And on we go...

Wednesday we decide we are ready to travel the 4 hrs to Los Mochis and Las Glorias. But in the morning while getting ready we start talking to some people, Jim and Bob. Left their wives at home and are travelling south to PV and beyond. B. has been coming down here and the Baja for oodles of years, he's a wealth of information and willing to share. Jim's along for the ride until later this month when he'll fly home.So we just had to compare notes and pick Bob's brain. He also regards the Church's book as "the bible" and he has an old copy, so he updated some things with my book, and it turns out they will come down to where we plan to go tomorrow. So we'll go ahead of them and meet up with them tomorrow again in Las Glorias.He told us of little out of the way beaches to camp at, places to watch out for and not dawdle and other places to boondock freely.So we left later than planned but very worthwhile spending the hour talking to Bob. Bob's got a boat and an ATV, too. Looks like Bob's the man...
We passed through some busy towns, Obrigon and Navojoa, they have wall-mart and home depot! We need to buy more campstove fuel. We are trying to ask but maybe are not using the right translations....got sent to a propane place.There are many horses and buggies in the median, people burning grass, gathering hay on the little carts, people on bikes on the freeway..donkeys and cows..many bumps in the road mostly when you get to a town, they are called topes and like speedbumps but don't hit them with more than 5 km/h or you'll loose your rear-end (of the van, of course...unless you're having other problems).Speaking of that, we're drinking only bought water in a big 5 gallon pail which we can get refilled for 1.50 USD. After our feast on seafood evening Earl actually had a bad stomachache which he was able to get rid of in a few hours (on the potty) but cramping lasted a couple of days. Thank you to our health food lady in Mission who suggested taking charcoal capsules with us~they work very well and much healthier than pepto or immodium. We still put GSE in the water we drink and I wash all fruit and veggies in water with drops of GSE in it, and wash my cuttingboard with that as well. We are also still taking acedophelus capsules but running out now. My cold is almost completely gone, I'm soooo glad. We're in the desert - I was bound to dry up at some point!
The book says a little over 400 km from Guaymas to Las Glorias. Well, we left Guaymas at 9:30 a.m., and we arrive in the dark around 6 p.m. We stopped twice, got gas and looked around in a Wall-mart, got some tortillas and meat for tonight. Also still looking for that campstove gas! The distances just kill us in more ways than one. Everything takes so much longer than we anticipate. There were 3 toll booths, 2 army check-points (they just slow us down, we don't have to stop), many topes and such slowing us down. The last 50 km or so was bad on our nerves. We are always hoping to camp before it gets dark, preferably with a few hours left to look around the area. Driving in the dark is just NOT recommended - half the people don't have lights, no insurance, drive very fast, no streetlighting or lighted signs so you are really driving blind. Lucky there is only one way in and out to this camping in Las Glorias. The town has dirt roads, although the main 'boulevard' is being paved with cobblestones but it is all dug up in the middle so you have to navigate through backroads (sand) to find the camping place. But it seems like a nice place, we're right on the beach, there are 5 other moterhomes here, at least 2 from BC. And our newfound friends are coming in tomorrow as well. Should be fun. We are glad to be here finally, but don't want to cut it this close (to sunset) again. Need to leave very early, first light I think when we do our next jot down to Mazatlan - something like 450 km.
The sights near towns and settlements are quite something for us to see. What we would call delapitated and run-down is quite normal here. Some buildings have no roof, just palmleaves or nothing. I don't know what they do when it rains (it must rain here sometimes?). Side roads are dirt, only the highway is paved. Many people on bicycles, and little mopeds. Everything is dusty. The area we are in now is kind of like the Fraser Valley, a big agricultural center. A great variety of food is grown here: corn, peppers, tomatoes, sugercane, pineapple, oranges, coconuts, cilantro. Probably lots more we couldn't identify. We see many cows in lots, and in the bush on the side of the highway, and horses in the median and in people's yards, and goats. Chickenbarns too. Lots of people mozying about, gatherings of folks looking a little bored or lost. Sometimes they are waiting for a local bus. Driving in the towns/cities is crazy, no lines on the roads, the signal lights sideways, 4-way stops where there aren't really any rules just be polite and smile, wave once in a while. People are helpful, and we are using our broken spanish to ask for directions more often.The kids are finally getting into saying a few spanish words out loud - they were too shy to do that earlier on. People dart in and out of traffic selling oranges and coconut and peanuts, or washing windshields, and one man just sat there on a little stool waiting for handouts, which he got, too. Quite brave, actually!

So we spent a day in Las Glorias at Mr. Moro's. Did some boogieboarding, played some pool with the staff here (at least we think they're staff..), one particularly chatty man is eager to learn english in exchange for helping us with our spanish.Made a nice long walk on the beach - which is flat, stretches for miles and soft white sand...lots of shells - and watched some guys swim out with a fishingnet and then pull it back in with fish. We drove to Boca del rio, a little fishing village, looking for fresh shrimp but didn't get any. Lots of signs, one man had dried shrimp, and so we ended up back in the campground and asked the restaurant if we could have some fresh seafood to go with our meal. We still had fresh salsa and guacamole with chips, and potatoes, but no meat. Well we got 3 meals for under 23 bucks, lots of fresh fish and shrimp and Ryan got chicken, with rice, salsa and salad and tortillas. I think we cleaned out the kitchen though. They are not very busy here so they were a little panicky when I ordered 3 dishes...We had heard stories about ordering something in a palapa restaurant (with the thatched palmleaf roof) and then seeing the guy on his bicycle going out to get the fresh seafood etc. and half an hour or an hour later you get your dish....it's true!!!!

The wind has died down a bit now around 8 p.m. and it is balmy. We set up the awning. If you haven't seen us camp yet in the van: the awning is a large camo tarp held up by rough poles and rope. Got lots of looks, even the locals come to sneek a peek. Guess we look a little odd, or maybe we look local and odd between the huge motorhomes here. Whichever, we feel pretty comfortable.
Our friends never show up. May have decided to drive through to Mazatlan today. You never know. No one seems to be on a schedule here.

Jan. 9 - friday. At least we think it's friday. It's hard enough keeping track of the date let alone what day of the week. We have other priorities! We left at 7 a.m. for our trek to Mazatlan. It says in the book 350+ km. so we figure 5 hours or something, from the way things have been going. There are a gazillion toll booths on the road to Maz. unless you take the free road. So this area is not cheap. We also filled up twice for gas. The gas price is the same everywhere at the Pemex stations (Mexican gov't. gas). You can also buy gas from a guy with a pickup truck and siphon hose but seems a bit suspect to us.
But the book warns us that free roads may take an extra hour, and we do NOT want to be on the road forever today. Short trips and fabu destinations from now on.We get into Maz. into a zone just before the Zona Dorado and then the big hotel zone. Just north of there, thinking it will be quieter there. Wrong! We find after quite a bit of looking and asking one campground, $32 USD per night for no amenities! Or a parkinglot style 'campground' for 16, so we try a little further into Mazatlan, another little yet more shady campground still $32/night and not so friendly neighbours, and so we venture on to another possible site. This is wedged between some big hotels and condo places, we don't need hookup for anything just use of the bathrooms but they still charge the same price. So we are asked to park in the back against the wall that separates us from the busy road, but clean (?well, for here) bathrooms and showers and the beach is 20 paces away. We can't see the beach for the big rigs but we can certainly get there in a hurry. We decide to stay one night, leave early in the a.m. as soon as we can. We'll go 2 hours south from here where hopefully it is quieter. But what do you expect in a big resort city like Mazatlan? I feel small, when I look up sitting here on the cement pad (we didn't bring any chairs or table) I see the condos and hotels towering over me. The moon is beautiful, not quite full yet but giving lots of light. We decide that on the way back we'll skip Mazatlan and go directly to Las Glorias. Everyone liked it there.Or maybe we'll stop at Huatabampito. Anywhere but here.There is a family here with 3 boys, in a van similar to ours. We talked to them a little bit, they're from Salmon Arm, first trip down the West Coast like us. They have been here 4 days or so, also tired of driving and decided to stay put for a few days. We will probably meet up with them down the road again, we are all going P.V. way it seems.
But mostly retirees with supertans and big bellies.We ate dinner at a little mom and pop place where locals hang out as well - always a good sign. We make sure the kids are hungry enough that they'll eat whatever's on their plate. And they do. A little bit of boogieboarding is great to work up an apetite.Ryan seems to be always hungry.
Kids and dad play chess at night. It's become a favorite game. We have a small magnetized version we took along. Ryan beat dad tonight! We can get wireless connection here if we pay, and we don't want to 'cause the camping is already twice the usual. So, we'll do the blog thing and e-mailing at another location.