"Wilderness" Advantage (Or, What The Wilderness Is Not)

Semana Santa

We've wondered: Will the blog continue now that we’ve crossed back into the United States all in one piece (pending lab results)?  As of now, we think it will.  As long as we’re living in the rattlevan like a couple of aimless hobos, we’ll try to keep blogging, at least a little bit.  And of course we left off here some time before the South of the Border portion of the trip came to an end.

Our last week or so in Mexico was spent doing a slow tour up the Pacific coast during Semana Santa.  Now, you may be thinking of Semana Santa as Holy Week, a time of religious observance, of processions, perhaps, of well-decorated colonial towns, of Easter.  But on the beaches of Mexico, Semana Santa means only one thing: time for camping.  Camping, that is, and partying. 

But first, after enjoying Oaxaca’s beaches (and making the sad decision not to subject the rattlevan to the mountain road that would get us to the city of Oaxaca – next time, I hope), we made our way upward through the small states of Guerrero and Michoacán, where the coastline shifted from a stretch of beaches almost Caribbean-esque in color and calm to a wild, rocky, windswept place with huge waves and a small population. 

Towns were few and far between on the coastal highway.  Formal gas stations were nonexistent, though we were able to buy gas from little independent “stations,” one of which was manned exclusively by a group of children all under the age of ten.  

Legit.

Other than sketchy purchases of sub-grade gasoline, driving along Coastal Route 200, supposedly a major drug smuggling route, was uneventful.  There were few cars on the road early in the week, the road was well-paved with beautiful views, and coconut vendors continued to just generally make the world a better place. 

Come to Mama

The miles mostly passed by peacefully, though we were interrupted once by a man efficiently butchering a cow by the side of the road (accidental roadkill, we presume).   The only sign of the drug-related conflict in the region that we saw (apart from the occasional police checkpoint that we always escaped by pointing out our “muy brava” guard dog) was a series of huge “wanted” posters upon which, without exception, the faces of the alleged narcotraficantes had been very professionally smudged out.  Brazen.  It wasn’t clear who was winning the “war” in that area.

We spent one stopover night in a place called Caleta de Campos, where we first really began to get the sense that the beaches were filling up, that people from all over Mexico were tumbling toward the coast in happy, vacationing hordes.  Tents had been set up on the beaches even in Michoacan, and as we headed north it began to seem that every car we saw had camping gear fixed atop it.

We spent a few nights in a beach town called San Patricio/Melaque – a usually sleepy town that had come completely to life for the holiday.  In the campground we stayed in, the rattlevan was surrounded by dozens families who had set up camp for the week.  Many of the campers had put together advanced kitchens evidencing years spent perfecting the art of beach camping.  We’re talking stoves, grills, and sinks all set up next to the huge tents.  And hundreds of tents had overflowed from the campgrounds onto the beach itself, which was filled with people from sunrise to late at night.  Lena frequently disappeared only to be found later some ways down the beach playing soccer or volleyball with groups of kids.  The town square was also lively, lined with taco trucks and stuffed churro trucks.  It was still only Tuesday or so, but the whole town was packed. 

As the week went on, the beaches got more and more crowded. Another stop was a surf town called Sayulita, where people immediately warned us that things were about to get crazy. And they did. Busload after busload of Mexican spring breakers flooded the beach armed only with tents (if they were lucky), sleeping bags, and beer. At one point I walked into town and counted six buses concurrently unloading hundreds of young passengers into the street. The beach began to fill up until it looked (but didn’t feel) like a sort of less organized Burning Man. In the mornings people dragged themselves up off the sand and started the partying over again. 

We watched, enjoyed, and stayed for a few days – and not just because we had heard such dire warnings about coastal travel during that week. I ate the best street taco of my life. Chuck saved a drowning man’s life. You know – the usual.

And then, mostly because I was whining about hiking and camping and the mountains and produce that wouldn’t need disinfecting, we headed north again, stopping only for streetside grilled lobster, a few more beaches, a few more sunrises, a few more sunsets, a few more swims, a few more tacos . . . 

We got in such a hurry that, toward the end, some of our stops were pretty workmanlike – Exhibit A, a dusty parking lot next to an abandoned bar on the side of the freeway. (Reason # 1037 that I hate toll roads: There’s nowhere to stop.)

And then -- all of a sudden, it seemed, truly -- we were at the border. The border of the United States of America. The U.S. of A. Etc. etc.

After waiting in a long line, the crossing itself took mere minutes. So, before we were really ready – too soon, way too soon, it seemed to us -- we were spit out onto a wide, smooth, unquestionably American freeway, in America. Entirely without warning, I burst into tears. 

Next up, perhaps: Something About Culture Shock or About Utah or, alternatively, A Post By Chuck About The Benefits of Knowing CPR. 

Interlude Part III

Trip Log (South of the Border)

Mexico

11/18 - Miramar
11/19 - El Fuerte
11/20 - Celestino Gasca
11/21-11/22 - La Peñita de Jaltemba
11/23 - Guadalajara
11/24 - Atlacomulco
11/25 - Antón Lizardo
11/26 - Palenque
11/27 - Escárcega
11/28 - Calderitas

Belize

11/29 - Crooked Tree
11/30 - Dangriga
12/1-12/3 - Hopkins
12/4-12/5 - Somewhere along the Hummingbird Highway
12/6 - Orange Gallery
12/7 - Belmopan
12/8 - Burrell Boom
12/9 - San Ignacio

Guatemala

12/10-12/13 - El Remate
12/14-12/15 - Flores
12/16 - Laguna Macanché

12/17 - Flores 

12/18 - San Vicente Chicatal

12/19 - Cobán
12/20-12/23 - Lanquín
12/24 - Cobán
12/25 - Uspantán
12/26 - Huehuetenango
12/27-12/29 - Quetzaltenango (Xela)
12/30 - Zunil
12/31-1/6 - Panajachel
1/7 - Chichicastenango
1/8 -Santa Maria Nebaj
1/9 - Acul
1/10 - Near Acul
1/11 - Santa María Nebaj
1/12 - Santa Cruz del Quiché
1/13 - Parramos
1/14-1/19 - Antigua
1/20 - Iztapa
1/21-1/22 - Hawaii
1/23 - Chiquimulilla

El Salvador

1/24 - Los Cobanos
1/25-1/27 - El Tunco
1/28 - Playa El Tuno
1/29 - Playa El Esterón
1/30-2/1 -Suchitoto
2/2-2/3 - Parque Nacional Los Volcanes
2/4-2/5 - Suchitoto
2/6 - Bosque El Imposible

Guatemala

2/7 - Near Taxisco
2/8 - Near Coatepeque
2/9 - 2/13 - Antigua
2/14-2/20 - Antigua (Beth), Los Angeles (Chuck)

2/21-2/25 - Antigua
2/26 - El Remate (Beth), Antigua (Chuck)
2/27 - Tikal (Beth), Antigua (Chuck)
2/28 - Flores (Beth), Antigua (Chuck)
2/29 - Antigua
3/1-3/2 - Panajachel (Beth), Antigua (Chuck)
3/3-3/10 - Antigua
3/11 - Chiquimula (not to be confused with Chiquimulilla)

Honduras

3/12-3/13 - Copán Ruinas
3/14 - La Ceiba
3/15-3/17 - Utila
3/18 - Tela
3/19 - Parque Nacional Cerro Azul/Meambar
3/20 - Gracias
3/21 - Copán Ruinas

Guatemala

3/22 - Antigua
3/23 - Near Coetepeque

Mexico

3/24 - Puerto Arista
3/25 - Huatulco
3/26-3/27 - Puerto Ángel
3/28 - Puerto Escondido
3/29 - Acapulco
3/30 - Zihuatenejo
3/31 - Caleta de Campos
4/1-4/2 - San Patricio Melaque
4/3-4/5 - Sayulita
4/6 - Celestino Gasca
4/7 - El Fuerte
4/8 - San Carlos