The ride to Guadalajara was uneventful just direct as I wanted to get there and go to bed so as to kick the last remnants of my cold. The ride to Mazatlan on the other hand, although another straight highway was great. One of those days, just perfect. Easy cruising down the motorway for 480kms, but with lovely scenery so the time and distance just whistled by. Just me, my bike, travelling, happy, healthy and feeling fantastic. DAMN it’s good to be alive and oh so sweet not to be sitting behind a desk 🙂

Although Mazatlan is a touristy seaside town it is nice and the beach is lovely with a great boardwalk. While walking along the beach I saw a small group of people looking at / touching something flapping in the sand. When I got closer I saw it was a small or baby stingray. They were lifting up its fins and taking pictures of its mouth. One guy put his fingers in its mouth. I just pushed past them grabbed it and threw it as far in the water as I could. It was almost washed back but a few waves and a lot of flapping saw it finally swim away. While I stood guard and shouted ‘’swim baby swim’’ much to the amusement / disappointment of the group who had their photo session cut short. People can be such assholes when it comes to animals. I then stood and watched the sun set on a wonderful day. I got that high on life feeling. That feeling that no drug on earth can replicate.

Baby the stingray

I just loved watching the pelicans fishing

wow what a sunset

The following day while walking on the beach I saw a few little stingrays in surf. It was high tide so none got washed ashore, but they were swimming really close to the edge … adrenaline junkies. There were also loads of sea birds (I was not sure what type), seagulls and pelicans. I think there were schools of small fish swimming by and the stingrays and birds were feasting on them.

After my lovely walk and still feeling that life high I got ready to go catch the ferry to La Paz on the Bahia peninsula. I hate ferries and was a little nervous as it is a 17 hour long trip. I thought it would be like the one in Brazil across the Amazon (the 2nd time around), dirty smelly…well just disgusting. I couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised. The ferry is very much a trucking ferry and has far more room for trucks than passengers and it is HUGE like 4 stories tall. I had booked a cabin and was glad I did as the seating area although very nice (aeroplane like seats) was crowded and they showed Spanish movies till late into the night. The cabin was huge and had 2×2 bunk beds and a very clean bathroom. I had no idea I had a bathroom in the cabin and I immediately got out of my riding gear and had a very nice hot shower. On the Amazon ferry the bathroom was so disgusting I would clean my teeth over the side of the boat never mind shower in it.

The only bad thing about the La Paz ferry was the delay. I arrived at 1pm 3 hours before the 4pm departure as required on the website. The ferry itself only arrived at 5pm and took over an hour to unload trucks and people, then we could board at about 6pm and the ferry only left at 7pm 3 hours late. We were scheduled to arrive at 9am but only arrived at 3:30pm. However with such nice cabins I did not even mind, and I just plugged in my laptop and watched an entire TV series. I watched Quantico which is not great but it kept me entertained.

 Dario and Elias

I had also met 2 Mexican riders going to the Bahia for 5 days. Elias and Dario, what awesome guys so nice, friendly and funny. I really enjoyed meeting them and making friends with them. They are both riding KTM 1190s and are in the Bahia to test them out.

 Watching the sunset from the ferry before it departed 

So here I am in La Pas on the famous Bahia peninsula 🙂 My last Latin American adventure before crossing into the states for the final leg of my journey.