November 21, 2015

What happened…

Amanda writes: We had called late yesterday to confirm the boat was scheduled to go and felt confident with the wind. In the morning Grant offered to take me out on the boat and try my hand at fishing. As I mentioned in the last post I only managed to throw up everywhere … oh well, maybe next time will be better. Needless to say I was feeling a little green about heading out on another boat today.

Ken drove us into Santa Rosalia in Leonard’s truck as Leonard wasn’t feeling too well. We headed into town and had some ice cream after buying the tickets for the boat. While we were enjoying ice cream we saw another cyclist. Gee is from South Korea and traveling to Mexico City. We chatted with him for a bit and then helped him find a hotel for the night. Then we went back to wait for the ferry.

When we first bought our tickets there was no charge for the bicycles and that was nice. However as we were about to board the ship we were called back and told we had to pay 300 pesos for the bikes. I was pissed because another cyclist just got off the boat and confirmed he didn’t have to pay for them. I asked the woman to show me where it says there is a fee for bicycles and we went back and forth a few times. In the end the Captain of the ship basically said, you’re paying or you’re not getting on my boat. So we paid begrudgingly. My advice to anyone going on the ferry is go in and pay as a pedestrian and then keep your bicycle low key until the very last moment that you’re getting on the boat. I figure they only made us pay because Andrew rolled his bike into the waiting area and then the ticket agent saw his bike through dollar signs in her eyes. We still haven’t found where it says you have to pay for bicycles and I’m quite sure someone in Santa Rosalia enjoyed our extra pesos.

We got on the boat and went into the seating area downstairs that was filled with lovely new leather chairs and two 50 inch televisions playing shoot em up movies at maximum volume. We took the back row of seats so we could lay down and sleep on the trip. We had both taken a Gravol pill to try and prevent further puking today. The boat was scaring me a bit as it was super small and only held about 10 cars. We left without incident. I woke up in the middle of the night to use the washroom and the boat was rocking something fierce in the waves. I made it to the washroom and returned to the waiting room with chairs and noticed the thick diesel smell from the engines. In Canada I don’t think this boat would pass any type of safety code and I was left wondering if people would die from the fumes tonight. I went back to sleep with those thoughts because I had to lay down before I threw up again. We woke up as the boat pulled in and the sun was just rising in Guaymas.

The familiarity of the region felt nice. Seeing the streets we know was great after being in new areas for almost 7 months. We picked up some groceries in Guaymas and headed for San Carlos. I was feeling a bit nervous about our arrival because of how Andrew changes when he is here. We’ll see how that plays out this year because I’m better prepared. We made the turn off Highway 15 toward San Carlos and could see the Tetakawi mountain and it just felt right. Suddenly I was looking forward to not only being here, but to seeing my friends. The ride into San Carlos was easy and we found our hosts home with ease because we knew the area.

We arrived to meet Pat, Larry, Colette and Chico. Pat and Larry are the humans and Colette and Chico are the very friendly dogs who we made good friends with. I couldn’t have asked for a better place to lay my head after 7 months of travel in a tent. Pat and Larry welcomed us with open arms and I’m so grateful to the kindness of others and amazed at our human nature; we rock!

Today’s Photographs