Day 09 - The love bug

January 26th, 2009

Well, we've been keeping it under wraps, as we wanted to be sure before writing about it here. We always toyed with the idea of jokingly in our heads of buying some wheels to explore this country, alla S.E.Asia trip last year.

Unfortunately bikes here aren't very common at all in Mexico. But cars, they're everywhere! Especially the VW Beetle. The old 60/70's style Beetle was manufactured just up the road from Acapulco where we're currently staying, and they continued to make the same model until just a few years ago. I remembered reading of people ordering the cars from Mexico to Europe as they could get a brand new body for little money. Of course the engines aren't quite up to the standard of the ones we had, but those could easily be replaced with something to meet emission standards.

Typical Mexican taxi, seen everywhere.

Credit: Lukas

About 20% of the of the vehicles on the road here are Beetles and most taxi's are Beetles too. So we started to toy with the idea of buying one ourselves. No small undertaking we wanted to be sure this could be done legally, as there are a lot of police here (which is good, as it makes you feel safe), and check points at every state-border. We had to be sure they wouldn't simply take the car form us. So we did our research, went to the transport Police HQ here, and got our questions answered. Apparently it's all cosha. We can even get tourist insurance. So we have been running around town, looking at cars, thinking about prices, and alleviating our concerns. Yesterday, now convinced we could do this, we returned to a place we visited the day before, and bought ourselves a shinny white Beetle!

Shall we, shan't we..? Deciding whether to buy to car...

It's a 1999, white, 1.6l, 50bhp beauty. She's in fantastic condition, has a CD stereo system, immobiliser & basic alarm. She's perfect! And we couldn't be happier. We've affectionately named her "Herbie", thanks to her resemblance to the 70's series & film character. If only we could buy the stickers and number 53 circle here... :) How better to travel around the country! We divided the payment up fairly with Petr, based on one third of the percentage of time he's spending with us, and made the payment.

Making the deal.

We celebrated with a few beers too many, and settled in for our last night in Acapulco.

Proud as punch. The boys and our new wheels: Herbie!

The following morning we wanted to revisit an attraction in the area we'd seen from afar the day before; local men scaling a rock face about 30m up and driving down into a small sea-filled cravas below. It was quite a spectacle. We have no idea why they do this other than to attract and charge tourists, but it worth paying to see!

The cliff from which the divers gracefully & fearlessly threw themselves.

Divers leaping from the rock face into the ocean below.

More pics of these guys from Lukas

After we set off on the road, destined for the next major ton on the coast an afternoons drive away. Just our luck, within 5 minutes we encounter an accident ahead with traffic cops diverting 4 lanes down into 2, as soon as we're close enough to be spotted as white guys they order us to pull over. We had clearly done nothing wrong, as they waved us through like the car in front and behind. They asked to see our documentation (EU drivers license and car ownership card) - all in order, then the cop basically threatened us with either keeping our documents and paying a fine at the head office in 3 days time (knowing we were on or way out of the city), or bribe him there and then with a hefty sum. We had no choice, despite Lukas' non-aggravational tone, but to pay the bribe to get back our documents. Bastardo! What chance do you have when the authorities put there to protect you are corrupt? We were very pissed off, and fearful of repeat occurrences that would completely bankrupt us in no time.

Driving along inside Herbie.

The roads are a dramatic combination of straight for miles, and then suddenly mountainous and meandering. Every small town has really evil speed bumps to reduce traffic to a crawl. More than 5mph and you're going to to do serious damage to your car & spine. A few have taken chunks from the bottom of our chassis. Also there is more road kill of every variety imaginable then anywhere I have seen. But the journeys are interesting, the car fun (if not a little exhausting) to drive, and as we head further south we see the landscape slowly changing from desert-like plains to more arable farmland.

Our first stop was further along the coast in a town called Marquelia Cuajinicuilapa (updated visual journey map), where we rented a room on the beach.

Sunset over the beach where we were staying.

The scenery was lovely, and a morning jog along the beach and swim in the Pacific refreshing, but Petr and I were feeling a little under-the-weather. We think we got food poisoning from some dodgy fruit consumed for breakfast back in Acapulco before we left. Feeling pretty bad, after our morning on the beach we decided to press ahead regardless. The journey as hard and long, but we made it in one piece to the next major town along the coast; Puerto Escondido (updated visual journey map).

Touch-wood, we've been through a state-border and several military checkpoints so far with no problems whatsoever. We're hoping it was an unlucky isolated incident with our corrupt traffic cop friend.

Here we had a hard night with our stomach bugs, but luckily feeling better today after a mammoth 12hr sleep. We decided to rest here for a day before continuing onwards, giving us time to recover more fully. We've been chilling on the beach again in the afternoon sun. This area is a surfers paradise, the red flags were flying and swimming was a real effort as the strong currents and smashing waves crashed you into the deck. Great for body surfing!

Boys going for a jog in between body surfing intervals.

The whole area is swarming with giant pelicans we've been seeing along our journey, who majestically swoop a few inches above the waves/ground, looking to pluck their next meal from below.

A pelican swooping along the shore line as the boys rest a few meters away on the sand.

We've just watched the sun go down with a beer, driven back into town for dinner and another good nights sleep. Back on the road again tomorrow, heading inland now to Oaxaca city, the centre of this state, and home to one of the world largest markets we've be told. More to follow soon.

Scene as the sun went down, having a beer, after a good day.