\u0026lt;/ a> 4.1
After deciding not to drive my car down to Mexico, my brother and I took the Greyhound bus from Long Beach
to TJ (Tijuana). At the most frequently crossed border of the world, we
transferred directly into a bus to Chihuahua, leaving the overcrowded, chaotic and ugly TJ behind.
Remembering airmotion ; ) and the countless advises like Friedrich Rueckerts "Nur aufs Ziel zu
sehen, verdirbt die Lust am Reisen." ("Looking only at the destination, ruins the pleasure of
traveling.") we enjoyed the bus ride through the beautiful sierra and watched hundreds of
fallen car wracks located along the edge of the very steep mountain road.
01/05
During the 22h bus ride I not only had enough time to admire the landscape and to reade my book,
but also to realize: "México on the map may appear smaller than it is."
In downtown Chihuahua we got a room in the Hotel San Juan and had in the afternoon enough time
to explore our first "real" Mexican city and to have the first of countless coming Tacos.
01/06
Much too early the next morning we boarded the train to Los Mochis. It was a very beautiful trip,
where we could see everything from wide, desert-like plains to rocky, impressive mountains. Small
ancient villages with Indigenas and authentic Mexican cowboys. They look almost like the cheesy
Marlboro-Cowboys, with the boots, the blue jeans, check shirt and a cowboy hat. Only their faces
and language doesn't really match with the well-known commercial. And we had a short stop at the
"Méxican Grand Canyon" (Barrancas del Cobre), which is at least as impressive as the one in the US!
The train ride reminded me strongly of the "Nariz del diablo"-train-ride in Ecuador, only that
we could sit inside in comfortable seats instead of sitting on the roof of a rattling wagon.
Because of the pretty slow speed and the steep track we arrived after 19 hours in Los Mochis at
2am and since it was hard to find a cheap and open hotel at that time, we ended up at the Hotel
Lorena.
01/07
We spend the day strolling along the markets and eating a delicious snack at every street corner.
But the Mexicans are somehow really crazy concerning their taste. There are many vendors who
sell fruit (mixes) on the street, but normally they mix the melon, pineapple etc. with peanuts,
put salt and pepper on it and lots of spicy salsa!!! When I insisted on pure pineapple, the per-
plexed vendor still put salt on it, by which it became too disgusting for me to eat.
All tourists traveling south of Ensenada are required to pay for a "tourist-card". It's nothing
more but another tourist-trap like the "Kurtaxe". But even when we asked some Police officers,
they were not sure, what it is, where we can get it and if it's really so necessary as it was said
to be.
In the afternoon we continued our way to the close Topolobampo from where the ferry to the pen-
insula Baja California departs. The ferry goes only once a day and the trip takes about 6 hours,
but - that's my theory - because they want to sell more tickets for the expensive sleeping cabins,
the ferry leaves every night at midnight and arrives in the morning at 6am. Having the monopoly
they are able to do it and to ask for crazy fares and so we paid for the cheapest ticket available
(still about US$ 50/person). For that price we didn't even have a seat in the big hall and were
only allowed to stay in the restaurant or in the bar which are both very uncomfortable and loud.
So we layed down on the floor in front of the sleeping cabins and tried to get some sleep there;
only finding out in the morning that the empty cabins weren't locked (Doh!).
01/08
After arriving in La Paz, we were looking for a bus shuttle to downtown and when the driver
replied that he was going to Cabos, we spontaneously decided to skip (the touristic?) La Paz
and entered the bus, which we left almost at random in Cabo San Lucas (the very south tip of Baja).
It is like another world over there. Overcrowded with rich, self-centered and ignorant US- and
Canadian tourists. And it's not very hard to see that the demand determines the price (Nachfrage
bestimmt das Angebot). Most of the Mexicans speak English, the menus/prices are in English/US$
and there are countless street vendors, who try to sell some fancy traditional jewelry, pottery,
hang mat, whatever...
But I have to admit that I understand the reason why people come to Cabo San Lucas: The beaches
- especially the private ones at the hotel resorts - are truly beautiful. And the lobster/seafood
is pretty cheap over there. : )
And if you avoid or even deny to speak English and instead speak English with the Mexicans, it
helps a little not be treated like the average gringos.
We thought to be decent tourists and finally payed for the mysterious 'tourist cards' (US$20
each), but never had to show them at any of the several Police/Military checks along our trip.
01/09
Also it is a perfect place for all kinds of water sports. So I tried scuba diving and was able to
admire a wonderful underwater life. It's so very delightfully uncomplicated, because I only had to
watch a 20min instruction video and was then allowed to dive with the instructor and one other
experienced diver more than 20m deep (my very first dive)!
When the instructor opened a package of cookies to feed the fish, we were suddenly surround by
all kinds of colorful fishes. Wow! I also saw a mid-size shark, corals, sea cucumber and lots of
other fish/animals, which I don't know how to call.
After that we found the - in our opinion - best restaurant in town: Restaurante Quetzal. It's a
small family-style restaurant without menu, but with daily changing authentic Mexican house food.
Very nice ambience with Mexican music and waitresses who don't speak English.
And of course: super-delicious inexpensive food. Hmmm, perfect!
After being at a "Mallorca-style"(?) beach, we strolled along the side streets away from the beach
and surprisingly discovered that there actually exists an authentic and nice city life not very
far away from the gringo dominated area.
01/10
Next morning we charted a water taxi to go "whale watching". And not too far away from the coast
we actually saw a couple of gray whales, which was a really impressive experience.
After going a second and last time to the Restaurante Quetzal we left the touri-attack-Cabo-
San-Lucas and hitchhiked on a pick-up to the small town Todos Santos at the Pacific coast. And
luckily we found somehow the 'Todos Santos Hostel', which is an absolutely wonderful place to stay.
Totally different (very relaxed, easy and layed back) backpackers from all around the world and
Johnny - the crazy and funny Mexican owner. There was some space for tents, one small hut, with
five primitive "beds" inside, a tiny bath/shower, a open kitchen place and a hangout area/hut with
hang mats, sofa, some old magazines, books and a small hi-fi. Few walls are made out of natural
stones, but all the rest (walls, roof) are out of bamboo and palm leaves! Oh yeah! After all that
traveling this was the perfect place to relax and take it easy.
So we walked over the small hills through a cactus desert to a totally lonesome beach with nice
and powerful waves and an overwhelming sunset.
01/11
The next day's weather wasn't very nice so we were sleeping late, spend the whole day at the
hostel reading and relaxing in the hang mat. One Canadian girl and two more German backpackers
arrived, who were totally tripping after they saw some gray whales jumping out of the water at
the beach.
Later at night Marc (a very friendly freak from Washington) was preparing lots of Tacos and lots
of Margaritas for everybody, which really rounded out the day.
01/12
After sleeping late we hitch hiked with the two other Germans to 'Playa Los Cerritos'. There
was a RV park nearby, but at the beach there was only a "hippie/surfer"-community of tents (at
all of Méxicos beaches it's allowed to camp for free!).
I rented a Long Board from a local guy and finally found the opportunity to go surfing. Very nice
and pretty big waves AND the water was warm enough even without wetsuit! Dude, that rulez!
On the way back to the hostel some crazy surfer gave us a ride. Two surfboards, two dogs and three
of us on the back of his crapy, rusty pickup. He cut his hand with the fins of his surfboard and
said "I'm in a little hurry, 'cause I need some stitches", but still was cool enough to stop
and give us a ride.
01/13
It was pretty windy and raining almost continuously that day. So we didn't go back to 'Playa Los
Cerritos' but used a very short rain break to go to one of the closer beaches with Julie from
Canada. Unfortunately it started raining again very soon and strongly. And because we walked
along the beach and not directly back to the hostel we finally arrived there completely soaked
wet (finding a water stream flowing through the hostel).
Since the weather forecast wasn't promising any better weather in the next days, we decided to
leave the beloved hostel and took the overnight bus with Julie to Mulege (further north in Baja).
01/14
After a too short night on the bus we arrived at 4:30am in Mulege and waited until dawn in the
patio of a closed restaurant.
Then we walked the long and very muddy, dirty path to the beach (Mar de Cortez / Gulf of California).
While strolling around in the picturesque, small town, Julie and I discovered the "Perfect Dream
House". A big house built on stilts and mostly made out of bamboo and palm trees/leaves; just like
the hostel but a little more luxurious. Wow, the smell, the warm colors and the texture - totally
overwhelming!
Since there doesn't exist any ATM or bank in Mulege and we were running out of cash once again,
we took the bus to the next bigger city Santa Rosalía, where we spend the evening and waited for
the bus heading north. It was supposed to come at 9pm, but when it arrived finally much too late,
there was only one single seat left in the bus. After the near Café-Restaurant-Supermarket-Mix had
closed, we waited until 4am in the cold and lonesome bus terminal for the next bus.
01/15
At least we had luck and got three seats in the 4am-bus and could continue our way north.
Compared to the cold and hard waiting seats in the terminal, the bus seamed suddenly to have
the most comfortable seats of the world.
In Ensenada Julie got off and my brother and I continued to TJ and transferred into a Greyhound Bus
to Long Beach.
Although I had a feeling of 'coming home' when we came to Long Beach, everything in the USA seemed
suddenly strange and fake since crossing the boarder; the people, their attitude, the huge stores,
the malls, the TV program. Maybe it's the delayed culture shock that I yet never had when coming to
the USA.
It's no question that México is absolutely and totally different from the USA, but the strange
thing is that it is so close! It's just three hours from Long Beach and you are in a different
"world". In the USA everything is more fake, clean, artificial and commercial. Looking back, México
seemed much more truly friendly, yet crazy, chaotic and dirty, but still simple and honest.
And even the imported 'Pacifico cerveza' in the USA doesn't taste as good as it tastes south of
the border. Damn, I gotta go back...
Almost as a welcome on the next morning in Long Beach, three armed guys tried to rob the Rosco's
Restaurant just one block from our apartment. For hours the police blocked the surrounding streets,
waiting with shotguns in their hands and ghetto birds (police-helicopters) were circling in the air
. Welcome back to Long Beach.
