It was a horrible night in Guamuchil, combination of a very hard bed and very loud traffic from the libre. I gave up around 6:00 and was ready to roll out by 7:00 when the sun was nearly fully up.

There was a bit of excitement on my way out as I couldn’t find my truck keys. After a search of the most obvious places I might have put them that weren’t where they should have been, I finally conceded that I likely did something really stupid and left them in a truck lock overnight.

So I went down to the office and asked the concierge if anyone had turned in keys. He seemed to think that was the weirdest thing he had heard in his life. Maybe people don’t turn in keys in Mexico?

I went back to the room and tore through my luggage, finding my keys at the bottom of my computer bag. Needless to say, I was relieved, even as I kicked myself for yet again not putting them in the purse where they belong!

All that done, I filled out the comment card saying that everything was excellent except the bed being hard as a rock and off I went towards Culiacán.

There was an Oxxo minutes away from my hotel, so I didn’t have to wait for coffee. This time, I was asked ‘sabor?’ and I just wasn’t in a Spanish mood yet because that made no sense to me even though I knew the word. The guy sighed and sayed, ‘Café negro?’ and I went, ‘Oh, SABOR! Si, negro!’ Some Oxxos have fancy flavoured coffees and regular drip, or black, coffee. I like the regular. I think I was charged 14 pesos, so the price of the coffee is not consistent from store to store.

Then, I drove. The libre was beautiful and the speed limit decent and steady. It was much nicer going than using the cuotas with their variable speed limits. I passed a single construction zone and then I was in Culiacán.

There, I managed to take a wrong turn and actually got lost. Forget misplaced, I had NO idea where I was or how to return to the libre. Maps are only useful if there are street names or landmarks! Continually turning right wasn’t working because the layout of the town was erratic.

Eventually, in the distance, I could see a giant Ley sign that I could use as a point of reference and worked my way towards it. I finally saw a sign saying Mazatlan thataway, but I was going in the opposite direction. I pulled into a Burger King to get turned around only to realise that I couldn’t do a much needed left hand turn there.

Guess what I did? I took a deep breath, waited for the light to turn green, and then gunned it left before anyone had a chance to block the road. Yippee Ki Yay ***!!!

I got back to the place where I made the wrong turn, correctly interpreted the directional sign this time, and I was out of there!

All of this took place in less than ten minutes. I didn’t even have time to get flustered. I’m mastering making my way through largish Mexican cities!

I think it was shortly after this that I CAME ACROSS A TOLL BOOTH ON A LIBRE. I was not impressed! I was even less impressed that the posted amount was 10 pesos and the guy told me I had to pay 20. But as it turns out, that was my only toll of the day. Had I taken the cuotas, I would have had somewhere between 300 and 600 pesos of tolls! So I got off lucky!

The libre from Culiacán to Maz was fantastic. There were a few towns, but it was mostly wide open road with mountains in the distance. Moya was purring and I just set the cruise control at about 80KPH and kept behind a large dump truck that warned me about topes!

And then, I passed a sign that made me pull over FAST for a picture. I had just crossed over the Tropic of Cancer! WOW!

I lost the truck after that and, the road being so smooth, my speed crept up a tad. A truck coming down a hill in the opposite lane flashed its lights at me frantically and I jammed the breaks, assuming that meant what it does in Canada.

Yup. Speed trap by the local police and they had pulled over some Canadians! The cops just waved at me as I was going by. Thank you for the warning, señor!

I made it to Mazatlan around noon, a full five hours after leaving. I’d done less than 300km! But, hey, I’d saved $30 to $60, was really not in a hurry, and I got to see some beautiful country!

From Mazatlan, I knew I had to keep going south on 15 to the airport, so I did that, getting off when I saw a Banamex in the distance, where I made a withdrawal. Then, I stopped at a Pemex for fuel.

Contessa warned me to fill up completely since there is no gas on Isla, but I wasn’t going to put nearly $100 in the tank the way my budget is right now. I promised my cousin I would pick her up at the airport when she arrives next month and take her to her hotel, so I can refuel then. I took on enough to get to Isla with half a tank and won’t be driving there anyway.

From the Pemex, I tried to contact my landlady, to no avail. I then tried a contact Contessa had given me at the Tres Amigos RV park on Isla. She wasn’t answering either. I then tried a maintenance guy Contessa had told me about, so he could meet me at the end of the road in and take me to the RV park. No answer there either.

I decided to just go. At this point I was frustrated not to know for sure that my place was ready because that meant I couldn’t get groceries, but I wasn’t concerned about my losing out on the place. I had a suspicion that the landlady being difficult to reach was just a Mexican thing and that it would all get sorted out once I got to Isla.

I followed the signs for the aeropuerto and then turned at the golf club onto the road to Isla. Or rather, The Road.

Isla de la Piedra (Stone Island) is actually a peninsula, but it is so difficult to access by land that people take a ferry to Mazatlan. Contessa had warned me to allow LOTS of time for the infamous Road. I have no idea how long it is. Maybe 20KM?

Heavy rains this week meant The Road was fairly washed out, with gigantic puddles. It took me about an hour to drive it slooooowly and my heart stopped each time I got to a lake-sized puddle. But Moya handled it like a champ and, frankly, The Road was better than some parts of the Dempster Highway, and I drove that in my subcompact! Still, the road to paradise was hell. 😉

I was awed by the coconut palms I passed, very different to the palm trees I’ve seen so far.

Eventually, I saw civilization in the distance and I was on Isla! I knew to make a left turn for the RV park and did so down a muddy track. When I got there, I tried my contact, Debra, again. I knew I was on Island time now and that it would all get sorted in the end. I heaved a sigh of relief at being THERE and waited for my Island welcome.