The mad dash south...

In case you don’t remember (or I never told you)… the plan was to store the bike in Baja because you don’t need a ‘Temporary Importation Permit’ there. These permits are issued in La Paz (on the southern tip of Baja) where you cross to the mainland. I learned (the hard way) that they issue permits in La Paz but you have to cancel or transfer it to another vehicle at the USA, Belize, or Guatemala border and not at La Paz.

So what happened at Aduana… My mistake was thinking 1 of the 2 scenarios would work for me… 1) I could get a permit for my bike and my van while travelling in Mexico, or 2) I could transfer the permit from the bike to the van, or otherwise cancel the bike permit and get a new one for the van in La Paz. I went to the Aduana counter to get the paper work done and was quickly informed that I had 2 options… 1) Return to the USA border or 2) get the second permit in my wife’s name. She was very cute and spoke pretty good English so I proposed marriage to her on the spot and promised to register the BMW in her name. She blushed, but I couldn’t believe it when she said no!  Heart broken, I left there to retrieve my van from storage and bounced the situation off the manager of the storage lot.  He had a solution too… We could hire some Mexican ‘friends’ of his to grease the palms of the officials and they could smuggle the bike into the states for me. In affect, I would pay some banditos to steal my bike for me. I thought really hard for 2.874 seconds and declined the offer. I then hopped in the van and with the bike in tow made a mad dash back to San Diego. The ironic thing was that the office for cancelling the permit was in downtown Tijuana and not even at the border. I learned this after sitting in line at the border for 2.5 hours only to come back to Mexico (1.5 hrs at the border), find the Aduana office (4.5 hrs), change the permit (15 minutes), re-enter the USA (2.0 hrs). I quickly found a storage facility near the airport and arranged to put things in storage for the next morning. I grabbed a quick bite to eat, organized my gear, and slept in the van in the street just outside of the storage facility. Lying there I was reminded that it was my 4th long day on the road without a shower.   I had to catch a flight the next morning to catch up with Selena who was already waiting for me in Puerto Vallarta. I learned something very important at the San Diego airport… The ‘family washrooms’ have facilities to wash poopy babies. Yahoo! I bought a bottle of lavender body wash from the perfume outlet store, went into the family washroom, locked the doors, stripped naked, and had a ‘shower’ in time to get on the plane fresh and smelling good. The only bad part was trying to dry with paper towels and a hand blower.

I arrived in Puerto Vallarta a few days later than planned and without wheels. Selena and I had a nice time together. We visited a few small towns down the coast, did some hikes, enjoyed the swimming pools and the beaches, and generally just hung-out together. Ten days later Selena returned home and I returned to San Diego to pick up the van.

Returning to San Diego, I picked up the van and set out to reclaim the distance I lost by having to return to San Diego. I travelled down the mainland mostly on the expensive toll highways. I stopped only to sleep and eat until I got as far as Jalisco where I felt a bit caught up. This part of the trip was quite uneventful and this was exemplified by the New Year’s celebration. I had hoped to get as far as Mazatlan to celebrate but I found myself a day late and in Culican. It’s a big city so I ‘googled’ night clubs that may be hosting a New Year’s party. I didn’t find anything specific and the front desk couldn’t make any recommendations. I short listed to 4 clubs and had the front desk call to see if I needed advanced tickets or not. Of course no one answered the phones so I just grabbed a taxi and headed out. It was nearly 11:00 and every club I went to was either closed or void of life. I finally found a place that at least had a big screen TV with sports. I went in and the football game was over 10 minutes later. Everyone left and the bar was shutting down around me. The owner listened to my complaint and bought me a beer. It was obvious nothing was happening so I asked him to call me a cab that didn’t show up. He was trying to get home to his girlfriend so he offered me a lift back to the hotel. Feeling sorry for myself I was in my room before midnight. I fired up the computer to send out some mid-night greetings but my PC died. That was the final straw… I went to bed and decided to make a direct shot for Mexico City.

Two days later I arrived in Mexico City hoping to meet up with Pilar and see the sites. Unfortunately, due to my short notice we weren’t able to meet up. The weather was getting really crappy and I decided to continue on. I felt it may be best to visit Mexico City on my return trip.

The next day I stopped at Puebla and visited some of the sites there. I found a nice spot by a city park where I decided to camp for the night. By midnight the police had checked me out 3 separate times. The first time it was a truck with at least 3 policemen with full combat gear. And the next couple of times they came out of the trees on foot. It spooked me at first and made me question my readiness should it have been unsavory dudes instead of the police. The next morning I was awaken by voices outside of the van. At first I just laid there until I could hear quite a few voices. I got dressed and opened the blinds to find about 30 guys milling around. The parking lot I had chosen was the site of their early morning soccer game and I was camping at mid-field. They were too polite to knock on my door and they were waiting for me to get up and move my van. I moved it to the end of the parking lot and the game was on!!

From there I travelled to Villahermosa and tried to link up with a friend I had worked with years ago. Luis was my interpreter and technical writer with Energia Mayakan and I have lost his contact information a few years ago. He lived in Comacalco on the Gulf of Mexico. I went to his town hoping to find him. Everything looked so different and I couldn’t find the street that he lived on. I moved on from there to the Yucatan coast.

My next blog will be about the drive down the Yucatan, through Belize, and into Guatemala where I am now. Presently I am in the Yaxha National Park overlooking Logo de Mancanche and listening to the howler monkeys in the jungle. I think I’ll go see if I can find them.