Friday, May 19, 2000
Caught a local bus to the bus station about 7:45 a.m. and
attempted to purchase tickets for the 9:00 bus to Mazatlan. At the
ticket widow, the woman spoke way too much Spanish to us way too
fast. We had no clue. The guy that worked with her sold us a ticket
to Mazatlan and was very helpful. 212 pesos each. The bus was
leaving 25 minutes late, which could possibly be what the first
lady was telling us.
Gringos Matt and Geneva bought tickets for the same bus shortly
after us. Geneva spoke fluent Spanish, and our helpful ticket man
asked them to find us to make sure we got on the right bus. Then
the helpful ticket man came out to the bus when it was time to
leave and made sure we were on it - and this is a big, busy
station. We must have seemed especially clueless to him, but it was
very good of him to take care of us. Mexicans are good people.
We stopped to drop off passengers in El Salto, and a lady
almost walked off with my bag by mistake! Jana spotted it in the
trunk of a taxi, and I went flying off to rescue it. What could
this lady possibly want with used socks that smelled THAT BAD?
You've got to keep an eye on things at the stops! Always try to
pick your seats on the starboard side of the bus since that is
generally where the luggage is stashed. Peek out the window at the
stops. Trust me, nobody in Mexico wants your dirty underwear, but
in that heat they might claim it by mistake.
Dramatic vista along the legendary El Espinazo del Diablo
The scenery between Durango and Mazatlan was spectacular! Jana
thinks this may be the best scenery yet. We saw a bunch of
wildfires along the way. We worried a bit about the road being
closed because of the fires, but we got through okay. We stopped at
a tienda just on the south side of the Tropic of Cancer. Jana and I
took a walk while the other passengers ate lunch.
¡El Fuego en la Montaña!
Arrived in Mazatlan just before 5:00 p.m. and opted to stay in
Old Mazatlan rather than the tourist zone. We got a room at the
Hotel Belmar, right across the street from the beach. The room was
huge, with ocean view and balcony, 240 pesos a night! Possibly the
best value this entire trip!
Hotel Belmar
We took a short walk on the beach before walking downtown and
ate some enchiladas at a forgetable little place that evidently
only sold cerveza to locals. A woman at another table entertained
us by breast feeding her baby at the table.
Strolled over to the market after dinner, where I bought 1/4
kilo of pistachios for 20 pesos... mmm! The market had all the
usual disgusting stuff, goat ankles and pigeon torsos and such, but
there was also quite a selection of non-food items - Pikachu
merchandise galore! hats, masks, pinatas, etcetera. Mexicans love
Pokemon. Tweety is the second most popular character in Mexico. I
hate Tweety. I hate Tweety more than ever after this trip.
A beautiful sunset from our hotel room balcony...
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