Well after Marco from Marco’s transmissions had spent two days going through my whole transmission he came to the conclusion that the transmission was not the problem. He said the problem was with the transfer case. I asked him what I should do. He told me to take the car back to San Diego. After a few repeated attempts with my poor Spanish I was able to get him to suggest another mechanic. The mechanic was Senor Moreno, and he was located in a town North of Constitution call Insurjentes. I was able to limp my car there just barely. I found Senor Moreno’s shop and told him the problem. He started work right away and started feeding me cervesas. This is Senor Moreno in the white shirt.

While I drank cervesa after cervesa with Senor Moreno, his two sons tore piece after piece from beneath my truck. Moreno would consult from time to time and keep me updated on the progress.

Well after four days of solid labor from four different mechanics this black ring was what caused all the problems. I really don’t know what the problem was with this ring. It was a little scratched up, but because of it my truck would not move. Overall the whole episode only cost me about $600 US dollars, for the tow, two days in a hotel, a transmission mechanic spending two days going through the transmission, and Senor Moreno and his sons spending two days fixing the transfer case. In America I would have been looking at $2000 dollars at least.

After four days dealing with mechanical problems I decided to head to the beach and wait for surf. I heard a large hurricane was on the way. While camping on the beach I met Dario. He is holding a fossilized Megaladon tooth that he found on a nearby mesa. A Megaladon is a giant shark, three times the size of a great white. This area of Baja is filled with amazing artifacts like this he told me.

While camping on the beach I partied with these guys one night. They are business and architectural students from Ciudad de Constitution. I snapped this picture right before I left the beach cause I could see the Hurricane was just across the bay heading my way. I wanted to head for higher land.

This is what a Hurricane looks like that is head right for you.

I snapped this photo just as the first wind hit. If you look closely you can see it just blew my table over, and it is starting to whip up a dust storm in the distance. I had just enough time to take down my awning, and cover my refrigerator and stove, grab the dog and jump into my truck before the rain started coming down.

I quickly fell into a deep sleep, and when I woke up, I had that feeling like I had no idea where I was or what time it was. The storm had cleared and left another spectacular Baja sunset.

With the Hurricane comes the hurricane surf, and it did not disappoint. There were double overhead clean barreling wave after wave. Well worth the wait.

Here is a detail of one of the waves. You can just make out the peck that is the surfer. Once again I was using the wrong lens for the job, but you can get the idea.

The road in was washed out by the hurricane, but Tyler from Santa Barbra still made. He drove his truck through 4 foot deep water that almost swept it away to be here for the waves.

Right now I am unsure what I want to do. I am in La Paz, and am thinking about taking the ferry to Mainland Mexico, or going to Todos Santos in Southern Baja. I have been invited to split an apartment there with another surfer for September. I am going to think about it.