hitch down to Mulege, however the ferry schedule constantly fluctuates and we wouldn’t have had enough time to make the trip happen. I visited San Carlos in February and knew it would be pretty easy to get there and spend a few days kayaking and drinking margaritas on the beach. Día Uno: The Bus Ride
The trip could not have started out more Mexican. I have taken the 11:00pm bus from TBC Conexión in Tucson into Mexico for the past 2 years and have not had a problem getting a seat. When we arrived at the bus station we were told that all the seats were taken and we would have to wait until morning for the next bus. Karl looked disappointed and I could tell that he didn’t want to take ‘no’ for an answer. My neighbors, Paul and Philippe, had dropped us off and stuck around just in case there was a problem. They told us that they had to go meet someone but would come back and pick us up if we needed a ride. Before leaving, Paul offered a word of advise saying that in Mexico anything is possible and a full bus doesn’t mean that we can’t still get a ride. The lady behind the counter was not being very helpful so we walked outside and talked to the bus driver and a few other “workers.” I put quotation marks around the word “workers” because I have no idea if these guys worked for the bus company or were just hanging around and felt like helping us out. Anyway, these workers and the bus driver promised to check the bus for open seats after the bus was loaded. While people were boarding the bus, Karl and I stood to the side and noticed that they were having trouble with the bus stalling. It would run for about 5 minutes and stall. This was not of our concern yet because we needed to get on the bus before we could worry if the bus would even make it to Mexico. We were told that there may be 2 seats available, then they said there may be 1 seat, then they said one of us could sit in the front alley and one could sit in the back alley, then they said the front alley was taken and we would have to sit in the back…but we were in; we were allowed to ride. Although we had to sit on the floor, we were still told to purchase tickets and they promised us a seat when we got to Nogales. 45 minutes on the floor didn’t sound too bad to us.
We found ourselves sitting on the floor directly above the engine so the floor got really warm and we were miserable and uncomfortable. Did I mention that the bathroom is located in the back of the bus? Well, it is. Each time a person went into the bathroom Karl and I would automatically give each other a look of horror knowing that at any one of those people were capable of turning our miserable seating into hell. We were not even outside the parking lot when the bus stalled for the first time. It then stalled at each light on the road. It even stalled while we were driving down I-19 toward Nogales. Most of the time the driver would shift the bus into neutral and start it while coasting down the highway but sometimes he would have to pull over to repeatedly turn the key until the engine turned over. I had no doubt in my mind that we were not going to even make it to Mexico, let alone 7 additional hours to Guaymas with the bus in this condition. We drove like this for 45 minutes until the driver pulled into a gas station to add water to the radiator. The bus worked flawlessly all the way to Guaymas after this. As promised, Karl and I were upgraded to genuine padded seats in Nogales. It was a rough start but the trip had finally started.
Día Dos: Arriving in San Carlos (Thanksgiving Day)
We arrived in Guaymas at about 6:00am the following morning. I think we both slept a total of 3 hours but we were excited to get off the bus and didn’t feel too tired. As soon as we stepped off the bus, taxi drivers swarmed us to try to give us a ride to San Carlos. I knew that there was a city bus that would take us there but wasn’t sure of the hours. I walked into the bus station and used broken Spanish to ask where I could find a bus to San Carlos. The lady said to just take a taxi. Rather than wander around looking for the bus, we agreed to pay $20 for the taxi. The taxi took us to the cheapest hotel he knew of in San Carlos. The hotel was locked so we walked across the street to have breakfast at Jax Snacks. After breakfast, we transferred our money to pesos at the bank. Next, I talked Karl into splurging and paying $20 each for a nice room at Los Jitos and having an ocean view. Also, we were allowed to check in at 6:00am to take showers and rest. It felt good to wash off the dirty feeling of spending a night on the bus.
After resting for only about an hour, Karl saw a sign for scooters and had to check it out. As luck would have it, there were only 2 scooters available in all of San Carlos and one of them was broken. There was no way we were going to ride down the street spooning each other while all the Mexican whistled at us so we tried to get a deal on renting a scooter and ATV but couldn’t get a good price. We decided to just walk down the street and rent bicycles for the day for $15. You are probably thinking that we had to pay high prices for Mexican standards. This is due to the fact that San Carlos is becoming a very popular place for Americans to go. They are also in the process of building a 72 hole golf course and resort that will raise prices even more, destroy the small town culture, but ultimately bring money to the economy. So I guess it balances out…I don’t know.
We rode the bikes to the marinaterra where I knew Fernando, a local guy I met on my last trip to San Carlos, that could give us a list of activities to do. Fernando told us he would give us a deal on kayaks and snorkels if we came back the next morning. He also said he would take us for a tour of the area and to some remote beaches. This sounded like a good deal to us so we agreed to return the next morning. We left the marinaterra and decided to relax and have a margarita. We found a cantina with an outdoor patio and televisions broadcasting American football. The place was a local hotspot for gringos (Americans). The margaritas were really strong so naturally, we thought they were delicious. We talked to a few other tables and met people from Texas and Flagstaff, AZ. We practiced our Spanish on the waitresses and they told us to vis
it their friends that were across the street serving turkey to people. We paid our bill and then stood in line to see what this turkey business was all about. They had prepared deep-fried turkey with mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. We were also given free beers to drink while waiting in line. What more could you ask for on Thanksgiving? We ate our free meal, which was delectable, and took another beer each for the road. The drinks in the afternoon sun brought on a welcomed buzz but also made us extremely tired. We still had 4 hours left to use the bikes but chose to return them early so we could take a nap and not have to worry about returning the bikes. We returned the bikes and walked back to Los Jitos to crash.
Before taking a nap, we tried to find the pool so we could go for a quick swim. The pool was in the condos next to the hotel and the water was dirty and freezing cold. We were told there was a water slide near the pool so we walked around until we found it. The water there was cold too but I was willing to go down the slide anyway. I climbed to the top of the slide only to notice that the water was turned off and there was a sign saying it was closed. I retreated back down the stairs and laid down on top of a picnic table under a ramada with a palm leave roof. Karl went back to the hotel to get a massage while I fell asleep on the table. I slept for about an hour and walked back to the hotel room. Karl was still getting a massage so I fell asleep on the bed.
I woke up and saw Karl sleeping in the other bed. It was dark outside so I figured that we slept for 3 or 4 hours. I went onto the balcony to check out the view and saw a little cat, no more than 6 months old sitting on my porch. She was very affectionate so I pet her for a few minutes and then let her follow me into the room. I poured some water in the ash tray for her and then let her lay with me on the bed until Karl woke up. Karl woke up, looked at the cat, and acted like it was completely normal. It was quite the reaction I had expected. I put the cat outside and we left the hotel to go out for a drink. I suggested a bar that I knew had a pool table. Karl drank another margarita and I had a beer while we played a game of pool. After the game of pool, we left to eat some tacos at a taco stand. We ordered caramelos and joked in broken English and Spanish with the two men that worked at the taco stand. They told us that the night life in San Carlos doesn’t happen until after 11:00pm. They were also quick to point out the one strip club in the town. It was only 9:00pm and Karl and I didn’t think we would be able to make it until 11:00pm so we said goodbye to our new friends and walked back to the hotel and watched some strange movie that had random segments of cartoons intertwined with the story’s plot. It’s an American movie, but we were both really confused by it. We made it an early night because we felt we needed the rest.
Día Tres: Kayaking and Snorkeling
We woke up around 8:00am, checked out of the hotel, and went to Jax Snacks for breakfast. In fact, I ate there for breakfast every day of the trip. After breakfast, we walked across the street to find out the price of the hotel the taxi driver took us to the previous day. The hotel didn’t look very nice and they wanted 500 pesos per night. We kept walking down the street until we came across a run-down hotel sign. We walked around the property and it was apparent that the place was no longer a hotel. As we started to walk away, a fat Mexican guy came out of nowhere and started talking to him. We asked him about the hotel in broken Spanish. He said he didn’t work there but would call the lady who ran the place. He got her on the phone and handed it to me. She spoke English so I asked her how much the room was. She wanted 500 pesos so I told her that was too much and got her down to 700 pesos for 2 nights. She was on her way from Guaymas and would be there in 30 minutes. We walked around to waste time until Ms. Vasquez arrived. She showed us a room and it looked better than we had expected. It had a living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. We tried to talk her down on the price again to no avail so I paid her the 700 pesos. She said she was going back to Guaymas and would bring pillows for us later. If we were not at the room, she said she would leave the pillows with the man who ran the taco stand next door, Checke (or “Checkers” as I nicknamed him). We went back in the hotel to put our bags down and started to notice all the problems with the room. The first thing we noticed was that the television didn’t work. I ran outside and told Ms. Vasquez and she promised to bring a new television with the pillows. After that, she pulled away in her car and left. We also noticed that there were no towels, soap, or toilet paper in the room. There was also a colony of ants living in the bathroom and the window in the living room was broken and someone could easily reach their hand through the glass to open the window and break in to the room. I told Karl of my previous hotel horror stories in Mexico to calm him down. I told him of the hotel room that had two beds and a toilet in the middle of the room. I also told him about the time I slept on a cement floor in an abandoned restaurant building on a beach and woke up to a stray dog nursing her puppies next to me. After this, Karl felt fortunate to have such a luxurious hotel room. We walked outside and met Joel, who was living next door to us. Joel was a skinny guy of about 35 years with a shaved head. He wore tattered clothes and sunglasses that covered most of his face. He said he had been staying there for over a month and offered us a towel and shampoo. We talked to 
him for a little while and then left to go kayaking and snorkeling.
We took the bus to the marinaterra where we met Fernando to rent kayaks and snorkels. Fernando was moving really slowly that day and appeared to have had a rough night. I can only imagine what he got himself into. Actually, having gone out for a night with Fernando the last time I was in San Carlos I can guess exactly what he got himself into. We talked about getting a two person kayak but Fernando told us the y are for “girlfriends” and it wouldn’t be right. He also said if we get single kayaks he will let us stay out all day as opposed to coming back after 1 hour. We couldn’t pass that deal up.
The sky was clear but in the distance there were black clouds heading directly for us. I told Fernando it looked like it was going to rain and he assured me it wouldn’t. I was a little skeptical when I noticed he was silently laughing to himself as he loaded the kayaks. As we were loading our kayaks with our gear, we watched to young Mexicans that worked at the resort try to paddle off together in a single kayak. They were both fully clothed and must have fallen into the water 4 times before getting balanced in the kayak. After our gear was loaded, we shoved off and headed for a cave that you can kayak through to the other side. We paddled around to several of these caves as the sky began to turn black above us. After about 15 minutes the sky cleared and it was sunny again. Fernando was actually right about the weather. We docked the kayaks by a small island that Fernando told us was a great area for snorkeling. The island was coated white from all of the herons and pelicans that enjoy defecating on it. The smell was horrendous. We made sure we were downwind from the island and jumped in the water. The water was a little chilly but not as bad as you would expect it to be in late November. We snorkeled around the island and in all the little caves and crevices. We saw a lot of sea urchins, star fish, and brightly colored fish. This was actually my first experience snorkeling in the ocean. It was terrific. It is an amazing experience to slowly float through the turquoise water and view all of the life under the water. I may look into getting my scuba license.
The water became too cold to continue snorkeling in after about 15 minutes. We got back in the kayaks and paddled to a different area to snorkel in. We found a really cool cave with a small, rocky beach that was the perfect size to hold our kayaks. The area wasn’t as good as the first so we didn’t spend too much time in it. In total, we only spent about 2 or 3 hours kayaking and snorkeling before hea
ding back to shore.
We walked to a small taco stand and each ate a few tacos de cabeza. I promised myself I would stay away from these kinds of tacos on this trip but I just couldn’t resist them. It was all downhill at the taco stands after this. I found myself eating tacos I was unable to translate to find out what was in them. I just dove in and ordered practically anything and everything. After filling ourselves full of “face” tacos we took the bus back to the hotel.
We took showers and both had to use the towel that Joel had lent us. I was not surprised to find that the towel smelled like it had been soaked in marijuana smoke. After we were clean and dressed, we walked to a restaurant to get something to eat. I suggested a really nice place called “Charlie’s Rock” that is located right on the beach with a great view of the bay. The place was further than I had expected so it took us a while to get there. We sat facing the ocean and ordered margaritas, fish tacos, and guacamole dip. The margaritas and dip were delicious. After lunch, we walked across the street to the bus stop and noticed it was located directly in front of an ice cream place. We went inside and Karl ordered a chocolate chip milkshake and I got a cookies ‘n cream cone. It was also delicious. We ate the ice cream until the bus came to take us back to the hotel.
Once we arrived back at the hotel, we went next door to see what Joel was up to. He was still sitting on his couch and there were two other kids of about 20 years old with him. They were both Mexican and only one of them spoke English. He introduced himself as Andres and said he lived with Joel. He came across as the most laid back person I have ever met. He talked real low and a very low key demeanor. He didn’t seem like he was ever really happy or really sad, he just was. I immediately liked him. I watched as him and his friend smoked a small bowl before leaving for work. He gave us a Mexican handshake and took off for work. A Mexican handshake is a term I use to call how friends in Mexico shake hands. I have seen both kids and adults shake hands this way. They slap hands once and then hit their fists together. I guess you could also call it a “slap rock” but I think Mexican handshake sounds more formal.
Karl and I hung out with Joel for a while longer and learned his whole life story. Joel went on about how he is originally from Chicago, has travelled around since he was 16 years old, started a successful brokerage in NYC, lived in San Diego and San Francisco, and so on. He talked a lot. He also drank a lot of Tecate. It seems like all the Americans living in San Carlos drink a lot, talk a lot, and don’t do a lot. Joel told us that he was planning on starting up a Juice Bar once he finds a financial backer. I got to know him pretty well and noticed that he is a very personable guy and people seem to like him so I bet he succeeds in starting his Juice Bar. As I was saying before, we listened to Joel talk for quite a while and watched movies on his television since ours was broken. Joel told us that he was low on funds and Andres needed a place to live so he took him in as a roommate. I commented on what a great roommate he must be and Joel agreed. He said that Andres has a naturally low key demeanor that is complimented by constant pot smoking and mescaline. He pointed to a basket full of cactus branches that Andres used to make mescaline. He also said that he has told Andres that he sounds very depressed when he speaks on the phone and sometimes thinks he should as what is wrong. Andres replied that most of his friends say the same thing and they tell him that he should stop smoking so much weed.
A few hours passed and we told Joel of a shrimp cook-off going on at the marinaterra. Joel had stated that he wasn’t going to go out that night but he said he would come along with us anyway. He offered to drive us in his Bronco but warned us that it would probably break down. He had lent it to a friend to take home and fix but he didn’t think that his friend had worked on it. The Bronco reminded me of a truck I had road around in when I was in Baja California last year. The back cab of the Bronco had been removed so it looked like a truck only there was nothing separating the front cab from the back end, it was all open. If I ever live in Mexico, I will own a vehicle like this. Karl sat in the front and I volunteered to sit in the back. We made it about 1 kilometer down the road before the Bronco broke down for the first time. We started it up and moved 10 feet more before the engine shut off. We continued on like this about 20 times until we were able to pull behind a bus stop and park the vehicle. We were within walking distance of the marinaterra and knew we could take the bus back if the Bronco didn’t start up after the party.
The party was set up in the outdoor pool/bar area of a beautiful resort. There was a mariachi band playing by the pool and free wine being served. We helped ourselves to couple gl
asses of wine and checked out the scene. All of the people at the resort were older white people. Joel said the event was probably an attempt to lure people into staying at the resort since it was new and not many people came to it. There was a stage set up with a dozen chefs fully dressed with the big white hats and everything preparing shrimp. There were also cameras all over broadcasting the event on big screens and probably on cable television. As exciting as all this sounds, it wasn’t at all. We finished our glasses of wine and departed. As you can expect, when we returned to the Bronco it didn’t start. We walked into a nearby gas station to purchase a couple of beers to drink while we waited for the bus. The bus came after a few minutes and took us back to our rundown hotel. We went back to Joel’s to hang out, drink beers, and watch movies.
We stayed at Joel’s until about 9:00pm and then walked to the bar where his roommate, Andres, was working. The bar was set in a courtyard that had palm trees that were illuminated with lights. It was a really pretty set up. We met the owner and found all the workers sitting at a couple of tables, drinking beer and cocktails. Naturally, we joined them. Karl was addicted to margaritas at this point so that’s what he ordered and I ordered a draft of some type of local Mexican beer. It was dark brown in color and tasted really good. Karl and I talked to a woman that was originally from Tucson and was not working as a teacher outside of San Carlos. We talked to her about Tucson, San Carlos, scuba diving, and speaking Spanish. It was a really good conversation. Andres made a low key appearance here and there as he worked. I asked Andres where he was from and he said Guaymas. I told him that he talks different from most people and almost sounds like he has an accent. A later discussion with Joel revealed that he talks very low and doesn’t accentuate words like most Mexicans. He even talks low key- what a guy.
After a few failed attempts to drag Joel away from his conversations, everyone headed their own way and so did the three of us (Joel, Karl, and me). We walked to a bar called “Froggy’s” where, I noticed on my previous trip to San Carlos, most of the tourists hang out. Joel assured me that the crowd changes throughout the night and I will see that it is a cool place. We ordered a pitcher of beer and wrote our names down on the pool list while Joel wandered around the bar talking to everyone. The place was pretty crowded so it took Karl and I a few minutes before we were able to grab an empty table to sit down at. We began talking to some people at a table next to ours when I was told it was my turn at the pool table. I continued the conversation I was having until I couldn’t hold out any longer and was drug away to the pool table. I was going to have Karl play on my team but Joel said I waited too long and had to play with a Mexican guy. The Mexican spoke no English at all but I was able to communicate with him using my broken Spanish that had been developing more and more as the trip progressed. I didn’t shoot very well at first so the Mexican guy had to make most of the shots. I don’t remember the Mexican guy’s name but I do remember he was with his brother, Ricardo. I managed to pull myself together at the end of the game to make the final two shots to win the game. Ricardo’s brother screamed with excitement and ran over to congratulate me. We were now best friends. The next guy up was a heavy-set bald American guy that was wearing a really cheesy shirt that said “big dog.” He also acted arrogant so I instantly didn’t like him. I shook hands with him and conversed briefly but was not impressed at all with him. I joked with Ricardo’s brother about him and referred to him as “perro grande.” Ricardo’s brother thought this was the funniest thing he had ever heard. We annihilated Perro Grande and took no mercy on the next set of victims either. Ricardo’s brother and I were on a role. We continued on for what seemed like hours drinking beers, laughing, and destroying everyone that played us. Every once in a while, Karl would appear and fill my glass with beer or hand me a new bottle.
The bar was getting ready to close and Ricardo and his brother had to leave. They said goodbye and left me alone to find a new partner. I wanted to ask Karl to play but he was all the way across the bar talking to people so I was paired with an older girl in Perro Grande’s group of friends. She was as equally unimpressive as Perro Grande. She also sucked at pool and lost the game for us. It was probably a ploy of Perro Grande’s to come out the winner in the end so I let him have his day and returned to Karl and his new friends. We sat there and talked while the band played. At one point, the band started to play a song that I was familiar with and apparently, everyone in the bar was familiar with as well. The song was “Borracho y Loco” by an Argentinean band known as Enanitos Verdes. I didn’t know that Mexicans knew this song too and was overwhelmed with excitement. It was great to hear the band play the song while everyone in the bar, including me, sang along. The bar came to a close soon after the song was over and everybody was kicked out. Karl told me that Joel had left about an hour earlier so he and I began walking back to the hotel. We walked past a strip club called “Horse Black” and I told Karl that it was probably the only place that is still open. We decided it would be a good idea to go in and have one last drink. We refused to pay the 20 peso cover charge since it was so late and the bouncer agreed and let us in for free. There was a small Mexican guy with him that ran up to me and exclaimed that he knew me. He followed Karl and me into the club and sat down at our table going on about how he knew me. He tried to figure out how he knew me but never came up with a reasonable answer. We ordered a beer each and gave this guy, Louis, one too. Somewhere in the conversation, Louis talked Karl into buying me a lap dance. When the smoking hot Mexican girl grabbed me by the hand to lead me upstairs, there was no way I could refuse. It was late and I don’t think she was really feeling up to giving me a lap dance but she did a nice job anyhow. She led me back to the table and the three of us left soon after.
Louis followed us as we made our way back toward the hotel. He insisted on bringing girls to our hotel the next morning and asked how many we wanted. I decided to humor him and told him that I needed a minimum of 3 girls just for me. He laughed but took me seriously and told me how much it would cost. Then he went on bothering Karl about it. As we got close
r to our hotel, I became annoyed with Louis and didn’t want him knowing where we were staying. I told him in an angry but not violent way that he needed to forget about bring us whores in the morning and get the hell away from us. He went back to bother Karl and I snuck away down a side street. When I got to the hotel I realized that Karl had the key. Fortunately, I remembered the hole in the window where the room had been broken into before. I slid my hand through the glass and unlocked the window. I then easily managed to climb through the window, over the refrigerator, and landed safely in the room. I thought about going back out to save Karl but had no idea where he and Louis had trailed off so I fell onto the bed and slept.
Día Quatro: To Stay or Not To Stay
The next morning I woke up thinking about what might have happened to Karl since he was not in the bed next to mine. I brushed my teeth and lay in bed listening to music thinking of what may have happened. After an hour or so, I walked into the living room and found Karl sleeping on the spare bed. I asked him if he wanted to get breakfast and he said he did but was too tired to get up right away. I went on to Jax Snacks to have breakfast by myself. After breakfast, I walked across the street and walked on the beach for a short while before returning to the hotel.
I asked Karl what he and Louis did after I left. He said that he tried to ditch Louis a couple of times but Loius kept catching him and reeling him back in. He wandered around with Louis until they came to a house where Louis said he knew someone but the person wasn’t home so he and Louis slept on that person’s porch. He said he slept for about an hour, then woke up and left Louis asleep on the porch. Karl also mentioned that somewhere in the story, he found a cool cat that followed him around. I was real sad that I missed out on sleeping on a random person’s porch but didn’t feel it was the end of the world.
I had a slight headache and although Karl said he felt fine, he wasn’t moving around too fast either. We hung around the hotel for a while thinking of what to do with the day. We were supposed to meet up with a guy that worked at a scuba rental to go out on a boat for free but slept through the meeting time so that was out of the question. Karl realized he was out of money and hinted at going back to Tucson. We came up with a plan to go to the gas station to find out the bus schedule, get breakfast for Karl, and get more ice cream. We had a lady at the gas station call the bus station in Guaymas to find out when the bus left toward Tucson. She said there was only one bus that left at 9:00pm. I told Karl that it must be a mistake and that I was sure there would be another one before then. We went to a breakfast place that Joel had suggested we go to but Karl decided he wanted fish tacos instead. Karl ordered one taco de pescado and I ordered one taco de camarón to tide me over since I had already eaten. The tacos were breaded and deep-fried and Karl thought they were amazing so he ordered two more. After the tacos, we continued on with our schedule and got more ice cream and then returned to the hotel room to pack. We had already paid for another night so I started thinking that maybe I would stay another night while Karl went back. I told Karl this as we walked toward the bus stop but he persuaded me to come to Guaymas with him anyway to check out when the bus leaves. When the bus arrived, the driver got out and lifted the hood to show that the bus was no longer functioning. This was our third vehicle that ceased to work on our trip. What luck, we thought. The next bus that came was packed full of people so we had to stand the whole way to Guaymas. This only got worse as we continued to pull over to pick up more people. We were crammed at the back of the bus while more people filled in so I couldn’t see where we were going. I heard people start groaning and laughing as we slowed down to pick up more people. I looked out the window and saw no less than 20 people waiting at the bus stop! We were crammed in even tighter as all of these people loaded onto the bus. The Mexicans had a great sense of humor about the situation and laughed and joked the whole ride.
When we arrived in Guaymas, I didn’t remember where to get off the bus to find the bus station so we got off at a spot in the middle of the city. We asked a lady where we could find the bus terminal and followed her directions. Her directions were wrong so we walked over one more street and found the bus terminal. The bus station confirmed that there was just one bus at 9:00pm. We talked to an American, wearing a touristy Hermosillo hat that was working on a laptop in the bus terminal. He told us that we could take a bus to Hermosillo and find a bus there that would take us to Tucson before 9:00pm. We decided, instead, to take a bus back to San Carlos and wait for the 9:00pm bus. I told Karl that I would take the 9:00pm bus with him back to Tucson rather than stay in San Carlos.
We took the bus back to our hotel and went next door to see what Joel was up to. He was laying under a blanket on his couch watching a movie on television. He looked comfortable so we told him we were going to get tacos and we would be back to join him. We went next door to Checke’s stand and ordered a couple chicken tostados. The tostados were loaded with chicken, avocado, cabbage, some type of sauce, and feta cheese. They were outstanding. I ordered one more and Karl ordered 3 more! Checke only charged us 10 pesos for each tostado, which must have been a discount because he should have charged way more than that.
When we returned to Joel’s room, he was drinking a beer (of course) so I brought a few beers over with me to drink while we watched movies. We watched Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Forrest Gump until it was time to leave to catch our bus in Guaymas. Joel walked with us toward the bus stop so that he could stop in to the bar that Andres worked at so he could see what the plan for the night was. There was going to be a very big party at the bar and Joel was going to set up an area to paint portraits for people. Karl and I stopped in for a few minutes, then exchanged goodbyes with the people we knew and left for Guaymas. The bus on the way back to Guaymas was far less crowded than the first bus and we were able to sit in a seat. We arrived in Guaymas shortly before 8:00pm so we walked around and looked at the stores before going to the bus terminal. We 
paid for our bus tickets and then walked down the street to get tacos before the trip. I ordered a torta con jamon y queso which was a mistake. The sandwich was loaded with mayonnaise that dripped all over my hands and it tasted terrible. I knew I would be paying for this mistake later. As I forced down the sandwich, I watched as an old, drunken Mexican harassed Karl while he waited. It was entertaining to watch and I hoped the guy wouldn’t notice me. As we both got up to leave the drunk started rambling about us coming back to Guaymas and staying at his place. He then tried to give us a blessing or something as we tore free from his handshake and escaped to the bus terminal. The bus was late arriving but it was okay because this time we had seats to sit in!
Día Cinco: The Bus Ride Home
As the bus drove on through the night, the temperature began to fall. It began to get colder and colder as each hour passed. Just before we got to the border, we were stopped by the Mexican military and most people evacuated the bus. I didn’t feel like going out in the cold so I stayed on the bus and failed to wake up Karl, who was sleeping in the seat behind me. An armed soldier came on the bus and walked down the isle and stood above me. I was half asleep and didn’t know what was going on so I couldn’t understand what he was asking me. I asked him to speak slowly in Spanish, and then told him I didn’t speak Spanish. He said something about Tucson and I agreed that is where I was going. He walked past me and pointed at Karl. I told him he was a friend travelling with me. He tapped on Karl’s head. Karl pulled off the shirt that was covering his face and was surprised to wake up to an armed soldier standing over him. The soldier asked for his I.D. and then walked off the bus. Everyone boarded the bus again and we continued toward the border.
The temperature continued to drop as Karl and I shivered through the night to stay warm. We had to wait at the border for an hour or two as usual before entering the U.S. At one point we had to get off the bus to show identification to the border patrol and stand outside in the freezing cold while they inspected the bus. A few people were denied access and a few others had to show more identification. While this process went on, we boarded the bus again and shivered while we waited. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the bus started and we were on our way again. As the bus gained speed, the cold wind from outside leaked in through the windows and persisted in cooling the bus even further. We arrived in Tucson at 6:00am and were happy to shuffle into the bus station. The bus station felt like a furnace even though it was only 20 degrees warmer than the bus was. After several minutes we became miserable and cold again. It was Sunday so the city bus wouldn’t start running for a few more hours. I knew that Paul and Philippe woke up early on occasion so I called Paul’s phone to see if he was awake. He was sleeping, but still picked up the phone and said he would pick us up. I told him I was sorry for waking him and forced myself to politely tell him to take his time and pick us up whenever he is ready. He told me he would leave in a half hour. Karl and I watched Mexican MTV and giggled a little at some of the nonsense and bands that we saw as we waited. Eventually, Paul arrived to pick us up. The chariot he picked us up in was a comfortable 80 degrees inside and Paul went so far as to turn on the heated seats. It felt magnificent.
After arriving back to the house, Karl and I went to breakfast at a nearby diner called Bobo’s. We devoured eggs and potatoes and then Karl dropped me off at my house where I proceeded to curl up under several blankets and watch movies all day long.
