Sunday, August 28, 2022

Day 49. Mexico 2022. The Sinaloa coast

I am heading back to Los Mochis, to catch my evening flight to La Paz, at the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula. After having a delicious breakfast of tacos de birria in Pueblo Viejo, I decided to head south and give the coast of the Gulf one last try. I passed Huatabampo and followed the road signs to Huatabampito, which is the corresponding beach. I was pleasantly surprised. It is still the same stark contrast between desert and ocean, but here folks have planted palm trees to create a welcoming environment. Furthermore, there is a long string of beach villas facing the ocean, some of which I imagine are available for rental. Maybe I will try to talk the family to come celebrate Christmas here one of these years. After the town the road turned into a dirt track through the desert, which I followed for a couple of hours for the sake of adventure (who knows, I might stumble unto a pride of the elusive Sinaloan lion, or come face to face with a rhino). It was not to be. Eventually I made it to the boring highway. A few kilometers later, however, I saw a track heading to Las Bocas, which turned out to be another beach community where the rich and famous (the narcos?) have built very impressive seaside villas.

Took me a while to find the tiny Los Mochis airport, returned my car, and waited and waited for my 9 pm flight. It was 7:30 pm by my watch and I was in danger of falling asleep when I pulled out my cell phone to set up the alarm and saw that the real time was 8:30 pm! So I had to rush through the security line, only to have to wait some more before boarding.

We went from Los Mochis to San José del Cabo in a small jet plane (maybe capacity of 75 passengers), and then the same plane hopped from San José del Cabo to La Paz, where we landed at 10:45 pm. I hustled to get an overpriced taxi to my hotel, only to find out that there was no one in reception (my fault, because I had made an appointment via WhatsApp for my hostess to meet me there at midnight). Eventually she came and with a deep sigh of relief I sank into bed.

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