Playa del Carmen (Mexico)

This morning, Jared and I went on another run together, leaving me again gagging to throw up. Then we showered up, grabbed some breakfast, packed up the car, and headed out to the east side of Cozumel to check out the water. We were all a little sunburnt and water exhausted, so I was the only one that actually wanted to get in the water. The surf was pretty brutal, so I didn't dare go far, bit the water was still wonderful. About and hour later, the local hotel realized the boys were sleeping in there $20 peso an hour chairs, so we booked it out before we got charged. We headed back into town to grab some lunch, and made it perfectly to the docks to loadup the car onto the ferry back to the mainland. Scathe moment, as we were climbing the steep ramp onto the ship, the treading on the wheels gave out and we almost started rolling backwards. Come on baby stick with us! The car is such a luxury; we really want her to last! A quick drive back up the highway and we were in Plays del Carmen. We did some hostel shopping, and found a nice cheap one. Walked around the boardwalk for bit, and picked out our cheap dinner place for later. Then we came back to the hostel, for a bit until we were hungry. On our way back, we ran into some friends from Tower Bridge in Puerto Escondido and grabbed a drink with them till exhaustion set in. Back at the hostel now, gonna take cold showers in preparation for our steamy night of sleep. I predict little sleep.

Dive/Snorkel #1 (Mexico)

Today we woke up early to head out to a charter boat to some reefs off the coast. The nice couple we met the day before on the ferry recommended a man name Paul, so we followed the lead and were not disappointed. At the docks, we met Paul Ellis, a former Marine, with a big white truck with Texas plates! He was very nice, and bonded with the boys right away, trading stories from their times in the Corp. The couple we had met on the ferry also joined, where we learned that Michael had been a former photographer for National Geographic, and now, with his wife Jennifer, took some of the most stunning wedding photos I had ever seen. There were a few other groups on the boat with whom we chatted. After about an hour or so ride down the coast, we "parked" the boat and everyone suited up for the dive. It was very organized and technical. Clint and I were just going to snorkel, but everyone else was very experienced, almost all bringing their own diving equipment. Jared had 10 dives under his belt and was still the most novice. Off they all went, blopping into the water, followed by Clint and me with our simple snorkel gear. I think the first dive lasted about 45 minutes to an hour, after which we all got back on the boat for some delicious sandwiches and fruit. We pulled into a shallow area, where some other people snorkeled, and the three of us jumped off the upper deck into the water. I think someone mentioned that the temperature of the water was 84 degrees! After a little rest and digest session, we headed out to a new reef for one last dive. Again, everyone suited up. This time around the water was insanely blue! I literally have never seen that color water before. It was like aqua blue jello! Or as if someone had emptied a bunch of bottled water into a pool, where the sides were painted aqua blue! You could see for ages!! Clint saw a sail fish...I have not idea what that is. After the second dive, we headed back to the port, said our thank-yous and goodbyes, and drove back to our hotel. After a quick hiatus, we set out for a restaurant Paul had recommended; unfortunately, we couldn't find it, but in the process stumbled upon an awesome place called Las Palmas. First off, the waitress/manager was nuts and head-over-heels for both guys! Secondly, they served a massive amount of food for only $80 pesos. Fish fajitas, and beef and chicken tacos, yum! We have not been so full since we left the US! After rolling ourselves back to the hotel, Jared and I grabbed the camera and headed out to a restaurant on the beach to try to grab some nice shots of the sunset. We got a few, but unfortunately, the clouds blocked a good bit of the show, so we left a bit early. Cozumel's sunsets have eluded us, but there will be plenty of opportunities yet to come. Back at the hotel now, and I think we will all have the best night of sleep since departing the States. Elation...fingers crossed.

Beautiful Cozumel (Mexico)

This morning we all got up a bit early and packed up the car, grabbed some Dr. Peppers at the closest Oxxo and headed out for Cozumel. Easy drive, straight down the nice highway. Had a couple of wrong turns, but found the loading area of the docks. We made it with plenty of time, and watched Viaje 2 on the way over. As we were leaving we met a nice couple with Colorado license plates who gave us some ins and outs of the island. They showed us a very nice hotel, which looked way out of our price range, so we did some hostel shopping, and then came back to find out exact prices, and its turned out this place was in fact the cheapest by $10 pesos each. This is definitely the nicest place we have stayed at. Immensely cute. We have a little bungalow for the three of us. We met the nice couple who runs it, and chatted with them for a bit about our plans. Then we headed out for some food, and found a local bar, where, if you ordered a beer, they just gave you tapas. So we filled up on them pretty nicely, and Jared caught the eye of one of the...bartenders? Drunk patrons? We're not sure. Afterwards, we went to a small grocery shore to find some food, so we didn't have to keep buying everything from restaurants. I really wanted to get some fish, because their fish section was full of such fresh fish, that it didn't even smell fishy!! Unfortunately, the kitchen here is pretty sparce, only salt is stocked, so we opted against it, and just grabbed some fruit for breakfast. We headed back to the hotel, and then quickly, Jared and I set out to walk around the boardwalk and catch the sunset, while Clint went on a jog. Cozumel is wonderful! It's a gorgeous little island; very American, but not in the obnoxious way that Cancun is. All the waiters and shopkeepers were astonished when we responded in Spanish to their greetings. After about an hour, we returned back to the hotel and found Clint pooped lying facedown on the floor of our bungalow. Showering up and heading to bed for an early day tomorrow, enjoying the sun and fun in Cozumel!

Rainy Days in Cancun without a Car (Mexico)

Yesterday morning, Jared and I had the free breakfast here and headed out to the Chevy dealership to try to fix the truck.  They ended up wanting to keep the car until 5pm, so we were stuck in Cancun for the day.  No problem, we had big beach plans!  Then Mother Nature stepped in and made new plans for us, consisting of basically nothing.
The clouds and rain set in just as Jared and I were trying to catch the $6 peso bus back to the hostel.  Most of the day basically involved lounging and napping .  We found some food right by our hostel, so we didn´t have to walk in the rain too far.
We went back to the dealership, and got slammed with a pretty massive bill.  They also informed us that we need new break pads on all four wheels.  Clint seemed pretty pissed at the amount of money we had to shell out, and their estimate for new pads.  We decided to buy our own at Auto Zone, and Clint has assured us that he has placed pads before and can just do it himself...pray for us!  I ended up going to bed massively early after dinner.  Hopefully, today will be a better day!

SPRING BREAK CANCUN 2013!!!! (Mexico)

Yesterday, Jared and I woke up and had the minimal, yet free, breakfast here at our hostel, Meson de Tulum.  Then we set out to find junk yards to see if we could get a new lock on the trunk.  I learned a new word, deshuesadero, junk yard!!  It was a pretty miserable experience, as we went to 5, and none had the exact piece we needed.  I finally got testy with the last guy, who was definitely trying to dick us around, because we were Americanos.  Somewhat annoyed, we came back to the hostel.  Clint and Jared went out for lunch and a quick, and unsuccessful, attempt to find the beach.  When they came back, we all relaxed a bit, and then set out to the beach.  We went to the super touristy part of Cancun, and ended up at a beach with all the locals.  It is odd for us all, seeing so many Americans.  Even we get annoyed now, but I guess they are also mostly underage or college gluttons, so that could be part of it.

We realized, absolutely no one in that area would ever come over to the mainland, where we are staying and all the local restaurants and bars are located.  To be honest, we were not even really sure what the draw to come here is, unless you are underage.  Don´t get me wrong, it´s gorgeous here, but there are nice beaches in Florida as well, and things are not cheaper here.  If you´re going to just stay in "mini-America" in Cancun, why not just stay in America?  Anyway, the area is chocker-block full of huge hotels, expensive store, and the mandatory Chiles, Senor Frogs, Hooters etc.  The beach was so nice though!!  The water was super clear, and the sand was so fine, when it was wet it looked like soggy cookie dough...which got me into a cookie mood...I think I was alone in that.  We hung out there for a while, relaxing and basking, and then headed back (to our illegally parked car).  We have developed a theory, that driving laws and signs in Mexico, are more like suggestions that actual laws, stop signs, speed limits, parking signs etc.

When we got back to the hotel, we quick dipped in the pool, showered and headed out for dinner and a couple beers.  Then we came back to prep for Hotel Row.  We hadn´t really seen a lot of Americans in our area, so we weren´t sure if it would be very crowded...it was also a Monday.  Holy crap, were we wrong!  When we drove through the same area we had earlier, (which was prety empty) it was like the Vegas Strip at night.  There were people EVERYWHERE, many super young.  All the bars anc clubs have kind of open front areas, so you can see what´s happening inside, and there was music blasting, fog, crazy.  It took us a little while just to acclimatize.  Then we were told every single bar and club had a cover, and it was $55 DOLLARS.  We were crazy blown away, and I actually laughed in guys face.  As we headed back to car, we did a little more investigating and found that one of the nice places had a $25 dollar cover with restrictions.  So we went back to Coco Bongo, and had open bar till 2am.  They also had really elaborate imitation shows of live concerts from people like Madonna and Michael Jackson.  It was fun, and I got my $25 dollars worth.  We get to say that we did Cancun...maybe not like a crazy 19 year old, but it´s done, and it was fun.  We will not be coming back to Cancun.

Chichen Itza...Not Today Topes (Mexico)

The next morning we woke up, in hopes that life was good with Clint.  The mosquito net worked its charms and allowed us a bug-free night.  Our friend Simon greeted us, and Jared and I headed back over to the cenote for breakfast and and early swim.  The cenote was super neat, the pictures do it justice (though I will have to get him to put more up).  It was gorgeous, and so serene.  We were the only two people swimming, so it was really great.  There were tons of fish and birds flying overhead.  Then on our walk back to the hostel, we met Clint perfectly to watch him continue down the road past the hostel.  Luckily, he saw Jared running in his rearview mirror.  Thankfully, the tent was retrieved, but poor Clint got stopped 3 times at checkpoints, and once got extensively searched.  The three of us, then piled in to head to lunch and Chichen Itza.

These were probably our least favorite ruins.  The price to enter was over double what we had paid at (in our opinion) better ruins, such as Palenque and Teotihuacan.  The number of tourists and especially vendors everywhere yelling for you to buy things really seemed to cheapen the whole experience.  It seems more like Disneyworld that actual ancient ruins.  None-the-less, the ruins themselves were neat. The day was incredibly hot, so afterwards, Jared and I rewareded ourselves with a popsicle!  

After the ruins, we headed back to the hostel, and made the last minute desicion to drive that day to Cancun.  Luckily, the drive was only about 3 hours so we should have gotten in right before dark.  No checkpoint stops, completely easy driving, and our first roadtrip without any surprise topes!!!  HAHA!!  SUCCESS!!!  Jared was very proud.  Unfortunately, we ended up getting into Cancun a bit late and had to drive through a new city at night.  There are a massive amount of roundabouts here, that do not work like normal roundabouts.  Apparently, being in the inner lane around the circle does not mean you are going to continue circling.  We drove around for about an hour, and asked perhaps 7 different hotels, police officers, and anyone else where it was.  This place is the best kept secret is Cancun!  We finallyyyyy found it, actually right as we had given up.   The place where we decided to give up was across the street from ours.  She pointed us through a small parking lot to the hotel...without a sign.  Anyway, this place is great and cheap, and has a pool!  We settled in, grabbed some dinner, and came back to the hostel.  At least we got to know a lot of the city during our hour long city stroll.

Where's the Tent? (Mexico)

Nice and early the next morning (I have literally been sitting here trying to figure out what day it was, and am now giving up on that), Jared came in to get me up for a morning workout. SATURDAY!!!! It wad Saturday haha. So we went on a jog and then did situps...both if which sucked. Then we got ready for the day and headed out for some cheap breakfast. Thankfully no one has caught on that our car is malfunctioning, so there she was, completely rob-able, with the truck not locking, and no one the wiser. We quick ran over to the Chevy dealership hoping for a piece to lock the truck, but they were out, so we headed back to the hostel to pack and head out. The drive to Chichen-Itza was superb and fast. We did get stopped at 2 checkpoints, one of which they had us actually get out to search the car. They were very nice about the whole thing, chatting us up throughout, and then let us be on our way. We got in around 3pm to our new spot, Yucatan Mayan Retreat Ecohotel...to camp. The place was very nice, and practically empty (there was only one other person staying there). As we were unloading the car...to camp, we realized that Clint's pride and joy, the tent, was missing and had, in fact, been left in Campeche. After frantically, and unsuccessfully, trying to get in touch with Monkey Hostel, Clint decided he would drive back, and against Jared and my better judgement, wanted to go it alone. At least Clint still has his cellphone, so we knew he could contact anyone if he got in trouble. Off poor Clint went to get his tent, and Jared and I tried to set up a makeshift sleeping area. Luckily, we had all the essentials, tarp, mosquito net, bed pads etc. We were not really staying in the main town of Chichen-Itza, which is about a 15 minute drive...completely fine when you have a car. So we set out to find food and entertainment. Luckily, Mexico is full of natural and man-made wonders, and we found a cenote (lagoon set deep into the earth) with a restaurant AND a store that sold 1.2 liter beers for $25 pesos, definitely the best price yet. Dinner was yum, and they let us drink our own beer,thankfully as we finally stumbled upon our hottest salsa yet! Unfortunately, the cenote closed at 5pm, but the only other guest at our hotel joined us for the tail end of dinner, so we hung out a bit. On our walk back, we grabbed a few more liter beers (for our British hotel-mate and myself as Jared was already buzzed). The rest of the night we spent hanging with out new friend, Simon, who had just started out his year-long traveling adventure. Sleep was actually quite nice, not as noisy or hot as jungle camping...for all those looking into camping in the jungle vs forest.

Fire Beard!! (Mexico)

Today we drove from Palenque to Campeche. I was a bit sad to leave, as I was just getting into my Jane-of-the-Jungle persona, and the hotel was massively gorgeous woven into the surrounds, but Campeche has not disappointed. After stopping to grab some Dr. Peppers, we started out. The drive here was great. The roads were in fantastic condition, and at this point driving anything under 6 hours is chump change. We actually chose a slightly longer highway, because holy moly we hit the Caribbean!! We literally drove along the coast with crystal clear water and not a human in sight!
                                           
 I really wanted to pull over and take a quick dip, but we will have that opportunity soon enough. We got to Campeche early afternoon, which was good, because my trusty hostelworld.com did not give us a lot of options for places to stay. Luckily, when we arrived at the hotel we had looked into, they were nice enough to guide us to a cheaper alternative. I lucked out again and have a whole dorm room to myself! We walked around the town and zocalo a bit, grabbed some cheap food and settled in. The town is super cute. All prehispanic buildings, brightly colored, with the old fortress still intact in many places. Clint found a Chevy dealership, so we drove around to find it and see if they had an extra part for the trunk lock. No luck, as apparently every single things here closes at 3 pm. We had to walk for about 30 minutes before we could even find a place to grab food! Fortunately, for Jared, less so for Clint and me, we found a barber shop, the results of which you can see on Jared's facebook. In honor of Joe, Jared's friend that passed away, Jared transformed his beard into the flame beard sported by the game master in the Hunger Games movie. He looks pretty crazy, but he loves it!

pre-fire beard

post-fire beard

  Later, Clint went on a jog while Jared and I snapped some shots of the cathedral at sunset.

 Then surprisingly all the lights in town went off, restaurants, clothing stores, even the hostel...which meant no fans! The cathedral area still had some and we discovered a group playing Loteria or Bingo for Americans. It was a good vocabulary lesson, as the cards had numbers and pictures that they would call out. People were very impressed with our initiative to learn, so some would help whenever we seemed lost. Unfortunately we always got beat out by the professional old lady playing with 6 cards compared to our 1. Back at the hostel now. I was able to do a full load of laundry in the shower, which will hopefully dry over night so we can head to Chichen Itza tomorrow.

Palenque (Mexico)

After a terribly sleepless night in the jungle, due in part to the massive hot-box that was our tent and the crazy loud mating calls of what we think were the cat-sized frogs, we got up. I think between the three of us, we probably got a whopping 6 hours of sleep. Breakfast in the restaurant area was good. Then we headed out in the car to see the ruins of Palenque, which Lonley Planet promised were the most "romantic" of all the Mayan ruins. They did not disappoint. Many of the buildings were still covered in massive amounts of jungle shrubbery. It was beautiful to walk through and explore, though insanely hot and humid. We were all completely soaked through our clothes by the time we finished. Jared and I went a different route than Clint, which left us climbing 1.5 kilometers back to the car. Thank THE LORD we got our AC back from our troubles in Puerto Esconidido, because we blasted it on our way out. After the ruins, we headed to Misal-Ha, a waterfall right by the ruins. It was phenominal!! One large waterfall, cascading into a cool pool. Unlike the waterfalls the previous day, this was pretty empty. Jared and Clint actually went and swam under the cascade for a second, I was a bit too unsure of my swimming skills, so I just took photos. After, we all laid out on the large rocks on the side of the pool, occasionally jumping back in to cool off again. It was such an epically serene moment. Jared actually took a quick cat-nap on the rocks. When we headed back to the hostel, we stopped off at the gas station for some great tacos, which we now endearingly have dubbed "gasoline tacos", and have decided that we must have everytime we see a taco stand at a station. We also found Dr. Pepper! A huge win for the day. When we got back to the hostel, we met a nice young couple from Mexico/Canada. I use the slash, because they had just met 2 months earlier in Mexico City, and she was now going to move to Canada to live with him!! Such a cute story...until we learned that the guy was certifiably nuts! Poor girl. Anyway, we hung out with them for a while, being entertained by his crazy theories on life and discovered that we could get a liter of beer and a massive burrito from the bar for 35 pesos each!! After gorging and drinking, we headed to bed to camp in the jungle again (so cool!). Jared took a liking to sleeping in the car, and I discovered the wonder that is the earplug, so I think we slept better.

Another One Bites the Dust in Jungle Madness (Mexico)

The day after we arrived in San Cristobal, we woke up early again to head out to Palenque. Neither destination was originally on the itinerary, but we have met so many neat people along the way who have recommended alternatives to the ones we found initially, that we have been happy to shift plans a bit. We packed up the car as usual, slammed the trunk shut...again and again until we discovered that the trunk had broken. For some reason the latch was no longer locking, so we took out our handy tool kit again to try to fix it ourselves, with the help of google. After about 20-30 minutes, we bungied the stupid thing shut and headed out.

  We did find a nice mechanic who fiddled a screwdriver around in it and proclaimed he had fixed...only to have to rebungie the whole thing again. Its ok, it makes the car look more authentic! Luckily the drive to Palenque, though long, was free of hassle. Jared's goal is to make it a whole driving day without getting surprised by a tope and sending us flying through the air...we have yet to reach that goal.                                    
 Along the way, we stopped at some waterfalls called Aguas Azules, which were great!

San Cristobal was quite surprisingly crisp, so we were pretty floored when we got out of the car into sweltering heat and humidity. Jared and I took some pictures and walked around a bit and met up with Clint for a nice dip in the waters. The water is pretty clear blue, apparently due to the limestone, so it was neat to swim. However, there were lots of people there and the water was pretty cold, so after a bit we got back into the car to finish off the Palenque drive. Once we got to Palenque, we found our hostel/hotel pretty easily. The hostel is actually located within the jungle reserves, and it is sprawling!! You literally have to walk through massive trees to find the area where you sleep. I saw a frog about the size of a small cat! For financial reasons, I opted to camp instead of sleep in a dorm, which originally sent Clint into a mega silent-treatment frenzy. You could cut the tension with a butter knife at dinner. Luckily, we ran into some friends we had made at Tower Bridge in Puerto Escondido. We all ended up sitting together, eating, and drinking beers and slowly Clint came around...I guess as I'm still alive to tell the story. Long about 10pm, we are all sitting in the restaurant area, listening to a great live band, and watching the locals dance, when we notice the wind picking up a bit. I think a slab of tin blew off the roof of the bar and then shit hit the fan! All the lights went out and the rain started beating down. Thankfully, the canopy did provide a bit of relief from the rain as we ran back through the freaking jungle to find the camping area. We got there just as an entire tree came crashing down right next to our area, luckily missing the tents by a few yards. There was a thatched roof over the area, so we hunkered down in the tent praying no trees would fall through the roof! About 20 minutes into us getting into a steaming hot tent, Jared bolts up remembering that the car floods everytime it rains, due the straps on top, so we ran out to move all the valuables around (that we can no longer store in the trunk, because it doesn't close) and he decided to actually sleep in the car, giving Clint and I a bit more room in the tent. Needless to say a crazy night in the jungle! BUT we all survived to spend another night camping in the jungle...

San Cristobal de las Casas (Mexico)

We arrived in San Cristobal de las Casas in the early afternoon. I had set up a hostel for us, but when we arrived and were driving we discovered that it was super far from the main part of town, so luckily we found one much closer. We had heard that San Cristobal was a bit like Oaxaca in its quaint personality and for the most part its true. Having a car is great because it does allow for an extra level of tourism that you wouldn't get by just walking around. The hostel was definitely the cutest we've been to, lots of vines and flowers covering the cottage style main area, a small inner garden with a well.

 The dormitory room was a bit smaller than we had experienced, and chocker-block full, but very doable. We also discover upon arrival that somehow this was "the" hostel for the French! Tres Bien! (Sp?) The streets fit in well with the hostel (or vice versa) as they were all cobblestone, and really narrow! We walked around a bit, but for some reason, San Cristobal didn't appeal to us as much as Oaxaca. We did trek up to the cathedral and take some quick shots, but the guide book suggested sprawling, picturesque scenery from there, but there was really only one place to stand so about 2 shots later and we were done to go find food.

 Unfortunately, the food we stumbled upon was also lack-luster. Afterword we headed back to the hostel. Clint found his basketball and hunkered down to watch that, while Jared and I went out a bit and grabbed a couple beers on the pedestrian street. We met a kid from the hostel who was crazy sick with food poisoning so we were a bit hesitant to try anything culinarily crazy and set in to sleep.

Up and Running (Mexico)

Today was a tough day, Jared got some pretty bad news from home, so we've all been a bit somber. We were able to bring the car to a mechanic, who fixed the serpentine belt and had us up and running. Then we said our goodbyes to the lovely people we had met at the hostel, Tower Bridges, packed up, and headed out to San Cristobal de las Casas. It was a wonderful and easy drive, 2 military check points, but no issues. The boys have taken on my love of peanut butter as a car snack. As the sun started setting we were still a bit farther than we had wanted, so we've pulled over in a small town for the night. The accommodations are pretty meager, but the hospitality is fantastic. The receptionist got a restaurant that was closed next door to make us some food and walk it over to us!! Really blown away. Anyway, so we will just park it here for the night and head out early tomorrow.

Lazy Days (Mexico)

Yesterday was a hot lazy day. We woke up and went back to the market for our morning smoothies and tacos with some of the guys here. Then after a small hiatus, we started to try to work on the car...we basically just banged around some tools before we decided to leave it to the professionals, and hung up our tools belts. Clint went off with some of the guys here for lunch and coconut water from massive coconuts while Jared and I found some hammocks by the pool and took a pretty epic nap! When we got up we hung out with some people here, went to dinner at Pizza Time and rendezvoued with everyone here to go to Playa Zicatela and watch the sunset with some beers on the beach, and grab fish tacos.

 Dinner was pretty amazing! Then we all came back to hostel for a pretty chill night of swimming and card games.

NOT THE AC!!! (Mexico)

So I was originally going to call this entry, Nap in a Hammock? Yes Please! Then the day took a turn, so here is the entry before all that happened... Slept like crap due to the hostel dog, Jared did as well, for unknown reasons, and Clint apparently always sleeps like crap, so I've stopped asking. Jared got up at an ungodly hour to head back out surfing. He did a great job! I was again disastrous, but in an unfun way this time. But fear not, I'll get up there. After surfing we came back to the hostel and headed back to the market from yesterday. We got more yummy smoothies and of course...tacos! Then Clint and Jared went back to the gym, and I completed a bucket list task...took a nap in a hammock! Lord was it nice! Then the guys went out for lunch, and I hung with some of the hostel surfers, hoping to get some good surfing juju from them. We they came back, we stuffed the car with fellow hostelers, as we are not really on the beach, so it's a bit of a walk. Clint wanted to buy a surfboard, called a gun, which is a pretty advanced board. So we went to an actual board maker, which was really neat to see! I found an awesome pink and red board for me! But boards are actually kind of expensive! Anyway, I was just goofing around, but thankfully the very nice board maker convinced Clint that the board he wanted was well above his skill level. We continued on to try to f8nd a beach called La Punta, where all the good surfers go (I was not planning on actually surfing, just the boys). Took a wrong turn down a dirty road and BAM!!! We bottomed out...harddd.!! We were able to maneuver out, but about 30 seconds after we got ourselves situated on the road again, the battery light went on and the AC went out. Being the experienced tough travelers we are (???) we trekked on to find La Punta. When we got there I immediately realized, this was not a beach for me to surf, so Jared and Clint both attempted it...and then got their asses hand to them by Mother Ocean.

 We got back in the car about 30 minutes after we got there. Headed back to the hostel to unload, and grab a beer, and assessed the car damage. Luckily, Jared's friend Jon knew exactly what the problem was and how to fix it, so we headed out to 3 different mechanics, but finally found it. Came back to the hostel to attempt some mechanical improvements ourselves. Which ended with us just changing a tire and hopefully putting all the pieces back together how they we found. :/ We would recommence the next day when there was better light and try a different approach. We decided to order a pretty massive, yummy din from Pizza Time and then hung at the hostel drinking some beers with the other hostelers.
 Went out for a couple drinks, but Jared, myself and probably 5 other people went home a bit early (3am), when the bar decided to start pumping out their sewage... on a Saturday night...at 3am...? Good and tiring day overall!

Zicatela-1, Jared and Kathleen-0 (Mexico)

Yesterday was great. We got our sea legs a bit. Jared and I went out early and grabbed breakfast at Pizza Time, so yum. Then we went to a beach called La Zicatela, which we later discovered is the worst beach to surf on, and most people don't even swim there due to the serious undercurrent. Jared attempted to brave the waves on the board, coming back in immediately, and all I did was get about waist deep, when I discovered I was no match for the waves there.

 We left about 10 minutes after arriving, and returned to the hostel to fix a crack in the board and eat some lunch. There is a small market we drove to, and grabbed some super cheap yummy smoothies and flip flops for me, as I had already lost mine to the Sea. Then when we got back to the hostel, Clint was awake. The boys ran out to...do boy stuff...something about an auto shop for sand paper. Then we met back up and headed back out to a different beach to try our hand at surfing again. This time, we went to the closer beach, we had heard was good for beginners.  It was amazing! Tucked in between cliffs on three side, great water, nice sand, very picturesque.

 
Also, it was in fact great for (re)learning surfing. The boys were good, able to get up a couple times. I was pretty disastrous, but had a lot of fun. After a quick nap on my part, we headed out for din again. The boys are super pumped, because they discovered a gym down the street, the closer being that they can work out without their shirts on...I'm not kidding. Not much else big happening. We didn't we go out, because we were all pretty exhausted.

Google Maps, You Done Us Dirty. (Mexico)

Yesterday we woke up in Oaxaca city and had another yum breakfast at the hostel. I ran around town getting a couple pictures.

Then we loaded up the car to head to Puerto Escondido, which the boys really wanted to go to to surf a bit. According to google the trip was supposed to take 3 hours, so we were happy and relaxed about the drive...oh google! The trip ended up taking 6 hours! Grr. We also almost lost our lives when an 18 wheeler came charging towards us around a blind turn in the mountains! Mountain driving is the pits, because it's stressful. You can't just relax and sleep or anything. Anyway, we finally arrived here and were pretty happy with the hostel. Everyone is super chill, nobody wears actual clothing, and surprisingly, I'm not the only person who can't surf well! We promptly grabbed ice cold beers as we were sweaty beasts. Then we went to a restaurant around the corner called Pizza Time, which was delicious and cheap! We then went back to the hostel and hung out with everybody and drank. Everyone went to a bar on the beach, so we joined. It was almost entirely foreigners, but I did spot a local and force him to dance with me, sufficiently satisfying my need to salsa! I have no idea what time it was when we got back, but we all just headed to bed to wake up early and hit the water!

It MUST Be a Holiday! (Mexico)

Today was great.  First really good free breakfast from a hostel!  People at this hostel are very much early-risers...apparently so are the residents of Oaxaca, because at 6:30am (I am not kidding) fireworks started going off.  It sounded like a bomb!  Three times before 7:30!  There was a group of high schoolers here as well, so needless to say, when all that got started, sleep was not happening.  Clint, however, seems to have super-human sleeping skills, and was in fact able to go back to sleep.
When he woke up we all took a walk downtown and stubbled upon what we thought was some kind of teachers alliance march, which wo its way around the streets (we alternatively attempted to avoid those streets).  Until in ended in the Zocalo...along with every single other person that lives even remotely close to the city.  The amount of people crowding the streets was unreal!


 We found refuge inside of a market with, basically anything you could ever need, especially an extensive meat and seafood market.  We grabbed super cheap and yummy lunch (breakfast for Clint) and walked around a bit.  Dessert was chapulines...seasoned grasshoppers, which really just taste like spicy raisins....which you wouldn´t guess from my face...haha.

After, we returned to the hostel to gather some belongings and headed out to Monte Alban, the ruins from the Zapoteca people.  Lots of walking around again, but interesting stuff, and some great picts. 
Just getting back from dinner now, and I think we have officially become super savy travelers.  We went out looking for a specific resto Jared found on Tripadvisor.  Ended up being replaced by a now more expensive place, so as usual we had to walk around looking for something, completely starving.  We finally stumbled upon THE WORLD´S BEST DEAL!!!!  We got 6 tacos each, which were delicious, for...30 pesos, which is $2.40!!!  Bahh!  It was delish! Then we came back to hostel and grabbed a couple beers, which we thought were 20 pesos, and ended up being 15 pesos each, which is $1.20!  Anyway, needless to say, we are pretty stoked about our bargain meals!

Our Good Little Mexican Driver (Mexico)

Tensions eased a bit today towards Mexico.  We woke up early, packed and headed for Tampico.  Jared's friend, Kristopher, amazingly offered his home to us, so we had a great place to stay with "security".  First thing we did was jump in the pool...by we I mean them, because they are boys and have the luxury and stripping down to their skivvies and being appropriately dressed to swim.  We drove in and around Altamira and Tampico, and suffice to say we will probably not be coming back.  Later, however, we got a bit of a history lesson from Kristopher who showed us the remnants of the oil boom, and Tampico got a bit more dimension...but we are still probably not coming back.  Kristopher was an amazing host, he escorted us around and took us to a phenomenal seafood restaurant, El Provenir.
 Then to La Cerveceria, where we listened to Latino jams and drank dollar Victorias.  When we finally came home, I was in full zombie mode and the boys stayed up hanging out for a bit.  Tampico was great in the end, but only really because we had a local with us.

Gearing up for another long drive today; hopefully issue-free!

Nicest Drive Thus Far! Plus...I love Oaxaca!!! (Mexico)

Today, we drove from Mexico City to Oaxaca; we bypassed Veracruz, because there did not seem like a ton to do, and the beaches are pretty crummy.  The drive down was wondering, beautiful views, and great roads.  We have had good roads the entire time, but I think, the first drive we were very anxious and to Mexico City is was soo long with all the topes and mountain issues.  Jared drove again today, and almost killed us...which was apparently my fault...?  The guys have been getting really excited to go surfing, but we decided to stay here a little longer.

Oaxaca is intoxicating!! It is the most beautiful, quaint town!  It´s small, so one might think its poor and rundown, but it is so well kept and has a generally happy vibe.  Kids and adults hang out the plaza till dark, school kids grab sodas together, I saw Capoeira in the park!  We got in and unloaded pretty easily.  The hostel is very clean and has an outdoor patio to eat.  The only thing that I have yet to figure out here is cheap food.  We went to several restaurants, and everything was expensive!  We ended up eating at some kind of convenience store.  Then we went to a bar, called Bar Olivo, and met a nice American working there.  She told us all the sites we shouldn´t miss, and explained mescal and all the Mexican craft beers.  Jared and I shared a shot of mescal with orange slices and a chili powder make of...worms!!  It was tasty though, and the mescal was wonderful.  Side note...A few things I´ve learned about the boys today, Jared is a cheap drunk, and they both have wonderful soprano voices, and very much get into the song Call Me Maybe, by Carly Rae Jepson!  After our mescal tutorial, we headed back to the hostel to gather some stuff.  Jared and I went out again, but Clint stayed in and watched the basketball playoffs (he´s fanatical).  We luckily arrive in Oaxaca during their childrens Culture Festival, so we got to see some traditional dancing and a concert put on by the kids....followed by Michael Jackson´s Beat It!  Back at the hostel now, gonna clean up and head to bed nice and early!

Teotihuacan (Mexico)

Today was a good and tiring day. We woke up without alarm clocks for the first time! Had a better breakfast as we had learned to stay away from the mystery meat concoction. Then after lubing up with sunblock again, we headed out to TeotiHUAcan, which I discovered I had been mispronouncing the whole time. We made a friend in one of our room mates, so she came along with us. We hopped on the subway, which is clean and easy to maneuver. Then hopped on a bus to the ruins. Teotihuacan is pretty amazing and expansive, much much larger than Tenochtitlan, which is somewhat crammed into the modern city blocks surrounding it. We did alot of walking and were fully winded after climbing the two large pyramids. We got some pretty awesome pictures, and while at the top discovered some other tourists smoking weed, which we thought was a super perilous idea, and you still had to walk down the massive and treacherous steps...funny non-the-less.


What was once this...

...is now this.

By the end, we were all exhausted, hunger, and thirsty. After we rehydrated with delicious cold water, we got back on the bus, just missing a big downpour. On the bus, we all started our naps, when suddenly a police officer with an automatic gun of some sort (you{d have to ask the guys) came on asking to search everyones (I cannot find the apostrophe, sorry) belongings. He proceeded to take out the sunglasses from our new friends purse, as if he had never seen any before, put them on, and was satisfied that they were not infact an improvised explosive; gave them back and exited the bus. When we got back, we had another great dinner and are now settling down and showering for bed.

Mexico City (Mexico)

Today we were pretty touristy, which we hadn't been yet. We woke up early in hopes that our car was still alive and well on the street we where we parked, which it was thankfully. Then we had a pretty crummy yet free breakfast at the hostel, and started out. We went to the main square in the historic district and proceeded to enter the cathedral where we got to see mass and go to the roof! When I say we went to roof, we literally were walking along wooden planks to different sections with no ropes or railings enclosing our path. Very cool and nonamerican safety regulations! Then we went to Tenochtitlan and saw the Aztec ruins.



What was once this...

...is now this,

After a quick pit stop to eat some super yummy lunch, we proceeded to the Museum of Torture, which is just as traumatizing as you might think. Afterwards we came back to the hostel and got in a little nap, which was great and rejuvinating! Dinner was again very good, we have had good luck with food thus far. Then we walked around the city a little looking for a place to grab a couple beers, but were unsuccessful, as everything was pretty much closed. So we came back and hung out and had an easy night.  Quick note...Mexico City has more police officers that I have EVER seen!  Literally every single block in downtown has a transit cop or police officer.  Makes you feel pretty safe.  

Topes, Trucks, Fog and Floods (Mexico)

Today was a super long day of driving. We left Tampico a bit late, because we attempted to do laundry. However, after an hour in the dryer the clothes were still sopping wet, so we just had to dress in nice sticky clothes. We have officialy delved into the Mexican food, much to the chagrine of all readers, starting out with breakfast tacos at the stand outside of the gas station an hour outside of Tampico!! Holy lord, TOPES!!!

 I had heard about them from other people, but just assumed they were referring to the poor road conditions...not so. Most of the 10 hour trip today we could not go over 25 mph due to these large topes (speed bumps) on the highways. Jared did the driving and basically developed a system so we did not bottom out on every one; however, almost all of them are not marked, so you just drive along and suddenly have to slam on the brakes and try to maneuver in a diagonal direction over them. Then the fog set in. We climbed 6,700 feet through the mountains, and sometimes visibility was barely 30 feet. Also, an interested factoid, apparently many people here do not use their headlights, because they believe it wastes gas...? So that was also a bit difficult in the fog.

 Lastly, when in a small town outside of Mexico City, it started raining...a lot!! We have a large amount of items strapped to the roof of the car, which allowed rain to literally stream in through the windows soaking all of us.
 I tried to grab a bottle to catch some, and the water was brown
 brown; Clint described it as looking like dip spit. Ug:

Rain water

  At one point we thought the car might flood from the level of water rising. Ha...then at an intersection all of the lights suddenly went out, and Jared, being a newly initiated Mexican driver, joined the foward march of every single car in this large insection; but we sped through it like pros! Also, had a near death experience, when Jared masterfully and completely idiotically sped around a small car, minivan, and large truck at the same time on a blind curve in the mountains. Oh! Also, almost got struck by lightening! We all discussed how today felt like 3 days crammed into one. Finally exhausted we arrived into Mexico City. We have yet to develop a fool-proof system of navigation. Initially, we attempted to take pictures of Mapquest directions, but only the written part and a lot of streets are not named, then we attempted to take pictures of the map as well, but those are not labeled well either. Today we had to resort to an amazing GPS gadget Jared got in the Marine Corp. We are staying at this super groovy hostel. It looks like it is straight out of a movie. Dreadlocks, mini guitars, big guitars, black lights, old school jams from to 60s, writting all over the walls. When we walked in after dinner, they offered us jello shots, which shockingly we all refused.

  They do have a great computer area though, which is why I am able to write a good amount finally. A quick note about police and federales. Everyone has been so helpful. On the road we have been waved through all of the checkpoints, except two I believe, where (as I noted in an earlier post) they just chuckled when they heard what we were doing, and when I speak to police officers on the streets they are very polite and helpful!

...We Are Officially Not Used to the Sun (Mexico)

Day 2 in Mexico! We decided to stash the car in favor of walking. We got lucky with our hostel and happened to be around a lot of great tourist spots. After the caretaker here made us yummy coffee Americano and waffles (see photo) we lubed up with sunblock and headed out to Paseo de Santa Lucia. The 9th set of directions finally got us there and we were able to walk around the government buildings before hopping on a lovely tour boat down the paseo. After 3 whole hours in the sun, we were pooped and headed back to the hostel for some cold drinks, siestas, and cleanup!

I've Suddenly Realized This is a Terrible Idea! (Mexico)

That's exactly what clint said as we were crossing the bridge into Mexico... Finalllyyy we are in Mexico! We left Houston a bit late, had to stop 5 times on our way to Laredo to secure the roof and had to spend a good amount of time looking for a place to stay last night. There is no doubt that we blend in with our roof "compartment". However, we do have to unpack and repack the roof everyday. Today we got it packed in about 30 minutes and didn't have to stop to secure it, so in the not so distant future we should work like a well oiled machine.

We are all pretty pooped everyday, but also super siked to b..e in Mexico. Jared did all of the driving like a champ today. I was his navigator...we only got lost twice!! The border completely freaked out the two guys (thanks a lot to everyone that told them horror stories about Mexico). But everyone is super nice and helpful. I think it also helps that we look like complete fools with this teenie car and huge roof compartment. Both the Usa border patrolman and the federale in Mexico kind of laughed at us when I enthusiastically answered "south America" when they asked where we were going. Everything went very smoothly at the border. Jared got our car insurance this morning before crossing (they never even asked if we had any at the border). We paid a total of $300 (refundable) for the FMM bond, $25 each for an entry visa, and $50 for the car permit. After that we took the toll road all the way to Monterrey. Super smooth, however the tolls are like $14! But I think we all preferred to have piece of mind with the huge compartment up top.

  In Monterrey we had a bit of trouble navigating the streets to find the hostel but after several seven elevens (el siete, as they call it here) to ask for directions to "barrio antiguo " we found it and the guys are very comfortable with Mexico now! Thanks hostelworld.com! We are gonna hang here a bit longer, I think because we are so tired and have such a long drive to tampico. So in summary...Mexico is awesome thus far!!