Originally I planned on going to NABX this spring. But my employer had other plans... I had heard about another spot to buggy through the NAPKRA.

So the wife and I made plans for the weekend after nabx... and went to La Pesca, Mexico.

First day we got there I understood the meaning of Playa Dust. A strong and gusty North wind was coming strait off the dry laguna. You could barely see down the block as the dust coating everything with a fine powder. So we checked into a hotel, relaxed and went out to dinner.


Next mornng the sun was coming up as I walked by the picnic table at the hotel. I'm an early bird most of the time, so I grabbed the buggy...


Wind was very light that early, but was comfortable in a pair of shorts and t-shirt. Put up an 8m foil and went for a ride.


Early in the day, before the sun comes out and really dries things out, you'd think I'd realize the darker areas were still wet... but found it a blast to go from a smooth dried fairly hard surface you can really get moving on, to a flat smooth muddy area..


Sunday afternoon we went to the beach for a while. It's a couple miles from the hotel.


WInd started to get really strong again, so I grabbed a 10m Scorpion and played around in the waves kiteboarding. Wind was straight down the beach that day, so did'nt stay out long before the wife and I went back to the hotel to buggy.

I rigged up the tandem hitch, strapped down a couple of kites on my "luggage rack" and put a tow strap on my bug. Didn't want to drive out on the sand of the dried laguna, even though it really did feel safe. It's maybe two blocks to walk, cross the road.. and then just go a safe distance from the road to launch your kite. Winds were dead up wind again. Looks like a normal wind is a perfect reach... but there was plenty of room to tack our way upwind a bit. The farther you go, the wider it gets, so the next thing you know our tacks could be counted in minutes or miles.... Seems the surface got much better farther out as well. Somewhat soft in some areas, a little bumpy in other areas that the water was last at... and miles of super hard pack as well.

Even with upwind runs towing a passenger, we were in the low 20mph's with a 10m Scorpion an I was wishing for a bigger kite, just having too much fun to stop and change it out. I never took the gps on my solo runs, but this place will have ya feeling the need for speed.


Went for a seafood dinner at a restaraunt by the beach, and to collect a few seashells before dark.


Did't get to buggy as much as I wanted... had a flat tire that moring. Walked the buggy the two blocks to the hotel and took off the tire. Bought a bag of freshly boiled shrimp from a local shop, and wife and I sat by the river and made some shrimp taco's. You could find sit down restaraunts, or walk up taqueria's. Asked about getting a tire fixed... turns out to be at the edge of the dried laguna, near where I had first started. Fifty pesos (5$) and a few minutes later, the bug was back in action. The dried laguna goes for about thirty miles and is several miles wide at some spots with green islands in the sand. Fantastic buggy surface. I was using wide tires on a flexi, and wife has narrow PL tires. Bigfoots would be best just in case of soft spots, but you can get cruising either way.

If your not looking for high end luxery, but somewhere full of local color and flare, combined with excellant buggying and kiteboarding... this is the place. Everyone was friendly, even with our limited spanish we always managed to find what we were looking for. English speakers were few and far between, and we were the only obvious Americans in the entire town. We drove through lots of military checkpoints, with the soldiers standing there with their machine guns. Only had one spot that was searching everyone, and it was only a matter of minutes to get through. It just added to the adventure, and we were incredilbly comfortable and felt safe and secure the entire time. We will definetly be returning...

It was a 1200 mile round trip from Houston.

La Pesca was first made famous thirty years ago in Don Starkell's book Paddle to the Amazon. His description of the laguana made it sound like an excellent place to kite buggy. Unfortunately he was trying to paddle a canoe down it. The booS-P-A-M-L-I-N-K-s description of the Mexican gulf coast from Texas to La Pesca suggest that whole coast would be an excellent buggy trip.
Starkley's book is an amazing tale of how he and his sons canoe from Winnipeg Manitoba to Belem Brazil at the mouth or the Amazon, a distance of 12,000 miles. A highly recommended read, if you like really extreme (i.e insane) sports.

Scudley

Never read the book... but he was on the money. If you go at the right times of year, you can easily make 20+ miles on a single run. We plan on exploring more of the area, as it is closer than the dry lakes, cheaper, and we found the people that lived there to be quite friendly and helpful. Just know that they don't speak English and they don't take dollars... but with some limited spanish and a positive attitude a fantastic time will be had by everyone who ventures into the area. I've never made it to the dry lakes, but the flats at La Pesca were incredible... best buggying site to date for me. Plus the beach is right there... I love the coastal air and breezes. Being able to park a kite at 10 o'clock and grab a beer... never moving the kite the whole time... life is good

Our plans to go back in June did not work out. Got rained out, and the playa was under a couple cm of water. This area will begin development soon. Complete with a airport, condo's, golf course and a Marina. So the clock is ticking on being able to enjoy it for it's natural beauty.

For me and the wife... it's pure economics. From Houston it is a lot cheaper to drive far into Mexico and enjoy the many spots it offers, than to make a road trip to NABX (round trip to La Pesca is the same as one way to Nabx). Helps that the Mexican Govt subsidizes gas prices along with holding food and other commodities at low rates.

La Pesca in early 2009 (Early March is the current plan) is in the works. Figure we'll take the same amount of time off it would take to go to the dessert and back. Hit the huge flats at La Pesca for a day or two, then wander a few hours farther south to Tamiahua and enjoy the shellfish capitol of Mexico. Huge freshwater lagoon, barrier islands and coastal buggying. The best of both worlds... fresh and salt water foods. From what I hear, in the right wind direction coastal runs of almost 20km+ are possible there. Not to mention that it is very very very reasonably priced.

Then stop back at La Pesca on the way back for a day or two... The flats there are incredibly impressive for buggying.

¿quiera ir? (Want to go?)

By all means... join in at the bigger events near you if you can. If you can't ... wander off and find your own that fits your need. "Shot car" racing with other buggiers would be great, but when you can't make it... hooking a tuna and catching a tan seem to be the next best thing. Not to mention buggying for miles and miles and miles....