Estreli
Once in Nicaragua we had to figure out where to spend the night. We decided on Estreli. This was a little city in Nicaragua untouched by tourism. Luckily we found an awesome hotel where the owner let us camp in his secure parking lot for the night for super cheap. He also gave us tons of great advice on places we should visit. Another friendly country. That night we explored the streets of Estreli, ate at a vegetarian restaurant and ate cheap ice cream. It was nice to stroll the streets of a city where no one wants to sell you anything. It was the real Nicaragua. The next morning we got talked into breakfast at the hotel and then went shopping at the fruit market.
Laguna de Apoyo and Granada
We finally left Estreli and decided to head to Granada. On the way Karen read about another crater lake that sounded worth checking out so we made a detour. We drove down into the crater and started looking for a place to camp. Fortunately we ran into the nicest couple at a hotel that told us to camp for free a little ways down the road and past the basketball court. Perfect! We followed the directions he drew with leaves and found a great little spot right on the lake. It was a local washing, bathing and fishing spot. We set up, went for a swim in crystal clear water and cooked up an awesome dinner. That night we were ready to settle in and play a game of scrabble when we heard voices down at the lake. We went to investigate and we found a honeymooning couple fishing with a few locals so we joined in. Fishing consisted of baiting a hook with a freshly caught sardine, then throwing it lasso style out into the lake before pulling the line back in by hand. Fishing the simple way. We were going to stay out there until Pete caught a fish, but after 3 hours he hadn’t had a single bite. Karen caught a little fish that she returned to the lake and Peter our local fisherman caught about 10. He must have cheated. The next morning we jumped in the lake to wake up, cooked up an awesome feast and chatted with the local Jehovah’s witnesses. We were going to spend another night there, but were advised against it due to the influx of party hardy’s that come from Managua for the weekend. So we packed up and took off to Granada. Once we got there we parked and walked around for hours looking for a place with parking. We finally found a hostel that had free parking at the local firehall so we went for it. The beds were awful, but the shower had water and the owner Gus was hilarious. That evening we went for dinner and ran into two friends that we’d met in San Pedro and invited them to Cafe Nuit for live music later that night. Then we found a cheap restaurant on the street and were entertained by some awesome break dancers and were unfortunately harassed by a cracked out young boy. So sad. The live music that night was incredible and the dance floor was intimidating. They can really move their hips. We definitely need to practice more.
Playa El Coco
The next morning we decided to head to the beach. Our original destination was San Juan del Sur, but when we got there we knew we had to leave so we headed south on a dirt road to Playa El Coco which we’d heard was the prettiest beach in the area. 15km and an hour later we arrived in paradise. It was a small strip of beach with a few private homes and a restaurant. We lucked into an empty lot that we were told we could camp in for free right on the beach. It was too good to be true. We went for a swim, poached the shower and bathrooms at the restaurant and chatted with the local guy who lived on the beach with his family. That night we hung out with a super nice Nicaraguan couple on their honeymoon who were also camping on the beach and spoke English so we were able to discuss poverty, politics and baseball for the night. The next morning our bubble burst. At 7am we woke up to a work crew coming to build a wall around our free campsite. The last “public” access to the beach was about to disappear because the mayor illegally sold all the waterfront property to gringos. So sad. The Nicaraguan couple were planning on returning some day with their family, but it was not to be. I can totally understand wanting waterfront property, but it’s sad when the locals (and cheap tourists) lose their beach access. The work crew didn’t mind that we were there so we decided to spend another night and leave the next morning before the landowner arrived. It was our first drizzly day for awhile so we lounged around, checked our email and tried to stay out of the worker’s way. Then we went to bed early as we decided to hit the Costa Rican border the next morning. We didn’t spend much time in Nicaragua, but again we were getting pulled south.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Honduras
Three Countries in One Day!!
The Honduran Border
Up and out the door before the sun was up, we were ready for anything. Before we reached the border the tramadores(supposed helpers) were already hassling us. Knowing that they wouldn’t give up and that it is a confusing border we decided to pick one early on so he could fend off the other vultures. Exiting El Salvador was quick and easy, it was paying off that we got an early start, because there were no lines. Off we went on to the dreaded Honduran side. Here our tramadore went to work, moving quick, stressing out, and getting little done. He kept telling us to relax but he was the one who needed a chill pill. The main office opened at 6:00am but the office dealing with tourist vehicles didn’t open till 8:00am, which left us hanging out with all of the border rats for the next two hours. Karen stood guard over the van while Pete waited patiently at the office door waiting for the grumpy border officials to come to work. We were almost on our way without any problems when our “friend” insisted he needed 15 dollars which he then handed over to a police officer who wasn’t even paying any attention to us, in fact he had his back to us and was reading the paper. Neither of us understood this fee and weren’t happy. Then 20feet up the road four more police officers stopped us and wanted $20 because we didn’t have a list of all our belongings (Pete made Karen throw our list out two days before). Pete had enough by this time and told the officers that he had all the time in the world and started a list on a pad of paper. After a few minutes they waved us through, Karen ripped the paper work out of the tramadore’s hand and gave him a measly $4 tip for his services not so well done. He should have quit while he was ahead.
Honduras
•Police check #1: “Hi, this will be really easy for you two if you give me enough money for a drink”
Bribe $1.00(probably got two drinks out of that, he was happy)
•Police Check #2: “Hi you’ve got a big problem. You don’t have any reflectors. All micro buses need reflectors, why don’t you have any? This ticket will cost you $200.00 at the bank and we’ll keep your licence or you can pay us $40.00 here.”
Bribe $5.00(with a bit of smooth talking)
•Police check #3: “Why are all the police officers asking for money at these check points?” He smiled and we were on our way.
Bribe $0 (Guilt trip: priceless)
•Police checks 4, 5, 6, 7 “Sorry we have no more money and yes we have our safety triangles and a fire extinguisher.” “Thanks have good day.”
Bribe $0 and a smile.
We decided to make a detour and try a smaller border crossing that was up in the mountains. This was great because it was five to ten degrees cooler and the border was very relaxed with no one bothering us. We arrived at noon which meant that it was closed for one hour for lunch. We used this time to unwind and have lunch ourselves. Once it opened we breezed through the border process and were in Nicaragua.
The Honduran Border
Up and out the door before the sun was up, we were ready for anything. Before we reached the border the tramadores(supposed helpers) were already hassling us. Knowing that they wouldn’t give up and that it is a confusing border we decided to pick one early on so he could fend off the other vultures. Exiting El Salvador was quick and easy, it was paying off that we got an early start, because there were no lines. Off we went on to the dreaded Honduran side. Here our tramadore went to work, moving quick, stressing out, and getting little done. He kept telling us to relax but he was the one who needed a chill pill. The main office opened at 6:00am but the office dealing with tourist vehicles didn’t open till 8:00am, which left us hanging out with all of the border rats for the next two hours. Karen stood guard over the van while Pete waited patiently at the office door waiting for the grumpy border officials to come to work. We were almost on our way without any problems when our “friend” insisted he needed 15 dollars which he then handed over to a police officer who wasn’t even paying any attention to us, in fact he had his back to us and was reading the paper. Neither of us understood this fee and weren’t happy. Then 20feet up the road four more police officers stopped us and wanted $20 because we didn’t have a list of all our belongings (Pete made Karen throw our list out two days before). Pete had enough by this time and told the officers that he had all the time in the world and started a list on a pad of paper. After a few minutes they waved us through, Karen ripped the paper work out of the tramadore’s hand and gave him a measly $4 tip for his services not so well done. He should have quit while he was ahead.
Honduras
•Police check #1: “Hi, this will be really easy for you two if you give me enough money for a drink”
Bribe $1.00(probably got two drinks out of that, he was happy)
•Police Check #2: “Hi you’ve got a big problem. You don’t have any reflectors. All micro buses need reflectors, why don’t you have any? This ticket will cost you $200.00 at the bank and we’ll keep your licence or you can pay us $40.00 here.”
Bribe $5.00(with a bit of smooth talking)
•Police check #3: “Why are all the police officers asking for money at these check points?” He smiled and we were on our way.
Bribe $0 (Guilt trip: priceless)
•Police checks 4, 5, 6, 7 “Sorry we have no more money and yes we have our safety triangles and a fire extinguisher.” “Thanks have good day.”
Bribe $0 and a smile.
We decided to make a detour and try a smaller border crossing that was up in the mountains. This was great because it was five to ten degrees cooler and the border was very relaxed with no one bothering us. We arrived at noon which meant that it was closed for one hour for lunch. We used this time to unwind and have lunch ourselves. Once it opened we breezed through the border process and were in Nicaragua.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
El Salvador
Playa El Zonte
It took us awhile to exit Guatemala, but when we entered El Salvador we knew right away we were going to like this country. Everyone was super mellow and friendly, even the police officers. The empty scenic coastal road wound us through tunnels all the way to Playa El Zonte. Once there we were flagged into a hotel where they agreed to let us camp in their parking lot for $7 a night. The hotel and restaurant was right on the beach, had hammocks everywhere and the staff were incredibly friendly. We spent the next two nights lounging around, studying our Spanish, chatting with the locals and playing in the white wash. We also had our first meal of cheap papusas (fried tortillas filled with cheese, beans and some kind of meat). We were going to stay longer but we met a friendly local who told us not to get stuck on the beach and that we needed to explore more of his country.
Lago Coatepeque and Cerro Verde
Lago Coatepeque is a crater lake surrounded by nice homes, hotels and restaurants. We camped in the parking lot of a restaurant, relaxed on their giant dock and swam in the refreshing water. While hanging out here we met a ton of very friendly locals, at one point our van was surrounded by an El Salvadorian family who was very interested in us and our trip. The next morning we drove a long way up out of the crater and continued up to Parque Cerro Verde, a group of three volcanoes clustered together. The tours up to the top didn’t start until 11 am so we had time to join a group of police officers for some breakfast. We had the choice of hiking up to Santa Anna which was the highest of the three with a crater lake on the top and a 360 degree view, or Izalco which wasn’t as high but offered a more difficult hike. We opted on Izalco because it was a lot cheaper and our police escort said it was his favourite. He turned out to be a great guide with lots of information on the area, and stories of the civil war. At the top there were many steam vents which could quickly burn you if you weren’t careful. The only disappointing thing about the summit was that it was lower than our starting point so we started the hike with 1300 steps down to the base of the volcano, then a hike up and back down the volcano meaning that the hike ended with 1300 steps back up. That evening we relaxed at a beautiful campsite overlooking Volcan de Izalco and enjoyed the cool mountain air along with 100 city church kids camping for their first time.
Ruta de las Flores and Suchitoto
We left our campsite early and made our way to Juayua, a small town originally known for its coffee culture and now for it’s crazy weekend food fairs. We got there on Saturday so we parked the van on the edge of town and wandered around until we discovered an awesome hostel that was just opened by a guy from France. He let us camp in his beautifully tiled, open air garage, perfect! Then we went to the food fair and indulged in a couple of meat platters and some fresh fruit shakes. When we got back from the food fair we ran into a Peace Corps volunteer and two engineers without borders that were staying at the hostel and were going to some local waterfalls so we joined them. At the end of a long dirt road we arrived at a beautiful wall of waterfalls that fell into a big fresh water pool. The water was almost cold! It was heaven for our hot bodies. That night we drank an entire bottle of wine while chatting with the owner of the hostel and a Swiss guy and then went out to a bar for some food and conversation. The next day we had a bit of a late lazy start and then we started doing some much needed work on the van. We installed our thermoswitch and fixed the relay for the 2nd stage fan that the Guatemalan mechanics had messed up and finally got our horn working!! Now we can honk at everything! Then a whole swarm of Peace Corps volunteers arrived at the hostel for a game of basketball with some locals. They invited Pete along so we went into town and Karen cheered them on. No one kept score, but they were all dripping with sweat and had smiles on their faces. That night we were exhausted so we went out for dinner and then hung out at the hostel, attempting to get caught up on our journals. We left the next morning and followed La Ruta de Las Flores through a few small coffee towns where we stopped and overindulged in sweets and coffee so that the rest of the day we felt ill. We finally looped around to Suchitoto, a small colonial town that we’d heard was the heart of El Salvador. It took us awhile to find a place to stay, but we finally found a local piscina down by the lake that was more than happy to let us camp on their property. We were super hot so we quickly hopped in the pool to cool off. Then we spent the evening chatting with the family and went to bed early. The next day we set off to explore the town, but everything seemed closed. We wandered around in circles for the day and then finally made our way back to the pool, did some laundry and had another quiet night. The family there was so sweet that when we went to pay for the night they gave us a framed picture of their church as a gift. The people here have such warm hearts and really love people visiting their country. I guess to them it means that the civil war is finally over.
Santa Rosa de Lima
Travelling in El Salvador was an unexpected surprise. We thought that we would pass through in a few days, but ended up staying for over a week. We wanted to stay longer and return to the beach, but something was telling us to keep moving south so sadly we left Suchitoto and headed to Santa Rosa de Lima to spend our last night in El Salvador before our day of border crossings to get into Nicaragua. After turning down one pay by the hour hotel that had a jumbo roll of toilet paper and a mirror above the bed (need I say more? There were also condoms on the nightstand) we found one that seemed half decent, had wifi and air conditioning. That evening we blasted the A/C, finally worked on the blog and went out for awesome and cheap papusas at a local papuseria and went to bed to rest up for our big day.
It took us awhile to exit Guatemala, but when we entered El Salvador we knew right away we were going to like this country. Everyone was super mellow and friendly, even the police officers. The empty scenic coastal road wound us through tunnels all the way to Playa El Zonte. Once there we were flagged into a hotel where they agreed to let us camp in their parking lot for $7 a night. The hotel and restaurant was right on the beach, had hammocks everywhere and the staff were incredibly friendly. We spent the next two nights lounging around, studying our Spanish, chatting with the locals and playing in the white wash. We also had our first meal of cheap papusas (fried tortillas filled with cheese, beans and some kind of meat). We were going to stay longer but we met a friendly local who told us not to get stuck on the beach and that we needed to explore more of his country.
Lago Coatepeque and Cerro Verde
Lago Coatepeque is a crater lake surrounded by nice homes, hotels and restaurants. We camped in the parking lot of a restaurant, relaxed on their giant dock and swam in the refreshing water. While hanging out here we met a ton of very friendly locals, at one point our van was surrounded by an El Salvadorian family who was very interested in us and our trip. The next morning we drove a long way up out of the crater and continued up to Parque Cerro Verde, a group of three volcanoes clustered together. The tours up to the top didn’t start until 11 am so we had time to join a group of police officers for some breakfast. We had the choice of hiking up to Santa Anna which was the highest of the three with a crater lake on the top and a 360 degree view, or Izalco which wasn’t as high but offered a more difficult hike. We opted on Izalco because it was a lot cheaper and our police escort said it was his favourite. He turned out to be a great guide with lots of information on the area, and stories of the civil war. At the top there were many steam vents which could quickly burn you if you weren’t careful. The only disappointing thing about the summit was that it was lower than our starting point so we started the hike with 1300 steps down to the base of the volcano, then a hike up and back down the volcano meaning that the hike ended with 1300 steps back up. That evening we relaxed at a beautiful campsite overlooking Volcan de Izalco and enjoyed the cool mountain air along with 100 city church kids camping for their first time.
Ruta de las Flores and Suchitoto
We left our campsite early and made our way to Juayua, a small town originally known for its coffee culture and now for it’s crazy weekend food fairs. We got there on Saturday so we parked the van on the edge of town and wandered around until we discovered an awesome hostel that was just opened by a guy from France. He let us camp in his beautifully tiled, open air garage, perfect! Then we went to the food fair and indulged in a couple of meat platters and some fresh fruit shakes. When we got back from the food fair we ran into a Peace Corps volunteer and two engineers without borders that were staying at the hostel and were going to some local waterfalls so we joined them. At the end of a long dirt road we arrived at a beautiful wall of waterfalls that fell into a big fresh water pool. The water was almost cold! It was heaven for our hot bodies. That night we drank an entire bottle of wine while chatting with the owner of the hostel and a Swiss guy and then went out to a bar for some food and conversation. The next day we had a bit of a late lazy start and then we started doing some much needed work on the van. We installed our thermoswitch and fixed the relay for the 2nd stage fan that the Guatemalan mechanics had messed up and finally got our horn working!! Now we can honk at everything! Then a whole swarm of Peace Corps volunteers arrived at the hostel for a game of basketball with some locals. They invited Pete along so we went into town and Karen cheered them on. No one kept score, but they were all dripping with sweat and had smiles on their faces. That night we were exhausted so we went out for dinner and then hung out at the hostel, attempting to get caught up on our journals. We left the next morning and followed La Ruta de Las Flores through a few small coffee towns where we stopped and overindulged in sweets and coffee so that the rest of the day we felt ill. We finally looped around to Suchitoto, a small colonial town that we’d heard was the heart of El Salvador. It took us awhile to find a place to stay, but we finally found a local piscina down by the lake that was more than happy to let us camp on their property. We were super hot so we quickly hopped in the pool to cool off. Then we spent the evening chatting with the family and went to bed early. The next day we set off to explore the town, but everything seemed closed. We wandered around in circles for the day and then finally made our way back to the pool, did some laundry and had another quiet night. The family there was so sweet that when we went to pay for the night they gave us a framed picture of their church as a gift. The people here have such warm hearts and really love people visiting their country. I guess to them it means that the civil war is finally over.
Santa Rosa de Lima
Travelling in El Salvador was an unexpected surprise. We thought that we would pass through in a few days, but ended up staying for over a week. We wanted to stay longer and return to the beach, but something was telling us to keep moving south so sadly we left Suchitoto and headed to Santa Rosa de Lima to spend our last night in El Salvador before our day of border crossings to get into Nicaragua. After turning down one pay by the hour hotel that had a jumbo roll of toilet paper and a mirror above the bed (need I say more? There were also condoms on the nightstand) we found one that seemed half decent, had wifi and air conditioning. That evening we blasted the A/C, finally worked on the blog and went out for awesome and cheap papusas at a local papuseria and went to bed to rest up for our big day.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Guatemala
Panajachel, Lago de Atitlan
We cruised over the border at La Mesilla with ease and again weren’t stopped at any military check points. If you didn’t know better you’d fly through these borders without any paperwork. The only blip was when Karen ignored the poor fumigation guy thinking he was trying to con us into something. Always on guard in these places, but mainly they’re there to help. We had planned to stop in Huehuetenango, but after a brief lunch stop we realized that we were now in a tiny country where you can gain a lot of ground so we pushed on to Pana. After descending a super long hill we drove through the busy narrow streets looking for a campground. We found one up a deserted back alley and opted for the fancy looking place further up. We ended up with a beautiful site right on the lake with, as always, no one else around.
San Pedro, Lago de Atitlan
After the long descent into Pana we were a bit nervous about how the road would be getting into San Pedro. We wanted to head there to possibly take Spanish classes as Pana was just too hectic for us. The next morning we went into Town and asked how the road was. Two of the answers we got were: “there is no road” and “I drove it once and won’t do it again...it’s too steep and narrow”. Then finally one guy assured us that it was paved and driveable so we decided to go for it. Two white knucked hours later we had conquered the beast. It was definitely steep and had the tightest switchbacks we’ve ever driven. It also wound through a few confusing towns where twice we went the wrong way on one way narrow cobbled stone streets, but we made it!! We were rewarded with an awesome little lake town where people still dress in traditional clothing and speak their native tongue. We quickly signed up for language classes starting the next day and decided on a home stay with a local family. At 5:00 that night the mother, Rosa came and met us at the school and we piled her in the van and drove up the steep streets to her house where luckily they had a driveway for Patience to have a well deserved rest. The school, the homestay and the town were so perfect that one week very quickly turned into two. The school was called La Cooperativa and it had an amazing garden scattered with individual palapas overlooking the lake. The school helps out local families in need and we were able to visit three of the families our last day of school to deliver them much needed food. These families are mainly single women with children or childless widows. One of the things that struck us the most is how happy everyone is even though most of them have next to nothing. Definitely a lesson to be learned by all. Our brains were crammed full of Spanish grammar for four hours every morning fuelled by coffee and a break time snack. In the afternoons we drank local coffee and ate sweets while doing our homework in funky lakeside cafes, watched some local basketball games, took salsa lessons, watched Spanish movies, went running and did lot’s of yoga. The family we stayed with were super nice and Rosa and her daughter Karina stuffed us to capacity with enormous portions of amazing meals three times a day. Our favourites were the panqueques with fresh fruit, homemade tortillas (I can still hear the clapping sound of them being prepared) and fried platanos. We even had our own private bathroom and bedroom with a tv to watch cheesy Spanish shows on. They also hosted two fiestas that we were able to help out at by serving tamales and coffee to the locals who thought that we were just hilarious. The only downside was the celebratory fireworks that started at five am and continued nonstop throughout the entire day. Our hearts will never be the same. On the weekends we went on a canopy tour, visited San Marcos, hiked the Nariz de Indio and the San Pedro Volcano. We spent a lot of time with Tyler a guy from Arizona who was a great hiking partner and full of funny one liners. San Pedro was the perfect place to learn and hang out, but after two weeks it was definitely time to get moving. On Sunday morning we got up early, packed up the van and went to leave when we heard a strange new noise, uhoh. We had to leave our homestay so we drove down the hill and started investigating. We ended up getting some amazing help from Indy a motorcycle mechanic and narrowed it down to a heater fan that was running continuously for some reason and found the relay that would turn it off. It was too late to leave at this point so we headed to the pool for some amazing bbq’d ribs and smoked pork. Some friends we’d met earlier in the week kindly let us park in their driveway for the night. So we were able to relax, play some poker and cuddle with their new puppy.
Close to Montericco
The next morning with the relay unplugged we were ready to reconquer the crazy hill on the way back up. This was way less stressful then the drive down and we were back on the PanAmerican again. First stop was at a local mechanic shop where they tested the relay and then proceeded to try and diagnose our problem, but we could tell right away that this was a bad idea. We distracted them before they caused too much damage with our non functional horn and they got to work on that instead. At first they couldn’t get it to work and then they couldn’t get it not to work and finally we settled on non functional, but with an idea of what we could do later. Although they still tried to rip us off and we had to talk them down to 50% of what they were asking for a job not done. Then we were off to the beach. Once again we managed to avoid all the major cities and rolled into Montericco before dark. At the end of the road we were faced with an expensive boat ride to get to the beach so we decided to turn around and found an abandoned campground. We took a much needed shower, watched some locals play soccer and then hid out from the mosquitos in Patience.We went to bed really early in order to rest up for another busy border crossing.
We cruised over the border at La Mesilla with ease and again weren’t stopped at any military check points. If you didn’t know better you’d fly through these borders without any paperwork. The only blip was when Karen ignored the poor fumigation guy thinking he was trying to con us into something. Always on guard in these places, but mainly they’re there to help. We had planned to stop in Huehuetenango, but after a brief lunch stop we realized that we were now in a tiny country where you can gain a lot of ground so we pushed on to Pana. After descending a super long hill we drove through the busy narrow streets looking for a campground. We found one up a deserted back alley and opted for the fancy looking place further up. We ended up with a beautiful site right on the lake with, as always, no one else around.
San Pedro, Lago de Atitlan
After the long descent into Pana we were a bit nervous about how the road would be getting into San Pedro. We wanted to head there to possibly take Spanish classes as Pana was just too hectic for us. The next morning we went into Town and asked how the road was. Two of the answers we got were: “there is no road” and “I drove it once and won’t do it again...it’s too steep and narrow”. Then finally one guy assured us that it was paved and driveable so we decided to go for it. Two white knucked hours later we had conquered the beast. It was definitely steep and had the tightest switchbacks we’ve ever driven. It also wound through a few confusing towns where twice we went the wrong way on one way narrow cobbled stone streets, but we made it!! We were rewarded with an awesome little lake town where people still dress in traditional clothing and speak their native tongue. We quickly signed up for language classes starting the next day and decided on a home stay with a local family. At 5:00 that night the mother, Rosa came and met us at the school and we piled her in the van and drove up the steep streets to her house where luckily they had a driveway for Patience to have a well deserved rest. The school, the homestay and the town were so perfect that one week very quickly turned into two. The school was called La Cooperativa and it had an amazing garden scattered with individual palapas overlooking the lake. The school helps out local families in need and we were able to visit three of the families our last day of school to deliver them much needed food. These families are mainly single women with children or childless widows. One of the things that struck us the most is how happy everyone is even though most of them have next to nothing. Definitely a lesson to be learned by all. Our brains were crammed full of Spanish grammar for four hours every morning fuelled by coffee and a break time snack. In the afternoons we drank local coffee and ate sweets while doing our homework in funky lakeside cafes, watched some local basketball games, took salsa lessons, watched Spanish movies, went running and did lot’s of yoga. The family we stayed with were super nice and Rosa and her daughter Karina stuffed us to capacity with enormous portions of amazing meals three times a day. Our favourites were the panqueques with fresh fruit, homemade tortillas (I can still hear the clapping sound of them being prepared) and fried platanos. We even had our own private bathroom and bedroom with a tv to watch cheesy Spanish shows on. They also hosted two fiestas that we were able to help out at by serving tamales and coffee to the locals who thought that we were just hilarious. The only downside was the celebratory fireworks that started at five am and continued nonstop throughout the entire day. Our hearts will never be the same. On the weekends we went on a canopy tour, visited San Marcos, hiked the Nariz de Indio and the San Pedro Volcano. We spent a lot of time with Tyler a guy from Arizona who was a great hiking partner and full of funny one liners. San Pedro was the perfect place to learn and hang out, but after two weeks it was definitely time to get moving. On Sunday morning we got up early, packed up the van and went to leave when we heard a strange new noise, uhoh. We had to leave our homestay so we drove down the hill and started investigating. We ended up getting some amazing help from Indy a motorcycle mechanic and narrowed it down to a heater fan that was running continuously for some reason and found the relay that would turn it off. It was too late to leave at this point so we headed to the pool for some amazing bbq’d ribs and smoked pork. Some friends we’d met earlier in the week kindly let us park in their driveway for the night. So we were able to relax, play some poker and cuddle with their new puppy.
Close to Montericco
The next morning with the relay unplugged we were ready to reconquer the crazy hill on the way back up. This was way less stressful then the drive down and we were back on the PanAmerican again. First stop was at a local mechanic shop where they tested the relay and then proceeded to try and diagnose our problem, but we could tell right away that this was a bad idea. We distracted them before they caused too much damage with our non functional horn and they got to work on that instead. At first they couldn’t get it to work and then they couldn’t get it not to work and finally we settled on non functional, but with an idea of what we could do later. Although they still tried to rip us off and we had to talk them down to 50% of what they were asking for a job not done. Then we were off to the beach. Once again we managed to avoid all the major cities and rolled into Montericco before dark. At the end of the road we were faced with an expensive boat ride to get to the beach so we decided to turn around and found an abandoned campground. We took a much needed shower, watched some locals play soccer and then hid out from the mosquitos in Patience.We went to bed really early in order to rest up for another busy border crossing.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Mexico Part II
Mazunte, Oaxaca
We’d heard about this little hideaway on the beach from a fellow traveller and decided to check it out. It was so good that we ended up staying for three nights and had to drag ourselves away. We lounged on the beach, played in the gigantic waves, ate fresh chocolate filled bread every morning and drank fresh fruit smoothies at the ocean side cafe. We were also able to catch a few live bands in chill open air bars. To our surprise we also ran into the first person we knew. Linda and her partner Phillip from Whistler had been coming here for years and recognized Pete on the beach so we were able to enjoy a few glasses of wine and awesome pizza.
Barra de la Cruz
After tearing ourselves away from Mazunte we decided to hit one last beach before we went up to San Cristobal. Barra de la Cruz is a tiny town that’s gaining popularity amongst surfers. We got there nice and early so we hit the beach which didn’t have any homes on it only a palapa restaurant, fresh water river to swim in and a long sandy beach with good surf a little too close to rocks for novices. We spent a great night camping at Pepe’s and woke up nice and early for the long drive into the mountains.
San Cristobal de Las Casas
Off at sunrise we arrived in San Cristobal in the afternoon, found a place to camp and finally met two other groups doing the same trip as us. Marcus and Sonja from Switzerland are on a three year adventure around the world in a Land Cruiser and are shipping their vehicle from Panama to Argentina at the end of January. This may work out perfectly for us as we could share a container with them. We also met Max from Montreal travelling solo who has a mutual friend of ours. San Cristobal is a funky colonial town with lot’s of cafes, bakeries, good restaurants and live music. The town also has a very artsy-liberal-Zapatista feel which was great for Mexico’s Independence day celebration. We ended up cruising around for four days preparing ourselves for the next border crossing into Guatemala.
We’d heard about this little hideaway on the beach from a fellow traveller and decided to check it out. It was so good that we ended up staying for three nights and had to drag ourselves away. We lounged on the beach, played in the gigantic waves, ate fresh chocolate filled bread every morning and drank fresh fruit smoothies at the ocean side cafe. We were also able to catch a few live bands in chill open air bars. To our surprise we also ran into the first person we knew. Linda and her partner Phillip from Whistler had been coming here for years and recognized Pete on the beach so we were able to enjoy a few glasses of wine and awesome pizza.
Barra de la Cruz
After tearing ourselves away from Mazunte we decided to hit one last beach before we went up to San Cristobal. Barra de la Cruz is a tiny town that’s gaining popularity amongst surfers. We got there nice and early so we hit the beach which didn’t have any homes on it only a palapa restaurant, fresh water river to swim in and a long sandy beach with good surf a little too close to rocks for novices. We spent a great night camping at Pepe’s and woke up nice and early for the long drive into the mountains.
San Cristobal de Las Casas
Off at sunrise we arrived in San Cristobal in the afternoon, found a place to camp and finally met two other groups doing the same trip as us. Marcus and Sonja from Switzerland are on a three year adventure around the world in a Land Cruiser and are shipping their vehicle from Panama to Argentina at the end of January. This may work out perfectly for us as we could share a container with them. We also met Max from Montreal travelling solo who has a mutual friend of ours. San Cristobal is a funky colonial town with lot’s of cafes, bakeries, good restaurants and live music. The town also has a very artsy-liberal-Zapatista feel which was great for Mexico’s Independence day celebration. We ended up cruising around for four days preparing ourselves for the next border crossing into Guatemala.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Mexico Part I
Mexico Part I
Nogales
We left the Affordable German with a new starter and a new hot wire relay that he pretty much threw in for less than the cost of the part. We then decided to get ready for our crossing into Mexico by doing an oil change, exchanging some money and getting our Mexican auto insurance. The latter two went smoothly, but unfortunately our oil change resulted in a leaking oil plug that we had to fix before we could cross. We needed new gaskets for the extra large plug that was in there, but we couldn’t figure out what size we needed without draining the oil. We had to do this a few times in random parking lots before we finally had success! A day later than expected we crossed the Mexican border without any leaks. We also crossed without any trouble. In fact we didn’t even know we had crossed into Mexico until we passed some shanty towns and went over a few topes (huge speed bumps set out to annihilate your suspension). After 21 km all you have to do is pull over and fill out a tourist visa and get your car permit. Although this was a lengthy process it went really smoothly and we were in. First stop... Bahia de Kino.
Bahia de Kino and San Carlos
After navigating through our first Mexican city and only having to back track a few times we found the lonely road to Bahia de Kino. We’d read that this was a sleepy little fishing village with an end of the road type feel to it. It turned out to be an asleep town waiting for the snowbirds and their giant RVs to arrive. We downed our first Mexican meal, found a place to sleep where we were the only ones there and hit the beach which we also had all to ourselves. This was a peaceful setting until the second night when a portable disco was set up right across from where we were camping. That’s Mexico.
San Carlos was our next stop. We quickly found a place to spend a few nights and went in search of “the Soggy Peso Bar” for the best margaritas in Mexico. After some adventuring through swamps and sand dunes we finally found the little oasis. There was a live band, great margaritas, swimming and a beautiful sunset. That night we were again kept awake by pumping bass from the disco across the street. Mexicans sure do love to crank their music. The next day we found a remote little beach where we were the only gringos. Pete tried out his snorkel from Renny and we spent the day lounging seaside. Then while having lunch in the van we were approached by a local fisherman selling the catch of the day: one kilo of prawns for 90 pesos. We had just been talking about what to have for dinner so we thought that this was serendipity at work. Garlic prawns and ceviche were on the menu with a side order of what we would find out later was FOOD POISONING!! We both went to bed fine, but woke up in the middle of the night spewing out both ends. This lasted nonstop for about 24 hours of pure torture! Little did we know that this would drag on for the next week.
Alamos/Mazatlan/San Blas
After a day of not moving we decided we had to keep going so we headed to Alamos, a little colonial town with narrow cobblestone streets and not much going on. We attempted to wander through the streets, but without eating for a few days we didn’t make it very far. The next morning we woke up and headed for the beach again. It was dark and we were running out of gas outside of Mazatlan so that’s where we decided to spend the night. We bargained with the guard at one of the RV parks for a cheap deal if we were out by 7am which worked perfectly for us. The next day we arrived in San Blas with tons of time to check out the town, do some repair work and get eaten alive by bugs. This would be the most perfect learners surf spot if it weren’t for all those damn sand flies and noseeums. They were so brutal we finally took refuge under our bug net in the van and went to sleep.
Guanajuato
We got an early start on the day and somehow managed to navigate our way around the giant city of Guadalajara with no difficulty what so ever, phewf. We arrived in Guanajuato just as the sun was setting and the town was coming alive. The streets were jam packed with Mexican tourists there for the Cervantino and Dia Del Muerte celebrations. We had to wind our way through narrow cobble stone streets going in and out of tunnels not knowing where we would end up. We were lost! We finally pulled over at the top of a hill and tried to assess our situation, but no one seemed to know what street we were on or where to go. Finally a young teen approached us and told us he worked for the tourism industry and asked if we would like him to take us to a hotel. At this point we were up for anything so he jumped in. He wound us all the way around town and then up a steep driveway to a hotel he said was 500 pesos a night. It was a splurge, but the next day was Karen’s birthday so it was worth it. We turned the van off and hopped out just in time to hear what sounded like a pipe exploding and to see steam and coolant pissing all over the driveway. Uh oh!! We decided to walk away from the van and get a room for the night, but the prices were jacked up to 1000 pesos a night for a not that nice place. What to do...we decided to go and see if we could fix the van and move on. Through some trial and error we found the problem. A sensor plug that we don’t even use had cracked and blown out of the expansion tank causing the explosion. This definitely couldn’t be fixed by morning so we went to plead to sleep in the van. The manager ended up giving us a room for 650 pesos a night and since we had little choice we went for it. The next morning Pete went in search of a suitable part while birthday girl Karen stayed in the hotel room to relax and get better as her stomach was still off. After three hours of running from mechanic to mechanic to parts store to mechanic Pete finally found a VW parts store that had our exact part!! On his way back to the hotel he also found us a cheap place to camp at a bull ring for the next two nights. We fixed the problem on a nearby dirt road and were off. After an afternoon siesta we went out to celebrate Karen’s birthday. We wandered the crowded streets, soaked in all the festivities and then found a cute little crepe place in a Paris like plaza and treated ourselves to a nice dinner (thanks mom, dad and nanny..we’re saving some money for a nice lobster dinner somewhere too). The picture was completed by Pete getting a man to serenade us with Mexican love songs. What a way to turn 30! For the next two days we wandered the streets and tunnels of Guanajuato checking out the dia del muerte festivities, cemetery, theatres and museo de mommias. We absolutely fell in love with the city!
Morelia
We were sad to leave Guanajuato, but it was time to move on. We made our way to Morelia, another colonial city and the capital of Michoacan. We arrived just in time for the last day of the dia del muerte festivities and checked out the art and music on the streets that night. The next morning we checked out the old aqueducts that run through town, a few museums, some cool fountains and Karen was able to eat her first meal, woohoo. Karen had been given some money at a surprise 30th birthday party back in Whistler to spend on her birthday down in Mexico and we’d been trying to think of the perfect gift from the girls. One of the main art pieces we’d seen during the festivities were these little statuettes of female skeletons that we both loved and thought would be the perfect way to remember the moment when we got home. So the next day on our way to the coast we stopped at a market in Pazcuaro and found the most breathtaking statue we’d seen yet and bargained hard for it. Now she’s travelling with us until we can find someone to take her back home for us as she’s too fragile to mail. Any takers? Thanks girls! A surf lesson somewhere along the way is going to be the other half of the present.
Rio Nexpa and La Saladita
We headed off to Rio Nexpa, but since we had a late start and stopped at the market we only made it as far as Playa Azul. We arrived there at night hot, tired and a little stressed from driving through an industrial port city in the dark dodging topes and pot holes. We’d read about a hotel here that sounded like they took campers and went for it. Not only did they take campers, but they also had two pools, a swim up bar and they charged us half price. We quickly jumped in the pool and had a good cheap meal on the street before heading to bed. The next afternoon we made it to Rio Nexpa to check out the surf. It was a chill place to hang out, but the surf seemed to be a little too big for us to learn on. We did however buy a $25 board off of Connan from Colorado for the next surf spot which was La Saladita. We’ve now spent 3 nights in La Saladita camping right on the beach under a huge palapa attempting to surf. Pete got up twice today and managed to avoid the sea urchins that lurk just below the waves waiting for a fallen surfer to land on them. Both of our necks, backs and arms are sore, but we’re happy. Too bad it’s time to get moving again.
El Paraiso / Play Ventura / Puerto Escondido
We left La Saladita not know where we would get, but figured we’d find a nice beach to camp at. After a few attempts down dodgy roads we finally found one that led to a beach. We paid a guy 40 pesos to park the van and took a boat across a river to a little strip of beach lined with empty restaurants and strange characters. We watched the sunset, scarfed down some salty food and then were taken back across the river to sleep in the van. Once there we were accosted for more money by a machete waving angry guy. Pete managed to calm him down and call his bluff so that we didn’t have to pay anymore, but we were on our guard for more sketchy characters the whole night. Thankfully nothing more did happen until 5:30 in the morning when we were surrounded by masked military men. Pete again worked his magic and we were left alone until the sun rose and we could escape. The next night we found Playa Ventura and were happy to be in a gated campground run by a Swiss couple. We were able to do some laundry after almost a month of dirty clothes and chilled out on the beach. Now we’re in Puerto Escondido on our way to the tranquillo town of Mazunte in Oaxaca. We're almost in Guatemala!
Nogales
We left the Affordable German with a new starter and a new hot wire relay that he pretty much threw in for less than the cost of the part. We then decided to get ready for our crossing into Mexico by doing an oil change, exchanging some money and getting our Mexican auto insurance. The latter two went smoothly, but unfortunately our oil change resulted in a leaking oil plug that we had to fix before we could cross. We needed new gaskets for the extra large plug that was in there, but we couldn’t figure out what size we needed without draining the oil. We had to do this a few times in random parking lots before we finally had success! A day later than expected we crossed the Mexican border without any leaks. We also crossed without any trouble. In fact we didn’t even know we had crossed into Mexico until we passed some shanty towns and went over a few topes (huge speed bumps set out to annihilate your suspension). After 21 km all you have to do is pull over and fill out a tourist visa and get your car permit. Although this was a lengthy process it went really smoothly and we were in. First stop... Bahia de Kino.
Bahia de Kino and San Carlos
After navigating through our first Mexican city and only having to back track a few times we found the lonely road to Bahia de Kino. We’d read that this was a sleepy little fishing village with an end of the road type feel to it. It turned out to be an asleep town waiting for the snowbirds and their giant RVs to arrive. We downed our first Mexican meal, found a place to sleep where we were the only ones there and hit the beach which we also had all to ourselves. This was a peaceful setting until the second night when a portable disco was set up right across from where we were camping. That’s Mexico.
San Carlos was our next stop. We quickly found a place to spend a few nights and went in search of “the Soggy Peso Bar” for the best margaritas in Mexico. After some adventuring through swamps and sand dunes we finally found the little oasis. There was a live band, great margaritas, swimming and a beautiful sunset. That night we were again kept awake by pumping bass from the disco across the street. Mexicans sure do love to crank their music. The next day we found a remote little beach where we were the only gringos. Pete tried out his snorkel from Renny and we spent the day lounging seaside. Then while having lunch in the van we were approached by a local fisherman selling the catch of the day: one kilo of prawns for 90 pesos. We had just been talking about what to have for dinner so we thought that this was serendipity at work. Garlic prawns and ceviche were on the menu with a side order of what we would find out later was FOOD POISONING!! We both went to bed fine, but woke up in the middle of the night spewing out both ends. This lasted nonstop for about 24 hours of pure torture! Little did we know that this would drag on for the next week.
Alamos/Mazatlan/San Blas
After a day of not moving we decided we had to keep going so we headed to Alamos, a little colonial town with narrow cobblestone streets and not much going on. We attempted to wander through the streets, but without eating for a few days we didn’t make it very far. The next morning we woke up and headed for the beach again. It was dark and we were running out of gas outside of Mazatlan so that’s where we decided to spend the night. We bargained with the guard at one of the RV parks for a cheap deal if we were out by 7am which worked perfectly for us. The next day we arrived in San Blas with tons of time to check out the town, do some repair work and get eaten alive by bugs. This would be the most perfect learners surf spot if it weren’t for all those damn sand flies and noseeums. They were so brutal we finally took refuge under our bug net in the van and went to sleep.
Guanajuato
We got an early start on the day and somehow managed to navigate our way around the giant city of Guadalajara with no difficulty what so ever, phewf. We arrived in Guanajuato just as the sun was setting and the town was coming alive. The streets were jam packed with Mexican tourists there for the Cervantino and Dia Del Muerte celebrations. We had to wind our way through narrow cobble stone streets going in and out of tunnels not knowing where we would end up. We were lost! We finally pulled over at the top of a hill and tried to assess our situation, but no one seemed to know what street we were on or where to go. Finally a young teen approached us and told us he worked for the tourism industry and asked if we would like him to take us to a hotel. At this point we were up for anything so he jumped in. He wound us all the way around town and then up a steep driveway to a hotel he said was 500 pesos a night. It was a splurge, but the next day was Karen’s birthday so it was worth it. We turned the van off and hopped out just in time to hear what sounded like a pipe exploding and to see steam and coolant pissing all over the driveway. Uh oh!! We decided to walk away from the van and get a room for the night, but the prices were jacked up to 1000 pesos a night for a not that nice place. What to do...we decided to go and see if we could fix the van and move on. Through some trial and error we found the problem. A sensor plug that we don’t even use had cracked and blown out of the expansion tank causing the explosion. This definitely couldn’t be fixed by morning so we went to plead to sleep in the van. The manager ended up giving us a room for 650 pesos a night and since we had little choice we went for it. The next morning Pete went in search of a suitable part while birthday girl Karen stayed in the hotel room to relax and get better as her stomach was still off. After three hours of running from mechanic to mechanic to parts store to mechanic Pete finally found a VW parts store that had our exact part!! On his way back to the hotel he also found us a cheap place to camp at a bull ring for the next two nights. We fixed the problem on a nearby dirt road and were off. After an afternoon siesta we went out to celebrate Karen’s birthday. We wandered the crowded streets, soaked in all the festivities and then found a cute little crepe place in a Paris like plaza and treated ourselves to a nice dinner (thanks mom, dad and nanny..we’re saving some money for a nice lobster dinner somewhere too). The picture was completed by Pete getting a man to serenade us with Mexican love songs. What a way to turn 30! For the next two days we wandered the streets and tunnels of Guanajuato checking out the dia del muerte festivities, cemetery, theatres and museo de mommias. We absolutely fell in love with the city!
Morelia
We were sad to leave Guanajuato, but it was time to move on. We made our way to Morelia, another colonial city and the capital of Michoacan. We arrived just in time for the last day of the dia del muerte festivities and checked out the art and music on the streets that night. The next morning we checked out the old aqueducts that run through town, a few museums, some cool fountains and Karen was able to eat her first meal, woohoo. Karen had been given some money at a surprise 30th birthday party back in Whistler to spend on her birthday down in Mexico and we’d been trying to think of the perfect gift from the girls. One of the main art pieces we’d seen during the festivities were these little statuettes of female skeletons that we both loved and thought would be the perfect way to remember the moment when we got home. So the next day on our way to the coast we stopped at a market in Pazcuaro and found the most breathtaking statue we’d seen yet and bargained hard for it. Now she’s travelling with us until we can find someone to take her back home for us as she’s too fragile to mail. Any takers? Thanks girls! A surf lesson somewhere along the way is going to be the other half of the present.
Rio Nexpa and La Saladita
We headed off to Rio Nexpa, but since we had a late start and stopped at the market we only made it as far as Playa Azul. We arrived there at night hot, tired and a little stressed from driving through an industrial port city in the dark dodging topes and pot holes. We’d read about a hotel here that sounded like they took campers and went for it. Not only did they take campers, but they also had two pools, a swim up bar and they charged us half price. We quickly jumped in the pool and had a good cheap meal on the street before heading to bed. The next afternoon we made it to Rio Nexpa to check out the surf. It was a chill place to hang out, but the surf seemed to be a little too big for us to learn on. We did however buy a $25 board off of Connan from Colorado for the next surf spot which was La Saladita. We’ve now spent 3 nights in La Saladita camping right on the beach under a huge palapa attempting to surf. Pete got up twice today and managed to avoid the sea urchins that lurk just below the waves waiting for a fallen surfer to land on them. Both of our necks, backs and arms are sore, but we’re happy. Too bad it’s time to get moving again.
El Paraiso / Play Ventura / Puerto Escondido
We left La Saladita not know where we would get, but figured we’d find a nice beach to camp at. After a few attempts down dodgy roads we finally found one that led to a beach. We paid a guy 40 pesos to park the van and took a boat across a river to a little strip of beach lined with empty restaurants and strange characters. We watched the sunset, scarfed down some salty food and then were taken back across the river to sleep in the van. Once there we were accosted for more money by a machete waving angry guy. Pete managed to calm him down and call his bluff so that we didn’t have to pay anymore, but we were on our guard for more sketchy characters the whole night. Thankfully nothing more did happen until 5:30 in the morning when we were surrounded by masked military men. Pete again worked his magic and we were left alone until the sun rose and we could escape. The next night we found Playa Ventura and were happy to be in a gated campground run by a Swiss couple. We were able to do some laundry after almost a month of dirty clothes and chilled out on the beach. Now we’re in Puerto Escondido on our way to the tranquillo town of Mazunte in Oaxaca. We're almost in Guatemala!
Monday, October 19, 2009
USA Part II
Utah
Said our goodbyes and thank yous to Ren, Jill and Case and headed for Utah. On the way we drove over Med Bow pass which took Patience to her highest elevation yet at 10,847ft and took us into our first snow. We also found out that hunting season opened that day which explained all the hunters and dead deer hanging from trees. It’s was mayhem!! After a long day of driving we made it into Utah and spent the night outside of a ghost town on the back road to Moab. It would have made a perfect set for a horror movie, but we slept well anyway. Moab was way too hectic for us so we grabbed some food and headed for Arches National Park. Arches, more arches and WIND!!! The wind was so strong that we got sand blasted in some of the canyons and had to gear up in desert storm gear. We did an awesome 8 mile hike that we thought was going to be 4 miles on the “primitive” trail which took us up and around and through a maze of sandstone formations. Great day! Then we headed towards Canyonlands National Park and looked for free camping along the way. We found a great dirt road which took us off the main road so we decided to follow it and before we knew it we were headed downhill in DEEP SAND!!! Uh oh! We got out and considered our options. We could keep going downhill and hope to find a spot to turn around or we could try and reverse out even though we are losing reverse due to our clutch. We decided not to make our situation worse and went for reverse. While Karen dug to firmer ground and pushed in the deep sand, Pete in true male fashion gave orders from the driver’s seat. The first go we went 6” and were stoked. We continued in this fashion with Karen getting her face sprayed with sand for about 20 exhausting feet before we found firm ground. Phewf!! We parked for the night and passed out. We spent the next morning checking out Canyonlands NP before heading to Bryce Canyon NP. Again we looked for another free site and found one up near someone’s cattle yard. We spent the whole night paranoid because it seemed as though someone was parked at the head of the road shining their lights at us. Good thing Pete brought a crowbar. We woke up to our coldest morning yet at -5oC and were awed by the frosted water sprinklers in the fields. We went for another hike in the hoodoos at Bryce Canyon NP doing the massive switchbacks twice just for fun and then headed to Zion NP. It was a beautiful drive to Zion, but the highlight was the mile and a half tunnel through the rock that dropped us down into the Zion canyon. We got there pretty late so we decided to spend the night and go hiking in the morning. We hiked up to Angel’s Landing for a view with thousand foot drop offs on all sides. We were going to do a hike up the narrows in the afternoon, but with the thunderstorm and rain that was on the horizon we opted out of getting hypothermia in the river and headed to St George instead. With our new climbing guide in hand we checked out the Green Valley Gap before heading into town to get our new front tires and alignment done. Four hours later we drove away a whole new van. It was like floating on air and so much quieter! All pumped up to drive we headed out to the Utah Hills to do some more climbing. The book said we had to go up a tough 2wd road and once again Karen ended up pushing so we took the closest pull out and spent the night on a steep off angle site. We woke up surrounded by rock, all alone. We spent the day climbing the limestone soul asylum wall with no one else around and the next day headed to Prophecy wall for two days of multipitches and long routes. Here we met Michal Nad who invited us to camp and shower at his place, an offer we couldn’t refuse and ended up staying there for two nights. Thanks Michal!! Spent another day climbing in Snow Canyon State Park where we realized it was time for a break so we threw the Frisbee in the sand dunes in the afternoon.
Nevada
Next stop... VEGAS baby!!! Bright lights, $9.99 1lb steaks and mini Elvis’s, that’s Vegas. We splurged on a night at the Luxor and took advantage of the four star room for $60! One night was definitely enough and we retreated to Red Rocks for some more climbing. We had an amazing first day even though the wall was packed and met Michiel and Kelly who let us tag along on a 6 pitch climb, the Prince of Darkness, the next day. This was a ~700ft climb straight up the face with 5.6/5.10b/5.10a/5.9/5.10a/5.10c pitches. It was a crimp fest with all hanging belays that definitely tested our new found strength. AMAZING!!!!! Unfortunately we were starting to run short on time so it was time to make a run for the border. We were surprised in Surprise, Arizona by a van that wouldn’t start so we had to spend two nights at 24 hour Walmarts and are now waiting at the Affordable German auto shop in Phoenix waiting for a new starter to be put in so that we can start the next stage of our trip...BEACHES!!
Said our goodbyes and thank yous to Ren, Jill and Case and headed for Utah. On the way we drove over Med Bow pass which took Patience to her highest elevation yet at 10,847ft and took us into our first snow. We also found out that hunting season opened that day which explained all the hunters and dead deer hanging from trees. It’s was mayhem!! After a long day of driving we made it into Utah and spent the night outside of a ghost town on the back road to Moab. It would have made a perfect set for a horror movie, but we slept well anyway. Moab was way too hectic for us so we grabbed some food and headed for Arches National Park. Arches, more arches and WIND!!! The wind was so strong that we got sand blasted in some of the canyons and had to gear up in desert storm gear. We did an awesome 8 mile hike that we thought was going to be 4 miles on the “primitive” trail which took us up and around and through a maze of sandstone formations. Great day! Then we headed towards Canyonlands National Park and looked for free camping along the way. We found a great dirt road which took us off the main road so we decided to follow it and before we knew it we were headed downhill in DEEP SAND!!! Uh oh! We got out and considered our options. We could keep going downhill and hope to find a spot to turn around or we could try and reverse out even though we are losing reverse due to our clutch. We decided not to make our situation worse and went for reverse. While Karen dug to firmer ground and pushed in the deep sand, Pete in true male fashion gave orders from the driver’s seat. The first go we went 6” and were stoked. We continued in this fashion with Karen getting her face sprayed with sand for about 20 exhausting feet before we found firm ground. Phewf!! We parked for the night and passed out. We spent the next morning checking out Canyonlands NP before heading to Bryce Canyon NP. Again we looked for another free site and found one up near someone’s cattle yard. We spent the whole night paranoid because it seemed as though someone was parked at the head of the road shining their lights at us. Good thing Pete brought a crowbar. We woke up to our coldest morning yet at -5oC and were awed by the frosted water sprinklers in the fields. We went for another hike in the hoodoos at Bryce Canyon NP doing the massive switchbacks twice just for fun and then headed to Zion NP. It was a beautiful drive to Zion, but the highlight was the mile and a half tunnel through the rock that dropped us down into the Zion canyon. We got there pretty late so we decided to spend the night and go hiking in the morning. We hiked up to Angel’s Landing for a view with thousand foot drop offs on all sides. We were going to do a hike up the narrows in the afternoon, but with the thunderstorm and rain that was on the horizon we opted out of getting hypothermia in the river and headed to St George instead. With our new climbing guide in hand we checked out the Green Valley Gap before heading into town to get our new front tires and alignment done. Four hours later we drove away a whole new van. It was like floating on air and so much quieter! All pumped up to drive we headed out to the Utah Hills to do some more climbing. The book said we had to go up a tough 2wd road and once again Karen ended up pushing so we took the closest pull out and spent the night on a steep off angle site. We woke up surrounded by rock, all alone. We spent the day climbing the limestone soul asylum wall with no one else around and the next day headed to Prophecy wall for two days of multipitches and long routes. Here we met Michal Nad who invited us to camp and shower at his place, an offer we couldn’t refuse and ended up staying there for two nights. Thanks Michal!! Spent another day climbing in Snow Canyon State Park where we realized it was time for a break so we threw the Frisbee in the sand dunes in the afternoon.
Nevada
Next stop... VEGAS baby!!! Bright lights, $9.99 1lb steaks and mini Elvis’s, that’s Vegas. We splurged on a night at the Luxor and took advantage of the four star room for $60! One night was definitely enough and we retreated to Red Rocks for some more climbing. We had an amazing first day even though the wall was packed and met Michiel and Kelly who let us tag along on a 6 pitch climb, the Prince of Darkness, the next day. This was a ~700ft climb straight up the face with 5.6/5.10b/5.10a/5.9/5.10a/5.10c pitches. It was a crimp fest with all hanging belays that definitely tested our new found strength. AMAZING!!!!! Unfortunately we were starting to run short on time so it was time to make a run for the border. We were surprised in Surprise, Arizona by a van that wouldn’t start so we had to spend two nights at 24 hour Walmarts and are now waiting at the Affordable German auto shop in Phoenix waiting for a new starter to be put in so that we can start the next stage of our trip...BEACHES!!
Friday, October 2, 2009
USA Part I Odometer 219522 to 222375
After saying our goodbyes to my parents and Pete's parents (thank you for EVERYTHING!!!), our trip started on September 16th at 8:30am. It began with the easiest border crossing into the States, followed by the hottest day of driving which caused us to jump in every lake we saw! Unfortunately Patience's heating system works even when it's hot out, uhoh, hehehe. After meeting Beynon for lunch in Spokane, Washington we started heading East. We spent our first night in Montana and woke up to a beautiful sky where we got our first shots with the van. After a few days of driving we finally made it to our first destination, Yellowstone National Park, where we played tourist with the endless wildlife and scenery. Two nights later we wound our way into Grand Teton National Park where we did an awesome 19 mile (30km) day hike up the Paintbrush Divide to Solitude Lake and down the Cascade Canyon. Breathtaking!! After our long day of hiking we said goodbye to the Tetons as they glowed in the setting sun and headed into Jackson, Wyoming. We immediately found a place to scarf down some food and looked for a place to crash away from all the blinding lights of the town. The next morning we woke up to frost on the windshield, welcome to Wyoming! From there we headed to Sinks Canyon outside of Lander for a few days of climbing to get us back into shape before we headed to Ten Sleep. Ten Sleep is a massive canyon with endless sport routes on both sides of the highway with virtually no one there (well except for a billion cows). Paradise!! We managed to get some 100ft climbs in and Karen did her first 11b/c (top roping). We are now hanging out in Laramie with Pete's childhood friend Renny, his wife Jill and their baby Case while we waited for new front shocks which Pete is now installing so that our tires will make it down South. Thank you for being awesome hosts and putting up with us for so long! Next stop Utah!
LOVING VAN LIFE!!!
Hopefully this slideshow works. If you click on a photo, it will take you to the online album if you want to see full size pictures.
LOVING VAN LIFE!!!
Hopefully this slideshow works. If you click on a photo, it will take you to the online album if you want to see full size pictures.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Meet Patience
We are travelling South in an '86 VW Transporter (Vanagon) that we purchased in downtown Vancouver in January 2009. She's not a pop top, but she's styling and way more stealth! The guy who transformed her into what she is today really new what he was doing. He installed shelving, storage, a bed, wood paneling and a swivelling front chair to make it feel like home and to maximize the space. We're surprised at how much room we have and how easy it is to keep things tidy. In our attempts to get her ready for the trip the van earned her name "Patience" and continues to remind us of her name often. Although she has also earned the nickname "White Heat". She's not a quiet ride or a cool ride, but we love her! Here are some of the things that we have done so far...
Fixed coupling in the steering column (Whistler, BC)
New Battery
Front brakes and bearings
New distributer cap, rotors, spark plugs and ignition wire set
New ignition coil
Oil change once using 10W30 and once using 20W50 (she likes it thick)
New thermostat, thermostat housing and coolant flush
New rear CV joints and boots
Fixed a cracked transmission mount (Nelson, BC)
New rear brakes due to a leak (Nelson, BC)
New front shocks (Laramie, Wyoming)
Two new tires and alignment (St. George, Utah)
New starter and hot wire relay (Phoenix, AZ)
New coolant plug due to exlosion (Guanajuato, Mexico)
Got horn fixed (Guatemala and Juayua, El Salvador)
Disconnected the alarm (Juayua, El Salvador)
Installed thermoswitch (Juayua, El Salvador)
Click on one of the photos to enlarge
Fixed coupling in the steering column (Whistler, BC)
New Battery
Front brakes and bearings
New distributer cap, rotors, spark plugs and ignition wire set
New ignition coil
Oil change once using 10W30 and once using 20W50 (she likes it thick)
New thermostat, thermostat housing and coolant flush
New rear CV joints and boots
Fixed a cracked transmission mount (Nelson, BC)
New rear brakes due to a leak (Nelson, BC)
New front shocks (Laramie, Wyoming)
Two new tires and alignment (St. George, Utah)
New starter and hot wire relay (Phoenix, AZ)
New coolant plug due to exlosion (Guanajuato, Mexico)
Got horn fixed (Guatemala and Juayua, El Salvador)
Disconnected the alarm (Juayua, El Salvador)
Installed thermoswitch (Juayua, El Salvador)
Click on one of the photos to enlarge
Canada
We had a crazy July packing up our apartment, holding two garage sales, storing all of our stuff we didn't sell at friend's houses all over Whistler (thank you Gail, Corinne, Jonas and Stacey, Jake and Clare!!!) and fixing up the van. We had a loads of help and were offered great couches to surf on until we left Whistler (thanks Jake and Clare and Mich and Alex)! Pete then drove the truck and the van to Nelson while Karen went to Ontario to visit with her family and friends. Both sets of parents then met up in Nelson for a few weeks to help spoil us before we set off. We were stuffed full of amazing food and wine so luckily we had time to do some hikes around the Nelson area. We made it up Pulpit Rock and the flagpole a few times with Mike and Franzi, Gwillim Lake in the Valhallas and Keyhole in the Kokanee Glacier before setting off. We were also able to do some last minute organization of the van including Franzi making us some awesome curtains, putting bug screens on and tinting the windows, and franzi making us a great van table.
Click on one of the photos to enlarge.
Click on one of the photos to enlarge.
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