Dec 7, 2008

I didn't wake as early as I intended to today, Devon and I had made plans before going to sleep last night to get eggs in the morning and use the remaining tortillas and veggies to make breakfast burritos. We walked to the store that sold groceries which was only a block further than the mini super and purchased eggs, a green pepper, and Manzana(apple) Jumex. When we arrived back at camp Jaime was out swimming in the sea. We took the dishes down to wash them in the shallow tide. Most of which were only knee deep. Suddenly out of nowhere a wave about neck height for me came in and hit me in the chest like a punch from a pro boxer. Devon got it bad too and lost all of his dishes in the wave. He scrambled to recover everything but lost the spatula. I managed to hold onto all of mine and even caught the two bowls I had left higher up the beach that the wave had grabbed and pulled back to the sea. Devon thought that the spatula was under his foot in the sand and dug frantically for it but found nothing. We both exploded into a fit of laughter and continued to laugh as we made out way back to camp. Jaime had the fire going again and we all prepared breakfast together. Jaime poured the remaining Mescal into the Jumex and and we drank it with our breakfast. After breakfast we cleaned up our campsite and packed our bags. That was enough of this beach we had decided. Devon had to get to his aunts camp in Soritos soon because she was driving back to Canada in a couple days. He was out of money and needed to find a way home so this seemed like the most logical solution. The first truck to drive by gave us a ride. He was a middle aged Mexican man with a kind face. He must have been a construction worker since he had tools and reflector jackets scattered around his truck. He had some really funny American romance music playing that sounded like something my Grandmother would listen to and drank a can of Modello while he drove us into town. Through the desert we passed a lot of cows and a few wild horses. He was kind enough to drop us off at the San Jose Mega(Mexican version of a Wal Mart) and wished us good travels.

We parked our bags by a table in the food court. Jaime went to buy something or other, Devon started reading a book at the table and so I asked him to watch the bags while I went for supplies for my crab trap. Unfortunately the Mega didn't have anything I could really use. Jaime came back with some tang mix and a bottle of water. We filled out water bottles with the water and then Jaime poured the rest of the Mescal and the tang mix into what remained of the bottle of water she had bought. We made our way through the parking lot and across a terrifying traffic circle and waited at a bus stop. The bus came fairly quickly and took us all the way to Cabo san Lucas for only $2.50can. The bus was packed and took just over an hour to get to the far end of Cabo. It was awkward having our bags on board since they took up a lot of room in the aisle. I tried to hold mine on my lap but my guitar still had to sit in the aisle. We were dropped off at the last stop on the highway leading out of Cabo and began walking up it to find a good place to hitch from. We were quickly picked up by an awesome rasta woman named Miriam. Miriam was from Puerto Rico, but told us she had grown up all over the world. She was very opinionated but very funny and quite friendly. She told us she had no money and not much gas but would take us as far as we needed to go or as far as the gas would hold out. I was relieved to get a ride with somebody I could speak to in English since my Spanish was still not very great. She told us she had just opened a hostel in Pescadero and invited us by for dinner some time and a place to sleep if we needed it. She told us it was $5 per night or we could do some yard work for her and stay for free.

She dropped us off by the side of the road in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere. I bought a $5can bag of organic coffee from her that smelled amazing and we said goodbye. Jaime and I agreed that we would have to see her again at some point. We could see the ocean to the west through a large stretch of desert and the three of us began walking down a long dusty road surrounded by cactus and dry shrubs. We arrived at a large camp ground that sat behind a bluff just off of the ocean. It was about an hour before sun down and the sky was already turning a brilliant orange. At the camp I met Jaime and Devon's aunt Di, their cousin Stu, and Bart a cool older man who owned the camper everyone was camped around. We dropped off our bags and borrowed Di's truck to go into town for provisions. The town was Pescadero and we stopped at the first mini super on the highway and picked up some beers and a couple free ones with our bottle cap collection we had accumulated. Stu made us finish one in the truck before we got back to Soritos. That night Jaime, Devon and I cooked enchiladas for everyone and we sat on the bluff around the campfire and drank beers and smoked a lot of weed. I played some songs on my guitar for everybody and Stu made a few requests that I was happy to play for him. Stu also lent Jaime and I a small foam mattress for the tent which we gladly accepted. Bart had bought some mesquite wood for his fires and it had a wonderful smell and burnt very hot and very slowly. The coals got so hot that they actually glowed a brilliant white at the middle of the fire which lit up the surroundings quite well. Devon warned me that there was a lot of dew in the mornings here and so I decided to just go straight for the tent this time and Jaime agreed. Eventually everyone crashed and Jaime and I went to the tent for some of the best sex we had since I arrived. The next couple of days seemed to flow together in the same sort of manner. I played a lot of guitar and got to know my new friends here a little better. Stu as it turned out was the son of a friend of my Dads from work and Di I deduced was his Ex. Stu was a good kid and really friendly but he was only 15 and Di let him smoke weed and drink which I didn't fully agree with but said nothing about as it wasn't my business. When she did try to give Stu any sort of rules he would have a fit and speak to her in a manner that shocked me but nobody else seemed surprised. If I ever spoke to my Mom like that she would kick my fucking ass is what I remember saying to Devon and him and Jaime both agreed that Stu needed some discipline in his life but wasn't likely to get it from his Mom. Di was very nice and I felt bad for her the way her son spoke to and treated her. I didn't get to talk with her a lot but I found out she ran a landscaping business at a ski resort back home with what was apparently her very recent ex boyfriend. She seemed sad about him and I found out they had a rather bad break up just before we had arrived. Bart was an friend of Di's who was a little in love with her and couldn't seem to get to the making a move part or perhaps he was just to polite to do so. He and Stu had quite a few arguments though and he deeply disapproved of Stu's attitude towards his mother. They usually said some funny things to each other like Bart telling Stu "If your mother wasn't around I would kick your spoiled little ass all over the place." or Stu to Bart "you are just a fucking cranky old shit that nobody wants around." I think underneath all the fighting though they liked each other a lot more than they showed. Bart and I got along fairly well even though everybody warned me that he could be very cranky. He seemed to warm to me however but I made sure not to cross him even though I had no way to really. I was always very polite around him and I think he appreciated it. I helped cook whenever I could and did the dishes often as well. Elsewhere in the campsite another campers dog had given birth to black lab puppies that were adorable. Unfortunately Jaime began to get the idea that she should take one of these dogs and train it to be her traveling companion. She was under the impression that after I left the dog would protect her from harm. I tried to explain to her that a puppy shouldn't be raised on the road until it was a little older and that these puppies would not be nearly big enough to protect her from much more than large bugs by the time she was finished her trip. Not only that but the responsibility of feeding it getting it shots and then getting it back to Canada after everything else was far more than she could handle. She disagreed of course but I remembered in my head that she once told me she had to get rid of her cell phone because a 3 year contract was to much commitment for her to handle. I really hoped that she wouldn't come back for one of these dogs. On our last day in Soritos Jaime Devon and I hitched about 15km down the highway back towards Cabo to a road we were told would lead us to some water falls. We had heard about them from Di and Bart who went a few days before we arrived. From the highway we had to walk about an hour in before we got to the first fall, a small stream falling about 20' down a nice rock face. We had to climb up it which was difficult and a little scary for me since I had broken both my ankles this June falling from a similar height. I took off my shoes to make things easier. After the first climb we followed the stream through a flat bed for another km or so until we reached the next fall which was a little higher and at the top had a big section of bamboo standing about 15 feet high. We knew there was a trail through it somewhere from what Di had told us but little did we know we had climbed up the wrong side for that and ended up having to make out way through the thick brush. We had to turn back and make a new trail a few times and there were moments where I was not the happiest camper. Jaime seemed to love the whole experience but Devon and I got a little grumpy. Finally we found the trail and made our way out only to walk even farther down another section of flats to the next waterfall. Devon got ahead of Jaime and I and so we stopped to drink water and kiss occasionally. At one point we passed very close to a couple of cows one of which I thought was going to charge me for a moment. Finally though we made our way to the last waterfall which was several levels cut into a large rock face. A family of goats was nearby and curiously followed us up the rock face. The ease with which they climbed made our efforts look pathetic but they kept following us until we reached the top. Once we made it to the top Devon said he wanted to go farther and see if there was more I protested but was over ruled by the majority and so we trekked on. We never made it to any other water falls but on our way back Devon spotted a fenced off area with a grapefruit tree in it and we picked a few. They weren't quite ripe but were still delicious. When we got back to the waterfalls Devon took off somewhere and so Jaime and I decided to shower under the biggest one and make out in the water. I probably would have tried for more but I didn't know where Devon was and I doubt he would have appreciated returning to see that sort of thing. We washed ourselves with some shampoo and soap I brought with me and it was incredibly refreshing. The water was a little cold but I didn't care, it was better than ocean bathing any day.

The walk back was much faster but my left ankle began to hurt a lot when we reached the road again and Jaime had cut her foot pretty badly on some of the rocks we climbed to get to the falls and so we both looked pretty pathetic walking with limps. Once at the highway we hitched a ride in the back of a truck belonging to a nice couple from California and they even gave us blankets for the cold, which really wasn't that cold anyways. They dropped us off on the highway at the road to the campground and we walked back again.

That night Bart took us all for dinner at a restaurant in Pescadero. I ordered two hamburguesas(Mexican hamburger) which were the best best hamburgers I have ever had. They were loaded with condiments and vegetables and the beef patty itself was huge. I had built up quite and appetite from a long hike we did to some waterfalls earlier that day but only managed to eat one and a half of my burgers. I saved the other for breakfast. I drank a Modello light with my meal which tasted a lot like watered down beer. Stu kept playing with a chiuaua that the restaurant owners had even though he claimed to hate that type of dog. After dinner I stepped outside for a cigarette that Bart lent me since mine were all out. I found out that in Mexico you can smoke pretty much anywhere though and sat back at the table. Bart took some pictures of everyone with my camera including a couple of Jaime and I eating which came out goofy looking. After dinner he paid for everything and we bought some more beers on our way back to the camp. I thanked him for his hospitality.

The next morning I ate my leftover hamburguesa for breakfast and it was even more delicious cold. It tasted like a taco salad inside a hamburger bun. Stu smoked the last of his weed with us since he and his mother and Devon were leaving for Canada that day. Stu told us that he wanted to stop in La Paz to buy some Vans high tops which he had struck a good deal for a week previous. Unfortunately for him they were towing Bart's dirt bike and trailer back with them and he had no intention of letting them stop in the city and getting a ticket or worse his property stolen. He told this to Di and the plan was vetoed. Stu kicked up a big fuss about this but Di really just wanted to get home anyways and seemed very stressed. Jaime and I felt bad for her and Devon since we knew he would complain about it for at least a couple days while they drove back. They had made plans to drive and sleep in 3 hour shifts so they would only need to stop for gas and could make it back in good time. We went with them into town and stopped at a blanket shop on the side of the road so Di could get some souvenirs for her friends back home. The man inside tried to sell me a hammock for $200pesos but I wasn't about to spend that much money on more shit to carry with no place to set it up really. Even though it was nice and I did want to buy it. They dropped us off on the highway outside of town on a dirt road that led to the beach and we all exchanged hugs and said goodbye. Then they took off and it was only Jaime and I now. We made our way back into the desert towards the ocean down a long dusty road.