Home in Fernie

We arrived home in Fernie on Thursday, April 7th.  The flights were uneventful.. San Jose to Seattle and Seattle to Kalispell. We departed SJC at 5 pm and on the 6th arrived in Kalispell just after midnight. Unfortunately I had left our iPod transmitter plugged into the cigarette lighter outlet and it had drained the battery enough that the starter would not turn the engine over.

We were told by the security staff that the car rental booths had battery booster units but they were closed for the night. We had planned to stay in Kalispell over night anyway so we hopped a cab to the hotel. I returned in the morning, borrowed a booster and started the car. On the way out of the parking lot I mentioned what had happened to the clerk and she informed me that they also had battery booster units that I could have borrowed. Next Time!

Carving at the Tropicana Hotel in San Jose del Cabo

Hmmm... buy a pizza, get free advise?

The Steed.

It's nice to be back home.

Back to the Baja

We are back in BCS (Baja California Sur). Things haven't gone as planned but we are settled into a very nice hotel in San Jose del Cabo. We found the MC storage place and have packed, ready to catch the plane back to Kalispell tomorrow.

We left Sayulita about 10am Sunday morning after giving Jeff, Eileen and Loic a short tour of town. Isabell was catching up on some rest after a restless night with Loic. The ride to Mazatlan was uneventful. Due to the delay leaving Sayulita and the distance to Mazatlan we once again opted for the toll road, arriving in Mazatlan around 4pm.

After a good nights rest we rode over to the ferry terminal to get tickets for the ferry sailing to La Paz. The price had gone up considerably since the last time we took this ferry. The two our us, plus the bike and the cheapest cabin was almost 4000 pesos... Roughly $320. To make matters worse, the nice ferry we took on this route 5 years ago is no longer in service. It has been replaced by an old rusted freighter that had seen better days either crossing the English Channel or on the Mediterranean. ( all the signs and information postings were in English or French... No Spanish to be seen? ) Passenger accommodations were minimal and uncomfortable. There were not enough seats in the common area for all the passengers so we had to sit in our cabin on the narrow bunk bed. Luckily we had a movie on the iPad to watch to pass the time.

The time of passage had increase from 14 hours to 16 hours and disembarking was very slow. By the time we got back on the road to La Paz 19 hours had passed since we had arrived at the terminal in Mazatlan. There was a military check at each end of the voyage that added to the delay. All in all, this voyage is not recommended if it can be avoided.

Our plan was to cancel our vehicle permit at the terminal in La Paz, after all this is where we obtained it and no vehicle permits are required on the all of Baja California. Wrong again... Apparently you can buy the permit at the terminal but you can cancel it only at selected Mexico/USA border crossings!???

Since our permit expires at the end on April we had a decision to make... One would be to forfit the unrefundable airline tickets from San Jose del Cabo and ride to Tijuana, cancel the permit and pay for another flight home from San Diego or put the bike in storage and fly home from San Jose. Then deal with the expired permit when we come back in November. After mulling the options over iced coffee in La Paz we decided we would postpone the agony and deal with the situation in November. This means that we will have to ride the bike back to Tijuana or Mexicali, try to talk our way out of a fine, probably cros into the US and then return to Mexico, get a new permit and ride back south, on the east side of the Gulf of California.... Only about 3000k out of our way.

But we can worry out this later.... Hopefully the flight home goes well. Back to the snow I hoped would have melted by now. Looking forward to getting back to Fernie.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Tropicana Hotel,San José del Cabo,Mexico

In Sayulita

We are now into the last week of this trip. We have been in Sayulita since last Saturday and we are heading for Mazatlan Sunday morning. Then onto the ferry and back to the Baja on Monday. Our flight home is out of San Jose del Cabo on Wednesday.

Both Linda and I have been taking Spanish classes in the morning and I have been getting together with another teacher for an hour in the afternoon. I think we are making progress but sometimes it is hard to tell. If nothing else, it is good exercise for the brain. Also it gives us a chance to meet some locals and develop a better understanding of the area. Fernie and Sayulita have a lot in common. For example, both are seasonal tourist towns. Both have over inflated property values that have helped push prices beyond the affordability of the local population.

Yesterday we visited the town a few miles to the north. Its name is San Francisco but it is commonly known as San Pancho. (Pancho is an abbreviation of Francisco, as is Paco) It is possible to walk to San Pancho along the beach, with a couple of forays along jungle trails over some higher ground. The problem is that you have to pass through private property and sometimes this can be a issue, so we decided to take the bike instead.

We were quite surprised by San Pancho. We expected something smaller but although not quite as large as Sayulita it is a well developed town, in some ways nicer than Sayulita. Nearly all the roads are attractive cobble stone, clean, nice stores and restaurants. Sayulita, on the other hand, has a mix of street surfaces, from concrete to cobble stones to dirt. The September storm caused significant damage in Sayulita, particulary in proximity to the river. The construction on a new bridge and the associated equipment, constuction materials, piles of dirt etc. are not very attractive. Hopefully, by next seasons much of this should be completed and it will be more esthetically pleasing.

San Pancho has a beautiful long, wide beach but unfortunately the swimming is dangerous and there is no surfing area for beginners. This is where Sayulita has the tourism advantage. The surfing and boogy boarding are very good at Sayulita. The south end of the beach is shallow with smaller waves.




Sayulita beach looking North



Horses, dogs, and people share the beach