Day 57 – Topolobampo, MX to San Blas, MX

Day 57 – Topolobampo, MX to San Blas, MX     10/17/10     Mileage: 464

 Morning came when the phone rang at 7am and I think they were looking for money to extend my stay. Instead, I packed up the bike and beat it south towards Mazatlan. I took the “cuota”, or toll road instead of the “libre” free road as it is in much faster, well maintained and has much less traffic. The problem is it is bloody expensive even by American standards…it cost me over $40 US to go around 300 miles….ouch.

Welcome to Mazatlan!

Mazatlan seems typical of most Mexican resort towns in that the resorts that most people see (and may never leave) are separate from the town itself. I of course skipped resort row and went to the downtown waterfront which was pretty cool and has a nice vibe.

Looking back towards the resort area of Mazatlan...

The Mazatlan town waterfront...

Having a light lunch on the Mazatlan waterfront...

The Mazatlan downtown waterfront...

The Mazatlan downtown waterfront...

I found a little cafe on the water for lunch, and while sitting there I was approached by an older fellow who was interested in my bike. Richard is retired and has been living in Mazatlan for 15 years now. He also rides, so we swapped war stories from the road and he gave me some good info on the road south…including a town called San Blas, which he said was a nice spot to spend the night. After lunch I pointed the KLR south again, now for my new destination for tonight…San Blas. I got sick of paying the tolls on the “cuota” road, so I veered off and started making my way over to the “libre”. Well, it wasn’t long before the road put me in a hopelessly confusing town built like a maze. After making approximately 65.3 wrong turns, I pulled over and asked 3 hombres in my pigeon Spanish if they knew where the Rt 15 free highway was. They miraculously understood my question, but the answer came at me hard and fast in Spanish and I didn’t understand a word. The one guy must have seen my blank stare and saw that we were getting no ware…and I was literally getting no ware…so he motioned for me to follow him in his truck parked across the street. Within a few minutes, and a dizzying number of right and left turns…we emerged from town. He pulled over and I thanked him profusely…and might still be wandering around that town were it not for him taking time out of his day to help the stupid lost gringo find his way. So after another 45 minutes and several more wrong turns, I finally made it to San Blas. This was a quaint Mexican beach town free of anything gringo…I like it! I found a hotel for $24 complete with air conditioning and wifi…sweet! They also said hot water…but like the last few places I stayed…the words hot water are rather ambiguous it seems down here. “Less cold” than the regular cold water would be more accurate. Or, like a lot of buildings down here, they were never plumed for hot and cold running water…just cold. So if you want hot water in the shower, they have shower heads with an electric heater built in, but usually there is no temperature adjustment. Anyway, a cool shower is better than no shower at all! After getting cleaned up I went out to the main square in town and it was alive with people eating, kids playing and teenagers talking and hanging out.

San Blas town square....pretty lively for Sunday night in a small town!

San Blas town square...

This was a cool second floor bar overlooking the town square...a great perch to take in the scene!

I had a few beers at a bar overlooking the square and took it all in and then some tacos from a street vender wich were pretty tasty! Fed and watered, I went back to the barn for the night.