Day three..groceries and a real dinner!

 Yesterday I took the Milenio bus to Walmart and it let me off a block from Walmart..  The Pradera bus stops right in front but...it blew right by me😡  I usually drive, but early on a quieter day like Saturday or Sunday.  The traffic actually wasn't bad at 9am.  So much new building everywhere.  Everyone thinks it's overkill but who knows.  

I started at Sam's Club next to Walmart and renewed my membership for 450 pesos about $31.00 Canadian on their usual promotion 😁 

Walmart was busy, busy and I got most of what I needed except eggs which were only in flats of 24 and our beer wasn't cheap so I didn't buy any.  We'll get that at the Kiosko corner store where it's always much cheaper anyway. 

I got to cook a real dinner last night so things are looking up😊

Soon I'll be posting ladies lunch pictures !

Day two in Mazatlan.

 Yesterday was a bit of a blur but..we did get the important stuff from the truck put away. Tables, bicycle outside and storage bin moved. I'd picked up some bagels and bread in Ajo,AZ on our way through so we had breakfast and lunch with the canned tuna left in the house.  For dinner I ordered sushi by phone from Xitapa which is right close.  I used the Cerritos phone number which is where we are but when I walked over to pick it up he had no idea what I was talking about😬  After a few phonecalls by him and Google translate I finally asked if he could just make me sushi.  No problem and it only took him 15 minutes.  Man was he quick.  Too bad about my phone order but what could I do. Dinner and a shower, beer and bed.

Today all our bins in the truck were unloaded and put away.  A little sweeping and washing and it's starting to look like home.  Our internet isn't working so Eric went up to see Mauricio our new complex manager and he was on it quickly.  Eric got data on our Mexican phone and now we can communicate with the gate to let people in.

We've been here 48 hours and with leftover sushi, steamed brocolli and rice we were fed. Tomorrow is another day.  Groceries tomorrow or the next day.

Obregon Sonora to Mazatlan, Sinaloa

 A couple of things I forgot.  Lunch at the pemex yesterday and the bathrooms were closed so I had to pee behind a bush.  Then we opened the windows while  we ate lunch and 100 flies flew in!! It took another 100 kms to get rid of them.😆

Okay night but lots of people and traffic noise.  Good complimentary hot breakfast and then to get out we had cars in front of the truck and we had to wiggle our way out.  Too tight for a trailer to park but the parking guy brought us in! Below you can see where Eric had to turn around and both sides were filled with cars. We came in the long alley turned around with much difficulty and parked on the corner coming out.

 0p

Up at 6:30, breakfast at 7 and on the road by 7:30.  Still really dusty.

Heading out of town.

Where we usually stay.  Tour buses everywhere so somethings going on here.

Where we usually stay at the Fiesta...full!

Baby agave.

Today the highway is quiet yesterday it was packed.

Topes in the middle of nowhere...good thing the regular drivers know where they are and we see brakelights.

Between Navojoa  and Los Mochis we hit a federal police check and we got shaken down.  Wanted our papers but didn't check them.  Checked my purse and money, Eric's pockets, our bags and looked in the trailer and asked where you from.  Never said what they were looking for.  Didn't check the stuff in the canopy.  Nothing to hide but a huge  amount of stuff if they decided to tear it all apart.

How to carry hay😁

Welcome to Sinaloa where the roads are sort of paved. 

Just after the Los Mochis toll booth the police pulled us over.  Jabbered a bit and said keep going! 

Which lane shall we drive in?

Up ahead Los Mochis.

Between Los Mochis and Guasave the lanes are really narrow and the bad pavement moves from left to right.

Huge agriculture through here

Multitudes of topes😡

Need any crap?

Another impromptu check point after lunch at they pulled us over and checked us again for weapons and paperwork. How much money do we have..enough for fuel and tolls. Then a female miltary did a quick body search on me. I should have bent over and spreadum with my pants down..would have served her right🤣   A bit overkill for old Canadian tourists.  Maybe work on the cartel. Sigh!

Lots of crops grown around Culiacan.

Very fertile soil.

The road looks flat but it's like being on a boat...side to side and up and down.

Culiacan bypass.

North American winter vegetables.

I think it would take a while to put in all those stakes.  We're  on the Culiacan to Mazatlan leg.

See those smudges ...well now we were hit by a plague of locusts🤣 The windshield is covered!

Coming down towards Mazatlan.

The ocean!

The last toll booth.

The army trucks are heading north...Saturday night in Culiacan 😁

That's our turn up ahead.

Up ahead the Riu on the beach.

First unload the bike out on the road. 

Eric took the bike into the house, walked  back and then we dropped the trailer down the road. When we were dropping the trailer a nice young man came to talk to us.  The property manager for the complex across from the parking lot in the center of the road.  We are on city land but he wanted to know who we were and our phone number so he could call us if there was any problem with the trailer. How nice was that? They have a night watchman who keeps an eye on things plus...the people in the complex were nosey about who we were😁  Very quiet on a dead end road. Then we headed to the house to partially unload. Got here around 4:30 and it's 28c and slightly humid.  It's been a long couple of days and we're both tenderized from the road. Not bad time with two shake downs, one police stop, fuel and lunch.  Never a dull moment!

 Beer, AC on and soup for dinner.

Nogales,AZ to Obrego , Sonora and it was a crappy day!

 We were up at 6:30 this morning.  Packed up and then breakfast.  The Hotel Americana has always had the best breakfast...not today.  The lights over the food were either out or working at half power and the food wasn't hot. Not good and I informed the desk.  It was -2c this morning.

We left at 7:15 and we we're through the border after a quick check of registrations by a young Mexican guard who didn't seem to know what she was looking at.  We followed the convoluted route out.

At km 21 it was busy and we stood outside in the cold for about 25 minutes. Inside to fill out the tourist visas with ONE clerk working the desk.

Next importation and the same issues as last year "the trucks GVW is in the commercial zone as it's a 3/4 ton.  Pictures to take, get printed, aduana or customs guy who didn't know what he was supposed to look for went out and checked the VIN to the paperwork.  Finally done after 2 hours.  It was so easy when we hot it done in San Luis out of Yuma before the stupid over 1/2 ton GVW thing started.

Topes or speed humps heading south so watch out.

Can you see the mattresses on top of that vehicle?😁 Tons of Mexicans with trucks loaded with bicycles etc. heading south.

Nice day but the new concrete highway is bumpy as hell.

Before Hermisillo lots of grapes.  At this point I decided I should book a room at the Fiesta in Navojoa as it's Friday and the traffic was heavy. Usually we just stop and easily get a room.  Nope..full as was every motel in Navojoa.  So I started on Obregon  and the first one was full too.  Finally got us a room at the Quality Inn in Obregon. It took a couple of hours on the cell.

Working on the Guaymas bypass

As we got closer to Vicam the wind picked up and the agricultural dust was thick.

It was dusty all the way into Obregon.  We followed Google maps through the center of town right to the motel.  We pulled in with the cargo trailer not  knowing how tight the parking was.  The parking lot guy helped but it took half an hour for to turn it around in a tight space...good thing Eric knows what he's doing.  We tipped the very nice worker 100 pesos.  No ice machine so he trotted off and found me ice for our cooler which is full of butter and cheese 😋 

The highway was really busy today as were the toll booths and I'm guessing the Veterans Day stat in the USA may be part of it as people headed south.   I found a decent room but no fridge or microwave which is odd.  So..leftover cold lasagna and salad.  Tomorrow Mazatlan after a long tiring day.

Sorry for all the grumping😁