acapulco?

took a 22 hour bus ride from PV to acapulco. we watched a nickalodeon style teen movie, a romance about cancer patients and i am legend (all in espanol of course). actually, while waiting in pv for our bus we went and saw max payne with marc walburg. its a good laugh.

so far, acapulco sucks wieners. its too conjested and i cant make it 3 feet without being hassled. no i dont want your hotels, drugs or bars. no no no. F-off porfavor. cant see us staying here for too long.

jl

forgotten tales of mazatlan

had to litteraly run away from the dengue (a truck spraying for dengue fever). eerie..

and,
climbed a big lighthouse. actually, it wasnt a big lighthouse. it was a small lighthouse on top of a big hill. liars!










and,
FORGOT MY 1995 ITALY WORLD CUP CHAMPION SHORTS IN MAZATLAN!!!"·$"·%
i have nothing to live for anymore.

hit up sayulita today and went surfing. good call by the russian princess.

jl

a friend of nick rivera`s?

we stayed at hotel mexico in mazatlan. nice place..very open..lots of concrete...less cockroaches and a toilet seat.
it was all seeming so good.
so we were drinking some big beers on rocking chairs outside our room.
and then we meet the guy across the hall. says hes from Canada as well...cant remember his name.
anyways...we start talking..well..he does most of the talking..and really fast.
quickly brings up that if we wanted...he could get us some coke.
but says he doesnt want to force it on us...it just that lots of dudes visiting mexico want it and he wants us to be safe while attaining it. (no doubt lots of being do coke down here...especially this guy who is constantly talking rapidly!)
we say no...then he offers us hookers...we say no.
wes an alright guy and all nut then yhe goes on about how he has some many connections down here...he knows everybody....he makes lots of money...blah blah blah.
and of course...the next morning he asks to borrow money.
despite all his connections he has to ask 2 backpacking canadians for the 10 dollars to pay his bill cause apparently he cant get money til 3 o clock.


we said no...dont trust coke heads.



the title of this story is due to the fact that Nick always ends up talking to these sorts of people on the bus ad on the street.

face hair: article one

colin takes the lead with distinctive handle bars, but lacks in the moustache zone.

puerto vallarta

second day in the toursit epicenter and we decided to splurge. we bought into an 8 hour boat cruise that included: a murky snorkling tour to the los arcos underwater caves, a 2km hike through mud and dokey shit to swimmable waterfalls, breakfast, lunch and an open bar. although i couldnt see anything snorkling, and although i ate a meal after watching a girl puke and having my face stuck in donkey ass, the arduous task of being around so many worthless toursits (i know..) did not come without reward. the experience was quite enjoyable. we hung out with an 18 and 19 year old newly wed couple from the central states, and together, listened to questionable new wave. it seems to me that this type of music is popular around here. maybe it,s for the tourists, or maybe mexico is lagging a few years behind in music and television - my opinion lies with the later. anyhow, upon our arrival back to the center, we returned a can of beans that cost us $5.50 CND. what the F?! we took this money and put it towards our second visit to maybe the world.s greatest veggetarian buffet.

jl

facial hair report coming soon.

news report

- four more pics added to ´baja california section
- and here are a few extras that i didnt have time for.
- avoided getting hussled this morning
- got burnt today
- tomorrow we will probably climb a big lighthouse and take off for puerto vallarta

the mainland

whoo whoo
we made it to mainland mexico.
we had been told that the ferry was broken...so we decided to go try and take it anyways.
We managed to make it to a samll town called Topolobampo.
We got in fairly late at night which is always good....decided to walk around a bit of course.
Its a pretty crazy little spot...lots of tin housing hanging off of hills and cliffs.
Lots of garbage and chairs strewn about on the street..and lots of people sitting in shadowy areas.
i dont think they were impressed with our presence so we left..managed to score a ride to Los Mochis ( a city 20 kms away)...mainly because i had a skateboard in hand...and the driver used to skate...
they proceeded to tell us it was not a good idea to walk around there.
lesson is don´t walk around stange towns late at night when you have no idea where you´re going...i think ive learned that one many times but it doesnt seem to stick.

anyways. we´re Mazatlan now...looks pretty dope..lots of beach area...nice architecture..
pretty cheap too.

cb

baja califonia

goin jasper







ferry to topolobompo. refer to
´the mainland´
















1000000000,00000 degrees








cockroaches the size of my arm.

vancity to san diego

anna and ross´apartment.








final days with brooke and
sally in stanley park






mcginnigans?!? troutdale oregon
or portland

















burnside













SF.












SD













more..

la paz

the beaches are beautiful here in la paz, but i get bored easily. i think i would rather see a car accident or some funny looking hats. sunday we will take a 10 hour boat cruise to the mainland to see what´s going on in mazatlan. we have the opportunity to stay with a freind-of-a-friend´s mother in guadalajara, but we have yet to commit to this. guadalajara is a large city, something we are trying to stay away from, however the offer sounds too sweet to kick aside. afterall, a chauffer would be picking us up.

a blackmarket WWOOFING assignment is currently being uploaded to me via internet by some canadians met on a bus. for those of you unfamiliar with this term, like i once was, WWOOFING generally takes the form of volunteer farming, usually green or organic opporations. it looks like ´we hate work´ is going BACK to work... oh the irony of it all. it isnt all that bad though. usually the compensate you through food and shelter, and if this girl i´ve been talking to is on point, spanish lessons and yoga?!

yesturday, while desperately looking for our favourite home cooked meal ingredients (rice and beans), we turned one too many corners. an english speaking cab driver noticed our looks of dispair and offered us some help. miscommunication lef us to a street solely dedicated to the sale of dog food. at any rate, senior kept a close eye on us and came back a second time to lead us in the right direction, which ended up being the wrong, but no matter. third time is a charm, and we got what we wanted.

jl

mexican boarder crossing

what's crossing into mexico like you ask? we walked the san ysedro (US) - tejuana (mx) boarder, the busiest boarder crossing in the entire world, with ease. literally. we just casually walked through with the masses - no questions asked. i saw precisely ONE mexican boarder cop, but he was just chillin'. i guess people don't really run away to mexico like i originally thought.

i got my first taste of culture shock though. I realized the sole languauge i speak, the one tool i have for survival.. is more or less useless. colin took the reigns with a most impressive display of spanish conversation, and we were off to encenada, home of the world's largest mexican flag. wow it's big!

today we make a small 20 hour journey to la paz, the southern tip of los cabos.

san diego

first off, i gota mention that i saw queen latifa in SF. yesssss!
second, we had bus delays in SF, a motorcycle gang barricade in LA and more delays in LA terminal. we got fogged out until oceanview and totally missed sights in compton. bummer.
reached san diego.

at first glance, SD is a mellow hippy/surfer town. nice beaches, active people and and 80's strip. noon rolls around and all the party bro's fill the bars and scuffle about whos football team is better. colin and i roll to the skatepark. it's a winner but admission fee and helmet are required. dumb! we hit it anyway.

still cant post pics...

Nightmares of Greyhound

we couldnt find a lift to San Diego so we had to bite the bullet and take the overnight greyhound.
that was fine...actually no...it wasn't
everything seemed fine until this guy gets on and sits in front of me.
immeadiately upon sitting down he starts to sort jerk/convulse around and gasps/coughs/grunts with every breath...so i thought he was probably a crackhead
i seem to be a magnet for these people on the greyhound....
i'm sitting right behind him..and im pretty tall.
he wants to put his seat back but my legs are in the way
he just keeps smashing the seat back and trying to get it to stay (which it wont cause of my lankiness)
he starts freaking out and hyperventilating cause the seat wont go back
then..nice guy that he is.. says "is that seat smashing you?"
since i have two seats to myself i move my legs over and let him have his way
i was hoping at this point that he was done and would calm down.
and he did....to some extent..
for the rest of the trip he would give off a little grunt or startle with EVERY BREATH HE TOOK
cough here and there and fluctuating in intensity(also mumbling words) as if his whole life was a nightmare....so he would start with some little grunts and every so often get louder and louder and then peak and get quieter again
jon had a theory that someone out a curse or hex on him so he was doomed to do this for life
i dont know what his deal was...maybe its not his fault...
but fuck was it annoying!
oh yah did i mention it was an 8 hour busride?

UPDATE

our original intent was to buy a 30 day trainpass in van, however AMTRAK revoked this offer. we decided to train to portland, andfrom there, use any resource available to bounce south. craigslist rideshare postings have been a valuable resource for us. it only cost us 25$ to get to SF (635 miles!). although the weather is amazing here in cali, we are both anxious to make it to central am and hit the surf. tomorrow we're making moves to san diago.. i think..

more >
SF has been my favourite american city to date. the burritos, climate and street skating are delicious, perfect and dangerously exciting. and more, i learned how to wiggle. if you ever visit SF, you will learn too, its human instinct. i will leave it at that. did i mention we're staying in the red light district? last night, a bunch of people from our hostel went out for dollar drinks. i think it was a gay bar, judging from the posters and the bartenders, 'the cats club' - woops.

-can't figure out how to post pictures around here.

jl

Portland!

ya..i know we in cali..but portland desrves a little respect
portland is dope!
i think perhaps my favourite in america so far
best transit system ever...free in downtown
the bus drivers are mad nice...they even say hi to you!
the city is super skateable....lotsa downhill and decent pavement
burnside skatepark was dope.....lotsa vert.....really small...but super flowy if you know the spot.
hmm....what else?
the food is real good...prolly due to the fact that portland is serious about using local food
our hostel was sweet...it had a green roof....and 1$ pancake breakfast
cant beat that.
portland= green and freindly
.....but really white

welcome to califonia

after a few phone calls we were heading south with 4 strangers to san francisco, california.
the driver, some kind of naked elvis impersonator from LA. A later 20's girl from oakland, a dominatrix/humanitarian. a younger girl, 18, also from LA, real essentric. and a hesh skater/chef from portland. we stopped a few times for snacks and pisses over the 10+ hour drive. the ride was quite enjoyable. we're in san fran now. bright vibrant city. lots of colour, music and interesting people. street skating is dangerous.

in a hurry... explain more later.

portland

after 12 hours of travel by bus, train and foot,
we finally made it to our Portland accommodation ONLY TO BE DENIED.
the hostel was full. so were the others. it appeared we were sleeping on the
street this particular night. luckily, we got tipped off by a nice motorcycle enthusiast.
colin used his godlike-public-transit-navigation skills to get us out to the country.
it was as if we bused from dtT.O. to oakville. morale was at an all time low. we werent
even in portland anymore. low and behold, the accommodation turned out to be gatsby's
american dream. a huge estate featuring its own vineyard, brewery, distillery, spa, golf course, vegetable garden and JERRY GARCIA sculpture. we laughed like dracula for awhile in our white
robes, soaking it up in the huge hot tubs. that night we wet our whistles with some seattleites and a selfproclaimed kewi. wake up was followed by a 12 oclock wine tour - ha!

pictures to come.

boarder patrol

some conversation highlights between
the boarder patrol officer and myself:

bp "do you know anyone in denver?"
jl "...what? ..why?"
bp "do you know anyone in DENVER!?!!"
jl "no."

after tearing apart all my belongings, the bp officer
pulls out a ziplock bag full of multivitamins.

bp "so what do we have here"
jl "multivitamins?"
bp "that's what i thought. im going to send you
back to canada."

i was eventually granted access to the US, not before
a long drawn out affair. me alone, and the drug sniffing dog.

vancouver in words

people dressed in black.....scenesters

girls in tights

exercise

flowers(cheap)

sushi(cheap)

"green" condos (expensive)

glass buildings

people arent fat....just asian

everything is new

everyone is really rich....or homeless

starbucks