We spoke to alot of Californians about our proposed trip to Mexico, everyone warned us, be careful of the Federali, they will get you, they are all corrupt, etc. and they were partly right!!
The ice cream truck we drove attracted attention wherever we went. This wasn't such a bad thing in the U.S.A.
As expected we were pulled over and searched at the border by Mexican customs. But these guys were friendly and loved the beads on the side of the truck that Jonno and Stefan got from a mardi gra in Texas.
These festivals are not like the Sydney mardi gra. In short everyone collects beads during the day and then at night girls show their boobs for them! Sounds like a great party HA HA! It was funny watching those who new explain it to the others as we watched them lift up their shirts, jiggle and laugh.
The cultural change on the other side of the border is immediate obviously all the signs suddenly become Spanish, but the people and their nature was visibly different. Cars and buildings were smaller, colors were more vibrant!
Before long we were pulled over again, this time by the Military. Two stood strong with their rifles still the others searched the truck. We were polite and tried out our poor Spanish skills. We got out straight away, opened the van and let them go; they were also friendly and let us through!
We learnt though that you should watch them to make sure they don't steal or plant anything, but we were ok at this stage.
That night we drove through to Ensenada with no further hold backs, However all hostels were difficult to find or completely full. So we decided to go 78km further. Unbeknownst to us we it was to become alot more difficult. It darkened quickly, the old truck's lights strained to see ahead, windy and treacherous roads and poor Mule was driving on the opposite side of the road for the first time!
Half an hour in and it was pitch black, we knew there were big drops at the side of the cliffs we just couldn't see them. After a couple of hours we were becoming anxious, as the roads deteriorated, and we began to lose hope, wondering how we had lost our way. We decided to get to the end of this stretch and call it a night. Yet at the end of the stretch, at what seemed to be the end of the earth, the Hostel stood tall like an oasis. We had arrived. It was an amazing hostel at the end of a beautiful little Mexican town.
The next day we wandered around and relaxed!! It was an awesome town, taco stands and not much else, just dust stunning dry scenery, plus real road runners!
All of a sudden, everything changed! Apparently there was a race in town the next day; the small town became very VERY BUSY!! DIRT BIKES AND DIRT CARS!! There was a flourish of RV vans, red necks in BIG UTES! And I MEAN BIG everything is bigger in America.... so now the quiet local Mexican town became very loud.
So we stayed one more night and got into the spirit of things, planning to leave half way through the race and beat the rush back to the states!
To begin our day we had a flat tyre and being unable to access the spare, we were lucky one of the locals was a tyre expert.
On to the race, just like on TV, it really felt like Mexico. There was no space between the competitors and the crowd, so many possible dangers, yet everyone was having a great time! We got in amongst it, as they came screaming down a hill, through some palm trees, one didn't quite make the turn and flipped off the edge into a palm tree! The masses swarmed, locals going loco! This was our cue to move on.
We cruised and after being searched a couple more times by Federali, one of which got very excited when he found a bag of white substance in Jono's pocket. After we explained that it was ciocolat bianco (White Chocolate) he smelt it and settled down.
We stopped in La Fonda, surfed through the morning fog, which seem to only get thicker, and refused to lift. We were lucky enough to have a pod of dolphins come up close, playing a little before moving on. We surfed until the mist swept across so quickly we could no longer see the shore!
Back to the border via Rosarita; where spring break was beginning. The landscape was amazing; I could just stare out the window for ages. This was lucky, because a couple hours were spent (3-4) in the SLUG (traffic Jam leading up to the border.) So we sat in the scorching heat, turning the truck on and off so as to stop it from over heating. We became customers to the locals, children juggling, people fire breathing, selling anything, we gave out stickers and beads and our remaining pesos, but it could never be enough!! There are too many... it's sad, but you give them a laugh, some fun, a ride on the back of the truck, and hope you have made their life a little bit better for that day.
When we finally got to the border we and the car were at boiling point, we were all down to shorts. Mule walked through and was past the border with in minutes, Jonno and I drove through. As expected we were stopped and checked. Jonno's visa had expired, which he knew but had applied months ago for a renewal, which was currently being processed, it was already paid and applied for, but their computers didn't show it up, after much deliberation, amongst being told to go back into the car and dress properly, Jonno was allowed to pass for a fee. So a total of 6 hours to clear the border and we are on our way, we picked Mule up on the highway and drove to San Diego.
