tijuana to sayulita...

aloha again!
mexico has been great to me. crossed over into tijuana. almost missed getting my passport stamped because there isnt really anything stopping someone from just walking into the country. theres military and police everywhere, but theyve only ever wanted to inspect my bags. on the 24-hour bus ride from tijuana to yepachic (somehow more comfortable than the train from portland to san francisco) there were endless military checkpoints, a few of which involved a soldier with an m-16 getting on the bus and asking for tickets; at one of the checkpoints, we all had to get off the bus, and drag our luggage inside to go thru the traffic light that determines whether or not you will get inspected - green is go, red is inspection. i got red. at all 3 of the inspections that i underwent, the guards asked me a few questions in rapid spanish, which i asked to have repeated, thereby giving myself away as a gringo, and was allowed to pass without more than a cursory glance at my pack. the guards at the border started to open my pack, saw the ukulele, and got distracted by it; they wanted me to play a bit, so i complied and they were kinda apologetic as they tried to fasten my pack back up for me.
met up with jorge in chihuahua. he and his lady victoria came to pick me up at the bus station, and he put me up in his dads house. good people. wish i could have spent more time up there with you bro, but its okay because youre coming down to brasil, right? headed down to yepachic to work on el rancho nogal "organic farm". not exactly what it presented itself as (you were right, gen; what was the farm tommy was on in costa, so i know?), but still a beautiful location in the sierra madres. yepachic town is already in the middle of somewhere, and the road to get to the ranch is about an hour and a half of intense off-road driving (you woulda been impressed, steve). walking takes about 5 or 6 hours; fortunately bob, the owner, picked me up in town. the ranch is about 8500 feet above sea level, very cold overnight, very hot all day, has slightly thinner and much drier air (all the moisture was sucked out of my skin by the end of week 1). different plants and environment up there. lots of cactus and pines, horses, donkeys, mules, cattle, buffalo, herons, buzzards, blue jays, coyotes (so loud every night), roosters (diligently proclaiming the sunrise daily at 3am; thanks to the nights spent at kats spot, i can tune them out), dogs (everywhere), pumas (that i didnt see), and other various songbirds. i worked with adobe for the first time. mixing it, forming it, carrying it, lifting it over my head. the stuff is extremely heavy, durable, and abrasive when it brushes against your skin (if you were to lift a faulty piece, a corner broke off, and the other 60lbs of it slid down your forearm, for example). had some good adventures up there, however; went on a solo day hike, took a walk thru the canyon with two other wwoofers faroe and leslie (this "walk" involved scaling up and down the steep canyon walls when there was no riverbank and the river was too deep to wade thru), walked from yepachic town to the ranch with hector (ranch foreman from honduras) and faroe (only took about 4.5 hours, because hector weighs 100lbs and walks 10mph with a cigarette in his mouth, while climbing up and down the steep trails thru the mountains), rode the horses around the huge ranch (felt like a legit cowboy for a second; teri im sure i made you proud, wherever you are), and went on a few other day hikes with hector, faroe, and leslie. bob left after my first 4 days, and hadnt come back by the time i left. the day we left, we had to walk out at 4am to be in town by 10, so hector hooked us up with a couple of horses - one to carry our packs, the other for one or another of us to ride, just in case. luna was the mare who was loaded up first with our three backpacks; hector told us that she was kind of a crazy horse, and it was a full moon that day, of course. as soon as we had walked 10 feet and gone thru the gate, leslies pack snagged against the fence, ripping one of the wooden slats off. the horse went ballistic and started bucking and jumping and whinnying, and didnt stop until all 3 of our packs were on the ground. it was kinda funny to watch her throw a temper tantrum - until i went to pick up my pack and saw that she had kicked it and had ripped the shoulder strap apart (left shoulder, obviously). i was upset for a second until i realized that there was nothing i could do about it at 4 in the morning on the ranch. we loaded up the other horse (who was waaay more chill), and made it to town where hector used some heavy string from his girlfriends house to tie up my strap so i could carry my pack.
i hopped on the bus for the 4 hour ride to creel (which was free for me!), and spent a night there. took the ferrocarril thru the barranca del cobre the next day. beautiful train ride for 7 hours southwest toward los mochis and the coast. i stayed in los mochis for a night, then got a half-price ($7) bus ticket to culiacan, thanks to edgar, who gave me a ride to the bus station where his cousin works. got to culiacan mid-day, and decided to just stay on the bus to mazatlan. mazatlan was a fiesta grande. a beautiful place, but i only stayed for a night; semana santa there was like mexican spring break. i still marvel at the differences in the way easter is celebrated in the us and mexico - candy, rabbits, and eggs (which were all inventions of jesus, if i remember correctly) versus a week-long party. i continued on to tepic where i had my first experience as an official couchsurfer. i was hosted by citlalli (taly), daniel, and sra raquel. their whole family was in town for semana santa, and they fully brought me in. gave me a bedroom, fed me delicious food, brought me to the beach in san blas... great times, muchas gracias!! from tepic i headed south to sayulita where i met up with shenna, duncan, and gary, who imparted alot of knowledge and ancient wisdom regarding the maya. met alfredo, sonajah, bruno, pepe, david, remy, doug, tavik, and so many other cool people. sayulita is a pretty chill little town, and the climate here is more my to my liking. got to listen to a ton of live music on saturday night, with bands in bars, on beaches, and drum circles all over the place. went to playa callecitas with duncan and gary yesterday, and jumped in for a swim without really thinking twice. realized today that it might have been a mistake - now my shoulder hurts when i raise my arm over my head, and ive just realized that that was the first time ive attempted to swim since my accident in january; it felt great while i was doing it tho.
i think ill be sticking around here for a couple more days, then on to guadalajara where i have another couchsurfing host. steadily working my way toward the yucatan. ill see what i can do about posting a bit more often so there wont be long, scrolling books for updates. much aloha!!

-- we all have the extraordinary coded within us, waiting to be released
jean houston