Watering the Grass

 We have observed some interesting jobs in Mazatlan. This guy is a grass waterer from a chair on top of a truck.

Mazatlan's Malecon

The Malecon in Mazatlan is the longest in Latin America, comprising 13 miles of continuous seafront promenade next to the seawall.  This morning, we were walking south on the Malecon about 6 a.m.  A fisherman was already at work on the beach.  Other small fishing boats were just offshore.

Fishing Under the Moon

We learned today that many sculptures have been installed on the Malecon in advance of the Mardi Gras celebration here.  Julia took some photos of these sculptures early this morning, as darkness receded into dawn.

On the way back, some fishermen were already busy selling their fresh catch, using a small scale to determine weight and price.

 

We found closer pickleball courts today, met some expats, and made plans to join their pickleball club.  We will begin playing on Friday.

Settling In

Ate the buffet breakfast at Ibis Hotel Mazatlan. Checked out of the hotel at 11 a.m. and then killed a couple of  hours walking to the pickleball courts on the north side of town. Nice group of Americans and Canadians there, but it’s probably too far from where our condo is in Centro.  There are pickleball courts closer; we will visit soon to get more info.

On the way back, we got our first glimpse of the beach.

Our host messaged us on whatsapp to let us know we could come a little early, so we drove south about thirty minutes through heavy traffic to Centro.  Very nice lady who spoke minimal English.  We were able to communicate with my rudimentary Spanish and an ocasional assist from Google Translate. 

After getting settled in, I crated Callie and we went for supper at a beachfront restaurant. 

Shrimp and Octopus Burrito

I had two firsts in this meal. Octopus in a burrito and fries on the side of a burrito.

On the way home we stopped at the supermarket for drinking water and breakfast supplies. Then we took Callie up to our rooftop for sunset.

The statute commemorates the start of Mardi Gras. The celebration in Mazatlan starts in a couple of weeks and is the third largest in the world.

It's All Good

My wife Julia was pretty worried about this trip.  Friends, family and acquaintances warned her not to go.  What about the cartel?  What about the corrupt police?  Don't get me wrong.  Those things exist in Mexico, but they also exist in the United States.  There's always the chance of being in the wrong time at the wrong place wherever you are, but I wasn't worried.  I admit to being a little stressed by Julia being worried.  

We spent a restful night at the Hotel Ibis in Torreon, ate an early breakfast at the hotel, and headed out around 7:30 a.m.  

Unlike the day before the route today was almost entirely on Toll Roads.  We only had one short police stop during which I was asked for ID and for my destination.  Other than that, it was smooth going.  And I mean the roads were very smooth for the most part, compared to the previous day.  

We cruised past our originally planned stop at Durango and headed for our eventual destination:  Mazatlan.  The scenery on the way was gorgeous.  

There were mountains, lakes, and pines at the high elevations.  During the last couple of hours, there must have been a dozen tunnels blasted through the mountains--most short, but several very long.  

Driving on the two lane roads with an invisible middle third lane was even more challenging in mountains and tunnels.  There were often double yellow lines indicated no passing, but that didn't seem to bother most people.   I stayed alert and moved to the shoulder quickly whenever someone was passing from behind or in front.

We changed into mountain time today and arrived at our hotel in Mazatlan at about 1 p.m, two hours before check-in.  

Are We Almost There?

Fortunately, our room was ready, and we were able to unload our stuff and take a long walk around the Marina. 

We ate a light dinner at a restaurant down the street and headed back to the room early.  Julia has a Zoom call tonight with her weavers' guild back home, so I'm quietly blogging during her call.

Tomorrow, we move to our Airbnb which we have rented on an extended basis.  It was still booked tonight so no early check-in.

Road to Torreon, Mexico

We were up at 5:30 a.m., ate breakfast and had the car packed up by 6:45 a.m.  One of the things not advised in Mexico is to drive while it's dark out:  more crime, animals on the road, and unseen speed bumps (called topes).   So we waited until a little after  7 a.m when enough of the sun was up to see the road.

 Airbnb Backyard

About a half hour later, we pulled off next to a small, unmarked government building on the side of Hwy 57 just past Allende.  It's easy to miss.  A visa is required in Mexico.   Also, a TIP (temporary import permit) is required for vehicles outside of lower Baja and the border zone.  

Fortunately, we arrived early enough that there was no line.  Getting a visa was as simple as showing our passports and paying the fees.  The immigration officer keyed in all of the information, and we just had to sign.  We're good to go for 180 days, although we won't be staying that long.

The TIP was more complicated.  Importing a vehicle cost about $80 and then a $400 refundable deposit, returnable if one remembers to drop off the receipt/permit at a TIP office just before leaving the country.  There's more paperwork involved.  Original registration, stamped FMM (visa), and copies of passport and registration.  We purchased Mexican auto insurance online before leaving home.  The application for TIP is in the same building and across from the immigration window.

After that, we were back on the road, driving south on Hwy 57  and then Hwy 50 around Monclova, where we were stopped by a police officer at the side of the road.  He asked where we were going, took a quick look in the back of the truck, saw Callie, and sent us on our way.

Then we were back on Hwy 57 until we turned west on Hwy 114.  

The road was easy driving up to this point, although I had to get used to the invisible third lane.  On two lane highways, the middle of the road is used as the passing lane, while other vehicles on both sides straddle the shoulder line allowing that to happen.

Hwy 114 took us across some of the most desolate country that I've ever seen.  Other vehicles were rare.  There was no shoulder and steep drop-offs on the side of the road.  At one point, I pulled over as far as I could to let a pick-up truck by.  Instead of passing, the pick-up truck pulled alongside us in the opposing lane at 50 mph.  I then noticed it was a police vehicle.  He looked us over and then waved us to keep going.  He then stopped, turning around in the opposite direction.

Our last police stop of the day came about 30 minutes later.  Two policemen set up a cone in the middle of the road and motioned us to slow down and stop.  Neither spoke English.  Callie gave them a rousing hello in "bark" language.  They smiled a lot and checked our papers carefully.  After asking for our destination, they waved us on our way.

Hwy 114 soon turned into Hwy 40, which was bone-shaking rough for about an hour.  That turned into Hwy 40/440, the toll road, and it was smooth going all the way into Torreon.  We ate outside at a deli adjacent to the hotel.  It was dog friendly, and Callie was on her best behavior.

Police Liason waiting for a morsel of chicken

Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras

 We left San Antonio at about 10:30 a.m., driving south on I-35 and then heading west on Hwy 57 to Eagle Pass, Texas.  

We arrived at about 1 p.m. and had sandwiches at the Silver Spoon.  

Our check-in at the Piedras Negras Airbnb wasn't supposed to be until 4 p.m., so we ate a leisurely lunch and then walked up and down the downtown streets of Eagle Pass and down to the Rio Grande and the bridge we would cross.  

Eagle Pass is an interesting city--in some ways, it reminds me of the Mexican border towns even though it's still Texas.  Many of the store signs are in Spanish.  Most of the people that we observed walking around were Hispanic.

We didn't want to cross the bridge until we had the lock-box combination to get into the Airbnb.  The host said that he was going to send it to us right away, but it was a good lesson in Mexican time-keeping.  Right away means sometime still today as opposed to tomorrow/manana which means sometime in the future.  

Around 2:45 p.m., we had the combination and started the process to cross the border..  We thought that it would take awhile to go through customs and that we would arrive right around 4 p.m.

Traffic was fairly light going to Mexico but quite heavy coming back to the U.S.  

When we arrived at Mexican customs, we entered the lane for "nothing to declare"  (nada de declarar).  From my research, I knew that there was still a high likelihood of getting pulled over and searched, especially when entering with a pickup truck.  But we didn't see any customs' employees and drove directly into Piedras Negras.  

Navigating the streets of the city was more difficult than I expected with Google Maps. A little jog right or left was treated as a turn, and that's not the way to get to where we were going. We made a couple of wrong turns, but we eventually figured out how to get to the neighborhood of the Airbnb.  At that point, our host's instructions were to ignore google maps and follow his written instructions, which were directly on point and easy to understand.  The neighborhood was gated, and security verified our reservation before letting us enter.  

It was only 3:15 p.m, and the place was still getting cleaned.  We apologized for our early arrival, and he apologized that things weren't quite ready yet.  His English was limited; my Spanish is far from fluent.  We figured things out, and the place was ready a short time later.  The accommodation was lovely:  a two story townhouse with fully equipped kitchen, wifi, nice bedroom and bathroom, a comfortable living room, and pet friendly.  So much better than a hotel room in Eagle Pass and at a better price.  

After getting comfortable, we headed out to H.E.B, a chain of grocery stores which also has a location in Piedras Negras.  We bought supplies for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow morning.    It's not quite 7 p.m., and there's still some light from sunset.  A pretty good day with no unpleasant surprises.

I'm hoping for the same tomorrow.  We will need to stop in Allende for our temporary visa and temporary auto import permit.  And then it will be a long drive to our next stop.