Captive in Cabo

Boats in the Marina, Cabo San Lucas, Baja Sur.

As anyone who travels a lot by vehicle knows, especially those of us who travel in older, well-traveled vehicles, sometimes things don't go as planned.  Well, I had planned on traveling down to Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of the Baja, maybe spend a couple of nights in a small hotel (there is really no camping in Cabo), check out the scene, then move on.  Well, unfortunately, I have already been in Cabo a week, and I still do not know for sure when I will be able to leave.  You see, my van is in the shop, bearings went bad in the differential, and while this is a pain, and potentially expensive, the real problem has been getting the parts.  The "problem" began on the run down to La Paz, or at least that is when I thought that I might have to have my van checked out.  I had started to hear a little more noise while driving than I am used to hearing, and as I have spent many hours driving in my van, I am pretty tuned in.  I left La Paz, and headed to La Ventana, and again, I heard more noise coming from the rear end than I was used to hearing, and while the van was running great, there obviously was a potential issue.  I had chatted a couple of times with a Canadian and his wife, folks in the Sprinter/Winnebago I first met at Playa Santispac.  We talked about maintenance issues with the Sprinter, and he definitely seemed to know more about them than I did.  Anyway, he said that if I needed anything checked out that I should go to Camiones Vence in Cabo, they work on lots of Sprinters.  So, after leaving La Ventana, I spent one night in Todos Santos, great little town, pretty beat campground, before getting to Cabo.  I dropped off my van, struggled to communicate as nobody really spoke any English, and again, my Spanish is bad, then left them to diagnose the problem.  I hopped on my bike and road down into the center of Cabo, checked out some hotels, explored a bit, and gave them time to figure out what might be causing the noise (which by the way was really just a humming, or whining, especially evident when climbing).  I got back around 4:30 pm, and they first gave me the bad news, then more news to make the initial bad news even worse.  First, they said the bearings in my differential were bad, and needed to be replaced.  At least it wasn't my transmission, something I tend to worry more about.  The estimated cost, $16,000 pesos (or about $840US, depending on the exchange rate).  That was not good news, and then they told me it would take one to two weeks to get the park.  Again, talk about making bad news even worse.  It was already going to cost me a bunch to get the differential fixed, but then I would also have to stay in a hotel, in Cabo, for up to two weeks.  I was bummed.  But what could I do, except try and make the best of it.  I had found a great little hotel, the Cabo Inn, eclectic little place, more like a motel with small rooms all off of a central, open-area courtyard-like areas, with a table, small kitchen, even a large flat-screen TV.  The place is colorful, with lots of plants, everywhere, and even a roof-top deck and sitting area.  The Cabo Inn would become my "home", at least for the immediate future.  So, I became a captive, stuck in Cabo for who knows how long.  I guess there are much worse places to be stuck, especially in the Baja, so guess I should consider myself lucky.  Oh, and did I mention, the first of three weeks of college Spring Breakers visiting began this week, which adds a whole interesting dynamic to life in Cabo, which I think is a pretty crazy place to begin with.
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Van waiting for parts, Cabo San Lucas, Baja Sur.