day 19

february 13, 2014

well, the defiant is in storage.

we are getting up at 2 am to start the trip home (almost 24 hours in airports). wish us luck!

day 18

february 12, 2014

1 pm:

we had starbucks this morning. it was kind of amazing. we also went out for brunch at this place called "100% natural" which was good (huge fresh fruit juices for $4 CAD, 3 giant tacos for $8 CAD) the food was spectacular, though it took them about 20 minutes to bring us our bill after we ate.

last night we were so hot and tired and sticky. i dropped mike's 7000 pound laptop on my leg. we were snippy with each other, and frustrated. we ended up checking into a holiday inn. the motivation for this is simple, we NEED someone who speaks fluent spanish AND english to call around re: storing the defiant, and also to get information from mexican customs re: leaving the defiant here while we're in canada. currently, the lovely lady at the front desk is calling around about storage. also, wifi in every room (important, given the amount of research we're doing, we don't want to have to live in the lobby).

anyway, although i feel like a copout for staying at a holiday inn, it's totally worth it to not have to struggle with communication at a time like this. also, they wanted $1400 pesos/night ($120 CAD) at the front desk, and some sketchy guy outside said he could get us a room for $1200 pesos, but i found a place online where it was $65 USD/night (about $750 pesos), so i sat in the lobby and booked online on my cell phone, then as soon as the confirmation email came, i took it to the front desk. muhaha.

this afternoon, we're going to walk over to the parking lot where the defiant is (hotel parking around the corner) and pop up the camper and give it a good clean, and haul back anything we need to take home with us. this is difficult, as we have no idea how long we'll be gone for.

10:30 pm update:

well, we got pretty much all of our research done - the people at the front desk here were actual literal superheroes, and were the most helpful ever re: truck storage and customs. we have found a place to store the defiant for $200/month CAD (it's a self-storage place, sounds good, i'll do a post just about that once we're back home), and it seems like customs will be ok - mike is going to call the embassy here tomorrow for advice, but it sounds like when we leave the country, they will just ask about the situation, and we'll tell them, and if necessary i will make a harmony-sized stink about things, and they will let us go home. aside from that, we can deal with things when we get back.

we had a nap this afternoon (or, mike had a nap and i laid in bed for a while then updated the blag) when it was super hot. later, we went out for sushi, then went to the camper and cleaned and organized it. the guy at the parking lot thought we were totally nuts, but chilled out once we gave him a beer. we've got all of our stuff that we are taking home, and tomorrow we just need to take the defiant to storage, repack our bags, and get massages (!!!). when we got back to the hotel room i got ice for our beer, and i dropped some on the floor, so i threw it over the balcony... then mike went out there, and apparently the security guys were sort of freaking out about it. when we went down for a swim i apologized to them for making them think it was snowing in mexico. they didn't think i was nearly as funny as i think i am. hmph.

i've been invited to a tobogganing party on saturday, which just seems so far from reality right now. i can't believe it's still winter anywhere.

leaving the defiant tonight was really weird - i know i'll see him tomorrow when we drop him off at storage, but it was like this weird leaving-home sort of feeling. i know we've only been living there for a couple of weeks, but i really love living there, and i really love doing this trip, and it's super hard to walk away and put it on hold, even though it's clearly what needs to happen. i guess this just means it'll be easy to come back to : )

day 17

february 11, 2014

so, today was quite a day.

mike's mom has been sick for a long while, but we got word last night that she's in the hospital and not doing very well.

we're flying home friday from acapulco. we spent the day driving today, from zipolote.

apparently, neither of us noticed at any point today that a bit of the pop-up camper's "wall" was hanging out the side of the camper like a dog's tongue on a hot afternoon, so that was a little embarrassing when we got to our hotel and noticed... what can i say, it's been a long day.

i feel like there should be elephants in this one!

also, i got stung by a bee today. on my face. over the last 10 years, i've had reactions to bee stings ranging from "this hurts but i'm fine" to "oh good lord WHY is my leg swelled up to 4 times it's normal size, and WHY is it purple and oh ps i can't walk"... so this was a bit worrying. we were driving along, on the road to acapulco, when a bee flew in my window and stung me RIGHT where my nose meets my face, in the middle. how awkward!?!? anyway, i screamed and flung it to the ground and mike was like "WHAT IS HAPPENING" and i was like "I'M CRYING FROM SHOCK AND FEAR NOT BECAUSE I'M DYING (I HOPE)". i didn't have any trouble breathing, and i took 2 advil right away, but i also wanted to get some ice on it asap, because i've had issues with severe bee-related swelling in the past. of course, we were in the middle of buttfuck nowhere, and there was no ice available... so we drove around for about 45 minutes with me holding a cold cerveza to my face to help calm the swelling.

mike was a champ, and stopped everywhere he could find to look for ice or freezies or anything to help, and we did eventually find some (but not before he stopped at a roadside store where the lady said "oh, do you need a beer, too?" lol). luckily, my face has not swelled to the size of a melon (yet).

anyway, we are in acapulco, and tomorrow we need to have somebody who speaks spanish call around for us to find out about customs and long-term parking for the defiant. we are booked to fly out at 6:15 am friday, from acapulco to mexico city, mexico city to chicago, and finally chicago to toronto, arriving at 11:50 pm. luckily, my spectacular parents are going to be there to pick us up from the airport. what would i do without them?

day 16

february 10, 2014

i literally got this picture half a second before the waves washed it away!

9 am:

we woke up at about 8, surprised that we were not in pools of our own sweat. the night was lovely, hot but not too hot to make sleep comfortable. at one point i was shivering under just the sheet, and grabbed a polar fleece blanket to pull on top of me - then it was just right.

we're camped about 40 feet from the waves, just over a little rise that has little cabanas on it. the cabanas are on stilts, so we can actually see the water from here. the sound of the waves was constant all night, and the roosters started at about 4 am.

it's already hot out, i didn't even heat up the milk for our coffee this morning. shortly, it'll be smoothie time. i'm really missing the ali baba pants andrew gave me, i couldn't find them when i was packing for this trip... i might have to see if i can find something similar here, i feel like they would be perfect in this environment.

we have nothing specific on the agenda for today. maybe a swim, likely a shower, certainly a smoothie or two. we should find miike some flip flops, as he's been kicking around in docs so far, but i think in this weather that will get very unreasonable very quickly.

3 pm:

we had a nice long beach-walk this morning, then a beer and a shower and a siesta. i'm thinking about another shower, lol. it's so hot i don't even really want to eat.

skyhorse just texted us, they are boondocked on the beach about 65 km from here. we may join them, mike is going to deal with the trailer wiring situation, then we'll make up our minds about whether we'll go tonight or tomorrow.

zipolite beach

7 pm:

so we decided to head to meet up with skyhorse and carpe viam tomorrow. we went for a walk on the beach and took pictures of the beautiful sunset. i also ran into this guy steve, who i knew in toronto way back in the day.

the little cabanas for $300 pesos a night - this is where steve is staying - and the defiant parked behind

day 15

february 9, 2014

12:30 pm:

we went to bed nice and early last night, and got a nice long sleep. this morning, after a chill breakfast and saying our goodbyes at the o.o., we hit the road. we're headed for zipolite/puerto angel. it's only about 250 km from oaxaca, but we just left, and according to calvin, it's about a 6 hour drive... luckily there is a place about halfway that is a small hotel that allows overlanders to camp, in case we need to stop there.

we're told the road is beautiful - fairly flat for the first half, then climbing from 5000 to 9000 feet above sea level, only to plummet back down to sea level, all within the space of about 150 km! sounds spectacular :)

we had an amazing time in oaxaca, both in the city taking spanish lessons, and (even more so) staying at the o.o. and getting to meet a bunch of other overlanders and do some true relaxing. it sounds like skyhorse and carpe viam are both headed zipolite way in the next day or two, so it seems likely we'll be seeing them again soon!

the adventures of the defiant continue...

8 pm update:

so, you know how i was telling you about that awesome road before, the one that was just crazy beauty at every turn?!? yeah, i think we've already topped it. the 175 from oaxaca to puerto angel today was breathtaking. literally 3/4 of the 250 km was on roads so twisty that we were topping out at 40 km/h. it climbed from 1550 m all the way up to 2600, then, in the last 80 km or so, dropped back down to sea level. i did that thing again where i took scads of pictures and i'm sure most of them are crap, but we'll see. the road wasn't a toll road, so it wound through tons of teensy little villages, with buildings precariously propped up on stilts on the mountainside. the weather went from chilly, pine-scented mountain air to sticky, humid, beach air quite quickly. i literally sat in the seat behind mike while he drove as i hung out the window, freezing, to take pictures. it was totally worth it.

there were some crazy washouts, and places where the road was dirt because all of the pavement had washed away!

we made it safe and sound to zipolite, it's really really hot here, and the place is beautiful. it's a little strange so far though... it seems like everyone is either super hippy-aloof, or too stoned out of their tree to smile/say hello to people. we walked around a bit to find this place we are camping (called la habana, $150 pesos, or $13 CAD/night, right on the beach, pretty quiet so far), and smiled and said hello to everyone, and the only people who didn't just stare right through us tried to sell us drugs. i feel that it's only a matter of time before someone tells me about the healing powers of crystals. anyway, hot. beach. palm trees. harmony. yay!

also, we realized (upon trying to use them) that we have left our forks at the o.o. we feel pretty silly, considering we also forgot our spoons in dallas and had to go buy new ones. go us.

we also seem to be having another minor wiring issue with the camper. mike seems confident that he can fix it in the daylight tomorrow. we both got shocked touching the door handle with wet hands. i thought i was having a stroke or something, so i'm glad it was just electricity.

we're having boozy smoothies and i think we'll go walk around town a bit here shortly.

10 pm update:

the walk was lovely. mike has never been in the ocean before, and discovered "sinking" (where you stand in the path of the waves and they sweep the sand out from below you) for the first time, to much excitement. we also had a beer at a little bar/pizza place, then walked back along the beach.

day 14

february 8, 2014

noon:

the party last night was spectacular. there were margaritas and a pinata and tons of good food!
today we slept in, and are chilling out in the shade at the o.o. it's a beautiful day. we're heading to zipolite soon, but are in no rush. i think we'll leave in the morning. it's likely to be a full day drive there, so we'll start nice and early.

skyhorse and the defiant, at the o.o.

the defiant, fluegelwieadler.ch, carpe viam and straight six straight south all packed in

it was a full house!

i just made lunch, tortillas with refried beans and some of that stringy cheese (which it turns out is goat cheese! win!) and avocado on top. so tasty. i also chatted with my dad for the first time today since i left, and he's very jealous of all the fun we're having. i can't blame him, i'd be jealous of me too!

toby (of carpe viam) has helped me out with the gina maps situation, and we're making progress, i'm just waiting on some files, now. hopefully we can get that dealt with while we're here at the o.o., but if not, it'll work out :)

6 pm:

today has been the ultimate lazy day here at the o.o. i have had two smoothies (one breakfast, one with rum), and read a bunch of 'heir to the empire'. it's a bit windy here today, and has chilled to a balmy 26 degrees.

the files for gina are still downloading, hopefully we'll be able to install them tonight!

10 pm:

we are about to watch an episode of firefly and go to bed.

there is a birthday party for a baby going on down the street, and i gotta tell you, i've never even had a birthday party this wild. there is music that sounds like it's halfway between russian drinking music and a mirachi band, and they've been going strong for hours. the only thing left to do is fireworks, which mexicans seem to celebrate every day with...

day 13

february 7, 2014

3 pm:

well, we're done our last day of spanish class! in the end, we found it to be a good experience. we spent a lot of time conjugating verbs, but given how varied and useful they are, it was certainly worth it to spend that time on them. we think we'd like to take more spanish classes, but we're not in a hurry, maybe we'll do that in another area of mexico, or perhaps guatemala.

we've just had a seista, and are packing and tidying the camper to move to the overland oasis. we're going to stop to pick up fruit and water so that we can make boozy smoothies to share with everyone there. i'm also going to make some spiced veggies to cook in tinfoil over the bbq. we're going to head there shortly.

1 am update:

well, we had a lovely bbq. there are (i believe) 7 rigs here right now, and we had veggies and pasta and salad and some sort of steak (?? meat eaters...) for dinner.

there was also a pinata, and a rousing game of spoons.

i really can't believe how many overlanders there are out there, let alone in oaxaca all at once, this community is amazing. we are in love.

tia passed out early. what a lightweight.

chloe with the pinata on her head... it was that sort of night.

check out the rest of the pictures over at overlander oasis!