Reconnecting with The Brothers LeFevre and More Powell Riverite-onians - Feb 2
After my flight from Mexico City to San Jose del Cabo I met up with Mack in the airport. Man, it’s amazing seeing people from home here in Mexico. We hopped in his Delica, which he, his wife, Jasmine, and their dog drove down from Powell River and arrived at the first campsite of my trip. As promised, Leif, Jan, Jas and the dog, Pipa were all there waiting to greet me. This place is pretty cool but having arrived around dark, the night didn’t last long before bed.
The Fateful Fall Of February - Feb 3
The morning of Wednesday we were met with lovely clear skies and decided to go for a trek up the river that exists in the middle of what I would classify as a desert. The water was extremely cold but did not deter us from exploring to our hearts content. We reached a few spots were there was some cliff diving so I went for it. After jumping in, I decided to try and rock climb my way back up to the top for another go. This was a bad idea. I fell. I crashed. I hit. I hurt. As a rock climber I know how to fall so all the damage was superficial. I scraped arm, a tiny cut on my big toe, and a few other toes that went numb. Honestly, it wasn’t even as bad as the pain of walking barefoot on rocks.
We then headed back down, I attempted no more cliff jumps and rock climbing and we set off for the real campsite after packing up our current situation. A short ride later and we arrived a Los Frailes, a small beach community filled with Mexican fisherman and, at first glass, Mexican campers. Upon close inspection, however, you realize that the campers are indeed North American visitors that spend a lot of time in the sun. We set up camp and proceeded to do what we would do for the next seven or so days and nights: swam, drank, ate, snorkeled, napped, read, slept, and adventured.
Losing Track of Time, Days, and Self - Feb 4 to 10
I’m going to go ahead and meld this week into one section as we didn’t vary our days that much during the visit. Some highlights are as follows:
- we read a ton of books
- when you’re going off the sun, you go to bed at dark and wake at first light
- skinny dipping is a thing
- the Powell River crew has a friend named Bernie that lives there, he’s cool
- snorkeling is fun
- I can’t use a spear gun properly
- Mack caught a fish with said spear gun
- we managed to get by with a surprisingly small amount of sunscreen
- I didn’t know I could sleep in a hammock for an entire night
- I want to buy some sort of camping/livable vehicle and travel at some point
All of these highlights were dispersed between the regular activities of beer, tequila, swimming, sleeping, napping, siestas, staying in the shade, and making a lot of puns. Here’s a picture of our campsite and Jan.
These days were the most relaxing of the trip. I didn’t have to worry about a bus to catch, where I was going to sleep, or fumble through trying to speak Spanish, though I do want to do that. I can’t thank Mack and Jass enough for carrying an extra tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping mat in their vehicle and also for driving me around. Thank you so much! I will visit you in Powell River for some of that honey dijon ice cream Leif was trying to get you to make!
First Day of Actual Solo Travel and This Happens - Feb 11
The morning came a little bit too quickly if you ask me. Especially when you get out of your hammock because you heard the German Shepherd size (allegedly) coyotes chewing something near you, retreating to your tent in the middle of the night. After rubbing our eyes Jan, Leif, and I packed up our stuff, said goodbye to Pipa who had just began warming up to us and Jass who may have just done the same, who knows. We dropped off Jan and Leif at the airport as they are going home to Powell River, then continued to Cabo San Lucas where I would be staying for a few nights.
Mack and I hung out after I checked in, standing in lines at the Telcel to fix his phone up, buying candy, and soon after enjoyed an ice coffee each at a Wifi enabled cafe. We then parted ways as we neared my hotel with a good hug.
I spent the rest of the day wandering around, turning down “massages”, checking out the beach, the resorts, the Americans, and the docks. I got back to the hotel, met my roommates, both from Mexico City so we spoke in Spanish and hung out until they left for dinner and drinks. I left a little later as I had some trip planning to do. I figured out that I’ll be going to La Paz for two nights and then Puerto Vallarta for four nights, enough to time to see the city and also have two day trips to other small villages near there. I booked my hostels and plane ticket and then headed out for dinner. After dinner, I walked around enough to end up in a bar. It’s here that I met Jay and Carey (or CC, they haven’t agreed on what the first C stands for yet). They live in Oregon and are doing a van trip for kite surfing, surfing, and general fun. We had a blast chatting and drinking. I did make one crucial mistake during our time in the bar, however. The mistake was thinking that the “special” they were drinking which appeared to be a beer and a shot of tequila, were for each person, so I ordered one. The problem is that the special was actually two beers and two shots of tequila. Woops.
We left the bar and went into a variety of clubs, dancing, singing, and talking about our adventures. At one point I got to see their van, it’s exactly what I expected, a van with a bed, a dog, running water, a type of kitchen area, solar panels, the works. After realizing it was 3am, we quickly exchanged Facebook info and parted ways. When I got back to the hotel I realized that there was any way that I would be able to get into the room without waking my roommates so I thought, screw it there are lounge chairs over here, I’ll sleep on one of those. I woke up at 4am and that’s when the fun began.
Wasted Day? Maybe - Feb 12
The fun I mentioned earlier manifested itself in a few visits to the bathroom and a ton of time lying in bed feeling sorry for myself. I was eventually able to move enough to go into town and try for lunch, I couldn’t bear it well so I had it wrapped up to go. After a little longer in bed I figured a swim in the beach would do me some good. After the dip, I read a little bit and went back to the hotel. I spent the rest of the night on my computer, looking up things to do at the places I would be visiting and trying to put into practice some of the learning techniques I’d read about in one of the language books I have.
As far as this day goes, I hope to not put myself in that kind of position again but who knows what will happen. The next paragraph was written yesterday but it didn’t seem appropriate to put it at the end of the “I drank too much” paragraph.
Closing Thoughts - Feb 13
Now I’m actually traveling solo. It hasn’t sunk in quite yet even as I sit here booking hostels and plane tickets without consulting the opinion of my friends. When I started my travels I made immediate friends through my old roommate, Tyler. After that, Jan and Leif showed up. During a quick break in Acapulco I was accompanied still by my Mexican friend Gonzalo. Upon arriving in Los Cabos I immediately joined up with Mack, Jass, Jan, and Leif. But now, now I’m completely on my own and while it’s a bit unnerving, I know that I’m about to have an amazing amount of experiences. These experiences may range from planned to spontaneous, amazing to underwhelming, or lucky to stupid but I know this: This has been and will continue to be an unprecedented amount of fun.
Here’s what five weeks of Mexico looks like on me. Until the next one.
