The Trip 2013 - LA to Mazatlan

Note: This is a condensed version of the pictures I took with some added narrative. The rest of the pics can be viewed in the album The Trip 2013 – LA to Mazatlan. Each picture can be clicked to see a larger version and comment / like

Its been a while since my last post, the past three weeks spent travelling across Mexico have been an intense non-stop tour of northern and western Mexico. The small amount of downtime we have been afforded has usually been spent catching up on much needed sleep.

That being said its been incredible so far, heres the highlights.

The trip kicked off from the Hacienda hotel in LA on the 26th of May.



There I met the people I would be spending the next 32 days with. Kelsie, Colette, Madeline, Rosie, Jac, Ralph and one incredible shock, Dan Blackhurst.



Incredibly I had met Dan about 10 years ago on a holiday in Lanzarote, he is a friend of a friend and I had no idea he was going to be joining us on the trip, its a small world.

It was a short drive from LA down to San Diego, then a hop across the border at Tijuana and we were in Mexico!

Our first night was in a town an hour or two south of Tijuana called Ensenada. There I spotted something Karl Pilkonton was searching high and low for:



That first night we revealed some tension by going for a nice meal, sharing a beer or two and watching the Mexicans celebrate Mexico City América's victory in the Mexican football cup.

The next day was spent in a town called Guerro Negro, south of Ensanada. There some of us took a trip out to a salt farm in the desert. This place was pretty other-worldly:





I had a ball:







Next up was a small town built round an Oasis called San Ignacio. We took a little trip out to see the oasis. The water was really warm and crstal clear.



A little around the corner was a small rock that you could only access by a rickety ladder.



There was no way that ladder was going to support us using it to get back, so there was only one thing for it..







That afternoon was spent in the hotel pool, splashing about enjoying the sun. Kelsie, had an underwater camera which we had a play with.



Had a great time that avo doing what I do best



Next up was a town calld Loretto next to the ocean, this place was really cool. Not literally as the temperature was into the 40's luckally there was plenty of shade.



In Loretto a few of us took a boat out to a nearby island and nature reserve. We weren't expecting much, perhaps some fish, the odd turtle. To our great surprise we stumbled upon a massive pod of dolphins:



We drove up and down and the dolphins chased us, darting in and out, over and under the boat, I have never seen anything like it before:



After a little while I dived in with flippers and tried to chase them down with the underwater camera but they were too fast for me and I couldn't get any good photos. Still, at times they were very close to me it was incredible.

After that we hopped back in the boat and headed round the coast where we came upon a group of noisy sea lions:



I was really nervous about getting in the water with these things as they were noisy and smelly and looked a lot more aggressive than the dolphins. The boat captain assured me however that they were safe to swim with so I jumped in.

About 30 seconds after getting in I went under water and came up and this big bugger had disappeared:



I couldnt see him anywhere, everyone the boat was pointing behind me so I turned around the next thing I know Rosie sneaks up behind me and grabs my leg scaring the crap out of me.

I spent the next 20 minutes or so chasing after the sea lions trying to get a good photo, they were all around me but the water was kind of cloudy and they were fast making a picture difficult:



I eventually gave up when one of the ones I was chasing let go of his bowels directly in front of me, from then on I decided to take some pictures of more continent sea creatures:



On the way back the captain let Rosie drive the boat:



All was going well until..



Still I had a cracking time that day



That evening was spend drinking beer and enjoying the gorgeous sunset:



A few days later we found ourselves taking a ferry across from the Baja to mainland Mexico. Before hopping on the ferry however we spotted a big group of manta rays playing and jumping out of the water:



Apparently they do this to clean gunk off themselfs (technical term).

The overnight ferry across was fairly uneventful and boring, there wasn't much to do other than drink beer and take pictures. Here's one of the highlights:



When we finally arrived in Mazatlan we collectively exhaled as this was a place to chill:



During the day we took a boat then a Mexican taxi to the restaurant / beach:





The water here was super warm. We were meant to go surfing but apparently in the usual surf spot the chances of jellyfish was too high. Instead we all jumped in the water and hired bodyboards and rode some of the surf on our bellys instead:



A coupple of the group hired horses and galloped up and down the beach:



That evening we hopped in another Mexican taxi, picked up some beers and cruised around the town:



We stopped up on one of the highest hills surrounding Mazatlan for a quick Pacifico promotional photoshoot:



We polished off an incredible day by eating and drinking in the best restaurant of the trip so far.



Suzanne our trek leader (the one singing in the above video) got talking to man who turned out to be the ex mayor of the city.

I cant believe all that is less than 10 days of travelling, so much stuff crammed into such a short amount of time, I cant wait to see what the next 10 days brings!

The Trip 2013 - Washington DC

So my trip has finally started! I have not had anywhere near as much free time thus far as I thought I would have before I left. A great thing as there is no chance of me getting bored, it does however mean that I haven't had time to write the frequent blog posts I had promised.

I have decided to try and write these posts a a sort of slideshow with narrative  Im not sure its the correct format however as it takes quite a while to write each one, so perhaps ill tweak the way I do this as I go along. Each photo taken links back to a publicly available image on facebook so you can like and comment and see a larger version if you wish.

This is just a condensed summary, there are more images in the album The Trip 2013 - Washington DC

So I left the UK early on the 7th of May, after saying goodbye to my parents



I hopped on a train bound for Heathrow. A short 8 hour flight later I arrived in Washington DC where I bummed a bed from my Vietnam travelling buddy Martin



After a couple of beers at his local my jet-lagged body forced me to bed. The next day Martin went to work leaving me free to head downtown to do a spot of tourism. First up was a park full of wierd and wonderful artwork





it even had a pair of fountain spotters



After the park I took a wander around capital hill



before heading to the botanical gardens



then the air and space museum



After lunch I shimmied over to the Washington monument



then some ducks decided to photo bomb my pic of the Lincon memorial.



At about this point it started to rain so I scurried back to the house. That night I went out with Martin and his very lovely girlfriend Kim. We hit one of his local haunts followed by a gig venue. I drank too much as usual and spent most of the next day trying to remember what I had said to people.

The following day I woke and decided to head back to the area I was in the previous day and do the things I missed. First up was The Museum of Natural History. A fascinating place that has everything, including the most badass creature in the ocean



it even had an indoor butterfly enclosure, gingerly I took photos while trying not to crush the delicate insects



After the museum I took the short walk over to the Whitehouse for the obligatory pic



After the whitehouse I walked over to the Jefferson memorial and wrote my diary entry before finally heading back.



That evening I went to watch Martins team play local football. Its really interesting how football is taking off in the states, particularly as they play it in mixed sex teams.



After the game Kim drove us over to a gig at breakneck speeds, we saw Sir Sly warm up for the headline for someone. Even though its not traditionally my sort of music I really enjoyed it and was the perfect end for my rather short stay in DC.



The following day Martin and Kim were heading down to New Orleans for a stag and hen do so I grabbed a flight to my next destination, Toronto.