Sayulita!
Well that stinks, I put another post on here while we were in Mazatlan...but something messed up and it never got posted! So I guess Ill have to put a bigger one up here to explain what we've been up to!
We ended up making it to Guaymas from Sonoyta at about 4-5 pm, where we drove around and tried to find a place to stay, we opted for the dingy side of town due to costs (the well known, tourist area being San Carlos). We found a weird little road that led right along the ocean and at the end of it was a strange little hotel with no one around except for dozens of cats, called Hotel Leos. Since we were the only ones there and Leo was a pretty laid back guy, we ended up staying two nights, in an effort to recupe from the previous few days of hard driving. It was nice having this whole place to ourselves so we hung around on the patio all day, but didnt get any surfing in because its too far up the baja (no waves!). Woke up bright and early the next day and decided to make a run for Mazatlan (10 hour trip). We got to Mazatlan around 4ish, found a hotel down by the beach and stayed there for the night (where I tried to post another update, but failed!). On the way there, the Samurai decided to install its own anti-theft device, but disabling its starter motor! Sooo now we have to push the little girl everywhere we go in order to get it started. We had one embarrassing moment, when Ryan (whos new to the standard driving scene) stalled it going through a military checkpoint (there are loooots of these). Luckily the soldier there got behind us and pushed us till we were able to 'er going again, was quite funny and we all had a good laugh.
After leaving Mazatlan, we drove for 7 hours down to Sayulita, which is where we are now. We kept looking forward to hitting the rain forests, but I guess it never dawned on us, why they were in fact called rain forests. The down pour from Mazatlan to Sayulita was enormous, we were all wrapped in our jackets as we rode through it in the samurai...with massive amounts of water coming in through the top hole (the surfboard provided a weak roof..). The surrounding country was very nice looking though, but a lot of the time we were too focused on the road to pay much attention to it. The roads were a little poorer than other parts of mexico, so the potholes need to be avoided at all costs! Luckily not many people seem to drive on the different highways! Anyhow, got into Sayulita about 3-4pm yesterday, couldnt find a place to stay cause its sunday, its the off season and it was siesta time. So we ended up staying at yet another busted up hotel. We looked for a place to eat a nice thanksgiving dinner, but ended up at this sand bar/restaurant right on the beach (everywhere else was closed). So instead of turkey we had shrimp quesadillas (yes yes...i ate shrimp, the guy messed up our order!), it actually wasnt THAT bad, and we washed away our lack of stuffing/gravy bitterness with more than a few pina coladas! Found some guys in the bar (two stuntmen from Vancouver) who are staying at a great little place up the hill, so this morning we packed our stuff and headed up there, we booked 4 nights and the place is awesome, definitely the best place we've stayed so far! After driving this long of a distance through Mexico, a number of things have dawned on me:
1. Mexico is WAY bigger than I thought...no matter how far we go, the guatemalan border seems to move the same speed away..
2. The desert is beyond hot even in October
3. Rural Mexico stinks, we havent been able to pin point the smell (kind of a mix between raw sewage and fish guts), but its quite overbearing!
Anyhow, we're gonna hang out here and surf for a few days, then go farther south then hopefully east into the Yucatan! Ill probably post again tomorrow! Adios!
Bahhh, i tried to upload pictures, but it didnt work! oh well, mayhaps ill send them with the email, also below is the email update I sent out earlier, just wanted to post it on here!
____________________________________________________
Oct 5th
We stayed at Trents until tuesday morning, got off a little later than we wanted, but it was well worth it. Nick took the three of us surfing, then we all went out to lunch, then Nick actually gave us a surfboard, it was an old junker he had , but for us it´çs perfect! Everyone in Manhattan beach was so cool, mucho gracias to Trent and Kara for letting them stay at their place, and subsequently letting us handle all their guns out of curiousity (Trent let us pose with his 9 mm and combat shotgun..im pretty sure he was hiding an apache attack helicopter underneath the bed...). So with the board strapped to the roof, we headed down to san diego and crossed the border at about 7:00, much later than we actually wanted to. We decided to make the half hour drive to Rosarito (sp?) and arrived some time after 8, by which time it was night out. Couldnt find the hostel that we had originally wanted to stay in, so we looked around for a motel and found a seedy little dive for the three of us. We sat outside our room for the rest of the night, had some drinks, played some cards, then went to bed. Drove aaaall day today again, in an effort to get to a more hospitable environment. Weçre now in Sanoyta, which is on the border of mexico and arizona, very hot here. Our hotel tonight is a wee bit better than last night, but that doesnt say much. We had to go back up to the border to pick up our mexican visas, cause the first time through, we literally just drove through, they have some random system and we didnt hit it so we just passed through a gate and we were into mexico! The weather here is pretty damn hot for us cold blooded canadian kids. w´drove across desert for about 6-7 hours today, surrounded by sand, shrubs and cactuses, very hot, even if it is october. Tomorrow the plan is to get up early, and make a break for the coast, a place called Guaymas, itçs about a 7 hour drive from here so we think we can do it. The toll roads here are pretty great, no one on them and they´ve very similar to a canadian highway. The samurai is holding up great, and i think she enjoys the hot weather! Thats it for now, not much to report except for lots of driving and some heat! Miss ya all, until next time (which will hopefully be fairly soon...if it was easier finding the internet in these little towns that is!)
Jord
PS Mom, we really need to start looking into the whole "you flying down here to cook thanksgiving dinner" thing
We ended up making it to Guaymas from Sonoyta at about 4-5 pm, where we drove around and tried to find a place to stay, we opted for the dingy side of town due to costs (the well known, tourist area being San Carlos). We found a weird little road that led right along the ocean and at the end of it was a strange little hotel with no one around except for dozens of cats, called Hotel Leos. Since we were the only ones there and Leo was a pretty laid back guy, we ended up staying two nights, in an effort to recupe from the previous few days of hard driving. It was nice having this whole place to ourselves so we hung around on the patio all day, but didnt get any surfing in because its too far up the baja (no waves!). Woke up bright and early the next day and decided to make a run for Mazatlan (10 hour trip). We got to Mazatlan around 4ish, found a hotel down by the beach and stayed there for the night (where I tried to post another update, but failed!). On the way there, the Samurai decided to install its own anti-theft device, but disabling its starter motor! Sooo now we have to push the little girl everywhere we go in order to get it started. We had one embarrassing moment, when Ryan (whos new to the standard driving scene) stalled it going through a military checkpoint (there are loooots of these). Luckily the soldier there got behind us and pushed us till we were able to 'er going again, was quite funny and we all had a good laugh.
After leaving Mazatlan, we drove for 7 hours down to Sayulita, which is where we are now. We kept looking forward to hitting the rain forests, but I guess it never dawned on us, why they were in fact called rain forests. The down pour from Mazatlan to Sayulita was enormous, we were all wrapped in our jackets as we rode through it in the samurai...with massive amounts of water coming in through the top hole (the surfboard provided a weak roof..). The surrounding country was very nice looking though, but a lot of the time we were too focused on the road to pay much attention to it. The roads were a little poorer than other parts of mexico, so the potholes need to be avoided at all costs! Luckily not many people seem to drive on the different highways! Anyhow, got into Sayulita about 3-4pm yesterday, couldnt find a place to stay cause its sunday, its the off season and it was siesta time. So we ended up staying at yet another busted up hotel. We looked for a place to eat a nice thanksgiving dinner, but ended up at this sand bar/restaurant right on the beach (everywhere else was closed). So instead of turkey we had shrimp quesadillas (yes yes...i ate shrimp, the guy messed up our order!), it actually wasnt THAT bad, and we washed away our lack of stuffing/gravy bitterness with more than a few pina coladas! Found some guys in the bar (two stuntmen from Vancouver) who are staying at a great little place up the hill, so this morning we packed our stuff and headed up there, we booked 4 nights and the place is awesome, definitely the best place we've stayed so far! After driving this long of a distance through Mexico, a number of things have dawned on me:
1. Mexico is WAY bigger than I thought...no matter how far we go, the guatemalan border seems to move the same speed away..
2. The desert is beyond hot even in October
3. Rural Mexico stinks, we havent been able to pin point the smell (kind of a mix between raw sewage and fish guts), but its quite overbearing!
Anyhow, we're gonna hang out here and surf for a few days, then go farther south then hopefully east into the Yucatan! Ill probably post again tomorrow! Adios!
Bahhh, i tried to upload pictures, but it didnt work! oh well, mayhaps ill send them with the email, also below is the email update I sent out earlier, just wanted to post it on here!
____________________________________________________
Oct 5th
We stayed at Trents until tuesday morning, got off a little later than we wanted, but it was well worth it. Nick took the three of us surfing, then we all went out to lunch, then Nick actually gave us a surfboard, it was an old junker he had , but for us it´çs perfect! Everyone in Manhattan beach was so cool, mucho gracias to Trent and Kara for letting them stay at their place, and subsequently letting us handle all their guns out of curiousity (Trent let us pose with his 9 mm and combat shotgun..im pretty sure he was hiding an apache attack helicopter underneath the bed...). So with the board strapped to the roof, we headed down to san diego and crossed the border at about 7:00, much later than we actually wanted to. We decided to make the half hour drive to Rosarito (sp?) and arrived some time after 8, by which time it was night out. Couldnt find the hostel that we had originally wanted to stay in, so we looked around for a motel and found a seedy little dive for the three of us. We sat outside our room for the rest of the night, had some drinks, played some cards, then went to bed. Drove aaaall day today again, in an effort to get to a more hospitable environment. Weçre now in Sanoyta, which is on the border of mexico and arizona, very hot here. Our hotel tonight is a wee bit better than last night, but that doesnt say much. We had to go back up to the border to pick up our mexican visas, cause the first time through, we literally just drove through, they have some random system and we didnt hit it so we just passed through a gate and we were into mexico! The weather here is pretty damn hot for us cold blooded canadian kids. w´drove across desert for about 6-7 hours today, surrounded by sand, shrubs and cactuses, very hot, even if it is october. Tomorrow the plan is to get up early, and make a break for the coast, a place called Guaymas, itçs about a 7 hour drive from here so we think we can do it. The toll roads here are pretty great, no one on them and they´ve very similar to a canadian highway. The samurai is holding up great, and i think she enjoys the hot weather! Thats it for now, not much to report except for lots of driving and some heat! Miss ya all, until next time (which will hopefully be fairly soon...if it was easier finding the internet in these little towns that is!)
Jord
PS Mom, we really need to start looking into the whole "you flying down here to cook thanksgiving dinner" thing
posted by Jordan at 1:53 PM
2 Comments:
I can't believe it either!
Get used to the smell Jord, it's like that everywhere. I think Barcelona was the worst for us. We used to call it the stink of Spain. Until we realized that everywhere but Vancouver smells like. We're just spoiled here!
hah the shrimp wasnt actually that bad, although Jason and I smothered it in hot sauce!
Last night jason made us cheese quesadillas but with these super hot peppers, we were all smoldering, but it was better than shrimp!!
hah sometimes it FEELS like a johnny cash video, no really, it does
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