Puerto Vallara, Mexico

I am in Puerto Vallara. Booked a room at the Motel Los Angeles (not by the beach). Presently, I am across the street at a little shop with a section in the back for renting computer usage. Twelve pesos por hora for internet access.

I´ve somewhat lost track of the days, but I´ll do my best:

From Ensenada, I took a bus to El Rosario. Arrived at night, walked down a dusty, muddy, dark, two lane road being careful to stay out of the way of large, speeding trucks. I booked a ("modest" is being too generous) room at the Cactus Motel. Not much night life in ol´El Rosario, so i showered, did a bit of journaling, and got some sleep in a real bed (instead of a cramped bus seat). The next morning I was awakened by the loud (extremely loud) revving of an automobile engine. Ever heard of the Baja 1000? Well, turns out it was the weekend of my stay, and the participating drivers and crew were booked at the Cactus Motel.

After returning to the bus station to check on the schedule of the next bus out of town, I ventured into Mama Espinoza´s, a restaurant just down the way from the Cactus, for a wonderful, hot, all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet - potatoes w/chorizo, scrambled eggs w/veggies, cactus, tortillas and fresh squeezed orange juice. I feasted.

Checked out of my room just before 1, then walked about three-quarters of a mile to the bus terminal to wait for the 3 o´clock bus. The "terminal" was actually a restaurant with a front parking lot big enough to accomodate busses and allow them enough space to adequately park and back out without difficulty. My plan was to take a bus to Santa Rosalita, but at about 2pm, a gigantic, shiny, metallic, caterpillar-like NASA spaceship on four fat tires, arrived bearing a big sign in the window that said "La Paz". I inquired to the driver (oh, did i mention that the folks of Baja speak a rapid-fire, rat-a-tat-tat speed of light staccato spanish? Did I not also mention that the cheerful inhabitants of Baja can utter the word "si", with such speed and agression, that you´re left standing there looking dumb, scratching your head, and asking yourself "what did he just say?), and guessed that he said the bus was leaving at 3pm, and they were now stopping for lunch. So I decide to wait for this bus, and while i´m waiting, an elderly gentleman delicately and carefully walks up to the porch where I'm sitting, carrying a bag of pastries, a small luggage bag, and a box wrapped with twine. He sat next to me, gesticulating and mumbling to me, softly, in superfast spanish. I didn't understood a single, solidary thing he said, but, i nodded politely, and chuckled where it seemed appropriate.

The bus ride to La Paz

This bus was cool, as in air conditioning cool. It was not crowded (I had both an aisle and window seat to myself), and the distance between my seat and the one in front of me allowed sufficient room to stretch and extend my legs Speaking of "stretch", one of the challenges I´m finding in traveling, is trying to get the exercise in. Days on busses does not allow for long walks, jogging, or the turning on of one´s home stereo to do a bit of boogalooing and shingalinging. So, during stops for a potty break or refueling, I´ve been inquiring into the length of the stop, to allow myself some timed walking and stretching.

The follow-up film on this long ride was called "Bobby", a docudrama about Robert "Bobby" Kennedy. All footage of him in the film was actual. Looks like that was the last time in America we ever heard a man running for president say the things he said. I still remember as a child, witnessing his assasination on TV and running up the stairs of our duplex to report it to my mom.

TV and Mexico by Bus

The last time I traveled through Mexico by public transportation, the cutting edge was bus stereos playing the latest USA pop hits. Now it seems, the big thing is onboard television (boo hoo), and DVD players featuring extremely violent Hollywood movies, in english(!) with Spanish subtitles. So imagine this, you have a comfy window seat on a large elegant tourist bus, it's a lovely sunny day, you´re daydreaming and gazing out of the window in awe of the beautiful Mexican countyside, as you hear a frantic woman's loud, distressed voice from the speaker just above your head, shrieking (in english) "No! No! No!", followed by a man shouting angrily "Put your hands where I can seem them!". Next you hear the sound of broken glass, machine gun fire, then the crash and crunch of furniture breaking, sirens blaring, a man barking "do you remember what you did to his family? I should blow your fucking brains out right now!", while out your window you can see a caballero riding his horse slowly up a dirt path, acres of prospering sugar cane, and a truck transporting cages of big, fat, white pigs.

La Paz

La Paz, from the little I saw, is beautiful. There is a lovely area that extends along the waterfront for walking. The people seem, generally, content. However, i didn´t stay in La Paz long. Soonafter my arrival, I took a bus to the ferry station to catch a boat to Mazatlan. But the boat wasn´t scheduled to depart until the next day, so I took the 3 o´clock to Topolobango.

La Paz to Topolobango by Ferry

It was a 5-hour ride. Maybe 200 to 300 people on board total. Everyone seemed in quite a festive mood.

A few cultural observations of the folks in this region:

1. People appear to enjoy conversation (though I´ve no idea what they´re talking about because they speak so very fast). It is common to see men talking to one another, and engaged in long, enthusiastic conversations.

2. It appears women don´t smoke much here (perhaps that is why they are so attractive, regardless of age or economic status). I´ve seen a lot of men smoking this past week, but only one young lady.

At 12:30 am this morning, took a 3 hour bus ride from Topolobango to Tempic. Followed by a ten hour bus ride from Tempic to Puerto Vallarta.

Hung out at the beach for a while, and a restaurant worker referred me to the Motel Los Angeles.

"Riches through knowledge. Knowledge through travel."