viaje por mexico
North America » MexicoSeptember 11th 2006
Colin and I already faced our first detour... We passed quickly through Tijuana and headed down to Ensanada, since our plan was to travel through Baja California and then take a ferry over to the main land. What we found was that not many buses run through the Baja and the tickets are really expensive-- I have a feeling they were giving us gringo prices, but I was talking to them in spanish and I tried to figure out what was going on, but without much luck. The Baja got kind of frustrating because everyone was charging us for things in dollars when we were speaking to them in Spainish and asking to pay in pesos, and it seemed they were raising the prices and were solely trying to take advantage of the white people. So faced with that madness, Colin and I changed our plans and decided that we should bypass the Baja and just travel down the west coast of Mexico since the buses are a lot more regular there and there are more travelers. So now we´re back up in Tecate (home of Tecate beer) and we´re on our way to Mexicali-- then from Mexicali we can make it down the coast. Tecate is on the border still, but it is a lot less of a border town and more like a mexican pueblo and the people here are much more friendly, and the prices seem more reasonable, so I´m very happy with our decision... we´ll see how this way works out.
What I have found so far is that traveling is a lot harder than the romanticized view becuase things are constantly changing and everything is new and you are always a foreigner and you really have to be on your toes and ahead of the game-- especially when you are traveling on a budget. Finding the cheap meal, cheap hotel, and cheap transportation that are not too sketchy is defintiley a challenge. We are trying to stay healthy and safe, but at the same time have fun and get the local experience. Last night we think we caught a scam the hotel was trying to pull on us-- we left the room at night to go on a short walk and the woman who ran the hotel was standing outside watching us, and she signaled a man on the street who quickly ran over to her right as we got down to the street. It seemed a lot like she was going to let the man into our room, so we turned around and walked back up to the hotel and the man left and said some funny things to us in passing and the woman was hiding. So either we spoiled their plan or we were just imagining things, but you can never be too carefull.
When you work or go to school in the states everything is layed out for you and your worries are much different from when you´re on the road. Colin and I have reminded ourselves that we always need to be sharp and aware of what´s going on around us-- in order to stay healthy, safe, and avoid getting ripped off.
We are learning our lessons, and other than that life in Mexico is great and I´m so happy to be here. I have still just barely gotten my feet wet, but there is a lot more ahead. There is constantly a lot going on around me, which I have barely begun to take in, so I don´t know what to write about yet in my blog, but it will come to me with some time-- I certainly won´t cover everything that happens, but I will try and write some interesting-funny stories and things I think about and learn along the way. So I hope you enjoy and you can follow me along in my travels!
Adios por ahora,
Tess
10:09:45 September 16th 2006 - Cousin D: Scams
We should have mentioned it! Beware! We miss you guys.
00:09:11 September 17th 2006 - Niloc: Awesome Tess!
Tess, I like your travel blog a lot, it is fun and you have good adventures. I like how you tell things. Man this is a fun trip!Love,Colin
06:09:52 September 18th 2006 - D:
Tess, So glad to be able to connect-even if it is electronically-and it's fun to read about your adventures (relieved no malaria on this excursion!). I admire you for following your heart, and for being careful along the way. Sending hugs...Love, D