Mexico 1: The Longest Boat Ride

"La Paz to Mazatlan"After finishing the Baja Divide route we went to the Baja Ferries office in La Paz to purchase tickets for the ferry to Mazatlan. The tickets were 1,240 pesos each, plus 200 pesos for each bicycle. Be sure to bring your passport when you go to purchase tickets. The ferry only runs to Mazatlan a few days a week so we had a couple of days to wait in La Paz before leaving.The ride from our hotel in La Paz to the Ferry Terminal was 21 kilometers. Most of the ride was pretty mellow, with a good portion of it on sidewalks and dirt paths, but the last several kilometers to the ferry terminal had a lot more semi-truck traffic and was a lot more stressful. Thankfully truck drivers in Baja are super courteous to cyclists.____Waiting outside the Baja Ferries terminal...____Watching our ferry come in to dock...The ferry from La Paz to Mazatlan takes about 12 hours and runs overnight. When it came time to board, it was a little confusing what we were supposed to do with our bikes. We just kept rolling them along as the crowd moved forward. When we got to the X-ray machines the guard had us put our backpacks on the conveyor belt, but just waved us and our bikes around the whole show (including all the bags that were still attached to our bicycles).After checking passports, everyone filed onboard the ferry through the same door the vehicles entered. We locked and strapped our bikes on the side near the door, and took the things we wanted overnight with us. Part of our ferry tickets got us dinner (and coffee with a sweet bread in the morning). We were assigned seats, but spent the evening in the dining hall and watching the night grow dark from the outside deck.Later in the night we retired to the room where our seats were, laid out our sleeping pads and bags, and snuggled in for a good night's sleep. Everyone in the room was sprawled out on the floor, between the seats, and across the seats. It was like a big slumber party with strangers. We woke before dawn and wandered out to the deck to watch the sunrise, and Mazatlan come into view._____________________You can sign up to receive The Redheaded Nomad’s blog posts in your email inbox; sign up at the bottom of any page on my website: theredheadednomad.comFor more frequent updates, follow me on Instagram at: instagram.com/theredheadednomadYou can also find me on Facebook at: facebook.com/redheadednomad_____________________