The city had a very nice walkway along the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Brown pelicans were numerous and fun to watch diving for fish.  Several large statues were at intervals. Restaurants, shops and exchange places were abundant.

        On my second day, I let myself show a time share hotel. The sales pressure was great, but I survived. It all looked nice, but I prefer to travel to different places rather than to sit at the same place.
        My plan was to travel to Baja California. As I watched the weather channel on my hotel TV there was a big red blob showing hurricane Juliet. It seemed risky to go there so I decided to travel inland to Guadalajara an later Mexico City. I went there by bus and each time I had to take a city bus to go to El Centro and  the Cathedral.. The first hotel in Guadalajara cost 750 pesos, so I went to the cheaper Los Americas for 150 pesos and was quite happy.

Guadalajara cathedral

        In Mexico the tourist office lady directed me to a hostel right in the historical district. It was a Youth Hostel. and was in a good location from which to explore this large town. The only trouble was that people were terribly noisy at night and I wish the management would have required quiet time after 8 or 10 like in other hostels.
        (When I first visited Mexico in December of 1980 I had to be on instruments to fly through a solid cloud of smog. In the city many people wore face masks. during the present visit there was no air pollution and the air was quite breathable. That was remarkable in the largest city of the world with 26.5 million inhabitants.)
        Mexico City has a plethora of museums. I visited some of them, first Archeological Museum. To get there I took the metro where I had to make one change. A lot of ancient, pre-Columbian artifacts were on display. Explanations were in Spanish and also in English.

I also visited the Zoo which was free, large and tiresome.Two living pandas were asleep during the
day. I was unable to find the botanical garden, that is I got too tired walking.

        One evening I watched a concert at the very large Plaza de la Constitution  right in front of the cathedral. A bit later, at Sundown, soldiers came out of the Palace de la Nation and formally took down the enormous Mexican flag.  In the same Palace on the following day I went to the room of Benito Juarez. (1806-1872) the national hero who started the present republic. A guard asked me to take off my hat, so I did. Another visit was to the Torre Latinoamericana where from the 44th floor I had a beautiful view of Mexico.

        At the hostel they also made available tours of the pyramids. These are very interesting ancient structures, but I saw them before so I passed.

        From Mexico I took a bus to Mazatlan which lasted 18 hours. I arrived in that city  just before day break. A short walk took me to a city bus stop and I got a ride to the ferry terminal.

        The ferry to La Paz takes off daily at 3 pm and the ride lasts 18 hours. It was a very smooth ride, no more hurricane. On the first deck was lively mexican music and beer, so I moved up there. As it got dark I went into the main room to sit on a chair and tried to sleep.

        La Paz, Baja California.  The ferry docked at 8 am. Taxis and a bus were waiting. Of course I took the city bus to town. By that time it got rather hot. I searched for a budget hotel, but it was too early and the first two I did not like. Then a man sitting outside a coffee shop recommended I check into San Miguel down the road. After I unloaded my stuff at the hotel I wanted to go and thank the man. It turned out he operated a colectivo (car). He wanted to take me to a nice swimming place  called Taceloto  for 70 ps round trip. I got it for 60 and went for my swimming trunks left in the hotel. It was a worthwhile trip. I enjoyed swimming outside a restaurant and had an excellent meal of fish with a few bottles of beer.

        La Paz did not suffer much from the hurricane, but they had as much rain in a few days than the last 5 years. Later I met a guy from the tip of Baja where the hurricane caused great damage to hotels, washed out roads etc. In effect he was furlowed from a very good hotel job as receptionist.
        Some people go to Baja California to watch whales, but I did not see any at this time.

        Ferry to Topolobampo (near Los Mochis).  The ferry leaves La Paz at 11 pm, but one has to be there several hours before that. Also the last buses from town to the ferry leave at 5 and 7 pm. I watched as several very large trucks managed to drive backwards onto the ferry, before the passengers were permitted aboard. This ferry was much less nice than the one between La Paz and Mazatlan. We got to the  mainland early in the morning. Later I found out that I should have spent a couple hours in  Topolobampo which has some nice tourist attraction by the sea, Instead I rushed to take the local bus into Mochis.  Here I checked a couple of hotels and found the Hidalgo best suited me. I had an Ok room with air conditioner and TV (but no weather and news channel). There was not too much to see in that town, but I still walked around. A botanical garden was "advertised" and I found it. It wasn't much; no plants with labels and no great variety, just a park. Next to it was a sugar refinery.  In the evening, I had a good meal which I paid with my Master Card. Later I found it missing and it is possible that I did not get it back, The return takes time, and I might not have waited around long enough; or I lost it some other way. But next morning when I discovered it missing I called home by public phone (dialing 090 first and getting an operator to place a collect call) for my wife to cancel the Master Card...... Things happen.....

        Train ride on the Copper Canyon line. Early in the morning I took a city bus to the train station and bought a ticket to Creel.  The Economy train cost half what first class cost and is just as comfortable. There was no problem getting a good seat on the right side of the train . Departure was timely at 7 am. The speed of the train was barely that of a walking man, the slowest train I know of! First it slowly moved in the plains. On both sides on the railroad right-of-way are numerous shacks, looking rather poorly and unsanitary. Later we moved through very fertile fields. This was followed by hilly then mountainous terrain with cacti and other sorts of vegetation. After a few hours of which the slow train reached the canyon area. Here you really feel that "you are living at the edge"  because right adjoining the tracks the terrain goes steep down for hundreds of feet (or meters..Mexico uses the metric system). Several places the train tracks makes big wide S-s to climb up the mountains. This goes on for hours. At Divisadero  the train stops for 15 minutes and gives the passengers a chance to get out, walk 100 meters to a view-point where you see a great big hole and the walls of the gorge.

        About one hour later the train reached Creel where I got out, while it continued to Chihuaha.

        In Creel  I got on a hotel bus called Margarita which soon let me out near the zocalo (or main plaza). The hostel night costs 100 pesos with supper and breakfast which seemed a good deal. I got to a room with 2 beds and bath. A man from Madrid Spain slept in the other bed.
        There was a good crowd in the hostel, and I conversed with people from Netherlands, Mexico, Denmark, England, Japan, Switzerland, New Zealand and maybe others. I felt I'd be happier in such hostels than in the very expensive tourist hotels. Some folks talked about the tours they took out of Creel, some went horseback riding, others by bus and a 2-hour walk to a waterfall. I did not go on  such a tour.... actually I felt since I would walk slower I might hold up some of the younger folks.  The next morning I took my own little walking tour through this Mexican mountain town.
        On the train station it gave the altitude as 2330 meters. During the night it got quite cold, and since I left most of my clothes in Los Mochis I did not join the others after quiet time in a nearby bar.
        After only one night in Creel I caught the economy train at 1 pm back to Los Mochis. The scenery was the same, of course, it just was a bit less impressive on the trip downwards. It was nearly midnight before we finally reached Los Mochis.

        Mazatlan. Early next morning without checking back into the Hidalgo hotel in Los Mochis I got on a bus for Mazatlan. The ride took about 5 hours. Again I took a bus to El Centro and the Cathedral.

        I found the hotel Del Centro and checked in. The price with AC and TV was 143 pesos which was reasonable, and I spent 2 nights there.  After putting down my stuff I went outside and took a city bus to the aquarium. Entry was 50 pesos which seemed high, but I got 3 shows out of it, too.
        A diver was showing off turtles and several large fish in a tank with a window. Then  there was a seal  show and also a bird show. Numerous fishes of all colors could be seen.
        From the aquarium I walked a few steps to the shoreline, and then followed it to the south for several miles. It was hot and no shade, the palms were on the inside of the walkway. Mazatlan has several interesting statues, like Puerto Vallarta. After this long walk I found a decent looking restaurants with "mariscos" advertised. So I ate a very good fish dinner with beer again. No rush, I felt I had done my days sight-seeing and I could rest  in my hotel room later on.
        On my second day in Mazatlan, I wanted to see the lower part of town. So I walked again, arriving a bit South of where a few days before I got on the ferry to La Paz. There are several mountains within the city. The road along the coast climbs at several places. The view from some of the "miradores" is truly gorgeous. The book says that at times some divers perform from some of the rocks like in Acapulco.   I t was a beautiful walk again, at one place I could not resist taking a quick dip in the Pacific. Arriving at the same point as the day before, I stopped at the same restaurant and again enjoyed a very good meal. Mazatlan is a very nice town, also cheaper than Puerto Vallarta.. There is a Zona Dorado where most of the very expensive and luxurious hotels are located.

        Return to Puerto Vallarta and home.  I thought it would be simple and easy to get from Mazatlan to Puerto Vallarta, But I had to do it in two stages:  first a bus to Tepic, then another bus to Puerto Vallarta. Duration about  7 hours. In Tepic we passed through rather fertile land with corn, mangos a few orange groves and sugar canes.  The land was mostly level with some mountains on the edges. From Tepic to Puerto Vallarta the crooked road goes mostly downwards. Vegetation was heavy. A lot of cars were coming toward us, I assumed they were on the beach for  Sunday's day of rest.  I arrived at 6.... or was it 7? Several times on my trip I had to readjust my watch and I got a bit confused. At any rate, I thought I knew my way around in Puerto Vallarta. So I took the bus to El Centro and found the Youth Hostel. Here I wanted to stay my last night in Mexico, but my  pesos were used up. The Inn-keeper, though, accepted my proposal to pay him the following day after I could exchange $10 US into 91 pesos.
        I could eat with my other credit card and had 5 pesos of Mexican money.  Three pesos were for the bus to the airport and 2 pesos for a rest room. (I did not need the 2 pesos and put them in a box for the Red Cross.)
        The flight home was long and uneventful. I had to fly via Phoenix and Las Vegas to Orlando.
        From Orlando International Airport terminal I had to take a taxi for $14  to go to where my plane was parked.  After an hour or so of rest I was ready to fly on. There were a bunch of clouds to punch through IFR and then the weather was all VFR (visual flight rules).

For other travel stories, please click: http://www.freenet.tlh.fl.us/~heinisj

you may e-mail me at: jheinis@nettally.com