Back to Mexico!

Our journey back through the southern half of Mexico took us through empty beach towns with giant sand dunes butting up against the crashing waves. We drove through winding steep mountain passes, vast deserts filled with cacti, dry lake beds, and colonial towns. We found some old friends amongst the many new ones we made. We enjoyed taking a bit more time to explore, and not being quite as rushed as we were back in December. We were able to make lots of stops and break up the many miles of driving into much more manageable sections, flying everywhere we could. Life on the road is easy to settle back into now, we feel more at home on the move than being stationary. It becomes an endless flow of only staying in one place long enough to get a good taste, then it's farewell and on to the next one. The hellos and goodbyes seem to meld together; time and distance start to fly by. When you get a fleeting moment to look back in your rearview mirror the amount of ground covered behind is immense. I think we could go forever--if only we had unlimited funds! Here are just a few highlights from our trip of over 2,300 miles from Panajachel, Guatemala to Topolobompo, Mexico, where we caught the ferry to the Baja Peninsula.

Two days into our trip was our first great surprise. We stopped by a place called La Ventosa, near Salina Cruz, on the southern Pacific coast. It's a good place for kitesurfing, one of the windiest in Mexico, but it was the off-season and there were no kiters around. I had researched camping possibilities nearby and found a place called Cocoleoco about 30 minutes away from La Ventosa. It is in a village named Conception Bamba with a little beach and a surf break nearby. We pulled into the two-dirt-road town, passed Cocoleoco, and decided to check out the beach. As we pulled up on to the beautiful playa, a local named Oswaldo came and welcomed us. He started to tell us about the area, pointing to a huge sand dune on the other side of the beach the beach. He let us know we could camp right at his little restaurante and that a couple from Colombia had just been here with their son. What a small world, it was our friends Frederico and Claudia with their son Benji. Those of you that have been following closely may remember that we met them in Costa Rica, travelled with them to Ometepe Island in Nicaragua, and crossed paths again in Pana. Apparently we missed them at Playa la Bamba by one day. No way!

The wind was blowing in the perfect direction to soar the dune so we set off walking. It took us an hour to get traverse the beach, and we were rewarded with a great sunset skitch session playing with the wind and sand. We love surprise flying and RokaBoos was happy to get some much needed exercise.

Afterwards we had a great dinner at Oswaldo's place, made by his lovely wife Elodia, and chatted late into the night. He told us all about the turtles coming to nest on the beach, the history of the town, and suggested a few stops on our way north. Oswaldo and Elodia belong to a local group whose mission it is to conserve the sea turtles that nest on this section of Mexican coastline. They also try to use only local and organic ingredients in their cooking and have a strong environmental ethic that can be a rarity in rural Mexico. Their dream is to be able to raise funds for the group so that they can dedicate more time to conserving turtle habitat and protecting turtle eggs, as well as educating the locals on environmental issues. Their needs are pretty simple, but they don't have consistent income. If you would like to learn more or donate to their cause, you can check out their website at http://cooperativacochabamba.wordpress.com/ or their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/cooperativacochabamba. We camped in the van right next to the Blue Rock Restaurant, listening to the sounds of crashing waves all night long. In the morning Becca and Rok had a sunrise yoga session on the deserted beach while I body whomped in the pounding surf. Oswaldo and Elodia were incredibly friendly and another example of the amazing generosity we have have received all over Mexico. When we left he didn't even want to charge us for camping. We had some breakfast, ordered some hand made tortillas to go, and left a small donation for the turtles, thankful for the good company and helpful info.

After another day on the beach we were ready to head through the mountains of the Sierra Madre to Oaxaca, a colonial town in the high desert famous for chocolate, mole, and mezcal. We spent 2 nights outside of town at the Overlander's Oasis, owned by a Canadian couple who live in a converted city bus. They have been traveling all over Mexico and Central America for many years and have finally settled down in Santa Maria de Tule. They have an amazing little compound converted from an old restaurant. The bus is mostly stationary these days, acting as their master bedroom. The rest of the compound flows around it--with an airy kitchen and beautiful garden. There are spots for a few more small RVs or vans around the building as well as a little Casita to rent. They have a really nice separate bathroom with hot shower for their guests. It was a great place to recharge. Near their compound in Tule is the stoutest tree in the world. The cypress towers over large church in the center of town. It was a pretty impressive sight. We have seen some pretty big trees: the redwoods in California, the Baobabs in Africa and the Kauris of New Zealand.
This cypress was every bit as stunning.We also spent a day in Oaxaca, visiting churches and chocolate factories, shopping for ceramics and handicrafts, and had the most incredible Mexican meal I have ever tasted. Slow cooked moles, flor de calabaza quesadillas, and coffee caramel flan. Yum.

As we headed north from Oaxaca, we spent a night in the Jardin Botanica Zapotitlan Salinas in the middle of an enormous desert filled with many types of cacti as far as the eyes could see. The desert there is filled with very tall saguaro-type cactus covering the hills to the point that from afar it almost looked like giant grass-covered hillsides. It was another campsite all to ourselves-- in fact it was a bit unnerving when we pulled up at sunset and the gates were closed and locked. The visitor center and offices just inside the gate looked like a ghost town. We asked a few ladies at a nearby souvenir shop if it was possible to camp. They sent us to the local tourist agency in town, where our new friend Martin guided us to the Mayor's office to ask for permission to open the gates to the botanical garden after-hours. After a few phone calls and handshakes, they happily had a caretaker open the gate and prepare the campground just for us. No one asked for anything but the standard camping fee of 100 pesos the following morning. Amazing Mexican hospitality strikes again.

We had a beautiful morning hike in the quiet botanical garden, wandering amongst the cacti before the heat of the day set in. From their we headed north into Veracruz state to chase down some paragliding. Fortin de las Flores is a flying site we have heard people all over Mexico talking about. Since it was raining on our way down we never got the chance to check it out. This time the forecast looked slightly more favorable. The access road is a pretty crazy track up to ridge top antennae that overlook the city of Cordoba. When we pulled up, there were already a few pilots waiting around as the wind wasn't quite perfect and there were some big thunderstorms on the horizon. It took a bit of patience, but just before sunset the wind came on and the storms broke just in time to give us a good long soaring session. It was beautiful and fresh, even a bit cold after so long in the desert. We toplanded before the wind died, set up camp right on launch, and cooked dinner watching the stars and moon cruise by through portholes in the clouds. Launches make the best campsites.

Next stop, Puebla! We wanted to stop back by Chipilo to fly with our buddy Charlie. We also needed to fulfill our promise to return to see Rolando and his family, the friendly familia who gave us a safe place to camp when we were lost on our way south in December. Charlie was as generous as ever, buying us dinner and giving us a place to stay, even though he was in the process of moving houses. He took the time to show us around, take us flying, and cooked us another round of his amazing chilaquiles. We stayed a day or two and when Charlie found out we were heading to another flying site in Guadalajara, he sent us on our way with some of his homemade pastries as well as pounds of the town's famous italian cheeses and meats as gifts to share with the Mexican pilots at our next stop. We had a few minutes to stop by Rolando's house, where we brought a few Guatemalan gifts to the family and couldn't refuse some amazing home grown beans with tortillas. They gave us yet another amazing example of true hospitality. People like Rolando and Erica that have very little and still want to share everything are an inspiration and a big part of making this adventure what it has been for us. We hope we can stay in touch with them and continue to learn from their example.

Our second big surprise came when we showed up in Laguna San Marcos. We were planning to stop by Guadalajara on our way north to meet up with Herminio Cordido and join him for some flying at either Tapalpa or San Marcos. We were leaning toward Tapalpa because of the camping we had heard of there, but our timing put us in town during the 2014 Laguna Seca Open, a hang gliding competition at San Marcos. We pulled in following directions from paragliding earth not quite sure what to expect. Perched on the edge of a massive dry lake bed sits Kordich Air Sports, a pretty impressive complex of hangars surrounding a small airstrip jutting out into the basin. There is a nice grassy entry area for tent camping with big open fire bbq pits and outdoor kitchen areas for entertaining. The main hanger has a bar and tables stretched all around. With the event going on there were Red Bull tents, flags, and banners everywhere. The atmosphere reminded me a lot of a skydiving dropzone. What makes the place even more amazing is if you're looking down the centerline of the runway, over your shoulder there is a big ridge with a launch 1500 ft above you. Runways and foot launching together! The afternoon winds nuke across the flat lake bed and smash into the hill, making for strong soaring conditions. As Herminio was showing us where to camp he introduced us to the only full time living residents of the complex. "Dave and Laura live in that hangar right there" he said, pointing right next to our van. No way! Small world again. Though we hadn't seen either one in over 5 years, Becca had been chatting with Laura about her travels toward the beginning of our trip but had no idea she was here, and I knew Dave had been wintering in Mexico for some time but didn't know exactly where. As we were catching up another familiar face showed up, "The Giant" "Hang Glider Mark" Vanderworth came to say hello. He had travelled to San Marcos to take part in the competition from Valle de Bravo, where he has been wintering.

 We stayed for three nights, enjoying the flying and company. It's mostly a hang site and not for the faint of heart. The midday grind shows huge dust devils ripping across the lake bed and the wind picks up fast. The evening ridge soaring is strong and smooth but getting into the air can be tricky even on the acro gliders. The launch is short and it's blowing so hard you only have one shot at getting ripped into the sky. I got the chance to do a sunset trike jump with Herminio for the event and Becca got her first trike flight--a sunrise tour of the lake bed with David. It was a ton of fun and kind of hard to leave, but we had already booked our ferry ticket and we still had many miles to cover to get to the port. Seeing old friends is always nice, especially when it's a surprise, and it was really fun meeting, flying, and jumping with Herminio. He is someone I have looked up to since I started flying and I feel honored to have shared some airtime.

We spent another night on the coast on the way to Topolobampo and did our best to avoid all the big cities--Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, etc. We were this close to to getting on the ferry when we got pulled over by the local policia for speeding. We have been pretty proud of the fact that we have gotten away without paying a single bribe up until this point. It's one of the first questions most people ask about our trip. "Any problems with corrupt cops?"  Becca has been in some pretty grueling arguments and we have always had time to wait it out and stick to our guns. All things come to an end at some point. We were on the way to our pre-booked $500 ferry ride. It was 5:30pm. Our overnight boat trip was set to leave that evening, we needed to be there by 9pm. We were between the city of Los Mochis and the port of Topolobompo and I missed a deceleration zone where the speed limit went from 90kph to 60kph and I got hit with the radar at 74kph. The officer was quick to ask where we were headed and knew he had us from the start. He informed us the fine would be 'at least' 1300 pesos, about $100, and that we would need to go back to Los Mochis to pay it. Being as it was after 5pm he wasn't sure if the office was still open and we might have to wait until tomorrow to pay. He was going to have to take the license plates and we would get them back upon payment. Shit. "Well..." he said "there is an option to pay it here on the spot." I knew we were had. I intentionally don't keep very much money in my wallet and let the officer know that I didn't have enough cash on me to pay the fine. "Oh... well if you pay here the price is a bit lower." ugh.... I felt dirty. I opened my wallet to him and showed him that I only had 250 pesos, about $20. He smiled and nodded that that was enough, tucked the bills in his clipboard, told me to drive a little slower, and walked away. After a short outburst of profanity we were on our way to the ferry. All's well that ends well and I chalked it up to not being so bad after the number of miles we have covered without a problem. The down feelings were quick to go away as we got ready to board our ferry for the Baja. It was bitter sweet knowing we were headed for the last leg of our journey south of the border but we were excited for some Baja fun to come. We settled in to our little corner on the upper deck of the boat, overlooking Chomo in the vehicle bays below, and waved farewell to the Mainland. Baja here we come!!