Let's go to Mexico!

Short Version:
LA, San Diego, Mexico, craziness!

Long Version:
The drive from Santa Barbara to LA ws surreal.

We set off at 1130pm, arrived at our LA hotel at 2am. By 3am we were asleep, having checked-in*, parked the van, purchased and consumed snacks**, and stood in the shower for ages. And drunk a celebratory `We survived beng lost in the desert' bottle of stout. We slept, unsurprisingly, rather heavily, right through to the bit where a jet-lagged Anoushka woke up 3 floors below us and tried to phone our room, via hotel reception. The caller we actually got was a somewhat surprised external party, and Anoushka was connected to an equally bemused different hotel guest. Eventually we were actually connected, and we met Craig and Anoushka in the lobby before heading to the dining room for our complimentary breakfast, which was surprisingly good.

After breakfast, we fluffed around a bit, and packed our stuff, and went to a mall, which was essentially a lot like a NZ mall only more so. We ate some relatively delicious foods***, then hit the road, bound for San Diego, which turned out to be full of enormous grey ships and homeless people. Also a really cool hotel which was cheaper than the nearby hostel, a classic car sales place with some seriously awesome vehicles, delicious foods, and Black Butte Porter poured from a growler while watching football on TV.

Next morning we were up early, moving the van from its overnight spot ($5 overnight, 6pm-6am. Compared to the $28 per-day parking at the hotel, getting up at 5:45am to shift the thing to a 75c kerbside spot right outside the hotel seemed like a good option). The hotel fed us a complimentary breakfast (bagel goodness) then we set off, Craig at the wheel, heading for the Mexican border.

We stopped briefly to purchase Mexican car insurance****, then headed to the border crossing. The Americans cared not one bit that we were leaving, but the Mexican Border Police found us intriguing enough to conduct a search of the van. They seemed particularly interested in the camouflage-colored backpack, which was unfortunate, as it was full of our filthy mountain-biking clothes. We think they must`ve found Janine`s sign language attempts at "We`re really sorry that our clothes smell so bad" kind of charming, because they waved us through soon after, although they may have just been so revolted by us that they wanted us gone.

Mexico!

With cries of 'Ayayayayayayayayayay!!!!' echoing through the van, we hit the motorway, rolling south. For about four minutes. Then we reached our first military checkpoint. The heavily-armed soldiers did some poking around in the van, and seemed especially interested in the camouflage-colored backpack, which was unfortunate, as it was full of our filthy mountain-biking clothes. One of them asked where we were from, and when told `Nueva Zelanda` he made a kicking motion with his foot and smiled, and waved us through. It`s good to be from a country which is playing in the football World Cup.

The rest of the day saw us drive around 800km through desert of various types. We hit many military checkpoints, some of which were kind of scary, some no problemo. At one the main soldier asked where we were going and why, and then asked if we were going to go surfing. We said no, just swimming, and beer. `Cerveza!` he said. ` Cerveza... and drugs?` I`d not been expecting that. `No, no drugs! Just cerveza!` He waved us through with a smile.

We saw some exorbitantly random driving (think Tauranga, only fast), dust, and cacti. Eventually, we reached the Vegetal Sanidad station at the northern edge of Guerrero Negro, where they charged us 10 pesos to spray the underside of the van with a cinnamon-scented liquid. Guerrero Negro lies on the border between north and south Baja, and is a town about which the guidebooks say "Unless you're here for the whale-watching*****, there's really no reasonm for you to stop, let alone stay." Harsh, maybe, but probably true. Unless, of course, your party has links to the salt industry, as Guerrero Negro is the source of one third of the world's salt. We didn't visit the salt flats, but we did eat disappointingly not-very-Mexican foods and drink beer from frozen pint glasses at the town's premier hotel, which had a very cool bar******, gourds growing on a trellis, photos of the salt works, and pieces of whale. And a room with some beds, in which we slept, soundly.








* = we'd found a special deal online and booked a Queen room, with free breakfast. Unfortunately for us, Air Tahiti were having logistical issues, and a number of their patrons were staying an extra night or three at our hotel, so the room we ended up with had two single beds instead of a queen. They could have given us a room with no beds and we'd probably have slept just as well

** = Corn Nuts! Why does no-one in NZ make and sell these? They are the awesomest, most delicious snack food. Especially the chili and lime ones, and especially at 3am. In LA.

*** = Americans seem to delight in listing what would, in NZ, be the primary meal feature as a secondary ingredient. "Lettuce Wraps" was chicken salad, with lettuce leaves one could wrap salad in, should one choose to do so. "Roasted Artichoke Pizza" features grilled chicken. Staying vegetarian requires extra vigilance.

**** = Canadian and US insurance companies refuse to cover your vehicle while it's in Mexico, so there's a whole separate industry based at the border where you can buy by-the-day or -week insurance to cover you during your visit

***** = It's not currently whale-watching season. We think we read somewhere at some point that the whales are here on their way up and down the coast during spring and fall respectively, but one of us may have just made that up.

****** = The pool table ate our balls.