ODO: 315,067
It’s been way too long since we put some miles on the ol’ Taco! It feels so good! We wrapped up our work in the Bay on a high note. Our project is in a good place and we will be continuing to support them remotely. And no more 12-14 hour days! But how did we get back to the truck? Well, it was a bit of an adventure…
We went on a ‘chosen family’ vacation to celebrate our ‘nephew’s’ 21st birthday. The whole family was there, all ten of us. One airplane, one (heavily negotiated) taxi and one ferry ride later we were on the Island of Cozumel. One more taxi got us to our all inclusive for the next few days.
We only have a few days, so it was straight to adventure. First thing in the morning we picked up our Jimny, picked up some supplies, and headed off to circumnavigate the island. The island is not big, it only takes a few hours to drive all the way around. On day one we decided to visit every restaurant along the way, which wasn’t many. We did find an unmarked dirt road we decided to explore, and it looked like it was leading us to a secret beach, until two military gentlemen on a quad chased us down and told us that road was off limits. Oh well. It was getting late, so we finished out circumnavigation and stopped in town for dinner on our way back.
Our hotel was on the ocean so we were able to snorkel from our private beach. I know, we’re so fancy. Just off the hotel coast there was a small plane that had crashed years ago that we decided to check out. It was surprisingly boring. Much more interesting were the large needlefish, small sting ray, pufferfish, and other tropical fish we saw on the swim there and back. After that it was time to check out the Hard Rock cafe for the official birthday dinner. The service was some of the best we have had in ages! They were super attentive to our deadly nut allergy, and made sure we had a great time.
Our next big adventure day was a scuba trip. This was the first time for most of us, so there were a lot of nerves. We had a very quick introduction in the hotel pool that only sort of translated to the real deal. Our group was big enough that we got our own boat, which is always fun. Our guides took us our to our first reef, and we all got to fall backwards off the boat into the water. It turns out all that gear plus fins is really heavy and really awkward, so this is the easiest way to get in (and obviously the coolest). There was lots of ‘handholding’ by our guides, mostly just making sure we didn’t rocket to the surface or sink to the bottom. We weren’t in the water very long before our head guide got everyone’s attention to point out the small shark swimming around and under us. It was both terrifying and exciting.
Over the course of a couple of hours and two locations the current took us past a wide variety of flora and fauna. We swam over what looked like grasslands, and sandy bottoms. We passed over and next to reefs and cliffs. Out in the distance the ocean was a dark blue that went on forever. We saw a barracuda that didn’t seem happy about our presence, a giant manta ray flying by leisurely, and every single tropical fish you can think of. Plus a lot of lobsters. Swimming with the current is surprisingly exhausting, and once we were back on land we were a very tired party. It was an early night for everyone.
Our final day on the island involved a tequila tour and tasting, circumnavigating the island backwards, and dinner in town. Our resort, while full of iguanas and free drinks, did not have the best food. We ate out more than we ate the meals we had already paid for.
Our departure day was a monsoon. We were up at 5am to check out and start our taxi-ferry-taxi-airplane journey. The amount of rain left us walking through ankle deep water to check out. Being a hotel in Mexico meant all the flooring is polished stone, which means it’s a skating rink when wet. It was raining inside the reception area when we got there and they were trying in vain to squeegee the water out. In the middle of all this chaos, Berne took a tumble down the very slippery stairs. Soaking wet we got int our cab and just barley made it to our ferry.
Back in the Cancun airport, we headed for a plane that would take us to Mexico City. I know, not back to the truck yet….We decided it would be generally easier to fly in and out of Mexico city than to drive the truck there and worry about it every time we let it out of our sight. We had this theory confirmed while we were there. We saw no expensive, interesting, or otherwise eye catching vehicles our entire visit. Speaking of which, our visit was a whirlwind. We landed around noon, and got straight to it. We discovered Mexico City has two airports (we landed at the ‘other’ one), figured out how to take public transit into town, and spent some time trying to “fix” Berne’s shoulder before heading out to explore. We went for a long walk and saw all kinds of stuff:
- We came across the famous historical post office. It was pretty cool, and it’s still in operation!
- We found the art museum. We didn’t go in, but the outside was museum worthy
- We wandered through a street market and had a cup of delicious mango
- We arrived at our planned destination, a brewery that we weren’t super impressed with
- We tried to go on a food tour, but the first place we stopped had AMAZING tacos so we stayed and tried every single flavour. All of them were delicious.
And then we Ubered home. Mexico City used to hold the title of highest crime rate in the world, so walking long distances after dark seemed like a bad idea.
Day two in Mexico City started with an amazing breakfast to get our day off on the right foot. Then it was off to the Temple Mayor Museum (we went inside this one), which is dedicated to the Aztec history of Mexico City. We wandered around some markets and saw what we think were shamans doing blessings and screeching like Cougars. We did a little shopping, and tried to start another food tour, but we used all our luck the night before. We ended up at a Chinese buffet that was not good. We decided to call it early since we had walked about 40,000 steps in the past 48 hours , and had another early flight the next morning. Now its just 14 more days and one quick trip to Portland until we get back to our main adventure.
<fast fwd through our last 2 weeks of long hours in the Bay Area, nothing to see here>
Finally, FINALLY!! It was time to head back to Puerto Vallarta and reunite with our tiny house! We were up at 4:30am, but luckily our flights were easy so we got some sleep. This was the first time either of us had checked a bag for a couple of years. When we left the truck, we had to clean out the fridge, which meant throwing away our fancy mustard collection. During our 36hours in Portland we stocked up, necessitating a checked bag.
Once we arrived and collected all our things, we headed straight to the truck. There were so many emotions: excitement, fear of what we might find, relief that we were back, among others. The truck was exactly like we left it. No bug infestations, no mold (thank god for DampRaid desiccant!), and it started on the first try!! We couldn’t have had a better home coming. Once we reinstalled the things that live on the roof (we don’t have an E-brake, so during this reinstallation, KoKo had to save Berne. He was on the fender when the truck started to roll away. Luckily she was paying attention and got in the driver’s seat before we hit anything), and reattached the house battery, it was time to go into town, find a hotel and sleep for a couple of days. Ten weeks of working hard and playing hard had caught up to us. And the weather was helpful, there was a torrential downpour with lightening so we went to bed very early. After walking into town for a welcome back margarita of course.
The following morning we woke to more pouring rain, so we slept late and got a slow start to the day. Once we got a break in the weather we got to work. The truck needed a quick once over, tire pressure check, fluids, etc. Then we cleaned the cab (we left it pretty dusty because we left in a hurry) and the camper, and then we got some bleach into our water tank (we accidently left our water tank half full so we were concerned about the state of it). Next it was time for a nap before a stroll to a brewery we like. We decided to try a new restaurant for dinner, a fancy Italian place, and it did not disappoint. We even got dessert, which we took home for another early night. It’s good to be back.
