I think our last post left us on the beautiful quiet beach south of Cabo Pulmo. From there, we got back to some paved roads and decided to head for Los Barriles. This little town had a nice RV Resort and was close enough to La Paz that we could easily get there and have plenty of time to do a few things before catching the ferry to the mainland. We had decided to take the ferry on Sunday as this was the overnight ferry which arrived early in the morning, leaving us a few days to unwind. The RV Park was rather luxurious (nice pool and probably the cleanest bathrooms yet) so it felt like a bit of a treat.

All the “permanentes” (permanent RV residents) were very friendly and we enjoyed the 3:00 o’clock pool gatherings where many stories were told and refreshments enjoyed. In fact, it was here that we learned to start drinking beer and margaritas from our  insulated coffee mugs to keep them cool longer. We were enjoying an afternoon dip when Blair stopped by for a quick swim and told us we had to come by his place and see the fish he had caught. What a fish it was – a marlin over eight feet long! He gave us some fresh steaks and we barbecued them on the Cobb that night. Delicious!

After a few days of lazing around, it was time to head for La Paz and catch the ferry. We were a little anxious as to how the whole ferry affair would go as our Spanglish arrangements had left some doubt in our mind as to what we were getting into. However, for that story I need to go back a bit. When we passed through La Paz on our way south, we decided to check into ferry arrangements. The primary tourist carrier is Baja Ferries and we had no trouble finding their office. The attendant spoke good english and easily confirmed that it would cost a little over M$8000. During the trip, we would not have access to our vehicle and Chester would need to be in crate (which we would need to buy). He would be kept in a separate area  of the ship that we would not have access to. If we wanted a cabin, this would cost us about another M$1000; we could buy tickets there or at their ticket booth on the dock.

Our friend Daren had suggested that TMC  (Transportacion Maritima de California) could be a good alternative. It mostly carried freight trucks and was supposedly cheaper than Baja Ferries. We tried to confirm pricing over the phone but the attendant’s english was no better than our Spanish. It might cost either M$3080 or M$83,000…or something else entirely. They didn’t seem to care about the dog (or maybe didn’t understand that we had one) and  we weren’t sure they knew (or cared) what a truck and camper actually were. We manged to get some directions to their office and decided to pay them a visit in person. We went in armed with a picture of the truck and camper and met the same lady we talked to on the phone. Neither our nor her language skills had magically improved in ten minutes but she seemed to understand what we wanted. We showed her a photo of the truck and camper and, when asked how long it was, we replied 5.8 meters. We explained that there were two passengers and one dog (she still didn’t seem to care about us having a pet). It wasn’t clear to us whether we would have access to our vehicle during the trip but when we asked about price, she took a sheet of paper and wrote down M$3080. It seemed like a much better deal but because of the price difference (and the language challenges), we still weren’t 100% sure that we had really understood.

So here we were a week later to test it all out. We showed up at the ticket booth four hours early (they say at least three) and were told to head for the scale and get a form filled out. We did so, and even with full tanks of gas and water, we were only a few kilograms over our Gross Vehicle Weight. This was a pleasant surprise (I worried that it was a long way over). The unpleasant surprise was that they measured our length as 6.1 m which we were afraid would put us into the next category and end up costing a lot more money. We could probably remove our bikes and put them inside but that would make for a really crowded space. For a second we thought we should go back to the scale and try to get then to remeasure but there were no English speakers so we decided to take our chances back at the ticket booth first. Armed with our scale receipt, that showed us to be overweight and longer than the “pick-up” class listed on their rate sheet we grimaced as we waited for the new price. It didn’t seem to matter, though. She wrote down M$3080 again and processed it on our credit card. We were in!

We had a few hours to kill so we found a place to park near the TMC Ferry. We could also see the much larger Baja Ferry which was loading already. It was all freshly painted and we watched many cars and trucks and busloads of passengers embark. There only seemed to be one family on foot and lots of transport truck waiting for our rather weathered looking ferry. Had we made a mistake?

While waiting we were joined by Horacio, a friendly local. He spoke very little English but between his English and our Spanish, we managed to cobble together what may be our first genuine conversation . We had a great time and shared many laughs over the space of a couple hours. We learned that Horacio worked for TMC. We thought he worked as a driver but couldn’t really understand how that worked since he lived in La Paz full time and would not be on the ferry to Topolobampo with us. He used to work for Baja ferries (six months) but had been with TMC for the last four months. Apparently his contract would be up at the end of June and he was not sure if he would still have a job. Jobs are hard to come by in the area and he was concerned. He has two children, the older boy is fifteen and quite a baseball player. He recently went with his son’s team to Miami to play at tournament and that is the only time he visited the U.S. He was a pretty good ball player in his day but he was a pitcher and a shoulder injury ended his playing days.  Horacio grew up on a farm and his early jobs included picking cotton and vegetables. In high school he ran a hot dog stand. He has great sense of humor and was very animated. Our lack of understanding just encouraged him to try harder and his hands were always moving to help convey his stories. While we were fascinated to learn all about him, he seemed delighted to learn about us and our adventure. We easily passed what could have been a boring wait with a great visit. It ended when Horacio had to go and  it was then that we saw what he did for his job. The ferry had only one gate but two decks with the top deck accessed via a truck lift. Rather then have truck drivers attempt to load their own rigs, all the trailers were loaded by special dock tractors. We watched Horacio as he zipped around with his tractor, hooking up  each trailer, and backing it on to the narrow lift. He went about his work with incredible speed  and we realized that Horatio was very good at his job. The trailers were soon packed on the ship like a can of sardines.

We waved goodbye to him as we finally loaded. Luckily, I was able to drive forward onto and off the lift. We ended up parked on the top deck and were soon surrounded by large rigs. We headed up to the lounge area and although it was bit rustic we enjoyed the free supper that had apparently come with our ticket. After supper we headed to our cabin and spent a pleasant night cooled by a nice breeze. We arrived on the mainland about 7:00 am, which was a couple of hours late but apparently about average for Mexican ferries.

Having had a reasonably restful night we headed for Culiacan where we hoped to see the Museo del Arte de Sinaloa which has some works by Diego Rivera. The traffic was a little crazy and we had to find our way around several one way streets that weren’t marked on our map. Parking was also a challenge and the best we could manage was about seven blocks away. We had to leave Chester and, and since it was warm,  decided to limit ourselves to no more than 60 minutes. We hustled in the hot midday temperatures only to find a security guard explaining that it was not open. He spoke quickly and we really  only understood that we should come back manana (tomorrow). Disappointed, we trudged back to the truck and drove on to a campground about an hour north of Mazatlan.

The next day we decided to head to Mazatlan, though neither of us were all that excited about seeing the touristy port. Kristel found an RV Park on Isla de la Piedra (Stone Island) which is actually a peninsula just south of Mazatlan.What a pleasant surprise! It is right on the beach in a little village that is a piece of rural Mexico only a ten minute water taxi from Old Mazatlan. (I am writing this in the camper just 20 meters from the ocean and a fellow just rode down the beach on a little motorcycle with a huge iguana on his shoulder. I am never sure what to expect next!) The park is hosted by a friendly couple originally from the Toronto area who are not now full-timing it here.

Yesterday we spent much of the day walking around Old Mazatlan including the Cathedral and Market. We found a pleasant sidewalk cafe for a great lunch at Plazuela Machado. It was all a bit much for Chester though and, on the way back he just wanted to lay down in every shady spot we came by. When we got on the water taxi one of the locals became quite enamored with him (petting him and calling him “my friend”) and this cheered him up quite a bit. Unfortunately, though, he has pulled up a bit lame today and we can’t find anything particularly wrong with him. Perhaps he is just letting us know that he has no plans to be walking in the hot sun on concrete or asphalt today. We are with him on that and have decided to spend another day here.

The hosts, John and Deb, have been very friendly. The invited us over for drinks last night and we had a nice visit. They lent us a number of movies that we put on our hard drive and even offered us the use of their boogie boards today. We took advantage of the offer and, after a morning of playing in the waves, we are now more determined to buy our own boards.

Hasta luego!