Arthur - 4-26-2005 at 02:56 PM
I was hoping to fly down to San Felipe with the family (leaving the truck at home) to look at some property, but it ain't as easy as I expected.
That's probably all to the good in the long run if it slows other gringos down, but meanwhile it's ME that it's slowing down! I thought at least there
would be flights to Mexicali, but they're few and far between.
It turns out you can't fly direct from the Bay Area to Mexicali -- or even from LA. The best I've found so far is flying from Oakland to Palm Springs
via Phoenix -- then they expect you to drive from there, I guess. Supposedly you can fly to El Centro, and from there the drive in a rental car
wouldn't be bad (we'll try to forget about the cost of all of this for the moment), but I haven't found any flights. I'll keep pounding on the Web
when I get some more time, but meanwhile if anyone has worked this out I'd love to hear about it. I considered the Greyhound, but even if I could take
it, my family would not appreciate it.
bajalou - 4-26-2005 at 03:01 PM
There are flights to Imperial County Airport (El Centro) and Yuma from LAX. Then of course, rental car that's allowed to go in Mex. They do have
them.
tim40 - 4-26-2005 at 03:13 PM
All time considers (a-z) I would estimate that it may be fastest to fly in/our of San Diego. El Centro is ~2 hrs from SD Airport and with plane
change and all.....
Mike Supino - 4-26-2005 at 03:28 PM
How about a flight to San Diego or Orange County(SNA) and rent a car for the drive to San Felipe?
Or contact Capt. Mike for a shared expense trip?
bajalou - 4-26-2005 at 04:01 PM
San Diego is 2 hours farthur from San Felipe than El Centro so trade fly for drive????
wornout - 4-26-2005 at 08:03 PM
Contact RMAC and they will fly you to San Felipe, from the Bay Area, on Saturday, wine and dine you and then fly you back to the Bay Area on Sunday.
It is a DC3 with turbines, really screams, and so will you if you buy. Of course you don't have to buy but it is high pressure, they don't want
lookie-lus so don't tell them. RMAC is based in Marin County so it should be easy to find them there or on the internet.
Arthur - 4-26-2005 at 09:22 PM
Interesting idea. Not sure I want to put myself in their clutches, though.
Since I'm coming from the Bay Area, most options to El Centro involve a few plane changes. Right now the best option seems to be flying direct to San
Diego ($160 on United) and renting a car. It actually looks shorter from there to San Felipe than from Mexicali, and I could go through the Mexicali
East crossing on the way back. Hate to get a rental car, but that seems the best option, and I'll have something to drive around when I get to town.
tim40 - 4-26-2005 at 09:27 PM
If fast down is your desire...go across on the 8 and then down through Mexicalli
tim40 - 4-26-2005 at 09:29 PM
It will be at least, bare bones, 90 minutes faster...and most likely twice that
Arthur - 4-26-2005 at 09:34 PM
Well, I hate to say it, but in this case I would be interested in just covering the ground as fast as possible. So going through Ensenada and then
down 3 is clearly slower than crossing over to Mexicali and then down?
A few comments on the RMAC type trips...
Mexray - 4-27-2005 at 01:25 AM
My 18 yr old son, and I were stranded in Puerto Vallarta in 1992 (July) while we were crewing on a boat delivery to Hawaii.
We ran into an ex-pat in a store that told us about a 'free' Jeep rental for a day if we sat through a condo sales pitch - this guy wasn't a salesman,
but rather he got a small commission for sending suckers out the to condos. He was straight forward about the sales pitch...he said just don't let
them get to you - enjoy the food, sit through the sales pitch, look at the rooms and just tell them 'no thanks'...and since my wife wasn't with me,
I'd have to make up some story so they would 'qualify' me as a 'buyer'!
I've never had ANY desire to go on one of those junkets, but hey, we had the time to kill, liked the idea of a 'freebie' breakfast and the Jeep
rental...so the next morning, off we went to one of those big high-rise hotel/condo places north of town near the yacht harbor.
I had taken off my wedding ring, and told the Gringo salesman that I was recently 'single' and on a vacation with my son...Of course, the first thing
the salesman tells you, is that no matter what I decide - 'yes or no' - there will be no hard feelings, etc, etc...yeah, right!
We sat through all the BS, looked at the rooms, and actually did enjoy hearing about all the neat stuff PV has to offer we visitors...then we had the
sit-down 'hard sell' where he turns up the pressure to get you to sign...as I told him thanks, but no-thanks, the guy went 'ballistic' on me! He told
me I was taking advantage of all his hospitality, that I was just a fraud, etc, etc! When I reminded him of his opening statement about no hard
feelings, he almost turned 'blue' with anger! I then asked him for the Jeep rental voucher, and he almost started foaming at the mouth...he was a
real hard loser! He almost threw the voucher in my face, a real 'sweet' kinda guy that just didn't like losing a sale - my first experience with a
real, live 'ugly' American.
Now for the 'fun' part of the story...we went to the 'Jeep Rental' place down some PV back alley. They actually had two 'Jeeps' in the place - junk
and junkier! We could only laugh. They were old CJ's, beat to crap, two wheel drive, with no tops - and this was the rainy season (July)! We took
the one with the fewest cracks in the windshield, and off we went!
As we drove away, I though for a minute we were working for mosquito abatement dept. for all the smoke out the back. At out first stop, I pried open
the hood to make sure there was some oil left in the engine to burn. Of course, the care given the engine was on par with the rest of the vehicle -
NO air cleaner, taped radiator hoses, oil fill cap missing...a real 'jewel', but, hey, it was a 'freebie'...
We collected a couple of our boat crew buddies and drove the wheels off that poor old Jeep! We went south of town up to Chico's Paradise where Arnold
filmed the original Predator movie - it was raining, and we slid around that muddy road on the way up and back!
We then drove way north of PV out to Punta Mita and found a great coral sand beach called Playa Pontoque. There was a small family-run palapa
restaurant there and we drank icy Pacifico's in the afternoon sun...side note: My wife & I went to PV a few years ago, and I took here out there
to show her this great beach - and the access rode through the jungle-like growth was gated closed. As we hopped the fence to hike down to the beach,
a Policia pick-up drove down the dirt road behind us...Yikes! As we told them we just wanted to see the beach, they said 'no problemo' and offer us a
ride in the back of the truck! When we got the beach, I was surprised to find that all traces of the palapa restaurant were gone! The place was just
a bare beach and just as beautiful as I had remembered it years before.
Anyway, I'll sure never sit through one of those sales junkets AGAIN, but that one time in Puerto Vallarta was worth it for all the adventure it led
us into!
Arthur - 4-27-2005 at 08:04 AM
Great story, and well told! And great memories for your son. I'm about ready to give my 12-year-old a taste of life down there.
It's just as well that old CJ didn't strand you somewhere.