January 27, 2014

After a 10 hr drive yesterday, I am back on track today.      

For the most the trip went well.  As most of you know, this is the first long drive that I have made in Mexico.  I will not deny that there was a certain amount of trepidation on my part.  And as usually happens, thinking about something is fraught with more fears than the actual doing.

The biggest surprise during the drive was the beauty along the way.  I am  guilty of not seeing the beauty of where I live.  No I do not have photos as I was driving to Barra and did not want to ‘stop to smell the roses’…I know..how sad!

The scenery went from forests, to the greenest fields and finally to the ocean.  At one point the fieldss shimmered a brilliant lime green, and I thought it was my sunglasses creating the effect.  Truly the vegetation (crops) were glowing lime green in the sunlight.  During part of my drive, I passed along roads where the trees overhung so far, that the road was dappled.  The effect was surrealistic, and dangerous..so  I found out when I hit a big hole that spun me into the opposite lane.  That was a bit disconcerting and I paid more attention to the road rather than focussing on the effects of the light sifting through the trees.

And then there were the summer/winter holiday homes.  They ranged from tiny to palatial but all with views to die for. 

And now for the other side of the coin.  The first 200 or so km, is very windy with almost non stop villages after you reach Zamora.  My average speed for the first 5 hr was 50 km/hr.  as I was slowing down it seemed every few feet for another tope (speed bump).  I cannot begin to imagine how many speed bumps I encountered along the way.

Patches got car sick at about hour 3.  I heard him retch so I stopped the car as quickly as I could find a spot.  Here is when I really missed Bob.  In our relationship Bob cleans up all barf and other types of excrement.  But I had to take over, and so while cleaning up I lost my breakfast too!!  That would be why Bob cleans up those types of things.

The drive went well (discounting the barf interlude) until I came to where the toll road starts.  There was a nice sign pointing me on way and the GPS agreed.  I made my turn and the GPS told me to turn again, but I thought it was wrong and the road I was to turn on was NOT signed (Why after many years in Mexico did I let that deter me?) so I drove on with my TomTom telling me to “turn as soon as possible”.  But I didn’t.

After about 20 minutes I decided that I was on the wrong road so I did a U-turn and almost got hit by a car going at the speed of light.  Back I went and once more took a wrong turn.  Then I saw 2 guys selling tacos right at the round- about and from them I learned that the unsigned road was my road.  Then I was on my way.  For the first 5 hr, I went at a snail’s pace  and covered only 250 km but the toll road was great so the next 250 km (more or less) took me 3 hr.  Yes indeed somewhere along the way I wasted 2 hr…some with my rambling and the rest with frequent stops  for the dog.

Just as I was checking into the hotel, Bob phoned.  After his story, I was more than glad that I had driven.  As usual the sail (he was in La Cruz) started on a mellow note, and then the winds hit just around Cabo.  No weather forecast had suggested that there were winds of 35 knots which of course resulted in waves!  He spent 3 hr manually steering as the autopilot doesn’t like that kind of wave action.  And the winds were on his nose all the way.  The trip took 17 hr…..a few hours longer than normal. 

Today Bob is resting up in Chamela and hoping the weather will be better tomorrow when he heads to Barra de Navidad.

When I arrived here, after checking in,  Patches and I ate and I downed 2 beers in a flash.  After 2 beer, I had a buzz.  Amazing what dehydration and drinking can do.

Our friends came to join me and welcome me back to Barra.  We had a nice chat but the mosquitoes drove us out of the bar.  Shortly thereafter, as in about 7 pm I was asleep.   After the drive, the beer, and not really sleeping the night before, I was exhausted.

Now the hotel that I am staying in is about minus 1 star.  You might ask why I am staying in such a place??  First of all they accept dogs, they have a walled parking area, and we can tie our dinghy at their dock (which makes  it easy for Bob to come and get us when he arrives here.  I would gladly have paid much more but travelling with a dog limites the choices.  The room is clean but it is right on the street, and last night at about 3 am a group of people were celebrating (as one does when one is drunk) in a very loud manner….not Mexicans I may add.  Their celebrations went on for almost 2 hr.  Of course by 3 am, I was ready to get up so did they keep awake or was I already awake….a moot point?

This morning Patches and I met Mary at Bananas for a great breakfast.  We were both starved after our day of ‘cleansing’ yesterday.  Now we are back at our hotel relaxing.

For those of you who were concerned about my driving here, you can relax.  It was an excellent experience (barring the barf)!