Tuesday 30 June

Tuesday Afternoon 1:14 local

I got up at 5:30 today and was at the bus station way to early (over an hour). I couldn’t charge my battery last night as my charger is 3 prong and none of the outlets in my room was 3 prong so I only have a minute to write. I thought about this when packing but forgot to pack it (what do those adaptors cost? $.50?).

After I posted last night went to a liquor store and bought a couple of beers for the hotel room. I stopped at a bar on the way back and had 1 also.

Right now I’m in Tepic. Got here about 35 minutes ago, found a comedor down the block and had a good lunch for 40P and am back at the bus station waiting. My bus leaves (supposedly) in 1 hour. Total price for today’s bus was 320P. I should have kept a running total of the prices of my bus and taxi fare.

Paid 50P last night and again this morning to get from the bus to my hotel and back.

My hotel was 285P last night.

Later my battery is about dead. Should be in PV around 6pm.

7:55 pm local time

Damn that time – they changed it on me, not sure where but it changed so I lost an hour. Got into PV at 5:50 my time 6:50 real time. Bought a ticket for Manzanillo which is about 5 or 6 hours away and then I will catch another bus hopefully to the next town. My ticket was 238P and my taxi was 100P

I got in the taxi and told him I wanted to go to the center and wanted a cheap hotel and cheap. He told me yadada: the essence was its expensive here and cheap is 500P. I told him that I was sure there were places that were cheaper. He brought me to a place with 3 hotels, 2 on one side and 1 on the other. He was skeptical and wanted to wait in case I didn’t like them – the place is fine (200P), actually it’s what I want. I went across the street (it’s where I am now) and had a great meal for a reasonable price. They actually make the salsa for you. The only problem is I’M NOT IN MEXICO. I thought if I came to the center I would be away from gringos. The only language I can here is English – the one waiter speaks Spanish to me. The menu is in English. How do I express my distaste?

Driving from the bus station to the center was quite a haul. There is not one good thing I can say about this place except the weather is pleasant. Why anyone would come here baffles the ever loving shit out of me (but to be fair, I'm the ultimate travel snob) – driving to the center I almost told the taxi driver to turn around so that I could catch the next bus out of here – but I was thirsty. I’m sure the beach is nice but….