Sep 15, 20113 min read

We are Back

So after three days of traveling back from the Baja, we are happy to be home, but a bit overwhelmed. We got in on Sunday afternoon and have been busy since then. We have so much to do before we can head back down to live on our boat! There are certain things that are easier to get in the states than elsewhere, like charts of the areas we will discover and plastic baggies (yes, they do not sell baggies in Mexico, weird, huh?*) and a generator and all this other miscellaneous stuff. Thankfully, we have several experienced sailors and livaboards that we now know who are sending us lots of information that will be helpful along the way.

In the mean time, we are speeding up right now, so we can slow down in the long run. We have so much to sell and box up and still work to do and gear to get. We are also trying to see as much of our friends and family while we are still here, so we have to factor in time for entertaining and eating out. We haven’t decided our exact plan of action when we return to the boat because we will have to drive down a lot of items in the car. We want to leave our car on the mainland side of Mexico because it will be easier to get back and forth from the States over there, but our boat rests in a tiny port on the Baja side. Decisions, decisions… We do know, however, that we will be heading down to live in the Sea of Cortez before October 27, 2011. Yup! All of this has just worked out magically. The previous owner of the boat wants to meet us and tell us everything about the tricks and quirks to running her properly and he is leaving the country on October 28.

I also wanted to note that traveling to and from and all around the Baja peninsula was not scary. The biggest question we got about this trip was “Is it safe?” We were told not to drive at night for safety. I thought that was because of the Cartel, but as it turns out, it was really because there are a lot of cows and horses on the roads. Haha! I realize the drug Cartel down there is getting a lot of media in the U.S., but there is a lot more going on than drugs in Mexico. It is a beautiful country with nice people and wonderful family traditions. People still live and love and dream and grow up and succeed in Mexico just like they do here. I’m not saying there isn’t a problem that needs resolving, but I am saying that there is a lot more than that. There are scary parts of the U.S., too — places others wouldn’t venture to go on vacation or at night. It is the same for Mexico… it’s not the whole country.

Below are some pictures from the days we spent traveling back home. We took a tiny plane from Loreto to Guaymas. Stayed a night there, then took a bus for 11 hours (including stops) to Tucson, AZ. When we arrived to our hotel, the power was out because of a violent storm that had just passed through. We walked 2 blocks away and found one with power. We stayed there and caught our flight at 5:15 am to Houston, the home to DFW!

*Correction – they have baggies in Mexico, but not the common-up-here medium size.