part dos, Los Barriles and Mazatlan

So with hugs, kisses and goodbyes to everyone, I hit the road about 11am on Monday morning to try and catch the 3pm ferry out of La Paz. That is insane for any of you that every want to take that ferry. You are supposed to be there at least three hours before departure if not earlier. Thus I should have been there at least by noon.

When Helen said, "go with godspeed" I don't think she meant drive 5 million miles an hour. Well, let's be honest, the Pathfinder doesn't go that fast. But, I did drive as fast as the clean little Pathfinder could go. Thanks to Martin for washing her, as the car had turned brown with all the dust and back roads I'd driven on, now she is all spiffy clean!

But I got to the terminal by 1:30pm and this is Mexico so things didn't go qute as smoothly as one would want. But, after some negotating I was aboard by 2:15 and one of the last cars on. This is good, because then you are one of the first cars off. And, I didn't even have to bribe to get the car on the top level as the ferries have three levels for cars. The bottom level is for the concrete trucks and refrigeration trucks. You don't want to be down there when you have a dog because there is no airflow and you are NOT allowed down on to the car deck once the ferry starts. And you must leave your mascota in the car. So, I was prepared to bribe my way to the top, but all worked in my favor.

After I backed my car onto the 600 foot long boat, I stayed around the car knowing that the dog would have to stay in the car for 6-7 hours by herself. I brought out a bag of candy and a bag of pepperoni and convinced the ferry workers to allow me to stay down there. It turned out to be entertaining. We all practiced our foreign language skills, I had to speak Spanish and they had to speak English. We all had many laughs at our attempts! I don't know why I didn't do this earlier with Placido or any of the other Mexicans I be'friended as it would have been so good for all.

But finally I had to go upstairs as we were leaving the dock. The boat was a little fancier than the Seattle ferries, with restaurant, lounge and disco area. Not to mention you can rent a cabin. I choose not to as we were to arrive in Topolabambo by 9pm and I already had a hotel reservation. So I sat outside reading until the sun went down. There was a small craft warning, so the waves were pretty big, I think some people were getting sick inside. That, and drinking, heavily. I just read, and drank a sprite. Not to many american women were aboard, ok, there were none. So, lots of people starred at me, or tried to strike up conversations with me. Both Michael and John (or Miguel y Juan) got to be my husbands (espousas) for the evening. As, everyone asked where my husband was. I figured it best to tell them I was meeting him...later...in Mazatlan.

At the end of the night, one gentlemen in particular asked to take a photograph with me. I kept saying no, so he went and got his friend who spoke english and was quite a bit older, 50 something. I again said no. And the english speaking gentlement apologized profusely. Later he came down and said they were all embarrased and he had daughters, he only wanted safe travels for me. Ironically I saw the guy who wanted my picture shortly before entering Mazatlan, 5 hours away from the ferry terminal, the next day. He knew it was me, but he shyly looked away. I think he too was embarrased.

So after staying the night in Topolabambo, I headed out the next morning to make the drive south to Mazatlan. Hoping I'd have housing. I had not been able to fully confirm I had housing since my internet use was limited. I only had the womens cell number and no card to call (you must use a TeleMex card to use the pay phones). In Mexico there are many toll roads, mostly rich Americans or foreigners use them so the traffic is not heavy and you can drive fast, about 110 km which equates to 70 mph. If you use the libre roads, or free roads, you have only one lane and are constantly slowed by the vehicles that can't even drive 35 mph. I made the mistake of not knowing what "libre" meant, and about 2 minutes into the drive thought I should pull over and check the dictionary. Sure enough I turned around, this not-so-rich American was going to take the toll roads. After $30 USD and 5 hours later I arrived in Mazatlan. Had I taken the libre carreta I would have spent another hour on the road, at least.

Coming into such a big city was a little nightmarish, not to mention that Maddie was ready to get out of the hot car. She'd been in there for a long time. So after calling and confirming the housing, I made it to the meeting spot in Olas Altas. A small, old neighborhood to the south of the fancy hotel strip most know Mazatlan by. And found my little apartment for the next couple of weeks. It is spacious, two bedrooms plus a little den. You walk out the back door to go to the restroom, very European like. It is on the corner, so very loud, people walk by all the time, dogs, come by, huge trucks come by, but it is a great little neighborhood. You have all sorts of fun little cafe´s and squares, the streets are all very narrow and there is a huge outdoor mercado within walking distance. It definitely is less expensive than Los Barriles. And way more entertaining as far as people watching. Even though I am hearing Spanish, I could very well be in Florence or even Sevilla, Spain (well I guess they speak Spanish). Anyhow, I'm liking this cute little place and hoping to meet lots of people who can help me with my Spanish...in fact I just picked up a flyer on a week'long class.

Vive Mexico y grande abrazos por todo...
-Heidi