Around The World In 80 Waves

As soon as I leave Mazatlan in the midday sun, the bug is not happy with me. I think I may have ragged it too hard in the morning. I pull in and check all the levels for oil, water, etc and all are good it is just f-ing hot.

A trick I learned in the Sahara desert is to leave your internal heaters on full as you drive, because this takes heat away from the engine. However the downside is that the bug is now a mobile sauna, in which the milk I bought at the start of the day is practically cheee by the end of it! I also cannot go fast because any strain on the engine and I have to pull in again to some shade to let it calm down for half an hour.

All the ground I made up in the morning is lost but I do roll into the small fishing village of San Blas just as the sun is going down. A quick check in my rough guide to Mexico and I spot Stoner’s Surf Camp,  which is named after Ray Stoner who founded it rather than because of the obvious drug taking conclusion I am sure many will have already jumped to. I get this most basic bed in a shack right on the sand for 200 pesos and then have a great night drinking with Pompis who runs the place and is a former champion surfer in Mexico, and Joe who is a surfer from Newport Beach in California who spends half his life in the warm water here.