Planes, buses and automobiles

San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico

It's like a time warp.  Here we are, exactly where we left off, 4 months ago.

In the last 2 days it feels as if we have experienced 3 seasons.  We left Edmonton in the tail-end of winter (albeit a very mild one). 

We flew directly from Edmonton, south to Mazatlan in Sinaloa province in Mexico, where it felt like summer.  The weather was warm and humid although a bit overcast (probably a blessing as we were facing a long bus ride back north to our ultimate destination in San Carlos).

Bus terminal in Mazatlan

While in Mazatlan, after a long taxi ride from the airport, we were able to store our copious amount of luggage at the bus terminal and walked and used local buses to revisit our old haunts from last winter, including having a coffee at our favourite coffee shop at the marina.  From what we observed, things seems even slower this year than last, with less people out and about.  This was confirmed by the locals.  Tourism is really down, probably a direct result of the bad press they have been getting over the last few months.  It is so sad that such a nice place and such nice people are getting the worst of a combination of gang violence (yes, there is a definite problem), sensationalistic reporting of the trouble a few tourists make for themselves, and the horrid economic situation in the US of A, forcing a lot of Americans to just stay home.  Sorry to say there is little we can do about it.

Typical tourist antics that end badly!

After our day in Mazatlan (the plane arrived just before 11 AM and our bus was scheduled to leave at 9:45 PM), the bus eventually left 1-1/2 hours late and took more than 12 hours to get to Guaymas, due to the many stops along the way - we lost count of the number of military check-points.  Fortunately we were tired enough to sleep for most of the overnight trip and arrived feeling almost human.

Bus terminal along the way (Obregon)

In Guaymas (as far as the big bus would take us) we took a 20-minute taxi ride to the Marinaterra hotel in San Carlos.  The weather here feels a lot like fall.  With a fully overcast sky and brisk wind, there is definitely a chill in the air - not what we were expecting.  Jacket weather - what a drag!

Tomorrow we will hopefully find out the fate of our boat.

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