Arrival to Mainland Mexico

Some things in life are meant to be lived, to see, to touch, to really get out there and feel the beauty of the natural world up close. As I sit in this picturesque place of Mexico, I look out and see the turquoise blue water, I hear the crashing of the giant cascade, Minas Viejas and I see flashes of white as water descends over a hundred feet falling to reconnect with travertine rock or to bypass the rock and fall directly into the beautiful pool of agua azul at the bottom of the falls. To add to this wonderland, hundreds of swallows are coming out of a cave situated about half-way up the falls and are circling overhead. Maybe they are coming out for the evening feed, waking from a rest in the cave or just maybe they are doing exactly what I am doing; Living in Beauty. I believe we were meant to experience the beauty that our world holds, and for this I live.



Good night sleep on the boat

How did the Tour de Sueños arrive to such an amazing place? Well lots of traveling, with some fun over the past two weeks since we left Baja. From La Paz we boarded the ferry with the SuenosMobile and the ship left for our 18 hour crossing of southern Baja to Mazatlan on Mainland Mexico. The ferry ride was quite nice, featuring an array of movies in the lounge area, the “Hangover” series in Spanish and we woke up in the morning to the killing of Indians in the “Apocalypto”, along with a cartoon or two. To save some money we opted out on paying for a cabin and brought our sleeping pads and bags on the ferry and slept out on the deck of the ship.

We arrived in Mazatlan around 11:00am and drove the van off the ship with the other cars and trucks as well as one or two crazy cyclist on a journey to ride as far south as possible. As soon as we hit the road and were trying to navigate a route to head south, I drove through a red light and soon after a police motorcycle was pulling me over. I tried my best to talk him out of giving me a ticket, but no luck, and I was told to go to the police station about seven blocks away and pay the fine there. Part of me was thinking of just forgetting the ticket and continue on with our journey, but I did run a red light so I went to the station to get it sorted out. A hundred and fifty pesos later or about 12 bucks we were on our way to Aticama, Nayarit.

Quieres un chile picante?

Aticama is a small pueblo about five hours south of Mazatlan and three hours north of Puerto Vallarta. Most travelers would probably drive straight past the small coastal town not giving it a second look. But this small pueblo is home to some longtime family friends and it hold some of my earliest childhood memories of Mexico. Jose and Petra Perez are a couple my dad met before he was married with a family, during his vagabond days in Mexico. Over the last 30 years or so our family has stayed in contact with these great people through visits to Mexico and even having Jose and his brothers swimming across to Imperial Beach and to work and live with our family many years back. And now after about eight years since my last visit I am driving up that same old cobblestone street looking for Jose and Petra’s casa.

About three blocks up from the highway and a question to a local guy at a small store, “ Sabes donde viven Jose y Petra?”, we pulled up to the two-story house that appeared a lot nicer then when I last visited. We walked in the house with the television on, a couple kids playing in the living room, and three adults sitting in front of the TV. There she was, a bit more frail and weak from Arthritis, a lady who is a mother to all, Petra Perez. Jose was down in Puerto Vallarta for the weekend selling ceviche to local restaurants and would be back the following day. If there is one thing that this family has taught me over the years, it is the importance of family and friends and most importantly the act of “Mi Casa es Su Casa.” It feels good to be back.

Not much has changed in the town of Aticama. The young kids are now adults with children of their own and the elders are happy to have a few more grandchildren running around, life is simple in these parts. They work when they need to and they enjoy spending time at home and live the ultimate chorbel lifestyle. We adapted quite well to the simplicity of this Mexican way of life. Mornings were mellow with a few cups of Nescafe and frijoles con tortillas de Maiz to fuel us up for our wanderings about nearby attractions. We spent afternoons looking for surf at nearby beaches, made a day trip up to a waterfall for a fish BBQ and swim-time, took a boat ride through the mangroves of San Blas to the crocodile farm, attended Sundays three hour long church service followed by a community fish taco feast and most of all enjoyed being with long time friends and making a few new ones as well.

Fish bbq estilo mexicano

After about five days of chorbeling around Aticama we decided it was time to move on. Driven by a word that Puerto Vallarta could have some potential for some good kayaking we headed south looking for agua en los rios. We arrived to find not much on the side of water and only had a short afternoon running a small rock slide at the sight of where the film “Predator” was shot way back in the day. Chris and I took turns in a kayak going off this one runnable slide to dust off the kayak cobwebs for the next part of the Tour de Suenos, Kayaking.

Predator slide

From Puerto Vallarta we began the long drive across Mexico to the eastern state of San Luis Potosi. This journey took us a bit longer than expected, something that tends to happen in Mexico. After three days of driving we found ourselves hiking down to our first waterfall of the trip, “Puente de Dios.” For not kayaking for a solid two months this was quite the technical drop start off with. “Puente de Dios” means bridge of God, and this tourist attractions was pretty much exactly that. A low volume fifteen foot waterfall into a tight pool, which then required a ferry to the lead-in of a tight bouncy drop which had an undercut rock both on the top right and bottom left. After scouting and finding a good spot for safety Chris had a good run then I followed also making it down clean, and we were both stoked on being back in the RIO. Following those two drops all the water went into a big pool that seemed to end right there with no exit to the pool. But the water somehow form a natural bridge and had this underwater cave you could swim into and out the other side leading to the rest of the river.

The First drop of Puente de DIos

Underwater Cave Puente de Dios

When we all got our fair share of swim time we headed back to the van to make a drive to Ciudad Valles for the next river, Cascadas Micos. Los Micos is essentially a playground for kayakers, it is a series of about 7 drops ranging from 8-15ft of pretty basic travertine slides and waterfalls. Since we arrived in the evening we decided to wait until the morning for our first run. We awoke in the morning to a light drizzle of rain and after our morning chorbel of coffee and eggs we headed up river for our first of four laps of the day. This run could use a bit more water as it is hard to get a good boof stroke, but after a couple laps we got the lines a bit more dialed. Overall a good day of paddling and a bit of training for hopefully some harder runs to come.

Put-in Los Micos

Now as I am writing this blog in my journal, to be reposted when I come to some internet we are waiting for another day on the rio. We drove up the road from the Cascadas Micos to check if the run Cascadas Minas Viejas had water and we came to a river that was a bit to low to run. After a decision to stay and enjoy the beautiful falls for the day, Chris gets overtaken with a quick onset of Montezuma’s revenge and sets up his tent within crawling distance from the toilet. Hopefully shit gets better.
 

Never show signs of weakness en Mexico

What we read when we are not playing

Every surf trip or kayak trip has its down time. And a good way to pass time is to pick up a book and open your mind to the adventure written down on paper. All of us spend quite a good amount of time reading and here are a few books that we are enjoying so far. Some are classic works of literature that have been read before and others are new reads. Today we will board the ferry to Mazatlan which should be a fun 18 hour boat ride to the mainland. Then when we arrive some possible kayak exploration around Puerto Vallarta with some surf in there as well. Cheers amigos

Baja Begins

 

The Crew and the SuenosMobile
Andrew, Becca, Chris and Todd

An adventure always has to start somewhere. Plans are made, maps are opened, the car gets packed and the crew of friends eventually shows up to start the journey. This journey we are on starts off with four great people, Todd Richey, Chris Madden, Becca Smith and myself. I am sure the Tour de Suenos crew will grow with new members and some will also leave along the way as the SuenosMobile heads south. The start to our adventure begins in San Diego so we can get the van loaded up with surfboards, kayaks, fishing gear, camping stuff and an accessories of gear that we probably don’t need but since the van has room we cram her full. Our first stop the beloved Casa en Mexico, which is actually only about an hour south of the border.


This lovely house in Mexico is my parents place that has provided years of entertainment for our family and friends who have come down to visit. Since neither Todd nor Chris have made a visit I decided it would be a good welcome to Baja California for the boys. Todd was able to spend a few more days then Chris and the great Pacific provide us with some fun waves. During our stay some of my family made the quick trip down from SD to enjoy the good fall weather and for one last goodbye before our long trip south into Mexico.


The Bigness on the inside and my brother Gabe out the back.



Riding the big board while the knee gets well


The day before we were going to leave the casa my parents came down for the night. My dad said the surf looked really good at a couple spots just north of the casa, so we loaded the boards in his truck and drove north. The surf was a beautiful 4-6ft with evening offshore winds. After exchanging some fun waves for about 2 hours, I rode a wave all the way into the inside to finish up with a turn on the closeout. I noticed my dad was right there in front of me when I finished that wave and something was not right.

The Bigness, the name I gave to my old man a few years back, was not looking good. He was holding his right shoulder in pain and his board was floating off on its own as he floated in waist deep water. Upon first contact it looked apparent that he had dislocated his shoulder, an injury that he also suffered this previous year. I looked to the beach to wave Todd and Chris to come give me a hand. When we got him back to the truck, I decided to try my Wilderness First Responder skills and pull traction on his shoulder to hopefully reduce the dislocation.

Sad to say that after about 30 minutes of pulling traction and numerous “Faaackkks” out of my dads mouth there was no success. We decided it would be best to take him to a hospital in Rosarito to have a doctor take a look. At first I was a bit bummed out that I was not pulling traction correctly and felt bad that the Bigness had to go through all this pain. But when the doctor finally checked him out and took X-rays, gave him pain meds, and pulled traction for about 30 minutes as well with no success, it was apparent that his shoulder was really fucked, poor guy. After a recent email to my parents he apparently has to go in for an MRI soon, hopefully he heals up soon so he can make another visit with the Tour de Suenos. My parents headed back to San Diego and our crew back to the casa for a quick sleep before making the first long drive south to Abreojos.

Everyone needs a pit stop on a road trip

I had a bit of an epiphany about my surf life during our first stay at Abreojos. I realized after having a cup of coffee one morning and writing in my journal that it had been 20 years since my first visit to this magical coastline in Baja. It was my dad who first brought me here when I was in the 3^rd grade, and took me out of school for a two week father/son surf trip. This was not my first visit to Baja, as my family had been taking vacations south for as long as I could remember, but it was a first of many things. I pulled into my first mini-barrel on a body board, got taught how to tie a fishing knot and how to cast which led to me pulling in a few good size corvine, while my dad and his buddies surfed. And now 20 years later I am still doing the same thing, except I hope the barrels are a bit bigger as well as the fish.

 

 

Evening Session at Abre reefbreaks

 



Richey with the longest ride of his life

Surfing by no means is an easy sport to excel at, but regardless of skill one may find joy no matter how good a surfer he or she is. On this trip two of my friends are along that have spent little time in the ocean surfing in the past, but they share the same stoke as every other surfer with each stand up and each beat down. Both Todd, from Montana, and Chris, from Northern California, are some of the best kayakers I have paddled with and it has been amazing to watch them dive into something new and to start getting a grasp of the ocean. The simplicity of just catching a wave, standing up, and turning down the line brings about so much joy and stoke from a new surfer. Apart from surfing we have been spending our afternoons trying to catch dinner, but are mostly just coming up with a few small sand bass that only suffice for a small appetizer, but non the less very tasty. I am not sure if it is the passing around at camp Hemmingway’s ,Old Man and the Sea, but these guys will fish for hours with sometimes no success.

Trying to bring in dinner.

 

 

Trying my luck at Razors one evening

 

After about a week of good surf and fun at Abre,

we decided with the falling swell to continue on south to see a bit more of Baja. On our way down to San Juanico we made an overnight stop in Bahia Concepcion for some sleep then an early rise to head to the fabled Scorpion Bay. When we arrived the surf was a bit on the small side, but perfect for learning to surf and even a wave or two on the long board. Not wanting to pay 150 pesos to sleep in the dirt, we pulled our dirt bag moves and hung out on the point during the day and drove down the long beach south to find private beaches that where perfect for sleeping under the stars and a good fire at night.

The surf never picked up in San Juanico and after the legendary Ranger Richey hitched a ride North to get a bus back to the States we decided to continue on southward. Our next stop Rabbit Point. El Conejo is a spot I have visited before but never really scored surf-wise but always a good place to camp and stay the night. We decided to only buy fresh produce and food for a night possibly two in case the winds where bad and the surf never came. Luckily for us the Great Conductor wanted us to see the goodness that the point had to offer as we scored 3 of the best days of surf so far. The cause of this surf came from Hurricane Paul, which provide offshore winds all day and head high surf for about two days before old Paul decided to come for a closer visit. Everyone was getting fun waves, even Chris on the foam board was dropping in a few bombs and Becca claiming some of the better surf of her life. To bad no one wants to take photos when the surf is good.

Calm before the Storm

The rain started the last day 3^rd day we were camping but the surf was still offshore and fun. After our morning surf we decided it would be best to pack camp and move back across the Arroyo in case the rains from Hurricane Paul picked up and cased a flash flood that could leave us stranded with not much drinking water and only a few cans of black beans and quinoa left to eat. We found an empty palapa up the point near the fisherman’s hut to seek refuge from the rain for our last night. It was a good spot to hang, but we soon found out that no palapa keeps you dry when the Hurricane is only about 100 miles away. Waking up to the constant rain and wind ripping in all directions and crush my little 2 man REI tent, it was apparent that old Hurricane Paul wanted to hang out with us. 

 

 

Tired and frustrated the 3 of us quickly through all the wet gear in the van and did our best to tie down all the boards and boats on the roof before getting pack to the Highway. Once back on the road we headed south to La Paz and gave in our dirt bag lifestyle for a dry room in a motel while the Hurricane subsides and then we are loading on the ferry to Mainland Mexico. And here is where the computer comes out and life on the interweb is available after a few good weeks of camping in Baja. Baja has been a magical visit for the Tour de Suenos, and a place we will all probably come back too.

Cheers Friends... And thanks Zinka for the hook up protecting our beautiful faces from the harsh yet beautiful Baja Sun. Enjoy the photos, courtesy from my camera and Todd's Camera.

La Punta

Night Hunt

When we cant kill any fish we will resort to cruching the rats that inflitrate our camp.

 

 

Baja Chorbel

Chorbel??? What does that word mean? Well right now it means Baja, no job,  no time schedule, no alarm clock, no plan, just good living, that is what "Chorbel" means. Chorbel, chorbeling, chorbish all very silly words for most, but it is more than a word, it is an act of chilling. Chorbeling is not being lazy by any point, even though many may view  it as this way. I tend to find it healthy to spend time for yourself, whether it is that slow morning with a few cups of coffee and maybe a walk along the beach or that need to get out and paddle around in the ocean with some friends. I feel like in life we need to just stop and look around and notice the beauty that surrounds us.

The Tour de Suenos is slowly preparing for the depature to Mainland Mexico, and by preparing I mean mostly Chorbel time in la casa en Baja. Example of life is shown in the photos.

 

 

 

 

The Sea has set me adrift

It moves me like the weed in a great river.

Earth and the great weather

Move me

Have carried me away

And move my inward parts with joy.

-Inuit