Baja: The Experience - Day 1 - A Rough Start

2/18, “A Rough Start”

In Port, M/V Storm, Puerto Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, Mexico

As this dateline gives away, we have gotten off to a rough start.  It should have read “At sea…”, but our departure has been delayed due to a storm.  If we can leave port at first light tomorrow morning, everything will be in line with our original schedule.  If not, we may need to call an audible.  However, it was not just the storm that led to a rough start.  In fact, everything that led up us getting on board the boat was rough one way or another.

After I closed, took care of some stuff and then headed to the gate.  We soon boarded, and I was asleep almost as soon as we were in the air, I fell asleep.  Next thing I knew, we were landing at Benito Juarez.  With my recent Viajero Confiable enrollment, I was able to bypass the line at immigration, and I went to the familiar cigar store to buy more cigars.  I then saw the other store also had quite a selection of cigars, but I think the prices had increased a bit, and I didn’t want to buy any more than I already had.

I went to the customs check, and, it turned out I didn’t have a customs form.  Either the machine didn’t print it for me, or I didn’t take it.  I had to fill out a new form.  She asked if I had any cigars.  I told her that I had 40 cigars, thinking the limit was 50.  No, it was 25, it turned out.  I had to go another check, where they would count my cigars and impose a duty on them.  There were two stations, but both were in use, one by a a guy who was bringing back these odd commercial products, the other by a family with literally a dozen suitcases, all tightly packed.  I had time, so I waited, and waited.

Finally it was my turn.  She counted my cigars.  I had brought even more than I had thought.  I actually had 59.  That was a genuine mistake, as I had intended to bring 40 cigars, but I packed more than that.  She said the duty would be very high.  (How high, I wondered).  She asked if the cigars were expensive, and I said that they were not.  I learned that rather than charging per cigar, they impose a duty of 330% the cost of the cigars for excess cigars.  That was outrageous.  Fortunately, she only recorded the value of each cigar as about a tenth of what I paid for them, so the price was steep, but it only added 33% to the cost of each cigar.

I paid the duty and then went back to the customs check, where they had to search my bag again.  After that, I went through security again and headed to the Aeromexico lounge, only to find it was closed.  There was another lounge on the other side of the terminal, so I went there.  I got some coffee, pastries, fruit, and granola, which served as breakfast, before taking a nap.  I woke up every hour or so, and, each time, different people were sitting next to me.  Eventually, it was time to head to my gate, so I got one last coffee, and they had some mini quesadillas out, so I had three slices of those.

When I got to my gate, someone (old enough to be a grandfather of a young grandchild) was acting very drunk or otherwise misbehaving.  Either way, it was clear he was not in control of his actions.  I hoped that his behavior would not disrupt our flight.  I settled into my seat, and, next thing I knew, he literally crashed into the seat in front of me, breaking the glass of orange juice there.  He was made to disembark, and we had to wait while they found his suitcase.

We then took off, and I was wowed by the urban sprawl from the air of Mexico City.  I had coffee and whiskey during the flight, which they served with a bowl of nuts.  After my coffee, I had a severe allergy attack of some type.  All of the sudden, at the same time, my eyes and throat started itching, and my nose was stuffed.  It was quite a process to even make the symptoms manageable.  My eyes were visibly puffy.

When we landed, I made my way to the exit, where I found both Roberto and Scott about ten feet from each other.  Roberto immediately noticed my eye, so we decided we would need to stop to get Claritin for me.  Scott had a van take us to the boat and said he would meet us there.

It was a bit of a process to reunite, but, when he found us, he said that the port was closed for the day, and we would not be able to set sail until the morning.  We agreed to review the schedule at lunch, and he gave us a tour of the boat.  It was very small, and it had three cabins with bunks.  The galley connected the deck and the cabins.  We each took one cabin and settled in before lunch.

Fried fish with rice and beans, along with beer was lunch, and we looked at the schedule.  We figured that we could leave tomorrow morning and still be good on time to get back to shore Tuesday night.  If we had to leave past noon tomorrow, we would need to call an audible, and Roberto and I would instead begin our drive and come back here for the boat trip Wednesday to Saturday.  After lunch, we went to the upper deck for cigars, and I had an Oliva.  I then took a nap, as we had nothing better to do.

Once I was refreshed, and the rain had cleared up, I went outside to the deck, where I sat down, lit up my 2011 Christmas Pipe, and proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so that I can publish before dinner.  This is the pipe that I have smoked so many times before a great adventure began, especially on New Year’s Eve in Quebec and Port Lockroy and Hong Kong and Sydney, but also at Everest as the Nepal trip went underway.  The adventure that will follow this trip promises to be just as epic, assuming we can indeed set sail in the morning.