- Black Canvas Shorts
- 4 white undershirts
- 2 Diego T's
- Stonecutter T-Shirt
- 4 Pairs of socks
- 4 Pairs of underwear
- Black nylon shorts
- Board Shorts
- Floppy Hat
- Adidas pants
- Sandals
- Book: It's not News, It's Fark
- Ducati Monster owners manual
- Pad of paper and a pen
- iPod and charger
- cell phone, charger and link cable
- Laminated maps of Washington, Oregon and Northern California
- Various printed maps from Google Maps
- Insurance Paperwork
- Motorcycle Registration Paperwork
- Mag-Lite
- Wire Cutters/Strippers
- Pliers
- Philips Head screwdriver
- Standard Head screwdriver
- Folding set of metric Allen wrenches
- Fixed set of metric Allen wrenches
- Zip Ties
- Spare wire connectors
- Spare fuses
- Can of Chain Wax
- Extra quart of 20-50 oil
- Small spray bottle of 409 (for cleaning my face shield)
- Small towel
- 2 shop rags
- Bottle of Aloe Vera
- Bottle of Sunscreen
- Toothbrush and toothpaste
- Tire Pressure Gauge
- Bottle of Ibuprofen
- Lighter
- Chap Stick
- Toenail Clippers
- Gerber Multi-Tool
- 2 Pairs of Gloves
- Helmet
- Sunglasses
- Riding Jacket
- Reflective Orange Vest
- Riding Pants
- Riding Boots
- Ducati T-Shirt
- Backpack with water pouch
- Sleeping Bag
- Spare headphones
- Pocket Knife
- $200 cash
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Final preparations
Tonight I packed up all of my gear and mounted the various bags onto my bike. While I was doing so I wrote down all of the various items I will be taking with me. Here is a big list of all my gear. Lets see how much of it actually survives the entire trip:
Friday, June 15, 2007
Packing
Last night I got out all of the stuff I want to take on my trip. I spread it out and took a picture, just for shits. Anyway, I've got maps, tools, clothes and all kinds of stuff. In the picture you can see the two bags I've got on the left. The larger one is a tail bag that sits on the passenger seat on my bike. I can strap my sleeping bag right to the top which is very handy. The other smaller bag in front is my tank bag that straps to my gas tank. It's got a large clear plastic pouch on top so I can place maps in there and be able to look at them while I'm riding. Packed it all up and everything fit with room to spare! I was able to bring a couple extra clothes and even some more tools. I'm going to put up a final list of gear sometime today or tomorrow. We'll see how much of it comes back with me.
Stupid Fuse!
So I picked my bike up from the shop the other day for it's 12k mile service. When I got it back the service techs told me that the horn and my brake light weren't working. Not only that but my tires were getting down and should probably be replaced soon. I went home and started poking around with my Volt-Ohm meter to try and isolate the problem with the light and the horn. I didn't think it could be a fuse because the rest of the tail lights worked just fine. But after checking the fuse box I noticed that the same fuse controlled both the brake light and horn! Popped in a new 25 cent fuse and everything worked again. Now, I take full responsibility for my own idiocy, but don't you think that a trained tech should be bright enough to recognize this? Wouldn't he already know that a fuse controls those two things and if they both go out take the 30 seconds to look? It was already in for a major service! This shit really pisses me off. And why did they tell me about the tires as I was picking it up? Why the hell didn't they call me that first day they looked at it and told me about that so they could order up some new ones and get it taken care of? They would make some money, and I would get the new tires I need. Morons. So today I called over to the other bike shop in town where my friend Erick works and they have the tires that fit my bike. So he's going to do me a huge favor and get them installed for me today so I can have a fresh set of tires before I head down to California on Sunday. Thanks man.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Friday, June 1, 2007
New Road
Today I went out for an afternoon ride around Kitsap and I found a new road that has become one of my very favorites! I was cruisin down one of my regular back roads when I passed a road I had gone past many times when I decided to just hang a left and see where it led me. Turns out Ettendahl Pass Road is fantastic. Nice country road in the woods where I could keep my speed through most of the turns. The best part is that it's actually through woods instead of through clearcut areas like most of the roads I know. Anyway, here are a couple pics I took this afternoon.
Lists...
So I've kept a few lists of all the shit that I'm going to be taking with me on my big trip and I decided to share. I'm notorious for forgetting shit if I don't write it down, so this is my official list of crap. I'm sure I'll have to adjust it over time.
Tools, Gear, etc
Tools, Gear, etc
- Metric Allen Wrench Set
- Phillips Screw Driver
- Flat Head Screw Driver
- Pliers
- Wire cutters/strippers with extra connectors
- Multi-tool
- 2 Shop Rags
- Chain Lube
- Extra Oil
- iPod with charger
- Cell Phone with charger and link cable
- Advil
- Tooth Brush & Tooth Paste
- Maps of Washington, Oregon and California
- Printout of route as planned on Google Maps
- Board Shorts
- 2 Deigo Tees
- Sandals
- Sweatpants
- Floppy Hat
- Cheap Sunglasses
- Sunscreen
- Chap Stick
- Sleeping Bag
- 4 pairs of socks
- 4 pairs of underwear
- 4 white undershirts
- 4 random T-Shirts
- Riding Pants
- Boots
- Riding Jacket
- 2 Pairs of Gloves
- Helmet
Gear
So my brother was questioning how the hell I'm going to transport all my shit with me when I head down to California in a couple weeks. And ya know what, that's a good question. I've spent a fair amount of time getting everything organized, but I haven't really put up any information about it. So, now you get to read about all the crap I'm taking.
First up we have a pic of the entire bike. You can see the tail bag on the back with my sleeping bag on top. I can attach it with some bungie cords, but they just aren't shown here in the picture. Up front we have the tank bag (sitting on the gas tank of all places) with my helmet on top of it, and then my backpack draped across the seat. The backpack is pretty small so hopefully it doesn't hurt my shoulders too much. It's also got a water bladder in it and a small hose so I can drink water on the go. That'll come in handy when I'm going across the fucking middle of nowhere.
Here is a close up shot of the rear tail bag with the sleeping bag bungied to the top.
And a closeup of the tank bag. It's got a nice large clear pouch on top where I can place maps so I know where the hell I'm going.
The backpack
My helmet and two pairs of gloves. These are the two pairs that I'll most likely be taking with me. I have like 5 pairs total.
And lastly my jacket. It's nice heavy leather with extra armor padding in the shoulders, back, and elbows.
I've got a pair of new riding jeans on order which should show up in the next day or two, so I'll put up some pics of those when they show up. I'll probably also get some new boots.
First up we have a pic of the entire bike. You can see the tail bag on the back with my sleeping bag on top. I can attach it with some bungie cords, but they just aren't shown here in the picture. Up front we have the tank bag (sitting on the gas tank of all places) with my helmet on top of it, and then my backpack draped across the seat. The backpack is pretty small so hopefully it doesn't hurt my shoulders too much. It's also got a water bladder in it and a small hose so I can drink water on the go. That'll come in handy when I'm going across the fucking middle of nowhere.
Here is a close up shot of the rear tail bag with the sleeping bag bungied to the top.
And a closeup of the tank bag. It's got a nice large clear pouch on top where I can place maps so I know where the hell I'm going.
The backpack
My helmet and two pairs of gloves. These are the two pairs that I'll most likely be taking with me. I have like 5 pairs total.
And lastly my jacket. It's nice heavy leather with extra armor padding in the shoulders, back, and elbows.
I've got a pair of new riding jeans on order which should show up in the next day or two, so I'll put up some pics of those when they show up. I'll probably also get some new boots.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Planning...
So now that my trip to Mexico is over I can focus on planning my trip down to California which is coming up in just about 2 weeks. I've ordered a new pair of riding pants that I plan on wearing, as well as a replacement for my left mirror. About 2 months ago I smacked my left mirror pulling my bike out of the garage and it broke the lens, but the metal housing was still intact. I took it down to a local glass company and they put in a replacement mirror for me for only $5, but it was totally the wrong kind of glass. It actually magnified what I was looking at, instead of the reverse like rear view mirrors are supposed to be. This made it fucking impossible to mount properly so I could get a good view of what was behind me. In addition to that, whatever he used to affix the mirror to the housing wasn't very good as the mirror itself vibrated quite a bit. So I just said fuck it and bought a whole new mirror assembly for $40.
I also had to order a new set of shield housings for my helmet! On Tuesday as I was coming into work I lifted up my visor so the guard could see me and the tabs holding the shield covers on both sides of my helmet popped at the same time! Basically there are two plastic panels, on on each side, that cover up the mechanics where the face shield attaches to the helmet. Those are held in place by two plastic tabs, one on top and one on bottom. Well, the top ones both broke on me so I had to order a new set which should be covered under the warranty, I'll find out in a day or two when they come in. I ordered a second set just so I have a backup. I really don't want to have this happen when I'm riding down to California.
The weather has been absolutely PERFECT all week, and it looks to stay that way all weekend. Bright and sunny with temps in the mid-low 70s, perfect riding weather. I haven't had a chance to get out and ride much this week, but I have a three day weekend to catch up. I also scheduled a service visit down at the motorcycle shop for next week so they can give my bike a good check before I take it out to put a couple thousand miles on it. I should spend some time finalizing my route this weekend and print out some of the maps. Buying a couple traditional paper maps would be a good idea as well.
I also had to order a new set of shield housings for my helmet! On Tuesday as I was coming into work I lifted up my visor so the guard could see me and the tabs holding the shield covers on both sides of my helmet popped at the same time! Basically there are two plastic panels, on on each side, that cover up the mechanics where the face shield attaches to the helmet. Those are held in place by two plastic tabs, one on top and one on bottom. Well, the top ones both broke on me so I had to order a new set which should be covered under the warranty, I'll find out in a day or two when they come in. I ordered a second set just so I have a backup. I really don't want to have this happen when I'm riding down to California.
The weather has been absolutely PERFECT all week, and it looks to stay that way all weekend. Bright and sunny with temps in the mid-low 70s, perfect riding weather. I haven't had a chance to get out and ride much this week, but I have a three day weekend to catch up. I also scheduled a service visit down at the motorcycle shop for next week so they can give my bike a good check before I take it out to put a couple thousand miles on it. I should spend some time finalizing my route this weekend and print out some of the maps. Buying a couple traditional paper maps would be a good idea as well.
Mexico!
I got back from Cozumel Mexico a few days ago, and so I figured I should probably post up a recap of everything that happened. I went down with my new friend Shena who was somehow able to get a plane ticket with only about a weeks notice. All in all it was a fantastic trip and we had a ton of fun. I took a bunch of pictures with my camera phone and posted them up to photobucket, you can check em out here.
Our flight left Seattle Friday evening at 10:30pm and went to Atlanta where we had to sit through a six hour layover before jumping on a small plane for another 3hr flight to Cozumel. The flight to Atlanta actually wasn't that bad because it was so late I slept through most of it. The coolest part was being able to watch the sunrise coming up over a perfectly flat horizon from so high up. Don't get to see that around here.
So we showed up at the hotel Saturday afternoon after something like 18 hours of traveling. We stayed at the Occidental Grand Cozumel all-inclusive resort on the South end of the island, and I have to say that the hotel was top notch. Better than most hotels in America, let alone Mexico. The rooms were large and very nice. The grounds were meticulously maintained and the staff was very friendly and helpful. Being all-inclusive all of the booze and food were already taken care of so we never had to worry about paying for anything directly while at the hotel. This is absolutely the way to go and I highly recommend it, it just made the whole trip that much more relaxing and stress free. So after showing up on Saturday we hit the beach to relax and started drinking mojitos. I had never had a freshly made mojito before, but they are fantastic. I think I put down about 5 or 6 drinks rather quickly and passed out quickly after dinner. After being totally exhausted from traveling so much, the mojitos quickly pushed me over the edge. Apparently Shena and I had some conversation that night that I have zero recollection of, and she won't tell me what we talked about, so I'm sure I said something typically stupid.
Sunday was basically our lazy day. We slept in and basically hung out on the beach and did as little as possible all day. I finished up Chuck Klosterman's third book, Killing Yourself to Live, and it was pretty good. I like his earlier books better though. I spent some time snorkeling in the ocean right off the beach and located a HUGE school of fish. I have no idea what kind of fish they were, but I came up on the edge of them and it was some kind of optical illusion, but there were so many the ocean floor was black and it looked like the ground dropped away into the deep ocean. Soon enough I was floating on the surface and they were in a large ring beneath me. As I swam back towards shore a fucking barracuda came out of nowhere and came right up to me, stared at me for a few seconds before swimming off to find lunch. I found out later that was Bob The Barracuda. He apparently likes to hang out there and people see him all the time. That's nice and all, but fuck, it sure did startle me.
That night we went down to Senior Frog's in downtown Cozumel (our hotel was a good 15 minute cab ride South of town) which is the big nightclub party joint in town. We had a pretty damn good time, but the drinks sure were spendy. $15 bucks a pop for some frozen yard daiquiri's and $4 for a bottle of Dos Equis! Made me appreciate the free booze back at the hotel. At one point the MC got up on stage and started asking for 4 guys to come up who can drink beer. I noticed they had four bottles of beer up on stage so I figured it was some kind of chugging contest. Being a large fan of beer (especially free beer, even if it is Mexican beer) I headed up on stage. Now, I have NEVER lost a beer chugging contest, and I wasn't about to let a couple collar-up preppy douchebags break my streak. So I showed them how we drink beer up here in the Pacific Northwest and soundly thumped em. What did I get as a prize? Why more free Mexican beer of course! God I hate Mexican beer.
My main purpose for going to Cozumel in the first place was to do some scuba diving, so Monday I convinced Shena to go diving with me. Because I didn't have my certification card, and she had never been diving before we had to pay the extra instruction fee to have an instructor go through all the equipment, hand signals etc with us. The boat picked us up from the pier right off from the hotel and it was just the two of us, plus one other guy and the instructor. Me and the other guy had both been diving before so we were familiar with everything so Shena basically had the instructor all to herself which helped tremendously as she had a distinct fear of putting her face underwater ever since almost drowning as a small child. She was a real trooper and pulled through without any problems. It was a pretty good dive, I was actually surprised that we went 80 feet deep with someone so new. He took us through all kinds of large coral reefs and we went through a couple tunnels through the coral, including one that was pretty damn tight. We did the two dives then they dropped us off back at the hotel, all in all it only took about 3 hours, which is crazy fast for two dives. Normally it's an all day ordeal.
When they dropped us off back at the hotel I gave our dive master/instructor a $40 tip for being so helpful, and he gave me a dirty look like it wasn't enough! It cost us about $200 to do the dives, so I gave the guy a 20% tip. Since when is 20% a lousy tip? I'm a notoriously cheap tipper and have only recently become amenable to tipping my barber which apparently is common practice these days. This probably is because my haircut actually takes longer than 5 minutes now, and I actually am friends with Trish who cuts my hair. I guess I'm OK with people I don't know thinking I'm a cheapskate, so long as people I do know don't think I'm a cheapskate. Anyway, what ever happened to just doing your fucking job? Why is it everywhere I go these days people expect me to tip them?
So I spent two other days diving while Shena relaxed on the beach or cruised around taking pictures of the island. Both days I got in two dives with several other experience divers so we were able to go a little deeper and stay down a little longer as we were more experienced with conserving our air. We did a great wall dive right on the coastal shelf where I could look down and watch the coral disappear into dark blue nothingness, then look to the left and see nothing but open ocean. It was a weird sense and trigged some minor agoraphobia (fear of open spaces.) We saw a big fucking nurse shark (much bigger than I thought it would be) as well as multiple sting rays (yeah, the same thing that killed the croc hunter guy) and sea turtles. I even had a huge groper fish come right up and stare at me for a good 30 seconds before swimming off. Unfortunately I don't have an underwater camera so I wasn't able to get any cool pictures. They have some silly disposable underwater cameras that you can get, but they aren't good deeper than 30 feet. Oh yeah, I actually got to see a Cozumel Toad Fish which is native only to the reefs around Cozumel island. He was a little guy, only about 4 inches long with some yellow fins.
While we were staying at the hotel there were just over 40 high school kids from Baton Rouge, Louisiana for their high school senior trip. This was a pretty high end hotel, so of course it was all the preppy rich kids from that school. They were funny sometimes, but mostly they were annoying as shit. Being 18yrs old they were just happy to be somewhere where they could drink, so of course there was a group of them who were totally shithammered the entire time. I guess I'm officially an old fucker now that I'm bitching about kids. Hell, while in line waiting for some mojitos one of them actually called me Sir. One night we were at the nightclub at the hotel hanging out with some other Americans we had met when one of the high school guys approached us and offered to let one of us fuck three of his girl friends if we could hook him up with one "older" girl. We told him that we didn't exactly need his help to pick up on drunk 18 year old girls doing shots of tequila.
On Wednesday we got up at the crack of dawn (literally) and ventured over to Chitzen Itza, the big ass Mayan ruins on the mainland. We had to get up early to catch a ferry over to the mainland, then take a fucking three hour bus ride through the damn jungle. First we stopped at a Yucatan freshwater sinkhole where you can swim. We didn't swim, but it looked like fun and I took a shitload of pictures (too many probably.) Apparently because the Yucatan Peninsula is made entirely of limestone there are no freshwater rivers above ground. The only source of fresh water are the sinkholes and underground rivers that criss cross the peninsula. So I got my learn on even while in Mexico. After that we grabbed some quick lunch where I was able to imbibe something extremely rare, Squirt soda pop in a glass bottle! This was definitely the highlight of the day so far. After lunch we finally made our way to the major ruins where our tourguide showed us around to all the major sights. The main pyramid was fucking huge, but they wouldn't let us climb it. Several people had died recently falling down so they closed it off. The main ball court where the Mayans played a game I can't remember the name of was very impressive. Each team was made up of seven players with the objective to get a large rubber ball up through a hoop on either side of the court. One single point was all it took to win (it looked crazy impossible to do even that) and the captain of the winning team was rewarded with the ceremonious removal of his head! We spent some more time exploring the ruins and Shena got a few pictures of me climbing up to a couple places I probably wasn't supposed to be. All in good fun. In all it was a LONG fucking day, we didn't get back to the hotel until about 9pm, but it was totally worth it.
For our last day, Friday, we rented a Jeep and spent the day exploring the island. Well, it's not a very big island, so there wasn't much to explore. There is really only one road that loops around the island, so we basically followed that the whole way. There is a small lighthouse at the southern tip of the island that we saw, and we had lunch at a small beach side joint on the Eastern coast. The West coast of the island (where all the hotels and main city are) faces the mainland and so the water is very calm with no waves and barely even any appreciable tide. The East coast on the other hand faces out to the Atlantic Ocean so it had some pretty decent waves and a much rougher rockier coastline. It's a pretty interesting difference. After lunch we found the local island Mayan ruins and spent some time hiking around there. I have to say that after being to Chitzen Itza this was pretty lame in comparison. These were much more run down and were little more than piles of rocks. Oh yeah, and I got to pay $2 for a fucking can of Sprite! So yeah, I wasn't too impressed.
So the trip was fantastic and we managed to make it home alive and in one piece. The island of Cozumel was TOTALLY different from what I remembered when we went there 14 years ago. Back then there were only 3 or 4 hotels and they were all North of town and none were all that big. Now there are numerous large hotels all along the West coast and the downtown area was all built up and FAR more touristy than it ever was. Which I guess all that was to be expected.
Hopefully I'll have some more pictures to post up once Shena gets around to developing her film.
Our flight left Seattle Friday evening at 10:30pm and went to Atlanta where we had to sit through a six hour layover before jumping on a small plane for another 3hr flight to Cozumel. The flight to Atlanta actually wasn't that bad because it was so late I slept through most of it. The coolest part was being able to watch the sunrise coming up over a perfectly flat horizon from so high up. Don't get to see that around here.
So we showed up at the hotel Saturday afternoon after something like 18 hours of traveling. We stayed at the Occidental Grand Cozumel all-inclusive resort on the South end of the island, and I have to say that the hotel was top notch. Better than most hotels in America, let alone Mexico. The rooms were large and very nice. The grounds were meticulously maintained and the staff was very friendly and helpful. Being all-inclusive all of the booze and food were already taken care of so we never had to worry about paying for anything directly while at the hotel. This is absolutely the way to go and I highly recommend it, it just made the whole trip that much more relaxing and stress free. So after showing up on Saturday we hit the beach to relax and started drinking mojitos. I had never had a freshly made mojito before, but they are fantastic. I think I put down about 5 or 6 drinks rather quickly and passed out quickly after dinner. After being totally exhausted from traveling so much, the mojitos quickly pushed me over the edge. Apparently Shena and I had some conversation that night that I have zero recollection of, and she won't tell me what we talked about, so I'm sure I said something typically stupid.
Sunday was basically our lazy day. We slept in and basically hung out on the beach and did as little as possible all day. I finished up Chuck Klosterman's third book, Killing Yourself to Live, and it was pretty good. I like his earlier books better though. I spent some time snorkeling in the ocean right off the beach and located a HUGE school of fish. I have no idea what kind of fish they were, but I came up on the edge of them and it was some kind of optical illusion, but there were so many the ocean floor was black and it looked like the ground dropped away into the deep ocean. Soon enough I was floating on the surface and they were in a large ring beneath me. As I swam back towards shore a fucking barracuda came out of nowhere and came right up to me, stared at me for a few seconds before swimming off to find lunch. I found out later that was Bob The Barracuda. He apparently likes to hang out there and people see him all the time. That's nice and all, but fuck, it sure did startle me.
That night we went down to Senior Frog's in downtown Cozumel (our hotel was a good 15 minute cab ride South of town) which is the big nightclub party joint in town. We had a pretty damn good time, but the drinks sure were spendy. $15 bucks a pop for some frozen yard daiquiri's and $4 for a bottle of Dos Equis! Made me appreciate the free booze back at the hotel. At one point the MC got up on stage and started asking for 4 guys to come up who can drink beer. I noticed they had four bottles of beer up on stage so I figured it was some kind of chugging contest. Being a large fan of beer (especially free beer, even if it is Mexican beer) I headed up on stage. Now, I have NEVER lost a beer chugging contest, and I wasn't about to let a couple collar-up preppy douchebags break my streak. So I showed them how we drink beer up here in the Pacific Northwest and soundly thumped em. What did I get as a prize? Why more free Mexican beer of course! God I hate Mexican beer.
My main purpose for going to Cozumel in the first place was to do some scuba diving, so Monday I convinced Shena to go diving with me. Because I didn't have my certification card, and she had never been diving before we had to pay the extra instruction fee to have an instructor go through all the equipment, hand signals etc with us. The boat picked us up from the pier right off from the hotel and it was just the two of us, plus one other guy and the instructor. Me and the other guy had both been diving before so we were familiar with everything so Shena basically had the instructor all to herself which helped tremendously as she had a distinct fear of putting her face underwater ever since almost drowning as a small child. She was a real trooper and pulled through without any problems. It was a pretty good dive, I was actually surprised that we went 80 feet deep with someone so new. He took us through all kinds of large coral reefs and we went through a couple tunnels through the coral, including one that was pretty damn tight. We did the two dives then they dropped us off back at the hotel, all in all it only took about 3 hours, which is crazy fast for two dives. Normally it's an all day ordeal.
When they dropped us off back at the hotel I gave our dive master/instructor a $40 tip for being so helpful, and he gave me a dirty look like it wasn't enough! It cost us about $200 to do the dives, so I gave the guy a 20% tip. Since when is 20% a lousy tip? I'm a notoriously cheap tipper and have only recently become amenable to tipping my barber which apparently is common practice these days. This probably is because my haircut actually takes longer than 5 minutes now, and I actually am friends with Trish who cuts my hair. I guess I'm OK with people I don't know thinking I'm a cheapskate, so long as people I do know don't think I'm a cheapskate. Anyway, what ever happened to just doing your fucking job? Why is it everywhere I go these days people expect me to tip them?
So I spent two other days diving while Shena relaxed on the beach or cruised around taking pictures of the island. Both days I got in two dives with several other experience divers so we were able to go a little deeper and stay down a little longer as we were more experienced with conserving our air. We did a great wall dive right on the coastal shelf where I could look down and watch the coral disappear into dark blue nothingness, then look to the left and see nothing but open ocean. It was a weird sense and trigged some minor agoraphobia (fear of open spaces.) We saw a big fucking nurse shark (much bigger than I thought it would be) as well as multiple sting rays (yeah, the same thing that killed the croc hunter guy) and sea turtles. I even had a huge groper fish come right up and stare at me for a good 30 seconds before swimming off. Unfortunately I don't have an underwater camera so I wasn't able to get any cool pictures. They have some silly disposable underwater cameras that you can get, but they aren't good deeper than 30 feet. Oh yeah, I actually got to see a Cozumel Toad Fish which is native only to the reefs around Cozumel island. He was a little guy, only about 4 inches long with some yellow fins.
While we were staying at the hotel there were just over 40 high school kids from Baton Rouge, Louisiana for their high school senior trip. This was a pretty high end hotel, so of course it was all the preppy rich kids from that school. They were funny sometimes, but mostly they were annoying as shit. Being 18yrs old they were just happy to be somewhere where they could drink, so of course there was a group of them who were totally shithammered the entire time. I guess I'm officially an old fucker now that I'm bitching about kids. Hell, while in line waiting for some mojitos one of them actually called me Sir. One night we were at the nightclub at the hotel hanging out with some other Americans we had met when one of the high school guys approached us and offered to let one of us fuck three of his girl friends if we could hook him up with one "older" girl. We told him that we didn't exactly need his help to pick up on drunk 18 year old girls doing shots of tequila.
On Wednesday we got up at the crack of dawn (literally) and ventured over to Chitzen Itza, the big ass Mayan ruins on the mainland. We had to get up early to catch a ferry over to the mainland, then take a fucking three hour bus ride through the damn jungle. First we stopped at a Yucatan freshwater sinkhole where you can swim. We didn't swim, but it looked like fun and I took a shitload of pictures (too many probably.) Apparently because the Yucatan Peninsula is made entirely of limestone there are no freshwater rivers above ground. The only source of fresh water are the sinkholes and underground rivers that criss cross the peninsula. So I got my learn on even while in Mexico. After that we grabbed some quick lunch where I was able to imbibe something extremely rare, Squirt soda pop in a glass bottle! This was definitely the highlight of the day so far. After lunch we finally made our way to the major ruins where our tourguide showed us around to all the major sights. The main pyramid was fucking huge, but they wouldn't let us climb it. Several people had died recently falling down so they closed it off. The main ball court where the Mayans played a game I can't remember the name of was very impressive. Each team was made up of seven players with the objective to get a large rubber ball up through a hoop on either side of the court. One single point was all it took to win (it looked crazy impossible to do even that) and the captain of the winning team was rewarded with the ceremonious removal of his head! We spent some more time exploring the ruins and Shena got a few pictures of me climbing up to a couple places I probably wasn't supposed to be. All in good fun. In all it was a LONG fucking day, we didn't get back to the hotel until about 9pm, but it was totally worth it.
For our last day, Friday, we rented a Jeep and spent the day exploring the island. Well, it's not a very big island, so there wasn't much to explore. There is really only one road that loops around the island, so we basically followed that the whole way. There is a small lighthouse at the southern tip of the island that we saw, and we had lunch at a small beach side joint on the Eastern coast. The West coast of the island (where all the hotels and main city are) faces the mainland and so the water is very calm with no waves and barely even any appreciable tide. The East coast on the other hand faces out to the Atlantic Ocean so it had some pretty decent waves and a much rougher rockier coastline. It's a pretty interesting difference. After lunch we found the local island Mayan ruins and spent some time hiking around there. I have to say that after being to Chitzen Itza this was pretty lame in comparison. These were much more run down and were little more than piles of rocks. Oh yeah, and I got to pay $2 for a fucking can of Sprite! So yeah, I wasn't too impressed.
So the trip was fantastic and we managed to make it home alive and in one piece. The island of Cozumel was TOTALLY different from what I remembered when we went there 14 years ago. Back then there were only 3 or 4 hotels and they were all North of town and none were all that big. Now there are numerous large hotels all along the West coast and the downtown area was all built up and FAR more touristy than it ever was. Which I guess all that was to be expected.
Hopefully I'll have some more pictures to post up once Shena gets around to developing her film.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
