About a billion years ago, the first multicellular life existed on our little blue dot. I can understand the unit of measurement known as a ‘billion’ in a mathematical way, but it boggles my mind when speaking of it in terms of years. I suppose that’s because we humans think about years mostly in terms of, or relative to, human history and individuals’ lives. It’s not until you talk about science that you have to consider years beyond the existence of human ones, and the Earth’s geological time is beyond massive. Anyways, it took another 6 or 7 million years for something besides a plant to finally crawl out of the ocean and exist on land. To put that in perspective, modern humans have been around for a mere 200 thousand years. So, for 6.5 million years things have been evolving in the ocean. 6.5 million years of things with sharp teeth, stingers and the ability to breath underwater. (more…)
Mexico
Mexico
Two Months on the Road and Counting!!
We’ve been on the road for two months now. It’s amazing how things have transitioned and progressed in that time. We’re masters of living in a van and quite accomplished at stealth camping. The money we save translates directly to more fun, amazing food, and cold cervezas (still my favorite Spanish word to-date – especially as it gets hotter and hotter the further south we get)! And did I mention the amazing food?!?! It is unbelievably good! Every time we get a giant bowl of ceviche on the side of the road, buy some fish right off the beach from a fisherman, or more recently, take a stroll through the bustling mercado, it seems to get better and somehow, even cheaper! More on the mercado later… (more…)
Hey There Little Guy and Despite What You Might Have Heard, We’re Not in a Mexican Prison for Drug Trafficking!
Having escaped the sand trap and bailed on our plans for The Wall we head for the Baja Sur, the Southern half of the Peninsula. After another military checkpoint (nothing makes us feel safer than 16 year olds with machine guns by the way) we come upon a gigantic Mexican flag, a military base, and an official crossing into the Baja Sur. Here we are stopped and asked if we have any produce or plants on board. We say no despite the Christmas Tree in plain sight by the dash, pay the 20 pesos to have the bottom of our van sprayed with something, and we’re on our way. (more…)
Wetsuits Really Seal in the Flavor and Don’t Leave Your Rocks in the Road!
Well, quite a lot has happened since we last posted. We have transformed from American climbing dirt bags to Baja surf bums. Christmas has passed as well as the New Year and our first border crossing! We’re in it now, that much is for sure. Let’s see if I can get the blog up to speed from this blazing fast ~400 kbps connection! After we left Vegas we went to Joshua Tree for some climbing and visited Niccole’s brother Kyle and his wife Chantelle. Kyle is stationed at the 29 Palms Marine Base right outside of Joshua Tree so we spent about a week or so out there in the desert climbing and hanging out with them on the Marine base. (more…)