Mazatlan, Mexico

View of a "General Store" at market in Old Mazatlan

On January 17th, 2008 we left our RV park in Earp, CA. We left the motorhome there and drove in the car towards our goal, that being Mazatlan, MX. We drove that day and after stopping in Why, AZ to purchase Mexican Insurance we crossed into Mexico at the Lukeville, AZ/Sonoyta, MX border crossing. We got the green light so on we go. We needed to know where you get the vehicle permit, as this is required once you leave the free zone. We stopped at the border and a border customs official who spoke perfect English told us that approximately 20 miles south on Mex 2 Hwy we would come to the booth where we would get our permits. Upon approaching the booth you pull in and stop and are told to go to one of the doors and enter. The first door you enter into a sparce office and behind the desk is a gentleman and here you get your visitors visa. As we have our visa's that were purchased in Algadone's earlier, we were able to go to the next door. Here upon entering there is personel sitting behind glass. through a slot you pass all the original documents requested, passport, vehicle registration, owner of vehicle registration, drivers license, vehicle insurance, mexican insurance. Now you also give her a copy of each one of these documents. She confirms they are copies of the originals, then gives you back the the originals and proceeds making out the documents for the vehicle permit. Cost of the permit was 328.00 peso. Once this procedure is completed, you are given a decal that is put on the inside of your windshield behind the review mirror. This whole process took approximately 25 minutes. On we go. We travelled on Mex 2 Hwy and once we got close to Santa Ana we had to stop to pay our first toll. From here you head south on Mex 15D, which is the toll highway to Mazatlan. We drove as far as Hermosillo, and stayed at the Hotel Premier. This hotel was excellent and we would recommend this hotel. We just went to there restaurant and had supper there. Also recommended. We had a good nights sleep and the next morning we moved on. As we felt we had time to do a little sight seeing we went out to San Carlos as we had heard so much about it. We dropped into the Totonaka RV Park as we knew some friends that would be staying here upon our return trip. We could stay there also as they had motel rooms. More on this later. A very pictureous area and we thought we would like to see more of the area. But as we had to move on we went back to Mex 15D. We drove on and as we were getting close to Culiacan we thought we should look for a hotel. This was not an easy task!. We took the exit into Culiacan and started looking for a hotel. Not an esy task. The highway seems to go through an industrial area and very rundown. We stopped at one hotel that looked interesting. No parking on the hotel lot but you could park across the street in a "secure" lot. This didn't really appeal to us so on we travel. Next we are following "hotel" signs we are on the free highway - Mex 15 (libre/free). We saw a hotel on the opposite side of the highway so over we go. The Mercedes Hotel. Here you park in a garage and enter into your room. The garage has a automatic closing door. As there weren't any locks on the doors or the garage (we later found out) we had lunch in the room. We had a cooler with food and sodas so we were okay. The next morning we were awoke early, like 6:15 am. We were already up preparing for the day so it didn't take us long to pack & depart. We had figured out just exactly what type of hotel this was, and we had definitely overstayed our welcome!!!! Knuf said..... We left there and continued on the free road as we didn't want to try to retrace our route back to the toll road. At one point along the route we were able to travel from the free road Mex 15 to Mex 15D toll road. Thus coming out near Casas Viejas. The small town we got lost in and a federal policeman jumped on his motorcycle and directed us to the toll highway. Very nice and much appreciated. We got into Mazatlan about 9:30am so went to our friends place, as they were at the La Jaibas RV park. After visiting with them & saying our hellos they directed us to our hotel the Luna Palace where we had made reservations. We were given a room on the fifth floor and with the help of our friends we lugged up our suitcases and coolers & stuff. We had to leave a deposit to have access to the kitchen stuff. We unloaded the coolers into the fridge and we later had to turn the dial back to almost off, so as not to freeze everything. We spent the rest of the day sight seeing with friends Dave & June. Time passed all to quickly while in Mazatlan. We only got one day to sit by the pool. We travelled and spent some time down in Old Mazatlan and the market. We were last in Mazatlan in 1989 so we noticed a lot of changes. the taxi's were much the same, converted and altered Volkswagens, but he market was more modern. There was refridgeration now at the markets that sold fresh meat and the whole market appeared much cleaner. Also there appeared to be more middle class Mexicans and most of the vehicles were of the newer vintage. One day we took a day trip out to Teachapan. About 90 miles south of Mazatlan. We went to a RV park there as we had heard about it. ONAC RV park, just north of the town of Teacapan. A nice park but one has to make your own entertainment. On the way back we stopped in the Town of Rosario and went to the Bellavista Restaurant for a late lunch. The road to the restaurant was a steep climb up a cobblestone road. At the top along with the restaurant was a pool and water slide for kids. The owner was in the process of installing an adult water slide. Our waiter spoke perfect english and we found out he was raised in Los Angeles. His parents are American, he was born in Rosario, so holds dual citizenship. He said he was educated there and holds a degree. We asked why he was here and he said with open arms... the lifestyle... He had the owner come over and we said this would be a perfect spot for a RV Park. He interpreted for the owner & the owner said yes if he can acquire the property next door. The time spent in Mazatlan was over all to quickly and on the 26th we had to depart. So after saying goodbye to Dave & June we left. We drove towards San Carlos arriving mid afternoon. At the RV park we saw our friends had arrived so we booked into one of the units. A sight to behold, painted all in a deep blue. Walls and ceiling all the same colour. A fridge that woke you up when it came on and once running & lulled back to sleep would again wake you when it shut off. The water pressure was almost nil and if there was hot water I am sure I'd still be waitng for it. The next morning we decided to move on as Marge had acquired a cold and wasn't feeling all that great. Fine by me as 450.00 peso for the unit was a bit expensive for what we got. On our return trip to the US we had to stop just out of Sonoyta to hand in out car permit. After this was done we proceeded on and crossed back into the states about 4:30pm. We had to stop at 11 toll booths and pay about 630.00 peso ($63.00)approx. each way. For motorhomes pulling a toad would be about 1.5 times a car rate. On our continued drive back to Earp we stopped in for an hour to see friends Bob & Cathy at Wellton, AZ. We arrived back at our motorhome about 9:00 pm. Unloaded our car and relaxed before going to bed. It had been a long 2 days travelling a total of 1400 miles each way. It was also an interesting & eye opening experience. Would we do it again....you bet we would. To view pictures taken of our adventure go to http://community.webshots.com/user/ramit56 and click on Mazatlan, Mexico