VACATION FROM OUR VACATION

Our stay in Sayulita was suppose to be our two week vacation from our vacation, instead by the time we leave, we will of been here twenty-eight days.  Delays due to parts, delays due to maintenance on the truck, delays due to sickness.  Since we have been here for so long, its starting to feel like a home.

Our long awaited parts arrived and Justin had the truck apart and fixed in no time.  Except now Justin has had too much time on his hands and has found numerous other projects to complete, fix or change on the land rover.  The truck saga continued, when after having it in a garage in Puerto Vallarta on another matter, we awoke to this the next day.....

No big deal though, we had bets on how long it would be until we had our first flat tire.  (Nadine won!)  Eight dollars later and we were good as new.

We really don't know where the time goes everyday.  We have visited every beach around, walked every street at least twice, made friends with the beach vendors - they don't come to sell to us now, they just come to chat!  We have read many books, laid on the beach and Justin has been working on his body boarding skills.

justin dropping in on a wave

Anyone that knows Justin well knows about all of his neck and back troubles.  For the past two years he has been seeing a chiropractor regularly, with no real success.  But its all pretty much fixed now, who knew that all he needed was to be dropped on his head!!  A wave toppled him when body boarding, he basically fell off the top into about a foot of water head first.  Crunch - but all better!

beach with cave access 

lots of crabs in here

We spent one day at a really cool little spot, a tiny little beach with a cave entrance.  It was nice to be away from hordes of people and to only hear waves crashing.  It was a real nerve racking walk to get there - it was a goat trail that dropped about a hundred feet to the rocks and ocean below.  No pictures, too busy watching our footing.

In summary, we will be leaving Sayulita with a tan, an almost repaired truck, a re-adjusted neck, hundreds of scarring mosquito bites, three blankets, a grasp on international shipping, ability to kind of read a spanish menu, knowledge that chorizo sausage can go with anything and learning that its not where you go on vacation its who you meet along the way.

annas new bed

mc flurries makes us happy

spy optic advertisement 

DELAYED PART 2

Let me start you off with a story.   Two years ago I started planning for a trip of a life time.  With that comes long hours thinking about what could go wrong with my vehicle and fixing it before leaving and/or have the parts with me to fix it when required.  Given the fact that I am a journeymen mechanic in Canada I felt I was thinking about every possible failing point on my classic truck. Given the age of it I expected things to breakdown.  I have always had a plan and tools in place to solve the problem, allowing me drive from Canada to Panama and back again with little issue.  Was I wrong???   The problem is when you pay someone for special parts and information you expect them to be an expert.  Why wouldn't you, right!!!

So today I woke up thinking it's maintenance day as we would be hitting the road in two days.  Just a quick greasing and gearbox oil check I thought.  But just as I was finishing up out of the corner of my eye I spot a sliver of rubber extruding from the leaf spring bushing.  "Oh no thats going to take a couple hours to fix," I thought. "But its ok, I have spares."

So after two hours of jacking up the truck, removing hardware and using Land rover Special tool #1(A big bleep'n hammer) I had the bushing out of the leaf spring and I was ready to insert the spare.  

As I banged my head against the frame of the truck I realized it was 0.076" too small - I had the wrong part.  Not a big deal your thinking,  just go to the parts store and get the right one.  Thing is, the parts store I need is in Canada or England, not here in Mexico.

So I decided to go direct to the manufacture, bypassing the distributer I had dealt with in the past.  After calling Rocky Mountian Parabolics directly, I was greeted with expert advice and a quick parts order to be shipped direct to my hotel in Mexico from 6000 km's away.  I have to say its amazing to have such great service and to deal with a company that backs their products.

So the ending of the story goes like this - we get to hang around this awesome little town drinking cerveza and playing in the water for an extra five days.  Yet again, waiting for mail!

AFTER FIFTY DAYS ON THE ROAD

We were sitting on a beach one day (like everyday) and we got to talking about how much our life has changed, even in such a short amount of time.  We have grown accustom to such a different way of living and we are loving every minute of it.  We thought we would share......

a perfect day

 - constant dirty feet - the dirt somehow manages to become a part of your skin, it does not wash off
 - wearing dirty clothes - lift, smell, make a decision
 - laundry day is exciting - no need for the lift and smell portion of your day
 - dogs everywhere - they are all so sweet and need homes, its hard not to adopt one
 - watching where you step - snakes (yep, this happened), spiders, sharp everything, dog crap etc

 - new bugs - we know that they are just going to get bigger and weirder as we go

 - smelly bathrooms - they are unavoidable

 - mosquito bites - we hope they're mosquito bites

 - army ants - found at any garbage can leading a hundred feet away

 - dust and sand - in your ears, in your food, in your bed, imagine it - it gets there

 - uneven sidewalks - our calf muscles are doing well and so is our balance

 - flip flops - flip flops equals happiness

 - joys of a good hot shower - we've stayed extra days when we have found this

 - drinkable water - always easy to get but we can appreciate water out of a tap now

offroading to the beach

 - food everywhere all the time - whether it be a guy with a tray or baked goods out of a pickup truck

 - music - musicians everywhere - the beach, street corners, outside your door

 - topes (speed bumps) - nasty, random things, big, small no rhyme or reason to them - they just appear

 - amazing fruit and vegetables - fresh and tasty, often we don't know what we're eating

 - spicy foods - take a bite and hope its okay (hot dog with unexpected habanero peppers)

she told me to flip something in the kitchen

 

 - spanish - we are proficient at talking to two year olds (okay, maybe not)

 - visual overload - we can walk down the same street ten times and always see something new

 - constantly being surprised - tigers in cages driving ahead of us on the road, etc etc etc

on the hunt for internet - why are we at the beach looking at the ocean

In the past fifty days we have had ear aches, sun blisters, endless itchy mosquito bites, sunburns.  We have peeled, been pile drived into a sandbar while bodyboarding (guess who), and have had sand rash.  We would not change a thing.  Even when things go wrong everything else is still so right.  Everyday is new and memorable - and we have only just begun.

even Anna weighs in on the route

FLIES ON A WALL

San Blas is a cool little fishing village, decent surf and a beautiful beach that goes on and on.  We spent three days here wandering the streets.  At night the noises of the distant jungle overpowered the sounds of the ocean.  There are barely any street lights, most of the light in the evening comes from the taco and churro stands.  There is a constant cloud of smoke over the town coming from all of the fish grills.  The homes are small and plain - but what else do you really need?  Everyone here seems happy, kids playing in the streets and families chat in the centre square.  Life here seems simple but complete.  It was great to just sit back and observe everyday life in San Blas.

The food here was great and for once we maintained our budget!  Dinner at a taco stand only cost us forty pesos (less than four dollars Canadian).  Amazing churros (three for five pesos) we frequented that stand more than once.

There is an eighteenth century fort over looking the village.  It was a place where all the riches were taken and counted before loading onto ships.  It was a great place to wonder around and to take in the view of the town.

      

check out our newly tinted windows

she looks not bad for an 84 year old!

Of course we can't forget the amazing beach here.  For the first time Justin was able to get his body board wet!

We really enjoyed being a fly on the wall in this cool little village but we had to move on, so many more places to explore!

neighbourhood block watch