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Follow The Wind: Traveling in a Westfalia Vanagon from California to Chile

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Follow The Wind: Traveling in a Westfalia Vanagon from California to Chile

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Stateside

April 24, 2014 Cameron Belscher
Bringing our belongings over to Dani's for temporary storage. 

Bringing our belongings over to Dani's for temporary storage. 

With the Dolphin getting ditched, Jacqui and I had no choice but to start pulling everything out of her. Luckily our local friend Dani was offering his shop to store the Dolphin, and his house to store our belongings until we could return to tie up all our loose ends. With Easter weekend upon us, quite a large thing in Mexico I might add, we definitely had plenty of distractions while packing up.

Easter weekend transforms the beach

On the left a mango tree. On the right the only three headed palm tree in the world. Stone Island really is a special place.

We told Dani we wanted to sell the Dolphin, which immediately set off a wildfire. Word spreads quick on the Island, so people began coming around interested in buying our home. Unfortunately, with a tourist permit on the windshield, we were never going to legally sell her as a running vehicle in Mexico. The best we could hope to do is sell off the engine, transmission and tires, then accept I would never be able to bring another vehicle to Mexico. In other words, the next car is going in Jacqui’s name. This is when we started getting unusual temptations.

A Mexican fellow that showed up in Tres Amigos for the Easter weekend had a particular interest in our Dolphin. He looked it over, held his chin, stared pensively, talked with his wife, and worked all the gears in his head to find a solution to purchasing our little Dolphin. Finally he pitched his offer. He knew he couldn’t legally be driving any vehicle with a tourist permit, assuming our old girl was even drivable, so he asked us to follow him back to Chihuahua. I told him that’d be impossible; the Dolphin would blow another differential before we got out of town.

He had his plan for that too. He wanted us to follow him, and when the Dolphin blew the rear end, he was going to tie us to the back of his RV, and pull us the rest of the way. When we arrived he’d pay us $1500 for her, then he “knew a guy” who would make the tourist permit go away for $280. Well, Jacqui and I had to say no thanks to that one. Driving that close to Juarez in the hope that this guy was some honest Joe, simply happy to pay us our money, clear our record, and send us on our way, wasn’t something we planned to bet upon this day. We’ve had enough bad luck without gambling our lives.

So we parked our Dolphin at Dani’s shop and asked him to hold off on any deals until we thoroughly explored legally expunging the Dolphin from my record. Surely we weren’t the first tourists to have a totaled vehicle that couldn’t be driven out of the country. After a quick trip into Mazatlan to get some bus tickets, we said goodbye’s to our local friends on the island. We had a farewell breakfast with John and Debra, the last two remaining Tres Amigos tenants, before making our way to the bus.

Giving Jacqui the are-you-going-to-help-me-or-just-take-a-photo face.

All our belongings packed up.

All our belongings packed up.

I have to say the Mexican busses are pretty nice. There were no more tickets left for the premium bus, but even the basic had plenty of room, played lots of Spanish dubbed movies, and had poor quality WiFi! However, a bit of advice from someone who has completed the 26.5 hour bus ride from Mazatlan to Tijuana, pack some food! There were a few snack stands and street venders around for the four or five military checkpoints, but other than that, they only made one food stop during the entire journey, and that was an hour before we arrived in Tijuana. Needless to say, Jacqui and I ferociously consumed the tacos at that stop. I think I may have stopped eating for air at least once.

Finally arriving in Tijuana, Jacqui and I did something we never expected to do when embarking on this journey; we walked across the border. After several hours of Southern California public transportation, we finally arrived at the home of Jacqui’s cousin. Here, with our greasy road-weary selves, lacking even the use of a toothbrush for over a day and a half, we had one of the best encounters with a shower and bed of this trip.

Waiting in line at the Tijuana border

Double the intensity 

Riding on the bus just to hop on a new transport.

So now the hunt is on. We’ve been in the San Diego area for a few days exploring the local Westfalias. Unfortunately, nothing has worked out in our favor yet. We had our hearts set on a particularly beautiful burnt orange Westy, but after getting it inspected by the local VW specialists, found that it needed some serious engine work. This came as a surprise to us and the owner of that little Westy.

Going to the VW mechanic for an inspection. A quick look in the parking lot told us we came to the right guys.

Test driving a Westfalia

Getting a Westy checked out. We really loved this one but the motor was toast and all my tools are in Mazatlan.

I can’t really say where we’re headed next. We’re exhausting all resources to scour Westys in the area, and are ready to fly to another state for the right rig. However, patience, my least favorite thing in the world, is what we have to exercise right now.

Stepping back into the United States after months in Mexico is quite the culture shock. Suddenly it’s strange to say good day to a random passerby. Jacqui and I can get a couple burgers and beers for $40; an amount that would have fed us six meals with drinks in Mazatlan. There are no dogs running in the streets, all the landscapes are beautifully manicured, and the buildings of the restaurants look as processed as the food they serve.

Don’t let me mislead you to thinking I’m looking negatively upon the U.S. just because I spent a few months in Mexico. It’s simply that after taking a step out and exploring the life of another place, it’s easy to imagine pulling the good traits of both countries together to build your own little utopia. 

Hanging out in San diego while searching for a Westy.

In Stateside Westy Hunt Tags San Diego, Tijuana, Bus Travel, Crossing Boarders, Search for Westfalia, Mazatlan
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    • Feb 18, 2016 From Freezing to Overeating
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    • Jul 19, 2015 The hour is upon us
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    • Jun 23, 2015 The Texas Greeting
    • Jun 14, 2015 Plans, plans, plans
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    • May 21, 2015 Chasing the Dream
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    • Apr 27, 2015 Water, border from hell and more water
    • Apr 22, 2015 Hugging the Border
    • Apr 21, 2015 Captain to Housewife
    • Apr 6, 2015 Overlander Oasis
  • March 2015
    • Mar 22, 2015 From the mountains to the hunt
    • Mar 12, 2015 Reaching new heights
    • Mar 11, 2015 Let it all out
    • Mar 8, 2015 Rollercoaster
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    • Feb 28, 2015 A new route
    • Feb 24, 2015 Changing Scenery
    • Feb 20, 2015 Pre-flight gut check
    • Feb 19, 2015 Separating Stories
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    • Jan 31, 2015 Lord of the Wind
    • Jan 26, 2015 Operation: Kite School
    • Jan 22, 2015 Operation: Tour Guides Part 2
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    • Jan 4, 2015 Making the Southbound rounds
  • December 2014
    • Dec 21, 2014 On the road again
    • Dec 3, 2014 Trial by fire
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    • Oct 23, 2014 Descend on Bend
    • Oct 17, 2014 Projects, projects, projects!
  • September 2014
    • Sep 29, 2014 9 Weeks Left!
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    • Jul 2, 2014 Unusual living Spaces
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    • Jun 11, 2014 Westy gets some major upgrades
    • Jun 3, 2014 Eye surgery round 2
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    • May 28, 2014 California Tourists
    • May 20, 2014 True testy of the Westy
    • May 12, 2014 Bomb run to Mazatlan
    • May 4, 2014 New home!
  • April 2014
    • Apr 24, 2014 Stateside
    • Apr 17, 2014 Ditching the Dolphin
    • Apr 12, 2014 Guess where we are!
    • Apr 8, 2014 Dolphin completion and an ode to Stone Island
    • Apr 4, 2014 Right boat, right time
    • Apr 1, 2014 The first drive!
  • March 2014
    • Mar 29, 2014 Stuck at 90% load
    • Mar 21, 2014 Dolphin hits the home stretch
    • Mar 16, 2014 Demon Spider of Tres Amigos
    • Mar 10, 2014 A pinch of progress
    • Mar 9, 2014 Hope for the Dolphin
    • Mar 7, 2014 Destruction of the Dolphin
    • Mar 6, 2014 Mazatlan y Carnaval
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    • Feb 24, 2014 Ferry outta here!
    • Feb 20, 2014 WHALE SHARKS!!!
    • Feb 15, 2014 I would like the bike a little more drunk please
    • Feb 1, 2014 Selecting our Dolphin
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    • Jan 20, 2014 Arriving in La Ventana
    • Jan 16, 2014 Day 1: Crossing the border
  • December 2013
    • Dec 20, 2013 Stay tuned!

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View fullsize Six years ago today we departed on what was supposed to be a one year road trip 😆
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Posted @withrepost @otgcamper
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6 years ago today Jacqui and I (Cameron) sold everything and hit the road for the first time. We had one goal, drive as far
View fullsize It’s officially been one month since Rocket joined our nomadic family! 🚀 🚌
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It’s almost funny to think we spent so much time worrying if bringing a cat into our crazy nomad life would be a good decision or not. Would a cat enjoy b
View fullsize We’ve followed the wind north to Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, as you can tell by the smiles on our faces we’re happy to be here!
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🇨🇦🏄‍♀️🏄💨
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#kiteboarding #fulltimervers #rvlife #kiting #kitesurfing #digitalnomad #a
View fullsize No one naps like this guy... I guess they call it a cat nap for a reason 💤💙
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#adventurecat #catsofinstagram #roamingrocket #rvcat #fulltimerv #kitten #snoozefest
View fullsize Took Rocket out for his first hike in his new @kurgo pet backpack.
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We’ve been leaving it open in the RV and taking him for little walks around with it closed up to get him comfortable.
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This hike was the first time we left the top
View fullsize Pretty sure that Rocket is either contemplating the massive road trip he’s about to take, or working on his blue steel. 🐈 •
Photo by @jacquienfuego 
Kitty is @roamingrocket •
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#adventurcat #ki