Before we left on this adventure, Todd was trying to think of pretty much everything that we might need for this trip. We have A LOT of extra parts like water pumps, two sewer hoses, other hoses, clamps, wires, you name it, we got it!. You all knew, we blew an alternator belt on the way back from Cabo Pulmo snorkel and we managed to have just enough battery power to get us home (42 km). But on our last night in Los Barriles (which I am officially declaring as my FAVOURITE PLACE in Baja!), we wanted to patronage the local bar (where we had too much tequila about 4 nights before and I made Todd pay for the mariachi band to sing me a happy song! – here’s that video: mariachi band)   Anyway, while we were at the pub that night, one of the other customer’s ordered too much food and offered us her Jalapeno Poppers to try (jalapeno, wrapped in bacon , with goodness on the inside) off her plate – we were happy to oblige, in our tequila stupor. OMFG! This was THE best poppers we had ever eaten, and so we knew we would go back on a different day and order our own plate of this amazingness. After the crazy Cabo Pulmo snorkel, this was the day we were going to the local pubbery and you will be glad to know that the Poppers DID NOT disappoint!

THE BEST POPPER EVER!!

We were moving the next day, into the Cabo area and weren’t entirely sure where to squat, we had a bit of an idea on an area, but there isn’t really much for boondocking in the Cabo area – probably due to populated beaches, hotels on the beaches and rich white Americans who don’t want to see RV’ers! About 6 days prior, we took a quick day trip in to Cabo, to go to Costco and assess the city for possible squatting locations – we didn’t want to be “in” the city, since its such a party town, so much insanity, chances of banditoes, or anything else really, we didn’t want to take a chance of just parking Ruby on any side street. Anyway, during the trek to Cabo on move day, we pit-stopped on the main highway at Expresso Autopartes to pickup an alternator belt – luckily we found bus and toad parking (a toad, in the RV world, is your tow vehicle) just down the street from the shop, phew. We drove through San Jose del Cabo hotel district and out of town a few KMs to find a place to pull over and detached Cindy, so Todd could assess/install the alternator belt. This is when he realized the entire alternator was seized! EEK. Now we needed to go back into town and buy an alternator. The alternator (which he removed entirely) is also used for power steering (which he also removed so he could get the alternator out). Todd wanted to bring the seized one with us, so he could compare it to the new one we were going to buy, to make sure it was the right one. We charged Cindy’s battery up using the portable generator, with 10 amp booster cables. But Todd decided that we needed to take the generator and booster cables with us, just in case we ran out of battery power…..so we strapped it in to Cindy’s truck, sticking out. We looked awesome! Cindy had no power steering, no air conditioning, and at one point there was nothing lit up on the dash (like the odometer, clock, check engine light, etc). Made it with no problemo to Expresso Autopartes (which they actually had in stock, shocking as honda’s don’t seem to be very prevalent here!). Got the alternator and when we went to start the car in the parking lot, nope, battery dead. Luckily with a standard, you can jump start it if you can get it moving/rolling. So wifey pushed Cindy down the parking lot hill, and she started like a dream. Enroute to grocery store though she just stopped working (in the middle of rush hour on a double/triple lane highway). Pulled over on to the side of the sidewalk (and the word “sidewalk” is generous here) and pulled out the generator to give her a charge. At this point, Todd says to me “I will just strap the generator on the hood and leave it running, with the booster cables plugged in”! (the charging cables were short and it had to go on the hood) I’m like, fuck no! and he said well I’m not sitting on the side of the road for 2 hours waiting for the battery to charge. So, there we were, lifting the generator onto the hood and strapping it on! This is how amazing we looked!

Cindy on the sidewalk. (as you can see, “sidewalk” is generous!)

The view from the passenger seat.

In the Walmart parking lot.

Got us to Walmart for groceries and got us back to Ruby!

Here is the video: Generator

But low and behold, a short 2 hours later, Todd successfully installed the new alternator and a belt, re-installed power steering and Cindy is good as new!