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Mexico

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 11:32 am
by Jimi
Anyone been to Mexico and Central America in the last few years? I'll be there for 6 months this year and would appreciate any info.
Is it easy enough to buy a decent shortboard over there?

Re: Mexico

Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 12:24 pm
by alakaboo
Only Baja.
It's not safe to go through Tijuana at all anymore.

Re: Mexico

Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 3:38 am
by offshore1
Hi Jimi, I've just returned from nine days in Nicaragua. I've spent a week surfing Rio Nexpa in Mexico, and numerous trips to Costa Rica from Pavones to Witch's Rock. My son recently went to El Salvador. Been to Ecuador too but you probably won't get that far south.
I used to always carry at least one board with me but the way the airlines have become the last few years I now just either buy a used board after I get down there and sell it before I leave, or rent a board . I like not having to check any luggage, sticking to just carry-on ; makes travel sooo much easier.
It really depends on where exactly you plan to go. There's a lot of absolutely deserted coastline where you won't see a gringo for a hundred miles, but most known surf spots will have surf camps and surf shops these days, and there are heaps of used boards that people bring down, ding a bit, then don't want to pay the exorbitant fees to bring back.
Six months, huh? Sounds like a great trip. And the Latinas are so sweet , curvy, flirty and feminine 8)

Re: Mexico

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:26 am
by offshore1
^^^here's a link to some photos I just uplaoded: http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e296/ ... =slideshow

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Re: Mexico

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:32 pm
by chrisb
Take care with car hire and insurance. If you hire a car in the USA and cross the border into Mexico it will probably void your insurance cover.

PS: Could you post some surf photos on this site after you return. :?:

Offshore1, an empty lineup, what happened to the crowd :?:

Re: Mexico

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:56 pm
by offshore1
When i rented a car in Mexico they tried to sell me insurance but i didn't buy any, as my credit card company (Master Card) assured me they covered me.
Fortunately i never had to find out.

Crowds? The two other blokes in the pics, one worked at the nice little joint where I stayed --$35 a night, includes a hearty brekky -- and the other was the brother in law of the Brazzo who owned it, Pablo, who also was kind enough to surprise me by taking these pics.

Most days I surfed all by my lonesome, which was kind of sketchy -- see all those boils in the water, they're rocks. the first day i broke a fin hitting one, :shock: it's that shallow in places; when it's small like that the waves break on the much shallower rock reef, and I didn't quite feel comfortable knowing where each of those rocks were. It only takes one.

Thought was constantly running through my head, "What if I get hurt here, what then?" A guy split his head open they told me not too long ago and there were at least ten broken boards on display up in the rafters. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere , next to , you guessed it, Haiti, and medical care consists of mule dung compresses and spanish cathedral incense anaesthesia.
In my entire nine day stay I maybe saw ten tourists, and that includes a day spent riding the bus , $1, to Leon to sightsee.
And nobody, I mean nobody speaks ingles.

That's why you don't see me engaging in my usual repertoire....busting airs, :mrgreen:

Re: Mexico

Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 4:21 pm
by alakaboo
Shoulda got insurance. Mexican insurance. Your hire or credit card company might say they cover you, but without Mexican insurance the cops can impound your car and auction it back to you.
I didn't care to test the legalities of the system, for the sake of about 20 bucks we were covered.
When you drive from California to Baja there are a heap of insurance places within sight of the border. Try to not to crash in the 500m before you get there, which was the worst part of the drive, pull over and buy insurance.

Get proper travel insurance with evac option too.

Re: Mexico

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 2:09 am
by offshore1
Probably wise words boo. I'm a notoriously cheap bastard who takes too many risks; possibly, as you point out, putting ten thousand dollars or more in jeopardy to save a dime.
Yes, I'm an idiot. So far a lucky idiot.

I flew into Ixtapa/ Zihuatanejo, Mexico by myself a few years ago, because of work constraints a day or two after my mates flew in. I rented a coche at the aeropuerto and that's when, in my broken espanol declined coverage -- they spoke zero english -- I understood about one percent of what she said. Not an auspicious start to my trek north to Rio Nexpa to meet up with my friends.
I got lost in the bustling port town of Lazaro Cardenas. I mean so turned round I didn't know where the sky was.
A policia with an m16 pulled me over and, the best I could tell, was saying I was breaking some kind of law. I really wanted mummy at this point.
Figured the constable probably wanted a bribe. or worse, to bum rape me in a dingy prison cell.
But, you recall, I'm cheap.

So I feigned stupidity (not hard for me at all to pull off in the best of circumstances), thanked him profusely, saying "Gracias amigo, gracias." as though i believed he was trying to help me


in hindsight, given my language comprehension skills, maybe he was.
At any rate, he got this disgusted look on his face and waved me on....
Took me a long time to get out of that town.

Great surf in Rio Nexpa though :D

Latin America can be a wild and wacky place.

Here's a movie trailer my niece and her boyfriend have been working on from Guatamala. The line between temporal and spiritual, sacred and profane is almost always fuzzy : http://vimeo.com/18453085

Re: Mexico

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 9:01 am
by daryl
http://vimeo.com/7354437

I like the chocolate marketing co-operative one.

Don't exactly keep up, tho it seems that S America is often ahead of the game in re-writing socialist, anarchist democracy, call it what u will, when the greedy fade away.

Re: Mexico

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 12:45 pm
by offshore1
Yeah, i think it's a hotter political cauldron down there daz. Revolution, assassination and coups d'etat come round often as laundry day.

That said, as bone-crushingly poor as most of the people in Nicaragua are, they are astoundingly cheerful, honest and kind.
I reckon it's because they are so glad to be rid of Somoza, and the horrible fratricide (30,000 killed, and untold numbers maimed or missing) that went on when fighting Reagan's contras.
Population control and environmental protection are my main worries for them going forward.

Re: Mexico

Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 2:42 pm
by ric_vidal
offshore1 wrote:Hi Jimi, I've just returned from nine days in Nicaragua. I've spent a week surfing Rio Nexpa in Mexico, and numerous trips to Costa Rica from Pavones to Witch's Rock...
and who sanctioned this hedonistic pursuit?

Re: Mexico

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2016 7:49 am
by alakaboo
offshore1 wrote:I've spent a week surfing Rio Nexpa in Mexico, and numerous trips to Costa Rica from Pavones to Witch's Rock...
Tell me more about Pavones?
Looking at a few weeks in the start of the wet season.
I'm goofy.
I'll have the family in tow.

Re: Mexico

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2016 12:42 pm
by offshore1
alakaboo wrote:
offshore1 wrote:I've spent a week surfing Rio Nexpa in Mexico, and numerous trips to Costa Rica from Pavones to Witch's Rock...
Tell me more about Pavones?
Looking at a few weeks in the start of the wet season.
I'm goofy.
I'll have the family in tow.
One of our favourite trips boo. Literally just about at the end of the road.
On the advice of friends, we stayed at Riviera, owned by Shawn and Jamie, it was really lovely, simple and clean.
When surf's good, crowds come out of the woodwork --- thanks to the innernet -- but most days it's very manageable, and there are a few other spots within a moderate walk, that's where some of these pics were taken, just about a mile north where on some days we got fun waves all to ourselves.


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Re: Mexico

Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2016 2:29 pm
by alakaboo
Looks tops, thanks.

Re: Mexico

Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2016 9:33 am
by offshore1
Con mucho gusto.

Re: Mexico

Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2016 2:35 pm
by Drailed
How's the pussy in Mehico Offy? Was fucking below par in Costa Rica.

Re: Mexico

Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2016 3:22 pm
by offshore1
There are some cute little Ticas in CR. And prostitution's legal. Where were you?

At Rio Nexpa it was non-existent loofs. Even Trump couldn't get a handful if he tried.
Did see some impressive Latin wooing going on on the promenade overlooking the harbour at Zihuatanejo though. Spent the night there on my way up to Rio Nexpa. Dude was ardent with his senorita on a park bench. He was putting on a clinic.

Re: Mexico

Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2016 7:36 pm
by Drailed
Nice Offy.

All over CR and the talent looked like dumpy little jungle outcasts for the most part.

You reading this Boo?? no excuses for not getting your end wet now you little dweeb.