It’s About to Get More Complicated - 27 November 2017

27 November 2017 – I got up in time for breakfast. This particular Hampton Inn serves a really nice breakfast. Fruit, juices, dry cereal, eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage, a variety of coffee and toast. You can’t eat everything.  I know because I tried. So, I went back to the room and put together my stuff because I’m driving back to Cabo San Lucas to purchase the ferry tickets to Mazatlán, Mexico. I was thinking about taking all my motorcycle paperwork, but didn’t. I left it in the room. I typed in my GPS coordinates and off I went. It was a lot easier getting there to than last Saturday. A whole lot less traffic and I knew where I was going.

I parked my bike and walked in. The next thing I hear is the door scraping on the floor. The door opened only half way. There were about six men and women waiting for tickets. So I figured there’d be a wait. Nope, they all told me to go up to the counter. The lady at the counter was handling all ticket purchases for these people. I walked up to the counter hoping the lady behind the counter spoke English. Only some. I got out my cell phone and told her through Google Translate that I’m here to purchase Baja Ferry tickets Mazatlán, Mexico. I see the “oh crap” look and I’m thinking the adventure is about to start. She tried asking a couple of questions. No luck. I can translate English to Spanish but not Spanish to English. So she calls up an English-speaking lady who tells me she needs the name of my motorcycle and license plate number. I then asked the lady to tell the ticket lady that I wanted a ticket for me, my motorcycle and a cabin or state room. She did that and we were off. I also gave her my passport with my border crossing info. No more questions. She asked for money or a credit card, which I provided. Everything checked out and she gave me my tickets. She said to be at the ferry port at 5:00 p.m. no later. I thanked her, checked that I had everything and left.

I drove over to a grocery store similar to Wal-Mart. It had groceries and everything else you can think up. I wanted to purchase a new roll of masking tape. I walked in and staggered around awhile. I couldn’t find it. I used my translator to ask for a roll of tape and found an employee. I showed him the text and he took me right to the tape. I grabbed a roll and two liters of water and off I went. I went to pay for it. It cost 70 Pesos and I gave them 100 Peso note. Somebody had to bring the change over because the cashier didn’t have the correct change. I was mystified.

I drove back to the Hampton Inn and started getting ready to leave in the morning. I know a few things: 1) I have to have my own tie-down straps. I do. 2) I will need an address of a hotel in Mazatlan for my Customs and Immigration paperwork. 3) I also need to send Mary this word document to go along with the pictures. This is where I start the grind to get to the tip of South America. Let’s hope I planned well enough.