http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75QPFSAPMOY&feature=related
Wow, it's been a long time since I've updated. It's been harder and harder to find internet on the road and I'm sure I wont find it for a couple weeks now too. Hopefully this all makes sense cause Sarah and I tag teamed in writing this. Enjoy!
So we spent two days in Mazatlan parked just off the beach. We had fun playing in the ocean and got pummeled by a few crazy waves. I saw a huge fish jump when I was watching from the beach! Around here was my first time seeing coconuts growing wild on the tree. There are huge pelicans everywhere, we even saw a big dead one washed up on the beach. I've never seen so many hawks in my life as I have on this trip. They are everywhere on the highway just sailing around. We tried to go check out the first day of the Mazatlan carnivale but ended up getting there when it ended. So we took our first taxi of the trip back to the van which was open sides, kinda like a super golf cart. It was a good thing we caught it because there was a big downpour of rain but some of us still got wet because of the open sides. We got ripped off for the price I'm sure and definetely got our first taste of the tourist price. There are wonderful little restaurants right on the beach with palm tree roofs and sandy floors. We saw some beautiful beach sunsets! <3
Mazatlan to Guadalajara was a crazy drive up a mountain range through some heavy rain. Eric is a Mexican driver, he's gots da skills. Here instead of signs to reduce speeds through school zones and small towns their are these massive speed bumps (topes). Topes seem to also be stray dogs around here. We've been feeding them some granola bars we don't seem to be eating but the further south we go it seems that some people need them also. From Guadalajara we travelled to Toluca and met up with a couchersurfer named Cindy who helped us with some spanish, fed us breakfast at her home, and told me about her faith in the universe. Toluca was beautiful, an old Mexican town outside of Mexico City with tons of old cathedrals, houses built into the hillsides, and a giant mountain with snowy peaks. The houses were numbered something like 157, 30, 378 on one side of the street and 78, 173, 2 on the other side, lacking street names, one-way signs, and such. Eric and Sean are masters of going with the flow and we found Cindy's house in no time. Cindy, Jenni, and I headed to our first Mexican market in the morning where we bought local bananas, huge avocadas, some cactus, and other things for our eating adventures. (Jenni and I have been rocking meal times. I am really enjoying the creative outlet.) At the market we were oogled by the locals who seemed very curious and a little weary of us. Cindy informed us that not too many foreigners stay in Toluca. We bought about five bags of groceries for about $15.
From Toluca we headed towards Mexico City. The teacher we stayed with in Culiacan told us that Mexico City was built when an eagle was spotted eating a snake, which is very important in Mexican culture. From there the epicenter of Mexico formed and Mexico City is just called Mexico by the people. We were lost in the masses of streets, vehicles, pedestrians/haukers/performers, and tall buildings trying to use the sun through the clouds at high noon to orient ourselves. Sean was on it. He found a compass and we quickly headed out of the madness. We were headed to Vera Cruz but it was a steep climb, many cars did not make it through the intense heat, evidence was scattered along the shoulders of the highway. Marley was tired and we drove through the thickest fog I have ever seen as dusk came and went. The semi trucks in the right lanes didn't even have lights, for the most part. So we decided to stay in Cordoba where we just took it easy and headed to Ciudad del Carmen in the morning.
Cuidad del Carmen was a TRIP all in its own. The toll highways we had travelled on for our whole journey through Mexico thus far ceased to exist. The scenery was becoming greener, more lush and we were headed from 3000ft in elevation down to sea level. We were tailed by a federali and then pulled over for our liscense plate not being visible (it is slightly covered by a hose on the back). There was a language barrier and we were set free.
About an hour later, we came upon a military check point right before the bridge we had to take to the island of Carmen City. At this point we were becoming accustomed to military men and federalis looking bad ass with their straight faces and machine guns in hand but experienced no issues other than brief questioning . Marley had a speedy entrance into the the dark and we were immediately pulled over and asked to exnay the vehicle. Again, a language barrier was present yet we seemed to get by. They searched our vehicle while Jenni and I were fawned over for our hair and tattoos. Mexican men seem to love women and are very charming and witty. I guess we had our own charm because Jenni ended up dancing and singing with the men and their machine guns, we took pictures, and again were set free.
They thouroughly searched our van; we were all really freaked out even though we have nothing illegal. It was really tense until they started touching Jennis dreads and then they saw her ID and asked her Jennifer? Jennifer Lopez? and she sung a bit of one of her songs. Then one of the guys played a song on his phone and she started dancing. She ended up dancing it up with a bunch of scary guys with machine guns! Talk about making a tense situation so relaxed! We posed for a pic with them.
The bridge over the city lit up just as we began to cross. It was stunning. Immediately, we were pulled over by some policia on the other other side of the bridge. Marley had a headlight out. Eric again worked some magic and we were directed to an Auto Zone we could visit in the morning. We decided to park our van at the first hotel on the right so that we could unwind, indulge in some tequila and a night swim. We discovered a nice beach by Restaraunte Marino where we met some liquored up locals who loved to talk and practice their english. We were told to watch our tequila if the policers decided to bother us and offered us some rum.
We heard some rustling behind us, hid the bottle, and were greeted by two polisos. Long story short, Jenni and I posed for some pictures and we got by for the fourth time unscathed and no less broke though we think they were asking for a bribe at some point during the interaction. We decided to spend the following day on the island. The daylight revealed loads of garbage, murkey waters, and oil wells of the shores. We spent the morning by the sea and did some travelling chores during the afternoon such as getting oil, tracking down water, airing out the van, and finding a cleanish bathroom to take a showerish in.
We checked out Marley's air conditioning. Marley was not impressed and overheated on us. Luckily we were able to push the van back into a safe parking place, one turn away from a busy road during rush hour. The street in front of us was filled with bustling floats and decked out sound system trucks preparing for the Carnaval (a Mexican street festival lasting 15 days). It was perfect timing as seems to be the way with us. We were as much an attraction ourselves as they were for us because Ciudad del Carmen is not a tourista town. We parked on the beach after the Carnaval and spent the night.
In the middle of the night, we were awoken by more policias. Luckily, they were the polisos from the previous night. They recognized Sean, showed him some pictures from the previous night, chuckled and warned us about the gangs, and again let us be.
The next day we took off over the bridge and off the island looking forward to Belize. Along the road Eric spotted some ruins that weren’t too far from the road. The Balamku ruins were about two thousand years old and quite a site. It was nice to get out of Marley and stretch our legs hiking up the tall stone stairs. We were allowed into one of the temples where some carved stone deities had been preserved. Below them were rooms for sacrificial animal slayings.
The next day we took off over the bridge and off the island looking forward to Belize. We loaded up on mas cervezas, more delicious 100% agave tikillya, some cigarellos, and agua for about thirty dollares. We made it to the Mexico/Belize border after spending diez dias en Mexico. We were greeted by a friendly Mexican man who informed us that the bank was closed for the day and we would have to come back manyana to collect the $300 vehicle deposit. We then exited Mexico and were informed that we could not bring beer or any fruits or veggies into the country. The nice Belizian lady at the border told us that we had no time limit and therefor could eat our vegetables and drink our beer before crossing the border. We had a fiesta in the free zone. Eric drove the van through and Jenni, Sean, and I walked quietly past the sleepy border 'guards'.
We spent the night in Corozal parked on a grassy beach under a giant umbrella tree beside the choppy sea. I woke up early, read my book on the ledge, and watched the sun rise. The sea in Belize is green. We met some Belizian locals by the water. Belizians are bilingual for the most part, speaking in both english and espanol. Beautiful rastas are plentiful in Belize.
Early afternoon lolled by and we headed back to the border to retrieve the vehicle deposit. Sean, Jenni, and I chilled in the Belizian border parking lot near some rastas washing cars, in the shade. Eric went back solo, as you have to pay a tax to leave the country. We were 'officially' welcomed to Belize by a rasta's poetic words, "Where the people are free, by the Carreeb Sea". Eric and Marley came back to Belize, we shared some beers with new friends and headed to Belize City. LOVE, Sarah.
We heard some rustling behind us, hid the bottle, and were greeted by two polisos. Long story short, Jenni and I posed for some pictures and we got by for the fourth time unscathed and no less broke though we think they were asking for a bribe at some point during the interaction. We decided to spend the following day on the island. The daylight revealed loads of garbage, murkey waters, and oil wells of the shores. We spent the morning by the sea and did some travelling chores during the afternoon such as getting oil, tracking down water, airing out the van, and finding a cleanish bathroom to take a showerish in.
We checked out Marley's air conditioning. Marley was not impressed and overheated on us. Luckily we were able to push the van back into a safe parking place, one turn away from a busy road during rush hour. The street in front of us was filled with bustling floats and decked out sound system trucks preparing for the Carnaval (a Mexican street festival lasting 15 days). It was perfect timing as seems to be the way with us. We were as much an attraction ourselves as they were for us because Ciudad del Carmen is not a tourista town. We parked on the beach after the Carnaval and spent the night.
In the middle of the night, we were awoken by more policias. Luckily, they were the polisos from the previous night. They recognized Sean, showed him some pictures from the previous night, chuckled and warned us about the gangs, and again let us be.
The next day we took off over the bridge and off the island looking forward to Belize. Along the road Eric spotted some ruins that weren’t too far from the road. The Balamku ruins were about two thousand years old and quite a site. It was nice to get out of Marley and stretch our legs hiking up the tall stone stairs. We were allowed into one of the temples where some carved stone deities had been preserved. Below them were rooms for sacrificial animal slayings.
The next day we took off over the bridge and off the island looking forward to Belize. We loaded up on mas cervezas, more delicious 100% agave tikillya, some cigarellos, and agua for about thirty dollares. We made it to the Mexico/Belize border after spending diez dias en Mexico. We were greeted by a friendly Mexican man who informed us that the bank was closed for the day and we would have to come back manyana to collect the $300 vehicle deposit. We then exited Mexico and were informed that we could not bring beer or any fruits or veggies into the country. The nice Belizian lady at the border told us that we had no time limit and therefor could eat our vegetables and drink our beer before crossing the border. We had a fiesta in the free zone. Eric drove the van through and Jenni, Sean, and I walked quietly past the sleepy border 'guards'.
We spent the night in Corozal parked on a grassy beach under a giant umbrella tree beside the choppy sea. I woke up early, read my book on the ledge, and watched the sun rise. The sea in Belize is green. We met some Belizian locals by the water. Belizians are bilingual for the most part, speaking in both english and espanol. Beautiful rastas are plentiful in Belize.
Early afternoon lolled by and we headed back to the border to retrieve the vehicle deposit. Sean, Jenni, and I chilled in the Belizian border parking lot near some rastas washing cars, in the shade. Eric went back solo, as you have to pay a tax to leave the country. We were 'officially' welcomed to Belize by a rasta's poetic words, "Where the people are free, by the Carreeb Sea". Eric and Marley came back to Belize, we shared some beers with new friends and headed to Belize City. LOVE, Sarah.
By Jenni---->
Drove on to Belize City and went to the fish market on the river where we watched them scale, gut and chop up the fish. Scales were flying everywhere! I would normally be gagging at stuff like this since I've developed a weak stomach but I watch on in awe! We got two nice fresh fish still with the head and tails. Went to the veggie market... yummy! I ended up accidentally putting rubbing alcohol on my dinner because I thought it was vinegar and had to force myself to puke up my food. Unfortunate because it was a great meal and it freaked us all out because its a poison!! ugghh. We parked the van at the Raddison Hotel where they had a sweet outside bar and crazy loud awesome reggae and dancehall. We've had ppl husstling us all the time in Belize, ppl must think we're rich cause we're white. We've been getting this a bit but I think it will be a lot from now on. So many RASTAS here! YEY! They are nice and all are so laid back. Some talk so much tho! It's been really hard getting away from some of them. I am ok with saying goodbye but everyone else seems to be easily roped into intense conversations. :P
We are now in Belmopan, Belize which is much more chill place. We wanted to spend more time here but unfortunately we are finding that we have not much time to relax. We are either on the road driving during the day or doing chores whenever we have some extra time which leads to just driving and chores! We have had some time to enjoy, but mostly at night. It's hard to drive through these beautiful places and not stop to hike or explore, but we have to deal with these delays that we've had along the road. We are off to drive thru Guatemala tomorrow, then El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua in the next couple days. It will be great when we get to Costa Rica where we can finally park our butts and bust out the camping gear.
Wow, that was long. Not too many pics cause our cameras are dying and the internet sucks to upload! Whoever made it this far thru this entry should get a gold star. Wont update for another while as we are off to Envision festival in Costa as soon as we get there. Lisa and Joey are meeting up with us for the fest and some days of surfing, YAY! Will update after. Love you all!
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