somber note

Well this entry is more sad than anything else... first off we got to San Cristobal de las casas fine, however the newest member to our family Azule did not get to experience it.... We spent the past 4 days trying to nurse her to health but were unsucessful. She had an infection that transfered from her stomach to her lungs and after several visits to vets, antibiotics, iv solution and a great deal of personal care she passed away this morning at 11:00.  We are trying hard to stay positive about the trip but the next weeks will be hard and last night and today were unbelievably tough for both nat and me... We stayed up all night with her, cried our eyes out and are still trying to piece together why she was so sick.  We have a feeling the pet store that sold her to us threw in extras and lowered the price because they knew, but what a terrible thing to do.  Sorry Tico, no little sister for you when we get home.  I didnt think i could grow so attached to an animal so quickly but as I write this my eyes are welling up.  We´ll miss you with all our hearts baby girl.

Tomorrow we are heading to Guatemala and we´ll try and be more positive in our next entry.

stupid topes!!!

 Boat to Ixtapa Island

 Ixtapa Island

 Lounging at the pool at our hotel in Puerto Escondido

 Be careful surfing in Puerto Escondido, some people werent so lucky

Wow,  topes are brutal.... if you dont know what they are let me explain, varying in size speedbumps on the highway that can scrape the bottom of your car.  Between Zihuatanejo and Puerto Escondido there were over 120 of these damn things.  They are meant to help slow traffic through cities and towns but make you slow to 10km an hour and are fairly ineffectual.  People slow for them (if they are marked with signs) then speed right back up until the next one.  Some are not marked and you find yourself slamming on your brakes to avoid real damage to your vehicle or just fly over them screaming shit!!!!!  Also, in some places there will be a posted speed limit sign of 80km followed shortly by a tope, which baffles my mind.  Luckily i have figured out a decent method to avoid unseen ones. First follow someone reasonably closely and watch their car for violent jerks. Second, watch the oncoming lane for vehicles going over them.  I hate topes.... 

Now onto better information actually about the past few days.  While in Zihuatanejo we found this great tacoria that we could eat and have a drink each for under 100 pesos or 9 bucks which we went to two of the three nights.  We found an amazing beach half an hour away which we spent a day at.  Lastly, my girlfriend fell in love with another dog..... which we are now bringing with us for the rest of the trip and home afterwards.  Shes a 7 week old black mexican chihuahua and she is currently sleeping on my lap. Her name is Azule. Louise and Art, you can yell at Natalie if you want...I tried my best to talk reason into her!!! I gotta say though, Azule is adorable. We are now in Puerto Escondido after a 12 hour drive (due to the topes) and got here last night just in time for a beautiful sunset and a fantastic and very inexpensive dinner. Today was a day to relax and recover but we enjoyed the beautiful beach in front of our hotel, a beach umbrella, and great guacamole.  Surfing here is supposidly some of the best and the waves looked like it; the mexican pipeline is a real thing. We are going to a beach just a little away from the main one which is more suited for amatures like us. This town is absolutely beautiful, mind you we are staying down near the beach so my opinion is not impartial.

Next blog will be in San Cristobal De Las Casas which is inland and up in the mountains. Hope you got a laugh from todays entry!

Chris

Zihuatanejo

After our few days of break at the all-inclusive we drove about four hours south to a small town just past Manzanillo, called Cuyutlan. It is not a touristy spot, but a local Mexican vacation destination. It had a beautiful beach with black sand, lots of little taco stands along the beach, and few hotels (one which we got for 20 dollars, and was decent except the ant infestation...haha). We spent the night on the beach, drinking cerveza and eating fresh camarones (jumbo shrimp)...paradise. The next day we drove another six or so hours on what was one of the scariest roads Ive been on. It was very windy, up through the mountains, potholes and speed bumps everywhere, and the other drives dont like to go slow. We finally made it to Zihuatanejo which is where we are now. Zihuatanejo is a slightly less touristy, and much cheaper town, just before the insanely expensive Ixtapa. It is amazing how much hotter it is here. Only about ten hours past Puerto Vallarta and much much hotter. It feels like about 30, which i love! Today we took a little boat to Ixtapa Island, which was amazing. It is a tiny island, only a minute or so across by foot, with blue water, white sand, and coral reefs. We did lots of snorkelling and saw some cool fish. Tomorrow we will probably check out another beach nearby and do some more snorkelling. Then the next day we are going to have about a 10 hour drive to uerto Escondido for a few days of surfing, cant wait!! I cant believe we still have almost another 100 days of this life...I love my life!!!

Natalie

We Are Still Alive!

So i'm not going to write five pages about Mexico like I could, but i'm going to touch on all the interesting and important things we've experienced over the past 5 days. 

In northern Mexico we were astonished by the number of stray dogs and roadkill, probably 20 dog and cow corpses in our first day of driving from Tuscon to Guyamas. Guyamas itself was a dirty but friendly town, our hotel was loud all night and sleep was difficult to get. The next day of driving brought less roadkill and the landscape transformation was interesting to see.  The police haven't bothered us once, and we've felt completely safe all the way down, however we have only been driving during the day.  From Guyamas to Mazatlan we went through lots of toll booth's which ended up costing us over 500 pesos or $45 which was unexpected, however the roads were in very good condition.  Mazatlan was beautiful and we had a great time but the driving is insane. People go 180km on the highway even though the posted limit is 80 or 100. In the cities the driving is wreckless and i`m amazed that we haven`t got in an accident yet.  Over the first few days we were eating at more expensive restaurants because we didn`t want to get sick but we`re feeling more comfortable and have ventured into the local taco stands now thanks to my uncle Victors advice. They are much cheaper, delicious and provide a much more authentic version of mexico.  Mazatlan`s central market was buzzing with activity and we were overwhelmed with the amount of people and pusheyness of the sales people towards us.  People always somehow seem to know we are canadian.  The drive from Mazatlan to Sayulita was again a complete transformation of climate and scenery, it changed from desert to the tropical rainforest.  We passed through a couple towns that looked like paradise, San Blas and Playas Los Cocos, where other north americans had already found and planted roots or RVs.  Sayulita is where we stayed before coming to Puerto Vallarta, where we are now.  Sayulita is a small American and Canadian surfing colony with lots of shops and some amazing local mexican cuisine.  We also went to a hooka bar there and really enjoyed the beer and lifestyle people lived. It was very relaxing, even just for a day.  Puerto Vallarta is our first major rest point for 3 full days at an all inclusive 3 star resort which is descent for the price however the food is very western and isnt all that impressive.  It is nice not to be driving for a few days though.  The driving in mexico again is very chaotic and seems to have no rhyme or reason which makes my brain (as a professional driver) very stressed at times. It almost feels like playing mario cart, with trying to avoid all the potholes, animals and people, while constantly having to speed up and slow down.

This is Natalie standing on the boardwalk in Mazatlan. Its an oceanfront walk that went on for miles and people were jogging on it at all times of day and night.  The beach was soft sand and the sun was hot.

 Above is me on the beach below the boardwalk, and below is Natalie

Me in the central market in Mazatlan, they sold everything from dirty magazines and books to clothes, vegtables and secret potions to meat (including whole pigs heads)

Natalie looking great on the beach in Sayulita where we spent the afternoon drinking beer and watching the surfers do amazing stunts on the water.

Natalie being nibbled by a teething puppy in Sayulita, and loving it. WE MISS YOU TICO!!!!

 An iguana at our all-inclusive in PV

Bubba Gumps shrimp in PV, expensive but delicious!

Typical cows on the road blocking traffic, on the drive from Mazatlan to PV

Master Baiters (deep sea fishing) shop in PV!

Somewhere on the drive from Mazatlan to PV, paradise...

Mexico Tomorrow!

We are in Tucson right now. Finally some heat after days of freezing our asses off. Tomorrow morning we are crossing the Nogales border into Mexico, about an hour South of Tucson. I'm not going to lie, we are pretty scared!!! All the media hype about the drug wars, and comments from friends & family, is getting to us. However, all of the people we have spoken with who have actually driven through Mexico have really encouraged us that we will be fine. We just need to use common sense and be aware of our surroundings, and not drive at night. We are hoping to drive to the town of San Carlos tomorrow, which is about four hours from the border and on the Pacific Coast. From there we are headed to Mazatlan for a day or two, then Puerto Vallarta for a much deserved four day all-inclusive break:) So lets just hope our nerves don't keep us up all night tonight, and wish us luck tomorrow!!

Nat & Chris

Ugh

On our first day we got up at 5am, took the 7am ferry to Vancouver, and drove to Boise, Idaho in 16 hours. It would have taken us only 10 hours but the mountain passes were extremely snowy. On top of this, we had to drive the last portion at night. Once we finally arived in Boise at 1am, we stayed in a dingy motel and got 6 hours sleep and had a much better second day of driving due to fantastic weather conditions. The drive from Biose to Vegas was very rural, and we got scared a couple times we would run out of fuel before we came across another town. It is extremely elevated and looked like an arctic wasteland, really interesting to see. Once we finally started travelling downhill it was cool to see the transformation between the moutains and nevada desert. Vegas is good so far, I think it hates us though. First off the pool at our hotel isnt open even though the website said it would be. Very dissapointng after walkng the length of the strip and back, and lookng forward to a nice relaxing hot tub. Then, Nat bought some moccasins and when she got back to the hotel realized they were both left shoes! It's our last day in Vegas today, and tomorrow we are going to the grand canyon and hoover dam. Hopefully we will have better luck on the next leg of our trip!

Drive the Americas

This site has been super useful for helping plan our trip. There is a ton of information on each country, roads and driving, documents required, and a forum with very helpful and prompt replies from other roadtrippers. It also has a list of roadtrippers, past and present, so you can browse through their blogs for more information. And now we have been added to the list:)

http://www.drivetheamericas.com/wiki/natalie-chris

p.s. we leave this Sunday!!!!!!! (4 days)