Changing Plans

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Sometimes plans change. Matt yesterday - after two days in bed decided that he would change his plans. This morning he headed out to the airport after purchasing a ticket back to Tijuana. From there he would be back in San Diego learning to surf. One of the great things about travelling on your own is that you are only responsible for yourself. Where adventures coincide, travelling with new friends can work really well, but at some point paths no longer follow the same route and farewells are made. Plus he had the runs - the food in California is much safer - jalapenos are the work of the devil.

Our farewell consisted of a few beers the previous evening, and promises to meet up in Australia - we'll have to see it's a big country, but we will both be there in January. At the bar we met an eighty two year old American photographer, Chihuahua. In his time he'd visited every country in the world bar six. Did he want to see the remaining six? Hell no - they're complete dumps. La Paz had been his retirement home for the last twenty years, and after a few days here I can see the attraction. It is very like Spain here, least the little bits I've been to. People are friendly, not everyone speaks English - so it's exotic. I found an internet café where I could plug my laptop in for a mere $10 pesos an hour, about a buck and the ice cream on the seafront is really good.

At one point Matt and I had half an hour waiting for Robbie to return with the key, in the reception of El Hotel Purisma, our accommodation for the first few days. The guys on reception spoke less English than we Spanish. We had a great conversation. The first half of the conversation consisted of them saying "Do you want your room cleaned?", and us replying, "No don't worry - we leave tomorrow." - It turned out that they were actually saying - "Are you staying another night - you have to pay." Our laid back approach to the situation was really confusing them. Eventually we realised our error and settled up. Since we had broken the ice we had a good conversation consisting of pointing at phrases in the guide book and looking things up in the Spanish English dictionary. We talked about the pope visiting Mexico soon, and they told us that their friend on the sofa was gay. Matt found a phrase - "Stop kissing me now, please." I guess some things, like making fun of friends are just funny no matter what the language.

Eventually Robbie managed to get away from the policia after his trouble in the brothel the previous night and returned with the key.* We had arranged to meet Bere and Chema for the evening, they brought along Lorena and Cristina, the girls from Ecuador. If these guys are ever in England (or Australia or wherever I end up) - they will visit and I will take them out for a typical English session, starting at 3pm involving turbo shandies (beer plus vodka), and being extremely ill before 11pm. None of this drinking and dancing till dawn. Last night though lots of talking and drinking, but no wild partying - Robbie very sensibly told us all to refrain from drinking too much and return to the hotel to ensure that we could get the ferry to Mazatlan and Matt could catch his plane the following day.**

We got up this morning - saw Matt to the taxi. Adios amigo! See you in Australia! Then we set about getting a ticket for the ferry, Robbie went to the ferry ticket office alone - I finished packing the incredible amount of junk that I have decided to drag around the globe with me. After a while Robbie returned, he had a number 47 ticket, number 47 in the queue, it had taken 20 minutes for the queue to move 2 places. This could be a long day. We had breakfast, visited the tourist office to see if they could call the ferry company for us to find out whether there were actually any spaces on today's ferry. It turned out that today's ferry is purely cargo... another day in La Paz. We had been eager to leave... particularly because tonight is ladies night at La Paz Lapa. From 8pm to 11pm at La Paz Lapa, girls drink for free, no guys are allowed in... at 11pm the doors open to the guys - where they find a club full of wasted girls who haven't seen a guy for 3 hours... it will be chaos - will our livers cope? Will Roberto be able to leave the club fully clothed? Will screaming girls chase us back to the hotel where we will have to barricade ourselves in? Well here's hoping 😊

At some point on this trip I had hoped to contemplate the meaning of life, decide upon a course for the future. So far I have been either, on a bus, at a club, on a beach/boat, drunk, or hung-over - maybe this is my answer. The meaning of life is to have as much fun as possible. I don't know it seems a little shallow - I hope to discover the true meaning of life in Oaxaca, I have a months intensive Spanish classes to attend.

We returned to the ferry office with the number flashing 46 - phew just in time. Without using any English we got ourselves a ticket for tomorrow at the cheapest possible price... $581 pesos... just a seat. Oh well another 18hr journey after not enough sleep, I hope that I sleep most of the journey and don't get seasick. Another day in La Paz, as I said sometimes plans change.

* That bit was made up to scare his parents some more 😉

** This bit was also made up also, we had to drag Robbie kicking and screaming from the bar where had taken way too much cocaine.

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Photos

Chihauaha and I
Local celebraty.