WIRED2THEWORLD.COMWIRED2THEWORLD.COMKRISTINA'S PRE-TRIP JOURNAL: JULY PART 1
JULY 6, 1998 More Airfare confusion...
Boy, it looks like things
just change all the time in the planning process. I received another quote
for airfare from LA all the way to Kuala Lumpur from yet another travel
agency. Seems like we get a different offer every time we talk to someone.
Typical? Probably, but I consider it strange due to the fact that they
are all quoting the same airlines.
For example everyone has placed us on Air New Zealand
from LA to Fiji to NZ, but no one has told us before that we could have
a FREE stopover in either Honolulu ot Tahiti!! Or that we could
fly into one of three cities in Australia and out of one of four. Looks
like we are going to have to go to Australia as there are no cheap flights
from NZ to Bali.
JULY 7, 1998 Mexico...
Well, I'm sitting here in our friend Randy's house here on the beach south
of San Felipe in Baja CA, Mexico.
JULY 8, 1998 Just Another Day....
Here's another typical day in San Felipe"
7:00 AM wake up because it's too damn hot to sleep
7:30 AM eat breakfast
7:45 AM slather body head to toe with sunscreen in a futile attempt
at preventing being burned to crisp.
8:00 AM adjust lounge chair toward beach and sun. Start magazine #2
9:00 AM adjust lounge chair into 1/2 shade to shield oneself from scorching.
10:00 AM David and Randy come in ready for Lunch #1. Finish magazine.
Have a sandwich and read to them from funny article on Vietnam. Discuss
merits of avoiding eating dog.
10:15 High tide coming in. Go down to water's edge and try to get close
enough to pelicans to photograph them with digital camera. Give up and
watch them preen and fish for their lunch.
10:30 AM sweating profusely, go into the Sea of Cortez hoping to cool
off. Little luck, given that the temperature is close to that of steaming
bathtub in winter back home. Take cold shower and settle in shade with
book #2, Anne Rivers Siddons, Up River.
11:00 AM Randy and David take jet ski out and go skirfing
12:00 PM ready for lunch #2, quesadillas.
2:00 PM discover one of the greater things in life, napping in the
shade, outside in the breeze. This discovery was made 100% better with
the addition of the sleeping bag as padding on the lounge chair. A bed
made for one.
4:00 PM awake from nap thirsty, have beer and snack of stuffed olives.
6:30 PM David and Randy go out for a pre sunset ride on the quads.
7:30 PM we go for a sunset walk along the beach remarking on the full
moon, purple clouds and the changes to the houses along the beach. A neighbor's
dog follows us all the way home.
8:00 PM Barbecue chicken, eat dinner outside, watching the stars come
out.
8:30 PM watch beautiful show of lightening off in the distance over
the water.
9:00 PM guys fall asleep early outside on chaise lounges. I read until
12:30 AM and finish book #2. I decide to sleep outside too, in order to
catch whatever breeze is there.
Some people have asked me why would I ever want to
take a computer along in my travels. They have even gone so far as to insinuate
that I couldn't possibly be enjoying myself if I'm "tied" to the computer.
Let's get some things straight here, ok?
1. This is MY life.
2. If you don't like what I'm doing, turn off your computer
and get out there in the real world for yourself.
3. What's the difference between writing in a journal on paper and
on the computer?
4. If I can't find internet access easily, I will wait until I can.
No big deal.
Do I sound defensive. You bet I am. This is my life and I don't need any holier than thou "travelers" passing judgment on it. Get your own life.
June 9, 1998 No Problema
We go into town to buy ice blocks, resin to repair
the jet ski, and so that I can call home. But first we have to get there...
Let me explain the road between the house and San
Felipe. All the way from the border at Mexicali to a few miles south of
San Felipe is fine, paved, two lane blacktop. No problema, about a 2 1/2
hour drive. Except at peak seasons there is very little trafic and it's
a smooth ride. South of town is another story. Somewhere the road
jurisdiction changes and the pot holes begin. Small at first, getting progressively
larger, until there is more paving missing than there is dirt. Most people
swerve from side to side, driving on the shoulder to avoid having their
car swallowed whole. It's slow going at best.
So, we get into town around 10:00 AM and I think
to myself, "no problema, I've done this before, all I need is a pay phone
and my calling card." WRONG!! There are more pay phones than before,
but none of them will let me dial the international access number listed
on the calling card. But, we did find the only coffee shop making iced
mochas. Hey, I had to buy one in order to get some change in pesos.
Well, even that didn't work. All I got was a recording saying that the
number was no longer in service. I finally gave up and went to the pharmacy
where if you pay them you can make a phone call to the states. We asked
if I could use my card there and at first they said no. But then the woman
who runs the place said, no problema, just pick up that phone over there
and you will be connected to an international operator. I didn't ask questions,
I just did as I was told. Sure enough, there was a woman on the other end,
speaking English, asking me how I wanted to pay. Spoke to my mom,
and was disconnected at the end of the conversation without saying good-bye.
Hmmmm....
We found the local boating supply store and asked
to buy some resin to repair the jet ski. No problema, they said, and the
guy disappeared into to the back for about five minutes. We expected him
to return with bottles of what we needed and he did. Coke bottles.
A 2 liter partially filled with the resin and a smaller on with about a
teaspoon of the hardening compound. Whatever works. We paid and we left.
This morning when we awoke we found the "storeroom"
of a resident black widow spider; a stink beetle, completely entwined and
suspended from a single thread in the front doorway waiting to be her lunch
sometime later.
It works! I downloaded the pictures here in
Mexico and BANG! Here they are on the page. Loving it!
We got company today. Two other couples arrived
this morning at 6 AM. Luckily, we were sleeping outside again and heard
them coming. They got their truck stuck in the mud. Easily remedied. Everyone
had fun playing in the water and on the jet ski today.
Full moon tonight. It was an amazing orange that
rose over the water in the pitch dark. We all sat in awe.
July 13, 1998 Home at Last
Came home yesterday and it was a relief to
escape 105 degrees in the shade. There's a reason why none of the other
people who have houses were there, it's too damn hot!
So, now we're home and have lots to do in the next
week. Hope I can figure out how to get this posted from the Libretto....
Some problems with the Libretto and much time on
the phone with customer support. First they told me I didn't have enough
memory to run the programs we have on the computer. So I bought 16 MB more
RAM and installed it myself. The problems kept happening. More time with
customer support and we figured out that I didn't have a new enough video
driver to access newer, more complicated web sites. Downloaded the new
driver off the Toshiba web site and problem solved.
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