Why are you laughing?” and he said, “That guy doesn’t own that house… he’s just a security guard and that’s a repossessed drug house!!!” It made me feel a little better, especially considering I was ready to give this security guard my bike as an apology for making a mess of his bathroom water. No more pouring stuff down drains that I don’t know where they lead. I’m just gonna do like the Mexicans do and throw it out in the street! J/K.

Day 39- 42, Thur.- Sun:

We left Mazatlan on Thursday afternoon after I finished filtering the oil and Kindra mapped out our journey south to a little town called San Blas. We arrived in San Blas with just enough light to find a sweet spot right on the beach. We’ve been here for 3 days and really like the town. Kindra and I both agreed when we arrived here the “vibe” was really good and we felt comfortable to stay. On Friday we rode our bikes into town and did some exploring and Internet. San Blas is a cute little surf town with a nice town center and a strip of restaurants along the beach that cater to Mexican tourism. The Beach has a fresh water river leading into the sea on either side where fishing boats and harpoon fishermen bring in the catch of the day. The “no-see-ums here are brutal and we’ve both started a nice collection of bug bites. Saturday we drove around town looking for oil. Not nearly as much luck as in Mazatlan, but most places had 1 to 2 liters at most to get rid of. It seems that they do cook with oil but in much smaller quantities and just throw it in the sand on the beach or in the trash can when it’s black and used up. Hey, I’m not complaining though… we collected around 2 ½ gallons so its all good! This morning John had to help someone again who got stuck in sand right near where we were camped. She said she worked in the restaurant just near here and we could go there for dinner as a way to pay us back for the help. We may go by just to get some oil and fill up on water!

We’ll be on our way tomorrow heading for Guadalajara to see and stay with the family of Luis, Kindra’s dad’s long time employee and family friend.

Ciao, k&j