Hareen's American Adventure

I woke up this morning with the hangover from Hell and when i went to the bus station to catch the bus to the boat, i found a place to check my e-mail. It was at this point that my headache got worse when i realized that my parents had got my accomadation completely wrong. I then spent the 20 minutes i had until my bus left trying to rectify the situation, stressing myself out had never been part of the plan. Anyway i finally got to the boat and i met a mexican girl who was studying in Guadalara. After chatting to her for about an hour i decided to add guadalajara to my trip. Then i met Kieran a guy from the hostel who had been absolutly outrageous the night before and was good laugh. He had no real plan and so i have convinced him to come up to copper canyon with me. When i got to Los Mochis we found this Austrian and between us managed to share the cab fare and the hotel which was good.

Having been woken up by some crazy guy screaming all night i was easily ready in time to go sea kayaking. The boat ride out there was such good fun and a found myself loving the way it would bounce of the waves. It was particularly amusing when one mexican guy got his girlfriend to stand up on the boat for a picture and at theat particualr moment we hit an absolutly massive wave and see was lifted off her feet. After that she clung to her seat until the boat stopped. It was here that i found secluded beaches and it was here when i finally decided that i was on gap year. There is something iconic about beaches and i definatly felt that slightly liberated feeling that has been lacking so far. Jonathan the guide realeased my kayak and off i went he quickly showed me the basics and of i went exploring around the bay. I would have liked to take my camera but the fact i capsized soon after getting into the boat meant that i knew i had made the right descision. After about half and hour i was absolutely knackered and decided to lounge out on the beach. I was rudely awakened from my deep dream of piece when kayak was picked up a stong wind narrowly missed my face. The strong winds also provided me with the chance to kayak into waves. It looked hard going but i did´nt want to wait and see if the winds got even stronger, so i picked up my kayak and went. As it happened the instuctors kayak had blown off the boat, so he asked me to go in and his paddle. The strong waves and wind made it really hard. My jacket began to act as a sail and i was being blown in the opposite direction i was going however after much persistance i managed to go on. Eventually i got to the boat, shattered, shaking and freezing cold. However after i ate my well deserved lunch i warmed up in the sun and relaxed. It took us longer to get back than i had hoped because the ship broke down in the sea. After some scared me about the fact that we could be out here for hours, the captain managed thankfully to fix his ship. When i finally got back to the hotel i met a writer called Joseph who was quite interesting he had come from Torreon where his bike had been stolen as well as all his money. We spent most of the evening exchanging travelling tips and places to go in Mexico. He introduced me to the idea of going to burning man when i got to america which seemed like a good idea. Since it was my last night in Mexico we decided to go out big. Four clubs later and having a spoken i lot spanish i found myself drunk and looking for hot dog food with charlie my friend from Alsaka. Being tired i decided to go to bed and with little resistance i had a pretty sweet sleep.

I spent the whole day trying to sort out a sea kayaking trip. I have definately come at the wrong time. At the moment whilst La Paz is a beautiful place it is very windy and it is not ideal for going sea kayaking, however i pretty much came to Baja in order to do this so i was not going to give up. I spent the whole day walking across the city trying to find someone to give me a good price. I stopped for lunch at this place called Rancho Viejo which had some amazing tacos, whilst watching mexican culebrons. It has to be said Budget acting seems to be the name of the game along with dramatic music coupled with stupid faces. After this i went and chilled on the beach and the malecon. I was pretty exhausted but then enjoyed a chatting to some fellow travellers. There were two canadians and an american- all of whom were well travelled. We went on whinging about our own countries people, politics and money. The canadian couple told us a particularly funny story about one premier from Alberta who having got drunk one night went and some homeless people and proceeded to throw pennies at them whilst telling them to get a job. What is even more amusing is that this man is one of the most voted for premiers in all of Canada. Anyhow after all this i got a call telling me that one of the companies had a trip going and that i could go along, and i booked it. It cost me 80 dollars but included lunch. After all this chasing around i found that i was particualrly tired and decided to head straight for a nap, which turned into me sleeping for the rest of the night.

I love La Paz it looks like an amazing City. The first impression is brilliant. You come out of the bus station onto the Malecon and have a perfect view of the sea, it looked amazing. The elections qare in full swing her so the Red party (not communist as i had first thought) were trying to have a little party to canvas votes. i am staying at the pension California, which has a fantastic feel to it and i love it. The rooms are worse than previously but they have character and it has a much more youth hostelly feel to it. I met the two chris toghther known as tean hobohands, who are cycling the whole of the pan-american highway an amazing idea and if i had more time, money and fitness i wold be tempted but i have so much respect for them for doing it. The bus journey from Loreto was disgusting i had a dodgy stomach and had to use a mexican bus Toilet and that was digsting but i survived,i do have a slight dodgy stomach. Anyway to make sure i would have food posioning i commited the cardinal sin not least because i am supposed to be a hindu i had a burger king. Later on that night we went for a few beers and were met by this guy who lectured the whole bar about how he was the only jew in La Paz and then irratated the musician by trying to sing with them anyway all in all a good day.

We went ot a mission at San Ignacio and as always the Views alpong the way did not dissappoint, however where the roads excelled aesthetically they sucked in comfort, we spent two hours being thrown around a small chevy constantly praying to San Javier that the chasis was´nt broken. The mission itself was actually amazing it has a nice setting and is surprisingly enchanting. It looked classicaly 1600´s with a long drive leading up to helping to heighten the sense of importance the building exuded. On the way back we stopped and looked at some cAve painting which were not that impressive since there were few and faded. The oasis in which it was contained however was amazing and really good to look at since i have never seen anything like it. When i got back i went into a bookstore and was told by a nice american couple that i should go to La paz if i wanted to go kayaking which i did. They also told me to try banamex to solve my cash problems which it did hence ending my preoccupation with money.