December 28, 2010
As 2010 drew to a close, I overcame a dreaded fear – driving in Mexico! On Tuesday, December 28, were rented a car from Alamo – well,that’s actually part of the story, too; we tried to rent a car for two days, on Monday and Tuesday, and the car was supposed to delivered to the marina at 9:00 am. By 11:00 am there was still no car at the marina; in fact, there was no car available at all (even though we kept being told one would be available “soon”). By then it was too late to go on the trip we had planned for that day with Steve and Mindy, friends of ours off Enchantress, another Washington (Port Ludlow) boat in the marina, so we “bagged it.” We had made the arrangements for the car several days in advance through the marina office, so we had no “confirmation” number; but that afternoon, Mindy made a reservation with Alamo for Tuesday, and I made one with Budget, whose office was right across the street from Alamo in the Mazatlan “Gold Zone.” So, bright and early Tuesday morning, the four of us (armed with two confirmation numbers!) caught the bus to the Gold Zone with high hopes of finding a car. Bingo – this time Alamo came through! So, with white knuckles and tense shoulders (mine, anyway) we ventured out through Mazatlan's morning traffic and headed north; actually it wasn’t that bad. But what we soon learned was that speed limit signs on the highways and byways out in the country mean nothing, and no passing signs mean even less - sort of like stop signs anywhere in Mexico, which seem to mean stop only when there is oncoming traffic to stop for!
Our itinerary for the day took us first to the small town of La Noria, about 20 miles NE of Mazatlan, noted for its leather crafts. On our way back to the main highway from La Noria we stopped and toured the Los Osunas tequila distillery. Once back on the highway we headed further north to the town of El Quilete, a quaint colonial town with great restaurants and goat cheese factories. On our way back to Mazatlan that evening, we detoured off the highway to see the town of El Habal, where we found some great, fresh (hot!) churros! (A churro is a deep fried twist of dough, somewhat like a doughnut, dusted with cinnamon sugar - absolutely "to die for!") With the luxury of having a car, we stopped at one of the big grocery stores in Mazatlan on our way back to the marina – all in all, a very interesting day! It was fun to share the adventure with Steve & Mindy, too – they were great traveling partners for the day!
Below are some photos from our first of what we hope will be many roads trips while here in Mexico. Remember to click on the pictures for larger images, captions, and slide show option (advance with arrow). Enjoy!
As 2010 drew to a close, I overcame a dreaded fear – driving in Mexico! On Tuesday, December 28, were rented a car from Alamo – well,that’s actually part of the story, too; we tried to rent a car for two days, on Monday and Tuesday, and the car was supposed to delivered to the marina at 9:00 am. By 11:00 am there was still no car at the marina; in fact, there was no car available at all (even though we kept being told one would be available “soon”). By then it was too late to go on the trip we had planned for that day with Steve and Mindy, friends of ours off Enchantress, another Washington (Port Ludlow) boat in the marina, so we “bagged it.” We had made the arrangements for the car several days in advance through the marina office, so we had no “confirmation” number; but that afternoon, Mindy made a reservation with Alamo for Tuesday, and I made one with Budget, whose office was right across the street from Alamo in the Mazatlan “Gold Zone.” So, bright and early Tuesday morning, the four of us (armed with two confirmation numbers!) caught the bus to the Gold Zone with high hopes of finding a car. Bingo – this time Alamo came through! So, with white knuckles and tense shoulders (mine, anyway) we ventured out through Mazatlan's morning traffic and headed north; actually it wasn’t that bad. But what we soon learned was that speed limit signs on the highways and byways out in the country mean nothing, and no passing signs mean even less - sort of like stop signs anywhere in Mexico, which seem to mean stop only when there is oncoming traffic to stop for!
Our itinerary for the day took us first to the small town of La Noria, about 20 miles NE of Mazatlan, noted for its leather crafts. On our way back to the main highway from La Noria we stopped and toured the Los Osunas tequila distillery. Once back on the highway we headed further north to the town of El Quilete, a quaint colonial town with great restaurants and goat cheese factories. On our way back to Mazatlan that evening, we detoured off the highway to see the town of El Habal, where we found some great, fresh (hot!) churros! (A churro is a deep fried twist of dough, somewhat like a doughnut, dusted with cinnamon sugar - absolutely "to die for!") With the luxury of having a car, we stopped at one of the big grocery stores in Mazatlan on our way back to the marina – all in all, a very interesting day! It was fun to share the adventure with Steve & Mindy, too – they were great traveling partners for the day!
Below are some photos from our first of what we hope will be many roads trips while here in Mexico. Remember to click on the pictures for larger images, captions, and slide show option (advance with arrow). Enjoy!