There weren’t that many people on the bus, so i was able to move around a little, and moved up front, the busdriver saw that i was watching out the windshield and mentioned that i could sit up front in the passenger/second driver seat. It was really nice to see the view, which we had missed most the way down. I even took a couple photos!

After night fell, it was obviously not entertaining to take photos and look out the windows! I struggled finding a good sleeping position, and after a couple hours of either my back, or my neck hurting. I decided that the best way was when i had 2 seats, laying on my back flat, with my feet straight up the wall!

Daytime came again, and we weren’t sure how we were going to get to the border, as this bus went to the main bus station. The bus driver, Pedro, luckily spoke very good english and made sure we swapped buses, so we were able to get to the border.

Going through the border was actually not as hard as we thought it would be. Lines were very short, and all they did was scan our passports, and our luggage, and then it was it, in the united states! I did however get some very funny looks from the security officers from my hula hoops

We went outside, and boarded the trolley, and BAM, we were back in the states. It was strange as the feeling totally changed, just by crossing the border!

Took the trolley to the Santa Fe station, and waited for a while for the next coaster to come by. Took the coaster, and met a cool guy named Marcos, mom and him talked on a more spiritual level, and then we talked about volkwagens.

Got off the coaster in downtown Encinitas, and decided that we didn’t want to take the bus, so we just started walking. It was about 2 miles to grandmas house. It was crazy windy, and overcast. I had never been in California with this kind of weather! We continued to walk, and just about 4 blocks away from grandmas house, it started to downpour! Finally made it to grandmas house, all soaked, including our luggage, but i was glad we made it and would have some time to relax.

Isabelle was so sweet letting us stay in her house, we made sure to clean up everything, floor, kitchen, bedroom, etc. We missed seeing her before we left!

In the morning our friend Jesse (Isabelle’s neighbor) came over and we went to go get coffee and walked to the bus stop. We had to get downtown to the bus station by 9, to make sure we had everything in order.

At the bus station, just before our bus got to the station, I spotted jorge’s bus and went out to say goodbye. He told me that he enjoyed having us on the bus, I hope that we brightened many peoples days

It was hard leaving La Paz, the weather was beautiful, and i wanted to head to the beach again! Fish tacos, for dinner They were amazing and perfect days. Once again, we will return!

We decided to rent a car to check out Todos Santos and Cabo Pulmo. Todos Santos was a little bit of a disappointment, as most of the people were Americans! I was told that this is how it has been for years, but we both decided that Todos Santos was beautiful, but not the feeling that we were looking for. Besides the fact that i had started to not feel the best (it may have been from snorkeling and getting salt water in my nose). However, it was nice to take a little break from trying to speak in spanish! LOL

Here are some photos of the beach we went to in Todos Santos:

The next day we decided that we would wake up early and head out to Cabo Pulmo. It was a longer drive than we expected, but totally worth the trip.

Driving tip - Fill up on gas when you have the opportunity! We passed up on gas in La Paz because we wanted to get on the road, on the map we have it shows the gas stations in each city, however, through all the small towns, they all were out of gas! So in San Antonio, we approached a vehicle that was pulled over, and asked them if they knew, they didnt know about the station, but offered us their own gas!!! They were very nice, a mother and son, traveling through Baja California. Thank you again! We appreciate you sharing your gas!

Initially we were going to go by ourselves, but when we got there, we stopped at a place where it was $40 per person, and they take you out on a boat, with a bunch of other people. We decided that this would be the best bet to see more wildlife! But for that day we decided to go solo snorkeling.

So, since we scheduled the tour for the next day, we had to find a place to stay. All the places in Cabo Pulmo although they were nice, were starting about $60 US per night. We were almost going to sleep in the car, then we figured we would go back to Cabo Ribera. There are not any hotels, or hostels in Cabo Ribera, at this point we didnt want to drive back to Los Barilles, and stoped at the internet cafe, to see if there was something else local. Girmo, the owner, told us we could try the La Trinidad RV Park, as he had some small cottages. We headed down there, and although there were not many people there, it was perfect! Mike the owner, gladly put us up in a room with 2 beds, for $25 for the night!

Before we headed to bed, we decided to get a bite to eat, and headed to Restaurant Vianey – just as you enter Cabo Ribera, on your right. GREAT fish tacos we also met a very nice couple, and had a great time talking to them! After dinner, headed back to Trinidad, and fell right asleep.

Woke up early and anxious, and headed back to Cabo Pulmo, the 20km on asphalt, and another 10km on dirt/gravel. When we got there, it was pretty much a “hurry up and wait” as the divers were getting their gear all together. We spoke to several people who were on the diving group, and all were very interesting. We got suited up and everything in place!

Finally, it was time to go! We all piled in the van and set off! Got to the beach, plopped into the boat and set off into the ocean!

First stop was the sea lion colony, they told us that they would not bit us, but needed to not wave our arms about or to antagonize the sea lions, but they might spook us by swimming all around us. They seemed pretty laid back and swam with grace. They really reminded me of little puppies

Next stop we headed pretty far out, looking for manta rays or whales. We were lucky and had a good captain and he spotted the whale spouts! We got within 20 ft or so of the whales breaching the surface! It was soo amazing!

Headed back towards the beach, and spotted some flying manta rays!!! Finally, we stopped and all hopped out! Shortly, we were swimming with literally thousands of manta ray!!!! It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen and experienced! They were all so graceful, and so many of them!

Here are some photos I found on the internet (not mine, but very close!!)

Last stop was close to the shore and in the reef. I saw so many different kinds of fish, pufferfish (my favorite), along with parrot fish, starfish, and many others! It was also amazing.

Isabelle, who we met on the bus in Tijuana, offered her 2nd home to us to stay in. She came and picked us up, a little further out of town, but worked out perfectly for us. We helped pay for propane for the water heater, which was nice to have hot showers , the house was not quite finished, so there was no sink or stove, and the airbed wasn’t the best, but it was so great to be able to save some money, and allowed us to rent a car later in the week and go snorkeling in Cabo Pulmo (more later)

Once we got off the bus at the border, we went to the immigration office to get our tourist cards [link here for more information], we filled out paperwork and then went a couple doors down to the bank to pay approx $20 us dollars for the tourist card. At this point we were unsure how to get to the bus station, and were told that it was close over the border. We ended up at the wrong bus station and had to walk back over the border to the US, then find the greyhound station to get to the correct bus station.

The bus ride down was ok at first, but soon we realized that the bathrooms were not the best. There was a very nice couple that sat across from us, and helped us at each stop to get food and translate to us. I very quickly realized that either one of our spanish speaking skills were not quite enough!

There were many stops along the way, the hours did not pass soon enough. We started to get anxious close to 10 hours, where it seemed so much time had passed, yet we were not even half way!!! It was hard to sleep, but decided that it helped to pass the time, so the more i slept the better.

Just an hour before La Paz, we began to get REALLY anxious, I was so excited to be so close, but yet every second seemed forever. It reminded me of when i was in school again, and it was the last few minutes before school let out for the day, except instead of minutes, it was an hour!

Finally, when we got there, and got our bags off the bus, we said goodbye to our new found friends, and headed towards the Pension Hostel. We quickly realized that none of the streets were labeled, and that it was pretty difficult to figure out from a map that wasnt to scale!!! We eventually found it, and it was nice that the guy at the front desk spoke english! Yeay! A real bed, and a shower, clean bathrooms, what could be better?!

New Years Eve, we really wanted to go out, but didn’t want to pay a huge cover charge, considering we would probably only stay for a little while. I found this place called the Liquid Kitty, free cover and a DJ , and buses were free after 9pm to we decided to head down there. The first bus was a breeze, however, the second bus decided to pass us!!! We didn’t want to take a cab, but I really wanted to go out and we were a bit to far to walk. Once at the Liquid Kitty, i decided to try their Liquid Kitty Martini, it was strong! LOL We had a great time dancing and people watching!

After our hike in the redwoods, we started to drive to Cambria, CA. Almost 8 hours of driving, there were so many stops we wanted to make, but wanted to make good time to make it through San Francisco. However, we did stop in a shop in Willits, california, where my mom has some of her jewelry. There were soo many awesome clothes, and accessories that would be perfect for burning man. I wish they had a website! Haha

Spent the night with our old friend Carol and Keith. My mom and Carol have been life long friends since they were teenagers! Cambria is a beautiful quaint little town.

Driving Tip – if you watch for water drops flying away from tires (near where they contact the ground) you dont need to worry about ice as much. However, if the ground looks “wet” and there are no water drops, watch out for ice!

We ate some great food at Carmelas Mexican Restaurant in Arcata, CA. We split a burrito, and even then we could barely eat it all! Thought that Eureka might be a good stop to sleep at, but when we got there, the only thing we could find was a funky RV place that gave no discount for only cars/trucks, which didn’t make sense for a single truck with using no electricity, and was so much smaller than an RV. We planned to sleep in the back of my moms truck, where she had a memory foam bad. I still love to camp in my Volkswagen! You don’t have to get out of the vehicle to go to bed ….Trusting that we could find another campground that would be safe, we decided to continue to the redwoods.

Driving through the redwoods at night, was still amazing, even when we could not see to the tree tops. Since this was just before the new year, we were uncertain whether or not a campground would be open, there were very few cars on the roads! Finally we came to the Avenue of the Giants (one of my all time favorite places). Passed a couple of closed campgrounds, and came to Burlington Redwoods campground. We were grateful there was a campground open, although we found out that the price per night per campsite went from $20 (since the last time I camped here) to $35 a night, due to the economy. Although it was tough to spend the extra money, we know that the money went to keeping the California campgrounds open.

The next day we took a hike in the Founder grove, there was actually quite a few people that were parked/hiking in the park.

Being that we were traveling on a tight budget, I wanted to make sure i brought enough so that we didn’t have to purchase anything in Mexico.

Considering clothes (yes women are a little more concerned about this, however still important!). I carefully chose clothes that were able to be layered, so that i would not have to bring heavy coats, or extra clothes that i would not wear!

I chose 2 pair of pants, one very comfy cotton pants by Hempress Arise, because I love comfy pants, they work for walking, resting or pretty much everything (and i look cute in them!), the other pair of pants were fast drying pants; 1 pair of shorts, 2 bathing suits, 1 skirt, a sarong, 2 tank tops, 1 thin cotton regular shirt, and 1 hoodie/sweater. For footwear: flip flops, adidas tennis shoes, and pair of hiking boots.

If i could do it again, I would make sure  I had at least a windbreaker that i could put over my hoodie. Also – if you plan on going out at all, to dinner or night club, I recommend bringing something nicer to wear. For women, flats (the shoes) are small, and can be very versatile,  and still look nice. I would have also brought a summer dress to go with it

I aimed to have 2 bags + my small purse/passport: 1 medium/larger backpack, and 1 small carry-on suitcase with rollers.

Granted, I HAD to bring 2 hula hoops, as you can see from this photo, I have 2 collapsible hula hoops folded and attached to my backpack!

Out the Door

After my root canal crown was finished, it was a bit stressful running around and getting last minute items and running last minute errands. Once we left portland, for me, a cloud of stress was lifted. Even if i had forgotten something, it didnt really matter. I could always buy those little things that i absolutely had to have!

Headed to Ashland for the first night, to stay with our friends Emma and Erics, and for mom to finish packing.