Participants Blogs
La Aventura Panamericana - Day Five Blog
By
Nov 20, 2006, 14:45

DAY FIVE - SATURDAY 11TH NOVEMBER
SAN JOSE DEL CABO TO LOS MOCHIS - 269 KMS

Woke up to a beautiful sunrise - will be sorry to leave this lovely hotel with the stunning views across the bay.

Lots of moans at breakfast about the standard of the laundry service - some clothes coming back a different colour, some just before departure and some not at all.

Today we took the road to Pichilingue to catch the ferry to Los Mochis in mainland Mexico. Pichilingues were Dutch pirates who plundered the cargoes of silver, spices, ivory, porcelain and silks. The road runs between the Sea of Cortes and the magnificent Sierra Laguna, a huge chain of mountains which run from the tip of the peninsular up to La Paz. The early morning
sunshine picking out the different colours of the rock formations - very spectacular.

While writing these notes in the car, the navigator missed the turn to the detour of the day - can't win them all. Again the vegetation very diverse with giant cactus mixed with scrubby acacia and the occasional bougainvillea. With the recent rain the trees are beginning to flower. Even the cows look fat and they seem to wander unhindered so one has to be wary in case they cross the road.

We passed through a pretty village called El Truifo with historic tumbling houses and an old mission church - very quiet, not a soul to be seen.

As we were too early to go to the ferry terminal, we went into La Paz for a quick look round and a quick beer - it was very hot! La Paz is the state capitol of Baja California, and is set in a magnificent bay with outlying
islands. It has a chequered history and at one time it was rumoured that the oyster beds held black pearls, not too be and the beds were wiped out by a mysterious disease in 1940. A pretty town with a lovely promenade.

Arrived at the ferry, having had to ask the way - the Spanish is coming back! One or two mishaps for the others en route. Luis had a puncture, his spare
wheel was locked and he had lost the keys - not sure how this was solved but he did catch the ferry. There was also the issue of the disappearing ferry ticket. Ferry ride very comfortable, two complimentary marguaritas. Lunch and a snooze in a cabin quickly passed the time.

When we arrived at our destination, it was very scary getting back to our cars as we had to duck and dive passed sometimes under the huge trucks and trailers parked beside us.

A short drive to our hotel in Los Mochis - Los Mochis is the centre for the sugar cane area and means ?hill like a turtle? The hotel Santa Anita fairly basic but perfectly adequate, we had to change rooms as we had not hot
water.

Soup and sandwich supper as were so late.

By Roger Lucas, Car 1

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