Nexpa

As J sweetly summarized, Nexpa was “popcorn kisses and Pacifico dreams”;

a sleepy surf town we hunkered down in for a few days on the Michoacán coast.

Heat and humidity guided us to a rustic cabaña, right on the beach, steps away from a famous surf break.

We were welcomed by our gringo neighbor nicknamed, Memo, and caught a few other friendly surfer waves along the way.

It was refreshing to settle into such a relaxing little lugar…

Nexpa was a fine stretch of sand with one main tienda (small store with essentials), a campground, hotel, cabañas and a handful of restaurants…(One of which we frequented often for the best shrimp burritos and banana licuados).

Waves a little too good for me, J shredded the gnar, while I got in my much loved beach walks.

Afternoons were sunshine, swimming, hammocks…And of course, the palmitas (popcorn) and Pacifico sunset dreams.

Taking a small break from the beloved Mexican food… we decided nights were Italian.

¡Mama Mia! Just enough to wet our appetite, we look forward to an extended stay here in the future.

(And trust me, I’m going to practice my surf to get out there next time!)

Querido San Pancho

Like a warm hug from an old friend, you are always welcomed back to San Pancho, no matter how much time has passed.

Cobblestone streets, colorful flags, bustling cafes on every corner. It has an international presence, attracting people from all over the globe.

Surfers, artists, musicians, doctors, engineers, hippies, bienvenidos a todos; there is something for everyone.

As luck would have it, we arrived during the annual 3 day music festival! Two stages take over the main plaza, offering a full line up of amazing talent each evening.

Locals and tourists flock in together, bringing chairs, blankets, picnics to hangout and enjoy the show!

Food and goods vendors line the perimeter, selling everything from woven blankets to South American Alfajores (stuffed with dulce de leche) to a booth selling ‘vegan sushi’… (I told you there was something for everyone 😉 )

It was an awesome way to kick off our time there together.

Rewind 20 years, I was lucky to call this place home. My family gave me an amazing, unique experience that has changed my life forever. We moved as a family; my parents enrolling all the girls into the towns public school, la secundaria. (And my younger brother into the elementary school).

I was 13 and didn’t know a word of Spanish (okay… maybe helado (ice cream), dinero (money) and baño (bathroom).

Shy as a kid, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. There were no ‘cliques’ there, everyone was included, any quinceañera, fiesta, everyone was invited and had a good time. It was the most loving, inclusive, beautiful culture to be introduced to. Nicknames weren’t mean, they were affectionate.

Friday nights, a truck unloaded foose-ball table soccer games in the plaza where we’d play for hours with our school mates for a few pesos.

Saturday nights were the DISCOS, where the town gathered to dance the night away… where we secretly had our first ‘wine coolers’ …. Dad smelled right through that mint gum …

Sunday’s were fresh pozole…

There was the stand by the hospital that sold the best burritos, Los Delfines for the best tacos … Angela’s for the famous chicken tortilla soup…

Days were spent on the beach, running through town, ranchera music and laughter filling the streets. Special friendships were made that would last forever…

It wasn’t just friendships, they gave me the gift of language and showed me a wonderful way of life. Drawing pictures and writing words – el flor, flower. It was body language and gestures…Somehow making plans and always showing up.

Moving so many times over the years, it’s one of the few places that truly feels like home, a place that I couldn’t wait to introduce to my partner in crime…

Sensory overload, it was hard to make up my mind on what we should do… so we just tried to do and eat everything haha!

It is a foodie haven… we indulged… Dolce Amore Italian food, tortas, burritos, licuados served in cactus glasses, craft beers, cafe lattes, empanadas, jugos verdes, carne asada, pastas…

The beach, jungle, surfing, a few late nights with friends, giggling and sharing old stories. It was such a special stay with J and my sweet amigos. We stayed four nights and could have easily remained for the rest of our time off…

Our finale dinner was at the Ola Rica (a family favorite restaurant). I know the owners well and we hugged, recognizing each other after all these years. They spoiled us with more drinks… we left SO FULL, I felt like a hard boiled egg.

It’s so hard to say good bye to San Pancho, so I just “hasta luego”… hasta la próxima vez que puedo volver, back into those welcoming arms. Querido San Pancho.

Cataviña

Leaving for Mexico…Round 2! Tuvimos ganas to get down South pretty quickly.

Taking off early in the morning (this time), we were on a mission to the border… I mean to VG’s donuts…and then the border 😉

Veins surging with cinnamon twists; we powered through secondary in a few sips of coffee and were gone.

Destination 1: Cataviña. This curious part of the desert is about 7+ hours from Oceanside. Still quite a drive, it was a good goal for the first day. Coffee, coffee, coffee. There was the thermos of hot coffee, then the cooler iced coffees. Zzzzzzzzzz…

Cafeína cross the livestock friendly two lane highways. Cows, horses, goats, coyotes. (Do not drive at night).

Pulling in right at sundown added to the eerie but fascinating landscape. Similar to Mars but with plants fighting through the crusty surface; like alien hands reaching out their skinny, pointy fingers towards the sky…

We were welcomed at Rancho Santa Inès. There are a few campgrounds/RV parks in the area, but this one was the BEST. Just a short drive off the highway, offering spacious sites near a cool riverbed, and palm tree oasis.

After our sunset walkabout, we agreed it was a ‘cup of noodles’ kind of night before lights out.

Despacito

There they were… a stranded, foreign couple in the middle of nowhere, trying to flag down help on a two lane highway, in what J described as a “Dr. Seuss desert forest”.

Oh shoot… did I say “they”… I meant “we“…

You almost always start evaluating yourself from an outsider’s perspective in these types of situations….. “Would I stop for me?”

Haha, not to fear! As a couple, I’m pretty sure this was our 4th time hitchhiking… Yes, we’re real experienced “hitchers” 😉

The last time? Running down the El Yunque rainforest in Colombia, with all our luggage, trying to make the bus back to Cartagena…yes, we did score a ride (sweaty and everything) barely making our autobús. Woot!

We have the different ‘waves’ down…

This one was the forceful, double handed ‘parade wave’, communicating, “Hello, we are friendly… but, Please. Stop. Now. Thanks.”

Moments later, a small cargo truck with two men pulled off to see what the commotion was… Although, relatively calm, I could not remember the word for “tow truck”…

The stage was mine… It was like an anxiety ridden game of catchphrase… motioning and blurting out phrases, “we need a big truck for the van” … “You know the larger one to take the little one”… “The vehicle to put the other vehicle “…

“Una grúa?”…. “Si, si, una grúa”… There was only room for one of us in the cargo truck… (Neither of us wanted to leave the other alone…) After going back and forth regarding our options, the men offered to drive slowly behind us until we made it back to town.

The clanging from Pancho’s underbelly was concerning; we certainly didn’t want to make it worse. Guided to a mechanic, we posted up for a few hours to see if there would be a quick fix…

It was an interesting diagnosis to say the least. The mechanic had a hose cut on both ends and was using it like a stethoscope… holding one end to his ear and moving the other end to the transmission, engine etc. announcing, “Ruida aqui?…no… Ruida aqui…no… Ruida aqui?…Si, es el motor.. Tengo quitar el motor”.

Um… What…Remove the engine?!?! J and I exchanged some ‘I don’t think so’ looks. We quickly asked the mecánico if we could make it back to Ensenada. “Si, es posible…” That was good enough for us and really the only possibility at that point.

“Muy despacito”, he cautioned. Giving understanding nods, we thanked the mechanic for his time and started back North.

Just like the song…

“Pasito a pasito, suave suavecito
Nos vamos pegando, poquito a poquito”

Nervously stepping onto the dance floor, poquito a poquito, 40 mph for over 130 miles. We just kind of held our breath, encouraging each other along in this fragile dance down the highway… While stress was in the air; I’m proud we both did great at focusing on the positive ~ PMA alllll the way. The clattering had subsided some…fingers crossed…

Gracias a dios! Hours later, driving into this familiar area was such a relief… made it back to Ensenada.

A quick stop for tacos later, we were high-fiving; it felt like victory!

Punta Baja

Thick, juicy, gooey MUD.

Hundreds of earthy suction cups grabbed at Pancho, trying to wrap their tierra tentacles around his svelte body.

We were a sailboat in a distressed dirt sea, dodging Lock Ness Monsters!

The roads were not prepared for all the rain; one wrong turn from El Rosario and we were fishtailing through the country side, in search of Punta Baja.

Mi Capitán pulled it off, slipping, sliding, gliding, he manned our ship through the worst of the storm.

Just as the sun was setting; we successfully anchored at our destination: Punta Baja. Man were we excited to see that light house tower.

Pancho stood strong on the point, his proud chest puffed up in the ocean breeze.

Hallelujah… We cracked a beer and took a moment to exhale and appreciate being capsize-free. That was close!

It was our first time to Punta Baja; while we experienced some chaos getting there, the discovery made up for it!

Those who seek adventure will find it! …

Valle de Guadalupe

With storms coming in strong, we decided to give Panchito a little break, stopping in Valle de Guadalupe for a few days. Rainy afternoons + vino = enticing!

Last minute Expedia-searching we found a KILLER deal at Don Tomas Viñedo… Adorable Cabañas, right in the grape vines, for only $50/night….Yes please!

Don Tomas had a gorgeous restaurant (cool construction, open kitchen) that served up the best chilaquiles rojas I’ve ever had, accompanied with fried eggs and house made chili oils. Before we knew it, hours had past over refills of their mouth watering cinnamon coffee.

We befriended the waitress practicing our conversational Spanish and she successfully twisted our arms into generous samplings of their house wines. Pretty sure 4 or 5 came with a tasting, but as we learned more descriptive words in Spanish… “suave”, “dulce como piña”, “àcido como toronja”, “un vino complejo o alegre”…the tastings kept coming! 😉

Finally parting ways, we had an awesome time in the Valle exploring all the back roads. It must have been the rain showers; each place we enjoyed all to ourselves.

A big highlight for me was J’s surprise stop, taking me to ‘The Bodega de Queso” (Cheese Cellar). Walking in, there was sensory overload… a Disneyland of cheese that would fulfill even Ratatouille’s wildest dreams. It was a difficult selection but we did jusssssttttt fine.

Tasty adventure, sampling our way down the line up.. spicy, sweet, aged, stinky haha! We ended up selecting a few ‘favoritos’ and adding in some fresh olive tapenade and moles to-go!

Another noteworthy destination was Vena Cava. Not only were the wines delicious, the architect constructed the winery using old Ensenada fishing boats from the 60’s/70’s… very cool and unique.

We tried to eat at a new restaurant for dinner, Finca Altozano, but all we found was a couch full of perros…Bueno… ¡que lástima! …Some things will just have to wait for future vacaciones!! Dinner picnic in the room it is! 🙂

Rhythm of the Ranas

Our time at the Cañón de Guadalupe went by like a sweet song… rhythm of the ranas (frogs) every night and soft symphonies of little birds in the mornings.

This stay was all about ‘catching up on slowing down’ …

Morning swims in the springs, coffee, hiking, reading, (more soaking in the springs), ukulele-ing, relaxing and trying to absorb the beauty in every direction – mountain ranges and the grand ‘trono blanco’ (The White Throne) in one direction and the canyon desert oasis in the other.

3 days and nights of this lifestyle was like a wellness retreat in a “wings suit” … we felt so relaxed…rejuvenated… invigorated…ready to ‘carpe diem’ the hell out of this 3 month trip! Si… ¡FUERTE!

Directionally Challenged

We all have our strengths and weaknesses…Although it’s improved over the years, with life and traveling, I am OK admitting I can be ‘directionally challenged’ … 😉

Just give me a map and cross your fingers; you might find an entirely new destination… haha!

Finally heading South, everything was going smoothly… easy vehicle inspection and border crossing in Tecate…After the guards questioned the insulation hanging out of the back door, we were on our way!

Pulling off onto the marked dirt road, from my first ‘directions interpretation’, the camp was just 7 miles away.

It was a beautiful sunset as we bumped along the path, slowing down as parts of the way began to get a little … rougher.

As we neared the 7 mile mark, it was clear there were no camps in sight. Luckily there were sporadic signs encouraging us along.

Still in phone reception zone, I tried to pull up additional directions and found the following map:

Yea.. it was 7 miles before two roads rejoined together but a healthy total of 35 off road miles to camp… Saying good night to the last of the sun, we just broke the first rule of the trip… “Don’t drive at night”…

I like to think this doesn’t really count because we were just snailing along beside ranches and olive farms.

As the terrain became more … advanced… Pancho sounded like a shelf of fine china during an earthquake… a wiggling tray of teal jello… well you get the idea.

J was able to maneuver around boulders and creek crossings… a true ‘maestro de manejar’! And, Pancho, maybe he really did have four wheel drive…

Just as we feared we may have to turn around, we found the entrance…

Wooo hooo!

A couple emerged from the dark, guiding us to our site. After burning a little rubber, we were IN!

“¡Que aventura!” The stars were so bright, you didn’t even need headlamps.. Even in the dark, it was one of the most incredible campgrounds…

Our very own private hot springs, palapa hut and fire pit! Excited and tired, we went straight into the hot springs before calling it a night! … Buenas noches!!

Big Bites!!

I don’t think we bit off more than we could chew; we just took a REALLY big bite…;)

Like many things in life, Panchito projects averaged twice as long as anticipated which pushed our awaited take-off by a week or so.

Gnawing and nibbling our way through; we had an epiphany to stop the “rushed” feelings and enjoy this fine dining experience.

I mean, you need to enjoy the appetizer and entree before that dessert!!! Right?!

Once the floors were in, everything started coming together!

(Still working morning to night with: wall insulation… new siding… cabinets, kitchenette… the bed!)

Some nights were a cold beer and take-out in the van or garage 🙂 other evenings required something stronger… “where’s my whiskey!” Haha

The last few days, feelings of excitement are at an all time high. Completing the final touches; it’s sinking in that we’re having a rad start to 2019! Let the year begin!!

Expanding Horizons

There is something so rewarding about expanding your horizons and embracing the NEW.

Whether trying a new recipe, learning another language, watching video after video of how to properly install insulation and sub flooring… right or left brain…both sides have really been hitting the gym.

We’re talkin’ very mentally toned, if you know what I mean… 😉

We are definitely using our combined knowledge and expertise, but are embracing the NEW on a daily.

Exhibit A: Check out these floor s’mores! Yea!!

Our goal is to complete the flooring in the next day or two. And we think the ‘grey ash’ vinyl planks will compliment Pancho very nicely.

While making strides on the rebuild, we’ve also been acquiring living goodies for este viaje…el interior y la cocina…

Because when it comes to essentials, you can’t leave home without a zester…Right?

¡Buen provecho!

(On this topic, you have to try Picadillo with Plantains!)