From Baja to the Land of Fire #1: Los Mochis, Mexico

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Tijuana - La Paz - Los Mochis

6 Nov 2001


I arrived in Los Mochis this morning. This town is nothing special, but the Ferrocarriol Chihuahua al Pacifico starts from here (and from Chihuahua). I feel I just started my traveling today. The first few days were spent relaxing and adjusting and leaving the 'real world' behind.

After landing in San Diego 6 days ago I went straight to Tijuana. I was feeling better than expected after the long flight and just couldn't wait to be in Mexico. I took a bus from the airport to downtown, then took a 45-minute trolley ride to the San Ysidro border crossing. From here I walked all the way to my hotel on Avenida Revolucion in 30 minutes.

After checking in I took the collectivo (shared taxi) mentioned in my guide to the central camionera to get a ticket for a bus to La Paz. Within an hour I was sitting between Mexicans in a taxi and speaking my first Spanish words. They didn't bother much with me, I guess they are used to gringos coming over from America all the time. Too bad. Got my ticket for the next day (840 pesos, 22 hours). This was going to be my first and also one of the longest bus trips of many.

Arrived in La Paz at midday after driving through the dessert of Baja filled with many "Mexican-type" cactuses. I had decided on La Paz to relax and get adjusted to the new situation. I wasn't sure whether there would be some kind of culture shock I needed to get over with. In La Paz there would be much less tourists than in Los Cabos (the major tourist area in the Baja California Sur), thus more authentic, but also safe.

It turned out just as expected. I relaxed, went to the nearby beaches and strolled around town. I wanted to leave with the ferry to Topolobambo/Los Mochis yesterday evening, but I discovered the boat didn't go daily anymore and I would have to wait 3 days for the next departure. I couldn't wait and bought a plane ticket instead (1088 pesos) for the next morning. I would be sorry for this later, in many ways.

Later that afternoon I went to the marina of La Paz to find Henry, an older American guy I met on the bus, who has a boat there and had invited me to visit him. He was there and introduced me to Bill, who was looking for 3 more persons to help him crew his big sailing yacht over to Puerto Vallarte and wanted me to join him. I remained calm but got very excited by the idea. Two problems: I just bought a USD$100 ticket, and he just couldn't find any body else.

I went into town to try to find some other gringos, but I also couldn't find anybody. I had to let this go. Shit. The other reason I was sorry about buying the plane ticket was the big dent in my budget it made. More about budgets another time.

And now I'm here. Tomorrow morning at 6 o'clock I'll be going with the train to Creel, and after that to Chihuahua and Zacatas. I will write again in a few days.




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