PUERTO ESCONDIDO!

Oh man, that was the worst fucking drive ever. Ok, maybe not that bad, but boy it was long, and wow did it ever have a lot of learning experiences on the way! First day we got somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 kilometers down the road, it was all just windy slow coastal stuff, PCH for like 150 miles basically, only slower and with more big trucks you have to pass.

The second day of driving had a LOT more straight-aways, made great time, right up until we got ticketed while looking for a hotel to stay the night in some city I don't remember. The funny part is, when they give you a ticket here, they take your fucking license plates! Ticket only cost like 50$ but still, it sucked. We feigned ignorance, fairly easy to do for me, but watching Josh try and mangle spanish and mis-pronounce stuff was a bit funny, if not for the ticket. Anyway, got our plates back the next day after paying the ticket and moved on.

The third, and final, day of the trip, also what seemed to be the longest, we got ticketed again in Acapulco, I was whizzing around people in traffic like it was going outta style and I looked back and saw a bike, wondering if they had bike cops in Mexico as the guy pulls up next to me (his partner sitting on the back of the bike, they ride tandem here, haha) and tells me to get to the curb. That ticket was supposedly for not Signalling (shocker) and not wearing a seatbelt, I gave him my license and he said we could pay by 4 that day (it was 12 and we wanted to make it to Puerto Escondido by sunset, we weren't staying in Acapulco, the town sucks anyways, massive tourist trap from the looks of it. So he proceeds to tell me he is going to take my license, and I start considering the option of letting them take it, I mean hell, my passport would get me back into the US and I could get the license replaced cheaper than paying a 100$ seatbelt ticket (which I still don't think they even have.) When Josh asks them "Is it ok if we pay the ticket here with you?", that is code for, "Fuck that, can we bribe you and be on our way?", he thought about it and agreed. 40$ later (400 pesos) we were on our way. I was still debating whether or not he was full of shit about the seatbelt law thing, but definitely he coulda nailed me for reckless and no signalling... Whatever, he gave us an escort out of town which allowed us to run a few red lights so hey, ya figure its worth it in the end.

Many hours later we get to Puerto Escondido, start looking around for a hotel when we got here but there is a ton of construction on the main road right now (it is off season) so finding a hotel was a bit confusing as the main street was a dirt road which was all over the place. Anyway, we wind up finding a place, Cabanas Edda I think its called, for 15$ a night, it is clean, the showers work, and there are mosquito nets, even though there seems to be no mosquitos here, quite the blessing after getting eaten all fucking day and night in San Blas. No Hehennes (No-See-Ems) either, double awesome!

Up to present time! We have been here now 4 days, in those 4 days I have gotten to surf 3 of them, which is a good starting out average, and it looks like I will be able to surf the rest of them without much interference. But this isn't without a certain degree of tragedy it seems. We had some shitty (apparently literally) ceviche the first day? Then, day number two rolls around and we are walking down the beach a few miles to the Escondido Point with a little lighthouse and rocks and just generally cool shit when I notice I am itching more than usual (fuck you, no it isn't an STD), well we get back to the pad after a couple hours and the itchings gotten way worse and I have like half my left side of my torso and my asscrack swelling up for no reason, and it is swelling fast! Naturally I freak the fuck out, well maybe not that much, I remember the Lonely Planet guides have a little section on local problems and stuff so I refer to it (on the way to the local doctor I might add) and come away with some illness I can't now remember and I am busy trying to google... Anyway, we get to the doctor and I am 'expecting the worst, hoping for the best' type of deal. He checks me out, says everythings cool, gives me a prescription and sends me on my way. We pick up the pills and stuff and the next day (today) everything is pretty much gone. BUT, and this is the big kicker, people are telling me I will never be able to eat seafood again, or there is a GOOD CHANCE, that I won't be able to........... W. T. F.! Are you kidding me?! This just doesn't seem fair. Anyway, life goes on, I caught 2 barrels today, so I suppose that equals out right? Right!?!

Leaving San Blas, bound for Puerto Escondido!

Leaving San Blas tomorrow morning, bound for epic waves at what is probably Mexico's most world renown break, Puerto Escondido! Neck breaking barrels type of stuff! Not that I will be taking part in the 20' barrels or anything, I will be off to the side enjoying some 6-10' mellow waves, at least, that is the idea.

I think the drive is something around 850 kilometers or so, basically about the length of the Baja Peninsula, going to be one mother of a drive, should take a couple days at least, and that is if we don't stop to surf on the way!

One thing I am definitely getting sick as hell of is Mosquitos, and then No-See-Ems (in Espanol, He Hennas?) I sit here, covered in bites, yes we have coils going all evening and I have taken to spraying the screens and doorway with 100% deet in hopes the fuckers will stop the endless advance for blood! To no avail, I remain food for the Mosquito hordes!

Josh and I keep getting hurt too, we went to a waterfall, Josh figured it would be a good idea to jump off the cliff into the pool from 60' up or so, that took at least 3 days to recover from.. My back is doing well though now, I have been holding back on everything so I am 110% for Puerto, just dying to get out in some epic swells at this point.

Anyway, off to pack for the drive!

San Blas - Playa los Cocos

So the place we are staying is just outside of San Blas, in a little town called Playa los Cocos, it costs about 100$ US a week, and we are staying one more week. I threw out my back in the surf on day #2 of being here, thank god muscle relaxers aren't prescription here... One of the guys came by the next day and gave me a little bit of Peyote Root too! Basically you chew on this little stick till it is gone and then literally, you could have a broken arm with blood gushing out, and you feel like you are brand new! Incredible! I didn't halucinate or anything it basically just completely relaxes you, you feel amazing, even the muscle relaxers couldn't touch it. Stuff like that should really be used medicinally in the US.

Anyhow, been here a week and things are pretty mellow, there isn't much in terms of surfing, I think its better in the opposite season here, otherwise I would imagine there would be waves larger than 3'... Drinking a whole lot of beer, and eating a whole lot of Mexican food though, so life isn't that bad right?

We will be here another week and then we head further south, down to Puerto Escondido, where the big waves are! Stay there another few weeks and I think from there we plan on heading back towards home, cutting the trip rather short because there are a lot of things I have had time to think about and that I would like to get started on. Anyway, life will wait for another month or so...

San Blas - Mainland ho!

So, got to Los Mochis, met Josh, we stayed in a hotel that night and took a LONG drive south the next day, stopping in Mazatlan on the way and hanging out there for 5 hours or so with "Commander Cody", basically a cranked out transplant from the good old US of A. The man was definitely very high on more than one brand of Amphetamines, for the cost of a beer he wound up jumping in the car with us, taking us for a 2 hour tour of Mazatlans less than Tourist areas of town. This guy was easily one of the craziest guys we (Josh and I agreed on this one) have ever met, by a loooong shot. One of those guys that has been just about everywhere and done everything, to be conservative on the subject, it was an entertaining time.

We decided to leave Mazatlan, little to big and bustling for what we were interested in, moving on was the order of the day. Unfortunately we left around sunset, and EVERYONE tells you not to drive at night, were you alone I would agree with this, but when you are travelling with friends driving at night isn't so bad, expect to get lost a few times and you will already be ahead of things. The tollroads, are fucking expensive, the one that finally made us decide to get off the toll road was 16$. About every 30-50 miles you hit a tollroad and they just go up in price with every one you hit.

It was a bear finding the free freeway, we managed, I was hellbent on getting to a place we had heard of, that place was San Blas. We got here about 1:30am and got to a beach, and promptly got eaten alive by Mosquitos and Sand Fleas/Ticks, by far the worst I have seen. Setting up camp and passing out we awoke this morning and went into town to see what was doing, get on the internet for Josh and then talking to the locals and seeing what beaches we need to be going to. San Blas is a really sweet little spot, basically exactly what San Clemente is, little surf town with a really relaxed vibe and happy people. Can't ask for much more than that right?

The chance we might stay here for a month or so is high, a guy we met here in the bar is renting an apt. on one of his properties (a realtor apparently down here) for 400$ a month, split between us that is going to be a pretty great deal, I definitely don't want to deal with the crazy amount of insects on the beach around here..

Anyhow, that is the latest, still haven't surfed since I hit mainland, no real swell at the moment.

Mainland Tomorrow

Got my ferry ticket for the trip yesterday, and tomorrow morning at 4am I get up, pack up, and go! Get to the ferry at 6am, the thing leaves at 8am from Pichilingue (just north of La Paz), and arrives in Topolombapo at 2pmish? From there its a 24km drive north to Los Mochis, where Josh will be getting off the Bus @ 3:30pm or so, and South we go!

Took a bit of footage this morning, mostly just filler shots and whatnot, going to try for some in-water footage tonight, test the underwater housing out a bit if I can. I will be cutting together some of the initial stuff probably during the drive tomorrow or whenever we get to a beach. Thinking about it, I will probably not be getting water footage of Cerritos, but who knows, still probably cut together a minute or so of the beach and stuff.

Last few days has been kinda crummy, no real swell, and then a couple local guys died yesterday in a car accident! One of them I had gotten somewhat chummy with, everyone on the beach did actually, he was just one of those guys that talked to everyone.

Mexican Road Signs: A short examination.

"It's the little differences. I mean, they got the same shit over there that they got here, but it's just – it's just there it's a little different."


This one is easy right? Slow Down! Speed Bump!

Ok: Caution! Cows in the road.

But this one takes it for me: Caution! Boobs?

This has been a quick lesson in Mexican road signs. They can be fairly interesting and somewhat cryptic at times, but they seem to have a good time with em'.