kchristian
Adventurer
Beautiful bus! That thing is incredible! My wife and I will be in Mexico/Central America for the next three months. Hopefully we will see you on the road.
theDangerz- still going, different rig, new adventures
- Thread starter dangerbus
- Start date
dangerbus
BryDanger
Awesome! we look forward to meeting up with you!
We just crossed over on the cargo ferry to the mainland, so we are currently hanging out around sayulita. Look us up when your close.
Heres a recap of our time in baja :sombrero:
http://www.thedangerz.com/hasta-luego-baja/
dangerbus
BryDanger
Havent updated here in a bit- we are loving the mainland just as much as we loved baja.
Still swelteringly hot, but seems to be dropping slightly. Also have started seeing a few tourists arrive.
A few small problems arose with the bus, but were slowing finding parts and working them out.
We have decided to stick around the area north of Puerto Vallart and surf every day while we are here and see if we can improve our lackluster skills.
rented the only place we could afford- an empty real estate office with no furniture but a/c and a view of the ocean. maybe not your normal digs, but it will work for us.
Read the last few blog posts here...
www.thedangerz.com
Still swelteringly hot, but seems to be dropping slightly. Also have started seeing a few tourists arrive.
A few small problems arose with the bus, but were slowing finding parts and working them out.
We have decided to stick around the area north of Puerto Vallart and surf every day while we are here and see if we can improve our lackluster skills.
rented the only place we could afford- an empty real estate office with no furniture but a/c and a view of the ocean. maybe not your normal digs, but it will work for us.
Read the last few blog posts here...
www.thedangerz.com
Last edited:
dangerbus
BryDanger
Wow. crazy few days.
the whole family has been battling el gripe (the flu), so we're a bit behind on updates and blog posts...but catching up.
we drove 7.5 hours (and like 2000 topes) from the beach to guadalajara for a big VW show called vochorama.
really cool event and they treated us like royalty because of our journey. Even gave us a trophy, but i think more as a show of friendship then anything about the bus since it was covered in mud and bug guts.
Unfortunately the drive also caused some problems and our starter was back on the fritz, so we stealth camped in the city, and then spent the whole day with a mechanic we met at the show trying to get things working.
We also had numerous problems on the way out of town... so now we're stealth camping in the streets of tequila. I wonder how early you can get a tour/tasting at the distilleries?
a few new blog posts are up for those who want more detail and photos, but i thought id at least check in.
the whole family has been battling el gripe (the flu), so we're a bit behind on updates and blog posts...but catching up.
we drove 7.5 hours (and like 2000 topes) from the beach to guadalajara for a big VW show called vochorama.
really cool event and they treated us like royalty because of our journey. Even gave us a trophy, but i think more as a show of friendship then anything about the bus since it was covered in mud and bug guts.
Unfortunately the drive also caused some problems and our starter was back on the fritz, so we stealth camped in the city, and then spent the whole day with a mechanic we met at the show trying to get things working.
We also had numerous problems on the way out of town... so now we're stealth camping in the streets of tequila. I wonder how early you can get a tour/tasting at the distilleries?
a few new blog posts are up for those who want more detail and photos, but i thought id at least check in.
dangerbus
BryDanger
trip home from guadalajara saw a stop stealth camping in tequila, more sickness, a shattered windshield and lost brakes. Yikes.
now a few days of trying to repair the bus to roadworthy...
-runin and debate session with the policia.
-tracked down a glass guy who could cut matching safety glass for the safari
now we just need to fix the brakes and were almost back to "normal" operating.
now a few days of trying to repair the bus to roadworthy...
-runin and debate session with the policia.
-tracked down a glass guy who could cut matching safety glass for the safari
now we just need to fix the brakes and were almost back to "normal" operating.
dangerbus
BryDanger
It seems clear now that renting a place for a month could possible have the opposite effect on us and drive us even further away from normalcy.
We have 9 days left in our apartment here in el Anclote and are itching to hit the road.
We are spending our time designing possible artwork for the side of E, discussing possible upgrades before we move back into the bus and have decided to go completely nuts.
against our better judgement, we've joined the Maya Rally!
Okay, we may not be able to finish in the 9 days everyone else is planning which means we might miss the opening party, but were doing it nonetheless (or at least starting it- finishing remains to be seen) =)
So there you have it. long time since last post because when you're relaxing in a condo life is boring (at least as it relates to overlanding) but the good news is that there should be planty of activity starting in just 9 short days.
We cant wait!
We have 9 days left in our apartment here in el Anclote and are itching to hit the road.
We are spending our time designing possible artwork for the side of E, discussing possible upgrades before we move back into the bus and have decided to go completely nuts.
against our better judgement, we've joined the Maya Rally!
Okay, we may not be able to finish in the 9 days everyone else is planning which means we might miss the opening party, but were doing it nonetheless (or at least starting it- finishing remains to be seen) =)
So there you have it. long time since last post because when you're relaxing in a condo life is boring (at least as it relates to overlanding) but the good news is that there should be planty of activity starting in just 9 short days.
We cant wait!
dangerbus
BryDanger
Feels so good to be back on the road :wings:
Didn't realize how shifty we were getting sitting in that apartment until we pulled away...
cant help but log a new post everyday with the number of photo ops that keep coming our way!
Driving east into central mexico and have had only great stops along the way.
Tequila is great and a town we could stay in for a long time...even if its just touring the agave fields outside the city
Ajijic isnt really for us, bur we hit it during the patron saint festival which meant crazy fiestas in the street followed by even crazier fireworks in the square. sheer madness!
Weve now moved onto San Miguel Allende where we spent the day walking the streets and snapping photos of the vibrant streets before settling into a campground with three unimogs (our first non-stealth night since leaving).
cant wait for photos of the bus amongst the giants in the morning!
see and read the latest on the blog
Didn't realize how shifty we were getting sitting in that apartment until we pulled away...
cant help but log a new post everyday with the number of photo ops that keep coming our way!
Driving east into central mexico and have had only great stops along the way.
Tequila is great and a town we could stay in for a long time...even if its just touring the agave fields outside the city
Ajijic isnt really for us, bur we hit it during the patron saint festival which meant crazy fiestas in the street followed by even crazier fireworks in the square. sheer madness!
Weve now moved onto San Miguel Allende where we spent the day walking the streets and snapping photos of the vibrant streets before settling into a campground with three unimogs (our first non-stealth night since leaving).
cant wait for photos of the bus amongst the giants in the morning!
see and read the latest on the blog
dangerbus
BryDanger
Currently driving south in the middle of the 3rd official day of the Maya Rally. Most teams grouped up and headed out together, but given our slow speed we decided it may be better to travel on our own, as always.
Had an awesome experience last night while trying to gather some points for the rally. Thought id share here in case you arent following the official Maya Rally thread.
The Monarch butterfly reserve was on Jen's list before el Jefe told us we were like a pair of migrating Monarchs and long before the rally; but as it turns out a visit also scores us points. It also happens to be about a day's drive for us (200 miles or so), and therefore an easy choice for our first day's drive.
We get a pretty slow start from our camp in Guanajuato...not great news since we're already worried about making it to the finish line in time for the party/end of the world as we know it. Despite our plans to leave at daybreak we take care of the blogpost, add air to the tires, tweak the carbs and finish a few other errands. All in, we aren't on the road until after 10. Heading south over what is by now well known territory and past Irapuato, we finally reach untraveled terrain.
After several stops for directions we finally find the northern reserve, realize we cant get in after an hour talking to the policia and head for the southern reserve. The signs had said 39k to the south reserve, but once we reach the reserve its another 29k to a town...and we are losing light fast. We debate driving through darkness to meet up with a few other teams we know caravanned another hour south but decide to turn around and look for camping. We haven't camped in the middle of nowhere since baja and it's painfully fresh in our minds that we are in Michoacan state, where even locals have urged us not to visit due to the violence between two rival cartels. We pull off onto a dirt road as the sun sets and start looking for a protected and discreet parking place. As we drive far enough down the doubletrack to be out of eyesight from the main road Jen thinks she spots a building. Not what we were hoping. Now we have to make the decision to either u-turn and look for another turnout or ask permission. We rather think we should turn around but the track has no open space until we reach a tiny stick built casita and several stables/coops.
As we start to turn around we see that a woman; clearly startled by our arrival, is standing behind the fence. I slide open the window and apologize in my best broken spanish for disturbing her while jen hops out and walks over to the fence. I watch for a few minutes but realize its not going very well and should probably introduce myself in case the sketchy bald guy lurking in the van is the issue. As i arrive at the fence and introduce myself it becomes clear the lady is still uncomfortable. Jen has asked if we can camp for the night but the lady makes the disturbing movement of her thumb tracing her throat and i'm certain she has just said that its not safe and we'll be killed. As she continues talking it sinks in what she really saying...she's terrified that we will kill HER in the middle of the night.
“How do i know that you wont kill me in the night?” she asks. Jen is clearly the perfect person for this job and begins trying to ease her mind. Hoping to be a less commanding presence, I laugh at the kitten crawling around her neck and then squat to take photos of the puppies curled up in wool shavings at her feet. Jen meanwhile is asking what we can do to prove that we aren't a menace and wouldn't be any problem. The ranchera listens to Jen's reasoning and then explains that she lives all alone, has no lights or phone and it's clear that while she's visually warming up to superjen she doesn't seem to be warming up to the idea of us staying. She asks questions about where we are from, why we drove down her solitary dirt road and whether we are married or have kids. We explain that we don't need to stay anywhere near the house and could simply sleep in the van parked back near the main road. She seems a bit confused, but i mention that there is a bed in the van and she wants to see to confirm our alibi.
As we walk toward the bus Jen lets her know Karma is friendly and doesn't bite, and as i open the cargo doors she spots Karma and immediately melts. “que hermosa” she screams (how beautiful). Clearly a dog lover, and clearly (another reason) why we brought karma all this way. Karma hops out with tail wagging vigorously to show her some love, we pull out the bed and show her the stove to further solidify our complete low maintenance nature. Suddenly things have shifted in our favor. Elated that we aren't here under malice, she turns and gives jen a giant hug. I still get only the polite handshake, but she is suddenly more worried about our comfort and if we need anything than about our intent.
Her kitten also bravely leaves the safety of its nest in her hair to make its way inside to inspect the bus, and Karma is curious about the intruder and maybe a bit stressed about the possibility of losing what little living space she has to an adopted cat. Jen offers our new hostess a poblano that we have in the basket, and she in turn hurries back to grab a half dozen eggs from directly under the chickens. “Too many” we tell her, but she assures us we need “3 for tonight and 3 for the morning”. A few more hugs are exchanged, we thank her profusely for allowing us to stay and complete our u-turn to go back down the dirt track.
Our night guarding the road to the ranch was possibly the most quiet and peaceful of our trip to date. It was also easily the coldest. We huddled under the sleeping bag in the silence of the forest miles away from wifi or the ability to plan tomorrow's course, and with the occasional serenade from the coyotes. Before departing our hostess had warned us “if you hear dogs...they aren't dogs”. And on the occasional departure from the bus we see the most magnificent star display.
The rest of the maya rally teams likely used their GPS to seamlessly guide them and the vehicles they are caravanning with into the safe harbour of a campground with a banos, wifi and hot water. They probably didn't get lost, they probably didn't almost run out of gas or have a stressful conversation about where to hide the van for the night. We definitely chose the road less travelled
and we must confess that this time it turned out perfectly. In the amount of time it took for sunset to fade from golden orange to black we went from crazy northamerican throat cutters to welcome guests. We may or may not see any butterflies today, but that magical transformation in the heart of the reserve we wont soon forget.
To read the rest of the story, or keep track of the remainder of the Maya Rally or our Journey, watch theDangerz blog
Had an awesome experience last night while trying to gather some points for the rally. Thought id share here in case you arent following the official Maya Rally thread.
The Monarch butterfly reserve was on Jen's list before el Jefe told us we were like a pair of migrating Monarchs and long before the rally; but as it turns out a visit also scores us points. It also happens to be about a day's drive for us (200 miles or so), and therefore an easy choice for our first day's drive.
We get a pretty slow start from our camp in Guanajuato...not great news since we're already worried about making it to the finish line in time for the party/end of the world as we know it. Despite our plans to leave at daybreak we take care of the blogpost, add air to the tires, tweak the carbs and finish a few other errands. All in, we aren't on the road until after 10. Heading south over what is by now well known territory and past Irapuato, we finally reach untraveled terrain.
After several stops for directions we finally find the northern reserve, realize we cant get in after an hour talking to the policia and head for the southern reserve. The signs had said 39k to the south reserve, but once we reach the reserve its another 29k to a town...and we are losing light fast. We debate driving through darkness to meet up with a few other teams we know caravanned another hour south but decide to turn around and look for camping. We haven't camped in the middle of nowhere since baja and it's painfully fresh in our minds that we are in Michoacan state, where even locals have urged us not to visit due to the violence between two rival cartels. We pull off onto a dirt road as the sun sets and start looking for a protected and discreet parking place. As we drive far enough down the doubletrack to be out of eyesight from the main road Jen thinks she spots a building. Not what we were hoping. Now we have to make the decision to either u-turn and look for another turnout or ask permission. We rather think we should turn around but the track has no open space until we reach a tiny stick built casita and several stables/coops.
As we start to turn around we see that a woman; clearly startled by our arrival, is standing behind the fence. I slide open the window and apologize in my best broken spanish for disturbing her while jen hops out and walks over to the fence. I watch for a few minutes but realize its not going very well and should probably introduce myself in case the sketchy bald guy lurking in the van is the issue. As i arrive at the fence and introduce myself it becomes clear the lady is still uncomfortable. Jen has asked if we can camp for the night but the lady makes the disturbing movement of her thumb tracing her throat and i'm certain she has just said that its not safe and we'll be killed. As she continues talking it sinks in what she really saying...she's terrified that we will kill HER in the middle of the night.
“How do i know that you wont kill me in the night?” she asks. Jen is clearly the perfect person for this job and begins trying to ease her mind. Hoping to be a less commanding presence, I laugh at the kitten crawling around her neck and then squat to take photos of the puppies curled up in wool shavings at her feet. Jen meanwhile is asking what we can do to prove that we aren't a menace and wouldn't be any problem. The ranchera listens to Jen's reasoning and then explains that she lives all alone, has no lights or phone and it's clear that while she's visually warming up to superjen she doesn't seem to be warming up to the idea of us staying. She asks questions about where we are from, why we drove down her solitary dirt road and whether we are married or have kids. We explain that we don't need to stay anywhere near the house and could simply sleep in the van parked back near the main road. She seems a bit confused, but i mention that there is a bed in the van and she wants to see to confirm our alibi.
As we walk toward the bus Jen lets her know Karma is friendly and doesn't bite, and as i open the cargo doors she spots Karma and immediately melts. “que hermosa” she screams (how beautiful). Clearly a dog lover, and clearly (another reason) why we brought karma all this way. Karma hops out with tail wagging vigorously to show her some love, we pull out the bed and show her the stove to further solidify our complete low maintenance nature. Suddenly things have shifted in our favor. Elated that we aren't here under malice, she turns and gives jen a giant hug. I still get only the polite handshake, but she is suddenly more worried about our comfort and if we need anything than about our intent.
Her kitten also bravely leaves the safety of its nest in her hair to make its way inside to inspect the bus, and Karma is curious about the intruder and maybe a bit stressed about the possibility of losing what little living space she has to an adopted cat. Jen offers our new hostess a poblano that we have in the basket, and she in turn hurries back to grab a half dozen eggs from directly under the chickens. “Too many” we tell her, but she assures us we need “3 for tonight and 3 for the morning”. A few more hugs are exchanged, we thank her profusely for allowing us to stay and complete our u-turn to go back down the dirt track.
Our night guarding the road to the ranch was possibly the most quiet and peaceful of our trip to date. It was also easily the coldest. We huddled under the sleeping bag in the silence of the forest miles away from wifi or the ability to plan tomorrow's course, and with the occasional serenade from the coyotes. Before departing our hostess had warned us “if you hear dogs...they aren't dogs”. And on the occasional departure from the bus we see the most magnificent star display.
The rest of the maya rally teams likely used their GPS to seamlessly guide them and the vehicles they are caravanning with into the safe harbour of a campground with a banos, wifi and hot water. They probably didn't get lost, they probably didn't almost run out of gas or have a stressful conversation about where to hide the van for the night. We definitely chose the road less travelled
and we must confess that this time it turned out perfectly. In the amount of time it took for sunset to fade from golden orange to black we went from crazy northamerican throat cutters to welcome guests. We may or may not see any butterflies today, but that magical transformation in the heart of the reserve we wont soon forget.
To read the rest of the story, or keep track of the remainder of the Maya Rally or our Journey, watch theDangerz blog
dangerbus
BryDanger
Spent an awesome christmas playing beach volleyball in the interesting town of Mahahual (cruise ships prevent it from being our style) with a few of the maya rally teams and recovering from the long haul driving of the rally. Many teams have already departed and we might be the next to break up the band.
The stickers have been removed from the bus and we are packing to set out for a final day or so in mexico before crossing the border into Belize.
Been a crazy/interesting/fun experience but we are more than ready to hit the road once again on our own and get back to exploring/finding ourselves on the slow road to nowhere!
The stickers have been removed from the bus and we are packing to set out for a final day or so in mexico before crossing the border into Belize.
Been a crazy/interesting/fun experience but we are more than ready to hit the road once again on our own and get back to exploring/finding ourselves on the slow road to nowhere!
EdwinThomp
New member
That was awesome. I envy the dog. He seems like he was very relaxed and he had a great time.
dangerbus
BryDanger
That was awesome. I envy the dog. He seems like he was very relaxed and he had a great time.
Karma is indeed having a great time.
Not only is (she) the team mascot but a daily reminder that happiness is simple.
Every day is the best day ever since yesterday and every new person is her new best friend.
We are lucky to have her along for the ride and lucky she makes travelling with a dog so easy.
BIGdaddy
Expedition Leader
Great vid. thanks for sharing that. Can I ask what your vocation is, Bryan? Are the drawings I see in the video yours?
I'm an artist myself, with quite a bit of training in fine art, scenic design, architecture, etc. Really like your style. I've since switched over to digital cartography (GIS mapping) as a day job, which is (most of the time) a natural extension of how I communicate visually, but I still rock ink and paper as much as possible.
dangerbus
BryDanger
Great vid. thanks for sharing that. Can I ask what your vocation is, Bryan? Are the drawings I see in the video yours?
I'm an artist myself, with quite a bit of training in fine art, scenic design, architecture, etc. Really like your style. I've since switched over to digital cartography (GIS mapping) as a day job, which is (most of the time) a natural extension of how I communicate visually, but I still rock ink and paper as much as possible.
thanks.
yes the drawings are mine...just an attempt to leave some ideas behind of projects for the next set of volunteers. was really fun because a few of the boys were sitting with us and would immediately shoot down the playground items they hated or make changes to the ones they wanted to better suit their dream playground (although anything was better than the cheesegrater slide we encountered when we got there!)
my background is a long story...
- educated as an architect, but loved the education/hated the field. walked away right after graduation and had not much to show for it other than 80k in loans =(
- moved into graphic design to try and make money with creativity but the company i worked for changed directions. while i was with them for over a decade only about a year in design
- i have always been looking for a way to make money from creativity, but it sadly its always just been something that happens on the side (when there happens to be time).
- now we have plenty of time, but little space to make art in the bus...still an issue we are trying to solve. always open to ideas!