The Trip Down

For the record, the trip was easy as hell.  I drove down with a friend of mine, Melanie, who had lived in GDL for an extended period 4 years ago (and whose couch I slept on for way too long when I first came down).  Luckily her desire to relive some of the joys and freedoms that can only be encountered in the 3rd world persuaded her to accompany me on an epically long road trip.  On day one we drove for 24 hours starting at Pleasanton BART at 5:30 pm and finishing at the same time the next day in Guaymas, the only significant stops being Gib and Hil’s apartment close to midnight for hugs and energy drinks (and a wonderful care package of breakfast bars, fishy crackers, and the added night-driving security of starbucks double shots), at the border (Nogales) at about 9am for IHOP (“goodbye sweet America!”), and finally at a hotel in Guaymas.  Needless to say, the emotion, the energy drinks, and the adrenaline of driving through the night had me trembling at the border, which I think piqued the curiosity of the mustachioed, semi-toothless, machine-gun-laden adolescents that pepper the highway near the border (on the Mexican side, of course).  But no problems.  They spent maybe 2 minutes looking through my stuff (think about it… what kind of idiot transports contraband from the US into Mexico?).  

As much as we read that Americans are targets, my experience has been that it’s quite the opposite.  We’re protected.  I’m not sure exactly why, but two contributing factors are that no one wants to face the hassle of traversing the language barrier, and also Americans are good for the economy.  Something about not biting the hand that feeds you.  And no, we didn’t need to hand-feed anyone nor grease any palms, but were certainly prepared to.  Most of the time, Melanie carried about $350 in her bra, one boob for my money and one for hers, while our pockets/wallets had $10 to $20 (“this is all I have… take it or leave it”), which is at least double the suggested bribe down here (i.e. a win-win for both parties).  In the end, I think we drove just over 2,000 miles, almost 40 hours, over the course of exactly 3 days, arriving in GDL Saturday afternoon, just in time to party.