day 22 - may 2, 2014

9 pm

whew!

we had quite the day today. this morning was pretty low-key. i went and fed the mama perro, and went for a swim.

at the direction of the lady who runs the place, carolina (her parents own it), we headed into acapulco at 1:30 to be at the dentist for 3. it's a damn good thing we left so early, because despite the fabulous map carolina drew, we still got totally lost and did a bit of a back-alley tour of acapulco. we eventually found the place after driving around for an hour, and carolina's mom and neice were waiting there for us!! how unbelievably sweet! they showed us the dentist office (not marked in any way as such, no address even. MEXICO!!), and ensured i was in good hands before leaving. while we were waiting in the waiting room, we talked to carolina's mom about her life. they seem quite well off - she has traveled to canada, alaska, italy... and more. apparently they started the campgrond as the only mexican branch of the KOA (which explains why the sign boasts "kamping"), but KOA made them create 113 huge camping spaces with full hookups, the pools, showers, etc, promising they'd be 90% full all the time. of course this wasn't the case. mexicans seem into camping, but very few people have the sort of rigs that would require hookups, etc. as well, most of the americans we've met down here are pretty adventurous folk - not so much the normal KOA crowd in my experience. anyway, the business does fairly well now, but they ditched KOA and diversified a bit (like the wedding they're hosting this weekend, the group of kids that was here earlier this week). we talked also about people's perceptions of mexico, and how so many people are too scared to travel like this, even though we've found mexico to be very safe and friendly thus far.

anyway, i got in to see the dentist, and she spoke okay english, but had a dental student there with her named edward who spoke perfect english. she cleaned out my tooth and put in a temporary filling and asked me to see how it is this weekend - if i feel pain in it, i'm going to have to get a root canal :( however, the root canal is only $2000 pesos (about $170 CAD), so... it could be worse. i talked with edward a bit, and it turns out he's from chicago, and is studying dentistry in mexico. he said he pays $4000 pesos a month for school/living here, which is crazy. he also informed me that monday is cinco de mayo, and so nothing will be open!! sooo, that means that we can't go look into the paperwork for the defiant until tuesday (we really should've gotten off our asses on wednesday it seems, but we were exhausted and had no idea a 5 day weekend was looming). however, i got both the dentist's number and edward's, with promises that if i'm in terrible pain they will make time for me on the weekend or monday to get to work. i didn't even have to pay anything for my visit today - it's all included in the $2000 pesos, or whatever it ends up being depending on what needs to be done. my face was numb for a bit, but it's been 6 hours since i was frozen and no pain so far, so i'm hopeful!

after the dentist, we came home to the campground (sorry, kampground ;), and attempted to pop the camper up. but... something was wrong. the front corner over the passenger side of the truck was simply not popping (mike's tope-sense failed him at one point on the drive home, and i theorize that's where the damage came from). after some investigation, it was determined that the popping works on a series of cables/pullies, and one of them was loose. how this happened is not clear - it wasn't broken anywhere, and none of the connectors were loose - but it happened nonetheless. mike needed access to the pully system, which meant lifting the camper off the truck. well, good lord did they have some weird ideas about these things in the 80's, because the camper has three (3) legs!! WTF?!? he propped it all up (which was even sketchier because the camper wasn't made for a duelly, so there were little extenders made of rocks as part of the deal). it wobbled like a newborn giraffe. we propped up one corner with the crazy table that came in the camper, and also tied one side off to a tree. it was all very... mexico (and very mike). in the end mike just drove the truck about a foot forward (having to push the camper along as it was still resting on the bed in places) to give about a foot of access to the pullies. i honestly believed we were going to lose the camper. after an hour of being stabbed and swearing, mike had the pully fixed (at one point up and down got mixed up on the crank, and at another when the front went up the back would go down. it was quite a thing to see). after that, i inched the truck backwards while mike maneuvered the camper into place. we let it down off it's sketchy legs and ratcheted it back onto the truck. this whole operation took about 2 1/2 hours. i helped when i could, but i also spent some time taking tons of pictures of the process (which i will upload whenever we have actual wifi, i'm using my phone as a hotspot right now), and making us a delicious feast!

after the camper fiasco, i cleaned it again (which seems to happen 2 or 3 times a day, lol), and we had a much needed swim. while in the pool i noticed that i somehow got a sunburn today! i only spent about 15 minutes outside without sunscreen, but there it is, watch tan and all.

later, there was probably the most beautiful sunset we've seen here yet (which is saying something), so we took a bunch of pictures and walked down the beach a bit. there were some locals who looked like they were setting up for a big bonfire, which would be cool.

we're going to go to bed nice and early tonight, if that one-year-old's birthday party in oaxaca was any indication of mexican partying, tomorrow's wedding is going to be a rager. and hey, i missed my siesta today!

storing the truck in acapulco - part 2

so, we've returned and collected the truck with no issues. i was in email contact with the storage facility and let them know we were coming, and they had everything ready for us - mike signed a form and we drove away!

the hardest part of the storage ordeal turned out to be paying them, and this was as much canadian banks as anything. apparently it's super hard to transfer money from one bank to another, which ended up with mike stuck in banks for a few days, but in the end it did get sorted (and i stick by our storage choice, as a smaller business may not even have been able to accept a bank transfer/have a business bank account) by his persistence and a spanish-speaking agent at a td in toronto.

we've yet to get to town to deal with the permit paperwork, but i'll do a post on that once we find out what's involved. overall the storage process was pretty painless, and totally worth dealing with : )

day 21 - may 1, 2014

5 pm

we had great intentions for today, we really did.

we got up, went for a dip in our little private pool, had smoothies (made with coconut water from the coconut mike hacked open yesterday!!) and coffee and popped the camper down, all ready to head to town to the government offices to get the ball rolling on the paperwork we need for the defiant. we stopped by to talk to the owner of the campground, to see if she could recommend any english-speaking dentists. she said she'd look into it, but that because today is labour day not many businesses would be open. sigh. further, because it's a thursday, apparently most people just say screw it, and don't work friday either. double sigh. so, it seems, we can't even go get the process started until monday! hopefully it doesn't actually take 2 weeks to get our paperwork!!

we still went to town. we invested in a little fan for the camper, and i bought the mama perro some dog food.

i just went and saw the puppies. mama was not around but i left her a bowl of food. the puppies are crazy adorable. 9 plump, sleepy little balls of sweetness. they are only about a month old. they are living in an old bathroom stall in a little building here. it's gross and covered in puppy poo and makes me sad, and worried about their futures. triple sigh.

11 pm

both papa perro (i think) and mama perro stopped by today. i fed them both and gave them water, mostly to the mama.

we had a pretty chill afternoon. drank some cervezas, hung out in the pool, chopped open another coconut for smoothies, then cut it in half and ate a bunch of the coconut meat. the owner of this place came by and gave me a little map she drew with directions for the dentist she knows who speaks english, so we're going to go there tomorrow to talk to her.

the owner also told us that there is going to be a wedding here at the campground this weekend!! we are super excited - a mexican wedding!! we had gotten a little nervous when we saw chairs and stuff arriving, because john (or juan grande, as everyone calls him) told us about a crazy night not too long ago when a bunch of local police had a party here complete with crazy amounts of blow and mexican hookers :|

also, i keep forgetting to tell you that mike wants to rig up a pair of coconuts and hang them from the trailer hitch a la truck nuts. bahahaha. what a guy.

day 20 - april 30, 2014

1:30 pm

well, i definitely woke up in a pool of my own sweat this morning... it's so beautiful out!

i cleaned and organized the camper this morning, then was looking into car insurance for the defiant when a friendly gentleman pulled up. he's from vancouver and his name is john, and he lives at the park here. he gave us tons of good advice about insurance and the defiant not being properly registered. the power is currently out, but when it comes back on we're going to head to his trailer to investigate the company he recommended for insurance - he says we should just be able to do it online, which would be ideal.

we went on a little adventure with john, to find a working bank machine. this was harder than it seems, as a bunch of affiliated banks seem to have some sort of technical issue happening right now... anyway we did finally find one, and bought beer and bread.

then we went on a little tour around with john. we stopped by the place of "el commandante" (or, andreas, as it were), the night security guard here. then john drove us down to the end of the road - we're right between the ocean and a river here, and at the end of the road, they (previously) almost met, separated by only a thin sandbar. well, i guess there have been some crazy storms here recently, and the ocean has broken through the sandbar and into the river! also, according to john, that is where one of the rocky movies was shot!

we're back at the campground now, and i'm having a pre-siesta cerveza. it's very hot, but there is a breeze, and the waves are crashing hard (apparently this is not a good place to swim, it's kind of terrifying, and apparently there is a very bad undertow), but the pool  is full of local children.

also, apparently there are puppies. here. at the campground. i haven't seen them yet, but i'm slightly afraid i may own a puppy or two, shortly. eep.

7 pm

we had a really nice, and much-needed siesta this afternoon. i dreamed of walking endless miles in the baking sun.

a lady came by earlier and drained the gross water from our little personal swimming pool (which is a freaking awesome thing to have, let's be honest. especially after all of the kids being in the big pool today, not to mention the babymaking in there last night...) and said she'd refill it for us, but has yet to do so. when she does mike is going to give the defiant a spray down as well.

we went to see john earlier, but he wasn't home... however, we took a little stroll around the campground, and saw some crazy cool old trees. i also dropped a full nalgene on my toe (ow.) and found a tamarind tree! i broke some of the little shells open and showed mike the fruit. maybe i'll have to make some pad thai while we're here!! on our stroll i also almost walked headfirst into a bee nest. there is this old half-built building and i was going to climb the stairs and check out the top floor, but there was a nest right in the stairs. honestly i came within 3 feet of it, i'm so surprised i didn't get stung.

we've had a pretty lazy afternoon, and have just eaten a big 'ole plate of harmony-made avocado, mango and cucumber sushi - perfect food for this hot weather! i'm so glad i packed wasabi and pickled ginger. ; )

also, the puppy-mama came by after our pool was drained, looking for a drink of water and was sad to find that there was none. of course i ran and grabbed a nalgene and a bowl and poured her a drink. she drank all of it, and some of the second bowl as well. i have left the bowl out for her : )

on the agenda for tonight? a dip in our private pool (which is now being tended to), maybe a visit to john's, and an early bedtime as we're both totally pooped still.

10:30 pm:

well, we went to john's and got our insurance looked after. holy shit that was so easy and cheap! and we printed out the paperwork online. it took about 15 minutes. lewis and lewis is the name of the company, and i'd advise you to check them out. john said he's had a few issues, busted rad - they towed him for free, etc. so that's amazing.

i also forgot to mention earlier that there are coconut palms all over the place, and mike hacked open a coconut with a saw earlier. we poured out the coconut water and are going to use it for our smoothies in the morning. : )

we sat in our own personal pool (about the size of a hot tub, the water is perfect - warm but not too warm) and had a cerveza this evening. life is so good. now: bed time.

day 19 - april 29, 2014

holy crapoley, we're back in mexico!

what a day... i got about 4 hours of sleep last night, and mike got 2. we were at the toronto airport at about 5:45 am... our flight back to mexico city was uneventful, but mexico was a bit trying. we had a 2 hour stopover, which turned out to not actually be enough to get through customs, collect our bags, take the monorail to the next terminal, check in, only to be told that our flight is boarding NOW so we have to RUN RUN RUN, then to have security try to force me to drink an entire nalgene of water  because i didn't have time to empty it, and then to have them finally relent and let me throw it out (why can't they just dump it? i'm really curious, if anyone knows...) which pissed me off because it was my favourite nalgene... then once we finally made it to the gate, it said our flight had been delayed by about 45 minutes. there was no boarding counter with our flight number, so we waited. only to have our names announced with threats that if we didn't get to the plane right away we'd be left behind!! then, getting to the plane involved being put into a giant bus (???) with a bunch of other folks and driven out to the plane on the tarmac! anyway, we didn't miss our flight, and there were only like 7 screaming babies :| when we got to acapulco we had half an hour until the storage place where we left the defiant closed, so we got a taxi - it was $270 pesos ($23 CAD) which is outrageous, but they were all done through a little booth at the airport and we didn't have time to argue. it was literally like 5 km to the storage place, and i was pissed. anyway, we made it in time and the defiant roared to life (despite being COVERED in dust and what appear to be cat paw prints. and i mean covered. it's like they had a cat convention on our truck!)

we made the decision to pick up the defiant and camp despite not having insurance (we think we can renew our old insurance online - to be determined tomorrow), and found a place in the mexican camping book we bought (i think it's called "a traveler's guide to mexican camping' by mike and terri church, or something similar. it's amazing. carpe viam told us about it.) and attempted to find it. after driving in circles for like an hour and getting directions from no less than 3 friendly locals, we determined it was closed for the season (we found the place, we're like 99% sure, but the sign was gone and nobody was around). after a stop at walmart for food, and home depot for ratchet straps (to replace the one we broke going over that giant tope on day 18), we drove waaay to the other side of acapulco (32 km, which sounds like nothing, but dude... mexico!!) and finally found a camping spot at playa luces. it's really beautiful - we're very close to the ocean, and there are adorable giant toads and wee geckos and perros all over the place. each campsite has it's own little mini pool, and there are 2 larger swimming pools, a patio, etc. it's really lovely.

mike went straight to bed, but i was gross and sweaty (did i mention it's 33, feels like 40 here, or was in the afternoon? i'd say it's at least 25 still), so i went for a dip in the pool, which was warmer than my body temperature (and where i'm fairly certain, in hindsight, that i interrupted a couple having do-its. gross.) i wandered around and let the breeze evaporate the water and i felt much nicer after that.

we're so happy to be back home in mexico, and can't wait to get on the road again. i'll write more about that tomorrow, but there are some things that need to be done first! but hopefully tomorrow we'll be happy and well-rested and ready to deal with those challenges. :D

buenos noches, amigos!

an update

we are returning to mexico to resume our adventure on april 29th! 

mike's mom passed away in march, and between family obligations and work that came up, this is the soonest we can manage to get away, back home, to the defiant. 

we are planning to travel again until mid-june, then park the defiant for the summer, fly home, work, play, and fly back south to resume the trip again in the fall. we've both been whining about wanting to get back to mexico since the day we left, so now that we've set a date, we're going crazy with excitement. 

mike managed to lose gina, so we've acquired a new gps (new gina) which i am still fighting with to get maps of mexico and central america onto. tonight is hopefully going to be the last push (i've had some coffee and a snack and i'm tackling it as soon as i finish this blog post). 

the weather in southern ontario has been too nice lately, it was making us feel silly for going back to mexico. however this morning we awoke to freezing temperatures and snow on the ground, so i'm again feeling validated about heading back south. 

i've been drafting a post on out storage experiences, and once we've collected the defiant, i'll post it in full!

storing the truck in acapulco - part 1

when we realized we needed to come back to canada on short notice, we needed to figure out what to do with the defiant, and quickly. we asked around in the overlanding community, and got lots of ideas about trailer parks, etc that may be willing to store the truck for us. however in the end we chose a self storage place for a few reasons. 1: our spanish is crap, and it would have been a pain in the ass to try to call these places and have a conversation with them explaining our somewhat unconventional needs. 2: most of the trailer parks we've seen are small businesses, who accept cash only, and who are not set up for long-term storage. 3: we don't know how long we'll be gone, and don't want to have to fly back to mexico in the meantime to deal with truck-related issues. 

this is the place we ended up going with. we had the lovely bilingual front desk clerk at the holiday inn acapulco call and verify everything for us, and then went down there and used google translate to get everything sorted. 

it ended up costing about $200 CAD/month - we paid for a month and a half upfront, and got bank transfer information so that we can deposit monthly payments as needed. the lot has big gates and a security guard, and the truck is parked around the back, out of view from the street, and under an awning out of the sun. 

in order to store the truck, they took copies of mike's passport and driver's license as well as the ownership. they asked us for "proof of address" which obviously we didn't have. we pointed out that his address is on his driver's license, and made it clear that we were not taking NO for an answer, and the guy accepted that.