Roadtrip Travelogue, Part I

A while ago, I went on a road-trip through Baja. I didn’t mention it at the time, but I had been writing a little travelogue along the way with the intention to post it. I also intended to illustrate it with pictures from the trip, but bleh. Here’s some of it:

3.14.03
I rock at Chicken-Foot

3.15.03
I suck at Spades

3.16.03
La Fonda – Hotel la mision
The room is actually much nicer than expected for US $35 per night. Spanish tile throughout, and a sliding glass window the width of the room that affords us an inspiring view of the wide Pacific. It is this view, in fact, that you see before anything else. Before the aforementioned Spanish tile, before the king-sized bed, the efficient bathroom, or even the (non-functioning) fireplace in the corner of the room. The view of the Pacific is the stuff of magazines, and makes the other more than worth it. It occurs to me, however, that in turning this room around, perhaps to face the muddy highway, or the muddy side street, or the muddy mud, reduces it’s intrinsic value by thousands. Then, US$35 seems a rip-off. Then, the threadbare curtains really show their age, the broken down RV next door it’s proximity, and the previously efficient bathroom its squalor. Luckily, though, the room is facing the best possible way, and we are indeed in paradise.

Upstairs, in the expansive bar and restaurant associated with the “hotel”, we sit at seats to the left of the bar that offer a view of the setting sun. There, we are served strong and good margaritas for a mere $1.25US each, and eat fresh salsa with totopas. Francisco, with his eager, though halting, English, is an animated conversationalist with a passion for his home town in Michocan. He came here, far from his roots, to pursue a career where good knowledge of English was highly valued. “Lo ciento, I doan know everything about here. I not from here, I from Michocan. I know everything about Michocan! And the place right next to Michocan? There, too!”

3.16.03: “I want to pay for most of our trip.,, Like 51%, I wanna pay for it.” – ADG

Later, falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves, it feels as if the ocean washes and cleanses the mind as well as it does the sea. I reach a kind of trance state, where the only sound I hear is the gentle ebb and flow of millions of gallons of water, and my thoughts drift, as if buoyant…

Dinnertime…
Dinner (cena) was had in Puerta Nueva, a small fishing village renowned for the best (and cheapest) lobster dinners on the Pacific coast. It did not disappoint. For some $12US we shared a 1.5lb Lobster served with mantequilla, tortillas, frijoles, arroz, salsas, quacamole, ceviche, and probably a few other things I can’t remember. The menu was not extensive, they knew why you were there. You had the choice of lobster, or alternatively, lobster.

Note: The salsa here (whereby �here� I mean “Mexico”) is amazing. I must try very hard to recreate it at home.