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At the End of a Long Drive


Shreesh and Neena Taskar

We didn't make the decision, the decision made us. On October 20th, 2007, we left our comfortable city of San Francisco to follow a simple algorithm - go North till the road ends then turn around and then go as far South. In between those two points was the stage, the timeline, the space, where we made things happen and things happened to us.

The past is fleeting and the stories, the sights and the feelings are perishable. One sees what one wants to see, and perhaps we are not capable of more. We saw that people are kind and helpful even if they were not materially rich. Some we could understand even though we didn't speak the same language, the motivations of others were incomprehensible even though we did. In the end fragments remain - the smell of roasting chocolate, a flock of snow Ptarmigians on snow, the creaking of the rainforest, the rough feathers of penguins, and the intoxication of Curanto.


So these are our stories. Every time you visit the site you will see a random post below. Each starts with Lo que pasa es que...

Our journey South begins

Jan 18th, 2008 by

rosas

Serenity at
Las Rosas

A hiatus in the hometown – Our journey South begins.

The hiatus in San Francisco passes by in a flurry of activity. We buy things, we make calls. The Northern trip exposed logistic gaps that we take care of. The FJ goes to one shop to get new lights installed; I go to another to get a haircut. We meet friends. Normal, mundane things of everyday life; mixed in with the unusual enquiries like how long we can keep the car out of the country before it is considered exported. (The answer is as long as we like, as long as it stays registered).

pgrove

First stop at Pacific Grove

We are hosted by our good friends Fred and Ada whose lives get invaded by us and our chores which they graciously help with. Shreesh’s parents arrive from Minneapolis to join us in our Baja adventure. We leave on the 15th, on schedule but having, sadly, discarded our idea of taking our bikes with us.

fj-rt1

FJ on Route 1

The FJ is packed to the hilt but is surprisingly easy to load and unload. We are armed with cautionary and blood chilling tales of Baja. The books, TV, friends – all tell us to beware of banditos which Tijuana is apparently crawling with. So we are really happy when absolutely no-one stops us at the border. In fact, we are so relieved that we sail through and keep driving without looking back. We get to Ensenada and stay in a lovely spa on the beach. Our serenity is shattered when we find out that we had to get our tourist cards at the border as well as a “temporary import permit for the car”. oops! After multiple unhelpful inquiries, we are almost ready to go back to Tijuana, when the Banjercito (these are the people that KNOW) informs us that we can get the import permit in La Paz and the tourist cards here for a small fee. Hope he is right.
The bright side is, the margaritas are simply amazing!

baja-bird

Sunset in Baja

8 Responses to “Our journey South begins”

  1. madhuri says:
    January 19, 2008 at 2:52 pm

    What a sunset!
    i think it is San Franciscan haircut that is protecting you from banditos 🙂
    Margaritas? In front of parents? ayyooo, ayyooo…

    madhuri.

  2. Fred says:
    January 19, 2008 at 3:32 pm

    You’re on your way! Too bad about the bikes . . . you can always rent ’em. Your old pal Jorge is in town – too bad you aren’t here to talk about the good ol’ days on Ama Dablam 😉 See you in Oaxaca!

  3. Vinay says:
    January 19, 2008 at 9:34 pm

    Hope you are having a lot of fun in Baja. I love Baja. It is so refreshingly chilled out.

  4. Neena says:
    January 20, 2008 at 6:27 pm

    Hello!
    We are in Muleje now…however not really chilling out… We seem to be constantly driving – we really need a chaneg in the formula…

  5. Vinay says:
    January 22, 2008 at 2:20 pm

    Yeah, take a break and hang with the pina coladas

  6. Bev says:
    January 23, 2008 at 9:20 am

    Hola,

    You were all the highlight of our stay in Muleje. Enjoyed talking & sharing. Hope my words help your MamaCita with her worries. Did all go well with the ferry at La Paz? Pat & I look forward to your further adventures.

  7. Shreesh says:
    January 23, 2008 at 10:32 am

    Hi Bev,

    Your sage advice was useful, at least in the short term 🙂

    Everything went smoothly with the ferry arrangements in La Paz – we’re all set to go to Mazatlan on the 25th of January. It is an 18 hour trip so we will arrive the next morning. It cost 4,195 pesos for us, the car, and a small cabin for the night. Hopefully we will see some sea-life on the way…

  8. Shelia says:
    January 26, 2008 at 8:47 pm

    What an outstanding sunset! Hope all is well!

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