Monday 29 June

Monday Morning 10:01 local

Got up at 6:30 (my cell phone said it was 5:30) and was at the bus stop by 7:30 (watch time) and caught the bus right away to Los Mochis which is on the coast. It cost 55P and took an hour and a half making stops like a Guatemalan chicken bus. Once I got into town I took a very short taxi ride to the main bus station (50P) and bought a ticket to Mazatlan which is 6 hours down the road. It is a paseo which means that it’s just making a stop here and it could be early or late. I had enough time run down the street and have a couple of tacos (w/o lettuce) and bought some water and cookies for the ride.

I was glad to get a bus to Mazatlan because otherwise I would have to get off in Culiacan which I didn’t want to do. If I am correct Culiacan is a very dangerous city because of drug wars (I believe its more dangerous than the border towns) and I just wanted to avoid it.

I’m going now.

6:08 local

I’m in Mazatlan and am really regretting my decision to leave after 1 day. My hotel is in the old part of town and is simple (wifi that doesn’t extent \to my room but works (supposedly) in the lobby) but cheap (285P). I’m sitting in an outdoor restaurant 3 blocks from my hotel and it is so tranquil, touristy in a way, but totally void of gringos. Which brings me to a thought I had today: once I crossed the border and got in my taxi I’ve seen (to my knowledge) 1 gringa. She stayed at the hostel (from England) and rode on the train with me for the first 4 hours. Actually her nose was stuck in a book and she didn’t attempt to look out the window. Strange behavior for a person who has been traveling for over a year. But I digress, no gringos thus far. I’m sure (as I write I here English across the street – 4 gringos – damn) – what I was going to say is that I’m sure I’ll see more gringos than I care tomorrow (unless I change my plans and spend an extra day here) as I bought a ticket to Puerto Vallarta. The only bus that goes directly to PV leaves at 11 at night – ain’t gonna happen. So I said I’ll go to Tepic knowing I could catch a bus to PV and she wanted to sell me an ‘open ticket’ which I didn’t want to do. Instead I got a ticket with an hour plus wait in Tepic. But like I said I think that Mazatlan warrants another day – not sure what I’ll do.

Note:
for some reason my cell phone is an hour off real time this morning and here? not sure why?