DAY 7 (cont’d): Ain’t that the truth! Moments after I posted the last blog I leaned forward over the netbook… zigging when I should have zagged and causing one of my discs to do a wee ‘tweak’. Just a wee one, nothing too serious… but ouchey enough to slow me down a tad. Those of you with ‘tweakable’ backs know what I mean. You also know that the show must go on, particularly when you’re in the middle of an uphill/northbound road trip home after the sailing adventure we’ve had. We are on our way home… and home we must be going. Funny; the closer we get, the faster I want to go; and after more than 2000 nautical miles without even a ‘hitch’ I’m not complaining about my back…ever. However, that was just how the day that wasn’t a 10 began… it got worse :-)
We left our wonderful, garden oasis and hit the road again, heading north towards Ensenada. The drive wasn’t bad… much the same as the days before, with narrow lanes, crazy drivers, pot-holes, low or no guard rails, high cliffs and low valleys… and dust, lots of dust. But we weren’t worried, after all we were headed to the lush Valle de Guadalupe and to a dog-friendly hotel with great reviews, a lovely setting, and a reservation. After only two military checks (both were painless) we drove through Ensenada (missed a couple of turns, but found our way out the other side without too much stress) and linked up with the highway that would take us into wine country. The scenery around us began to green up as we continued north and it was really nice to finally see some wooded hills and fertile fields…. Then, not far along the ‘Rue de Vin’… we spotted our destination, the Hotel Fatima, on the right side of the road. Even at first glance, things didn’t look quite right… at least not as nice as the pictures on the internet. Parking on the dirt lot and walking up the weed infested, dusty and uneven stone entrance path, we couldn’t help but notice the rows of rough wooden doors lining each side. I kept expecting one to creak open on a rusty hinge and expose some poor dead cowboy wasting away inside. An old rusty triangle, swinging in the breeze wouldn’t have been out of place. And there was absolutely no sign of anyone, not even a caretaker, until we were actually at the dark, front door… at least it looked kind of like a front door… at least it was in the middle of the wall. Anyway, a young Mexican fellow (name unknown as I couldn’t understand what he said) met us and indicated he was in charge. I asked him about the owners (Doug and Sue Robinson according to the internet) and he agreed they were still around…at least he pointed to their photograph enclosed in a glass counter.. hmmm. Then I did my best to explain to him that we had reservations, that we were a day early, and that I was wondering if he could fit us in (I know that sounds a little funny considering there was absolutely no signs of life in the place except us). Well, it gets worse. He looked quite blank and didn’t understand what I was saying and then I noticed he had the hotel register under his hands… so I pointed to it and we began to communicate with international gringo sign language. It didn’t take long to figure out there was absolutely no one staying at the place, and there was no notation of our reservation at all, not anywhere. At this point he decided to show us a room and did so. It was room #7, the door creaked open just as I’d suspected it would… and the inside was no cleaner than the outside. To make matters worse three earwigs scuttled across the floor as we stepped in and I was afraid to look any further in case there were other, larger creatures lurking about. Suffice to say we made our exit quite quickly… making idle promises about “maybe later…”. As we drove out of the parking lot, senor ‘desk clerk’ could be seen sweeping out room #7. He may still be waiting for us…
Feeling lucky to have escaped this rather unfortunate turn of events, we carried on along the wine route with me casting my tired old eyes left and right looking for signs of a beautiful, dog-friendly, lush by the riverside, with bird-filled gardens and a heated pool… kind of a place.. you know.. the ones with free wine-tasting as well as B&B… Kathy, bless her heart, delved deeply into the tombs of data available via the internet and our pamphlets… seeking furiously anything that might house us for the night. We found a place; right on the highway but up a hill and surrounded by vineyards. It looked quite nice. Turns out, after negotiating a deeply creviced and rutted uphill drive, we discovered both the restaurant and the B&B hotel were closed. At least we were able to turn around and didn’t have to back down the hill :-) We carried on…. or rather we back-tracked to a place we’d passed earlier that was described in the books as “basic but clean”.
The Posada Inn actually has a swimming pool, looks kind of nice, and has a restaurant next door. We pulled in and asked a staff member if they had room for us and if they took dogs. Quick answer: “yes” they had room, “no” dogs not allowed. Turns out neither of us were above begging and with a little friendly chatting we were able to gain permission for PS to join us in our room. The manager did, however, give us the oldest room in the place and even PS wasn’t too impressed with it. The room was ok. It was clean but it was.. well, it was dowdey. Enough said. It had a bed (which wasn’t too hard) a TV (that didn’t work) a door (with a lock that didn’t, really) and neighbours. Turns out the walls were thinner than paper and even tho’ we tried to pass the time by sleeping… the noise of the jake brakes of the semi’s roaring down the highway about 3’ from our pillows and the ‘romancing’ going on next door was enough to curl your toes. By about 0500 we’d had all, of both, we could take… gave up trying to sleep, got up, fed the dog, packed the van…. and abandoned all thoughts of wine country tours. Instead we pointed our noses north and headed off to take on the authorities at the Tecate border crossing. It was time to head for home.
DAY 8 Wednesday, April 18th: We left early (as you heard above) and were at the border crossing by approximately 0800. A short chat with the guard on duty and we were through the border and heading for breakfast. Thank goodness… no unloading of van, no lengthy enquiry as to our trip… just some pleasantries and a few questions, a light ‘stirring’ of the top layer of stuff at the back of the van… and we were on our way. We had a great breakfast at Denny’s (first North American breakfast for months) and then washed the van and headed for our hotel. We’re here now, at the Vagabond Inn, Point Loma. We hadn’t planned on being here for another two days but, you know, sometimes you just have to put on your flexible cape and go with the wind… and the wind drove us north. We’re glad to be here… have a couple of extra days to relax and do laundry and stuff. Susan and George are coming to share some time with us on the 21st and 22nd and then we’ll head north.
Guess that’s all for now. We’re well; we’re safe; and we’re in San Diego, USA. Hope all is well with all of you. Later… CJ
