The day before when I pulled into La Paz, I bought a ticket on the ferry to Mazatlan for the next day. That was an interesting experience. I need to learn some more Spanish since I didnt know what the heck I bought. The lady at the Baja Ferries office was talking so fast I couldnt understand a word she said, and when I asked her to speak slower, she kept the same muy rapido tempo, but simply a lot louder, as if she yelled it loud enough, I would somehow magically be able to understand her. So in frustration I threw down my credit card figuring that I’ll see how it turns out. Being a 12 hour ferry ride its not cheap. As I finally figured out, the total cost for myself, the bike, and a cabin was about $270 bucks.
Along the way to the the ferry teminal I spied 3 motos parked at some palapas on the beach. I figured that I would stop by and say hello, since it was still about 2 hours to departure.
It was some guys from Colorado who had just come down Baja over the last week and were headed over to Mazatlan, then north back to the States.
Anyway, its a good thing I stopped by, because these boys were still on pacific time and would have missed the boat, so to speak. I got a good chuckle out of that, we all did actually. Uh yeah guys, in southern Baja we are on Mountain Time.
So after that little revelation, we get to the ferry.
We load up and tie down the bikes……..
Then hit the cabinas……………………..VERY NICE!
The girls at Reception were also very nice. 🙂
Then of course we hit the bar complete with loud music, Mexican style, where I talked some more, but the boys were probably thankful that they could’nt hear me over the music.
Anyway, the boys from Colorado, AKA the Tres Locos, are planning a trans-Asia trip for next May and wanted to do a Mexico trip together to make sure that they would’nt kill each other on a long journey. Good dudes, all of them. I was talking up a storm since I had not been able to speak English for a while, so it was fun to actually have a real conversation with someone, instead of a point a grunt session punctuated by a few Spanish words. I’m sure they think, man, that Vinny dude sure talks a lot.
Upon arrival they immediately took off for Durango. Great meeting you guys, buen viaje mis amigos nuevos………
At first I wasnt thrilled about staying in Mazatlan since I felt I wanted to be out of the tourist areas. But low and behold, I ride no more than a mile from the ferry terminal and stumble upon this joint in Old Mazatlan. Sorry the pic is a bit foggy, as I just stepped out of the AC with my camera.
What do think this room would cost in San Diego? $300, maybe $400 a night?
Well in Old Mazatlan it costs 35 bucks!! Sign me up baby. I’ll stay the whole weekend, maybe more.
Complete with dee-luxe bike parking………….
Nice sunset right from the balcony of the room………..
Thats all for now. I’ll be leaving in a couple of days as its so hot here all you want to do is stay in the air conditioning. Up next will be much cooler temps in the higher elevations of the central mountains of Mainland Mexico.