24 Jan Saying goodby to La Rojita, the red VW van

The last two weeks we spend in Playa del Carmen, Mexico contemplating what to do with our second VW van, La Rojita. She has been with us for the past two years and what a great experience that has been! Taking us from Mexico all the way to Costa Rica and back to shoot our documentary film. During that time, only one visit to the VW mechanical shop in Nicaragua to take out and replace the pressure plate that was completely gone. She has been in storage for the past months and we took her out just a week ago. This blog is about the decision process to sell such a precious icon and we’ll introduce to you the person who bought it.

Clearly, this was a though decision. An antique VW van in this condition is a rare find. And they say once you own it, you won’t be able to say goodbye to it. We definetely understand why after going through the process of selling it. What happens to the red van completely depends on the plans we have for the furure. Will we be back in Playa del Carmen after the summer of 2019? Will we be around enough to take her out for rides? Will we have new travel adventures in mind with this bus? And what about our first VW bus that still sits in a storage at Costa Rican customs? If we keep the red van, will we sell the white van? Going back and forth with pro’s and cons: the red VW bus is better equiped with a full bed in the top pop. Both kids could sleep there safely. Mechanically the red bus is in better condition than our white VW van. But that white VW van goes back with us to the beginning of our Mexican adventure in 2012. And where the red bus took us places, the white one did so even more! After a couple of nights of reliving memories we had with this red VW, we both thought it would be awesome if she could go on another adventure. Maybe even with someone who is blogging or vlogging about it so we can follow her trip online. Slowly we got to the point where we said: ‘so, we are selling it….?‘ Followed by: ‘yes, let’s sell it‘ We cannot drive two vans at the same time and a Volkswagen van is such an iconic buddy to celebrate freedom, it should not sit in storage, simply because we cannot find the heart to sell it. Let’s sell it to someone who is passionate about it, who dreamt about having a van like this for a long time. Someone who will take her places, ideally in Mexico or throughout the Central American continent.

So Steven went out to take pictures of the van and our landlord Chris helped us sell it via various Facebook groups.

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The perfect buyer
It had been online for a few hours and the perfect buyer contacted us via Chris. We voice messaged back and forth and within a few hours we had made a decision: this is the new life she will be headed towards! The red van is going to be with Lana, who is an Irish lady in her early fifties, living in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We have never heard someone so passionate about owning and driving an antique VW van. Lana will be traveling with the van and vlogging about it with her son and will share her adventures on her YouTube channel, which we will post when we know where to find it 🙂

Last drive
Today, january 24 2019, Steven took out La Rojita for a last drive with Isa saying: ‘daddy, I love this bus so much!‘ Explaining to her that La Rojita cannot stay with us because we already have Nina (red. our white VW in Costa Rica). We will go pick up Nina next week. This bus is going to be with Lana, who will take her on many adventures. What is left, is organizing and digitizing the paperwork for Lana to transfer the title of ownership. This afternoon, Steven drove La Rojita to Cancun, where she will be prepared for transport to Puerto Vallarta. We both have a knot in our stomachs, Steven driving it and me and Vesper watching it go. We have said in the past: Vesper or Isa will learn how to drive in this bus. And who knows, we have at least thirtheen more years to go before that will happen.

For now, La Rojita has been taken care of and is in the best hands possible. We hope to see a lot from her in the time to come!

Bye Bye Rojita. Thanks so much for the great time and safe journeys with our family. Thank you for inspiring an ultimate sense of freedom when we traveled with you.