Showing posts sorted by relevance for query ferry. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query ferry. Sort by date Show all posts

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Trip To La Paz

Trip To La Paz
We left Guaymas on the bus to Los Mochis at 8:30 AM on the 17th of May, after Ciro very nicely offered us a ride to the bus depot. Bus ticket 160 pesos each (about $16.00). We had a fairly long stop over in Obregon as the bus driver dropped us at the depot and then went and picked up a part that he needed for a problem on the bus. This errand completed we continued on our way to Mochis. After we arrived there, we collected our luggage and asked for directions to the bus going to the ferry at Topolobampo. The first person we asked pointed us in a direction and told us 3 blocks, we completed the 3 blocks and asked someone else. The second person told us it was another 3 blocks, so we continued on. At the end of the 2nd 3 blocks we asked another person and we were again told it was 3 blocks. We laughed and continued walking and did eventually find the bus. We waited for about 15 minutes and the bus took off heading for the ferry. Bus ticket, 20 pesos each (about $2.00). We arrived at the ferry terminal around 5 PM and purchased our tickets. Ferry tickets 680 pesos each (about $68.00).
We then had about 6 hrs. to wait as the ferry was scheduled to board at 9 PM and leave at 11 PM. We had a bite to eat and sat around talking. A little girl about 2 or 3 yrs. old adopted Roy and we spent lots of time playing with her. If Roy managed to walk away from her without being noticed she would stand calling him in spanish, of course, but what she was saying was, "come grandpa, come". We got lots of amused glances over this.
The ferry boarded late and shortly after boarding we were called to dinner. The dinner is included in the price of your ticket and there was a choice between 3 entrees. The meal was good. The ferry finally departed at 12 AM and we were on our way. We wandered the boat and sat around trying to catch some zzzzzz's.
We arrived at the ferry terminal around 6:30 AM and disembarked shortly thereafter. After collecting our bags and standing in line to have them checked we again started bus hunting. We found a bus going into La Paz, 20 pesos each (about $2.00) and headed into town.
We asked for directions to the hotel where we were meeting our housesit family and started off. Naturally it was further than we were told; but we found it without any problems. We had a couple of cups of coffee and wandered around the malecon looking around until our homeowners arrived.
We then went for lunch, did a couple of errands and left La Paz heading for Los Barriles.
After driving for about 1 1/2 hrs. we arrived at their home and are nicely settled in. We have met the animals and are getting to know them.
This afternoon we went shore fishing for awhile; but didn't catch anything but the rocks. I lost my hooks and Roy got a big tangle in his line so it wasn't a very sucessful fishing trip.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Back In Guaymas, Finally

Back In Guaymas, Finally
We were supposed to pick up our home owners at the San Jose airport at 8:15 PM on Wednesday evening. After stopping in Los Barriles for a coconut shrimp dinner at Los Barrilitos restaurant, we headed for the airport, arriving about 7 PM. When we checked the arrivals board at the airport it said that the plane was going to be 2 hrs. late. Wonderful! When it finally arrived about 3 hrs. late we headed back to the house. We arrived back with no mishaps and shortly after 2 AM were asleep. Getting up at 6:30 AM, we finished packing and headed into Los Barriles to catch the bus at around 8:30 AM.
NOTE: I am going to give the exact price of tickets in pesos and an approximate price in dollars using a 10:1 exchange rate, as the exchange rate changes, if you want an accurate dollar cost, you will have to check the todays rate.
We caught the bus from Los Barriles to La Paz, 100 pesos each, about $10.00. We had intended to eat lunch in La Paz before heading to the ferry; but when we arrived at the bus station we found out that there was a bus heading for Pichiligue, (which is the name of the ferry terminal) in 1/2 hour so we decided to take it and make sure that we got there on time. The bus to Pichiligue was 20 pesos each, about $2.00. We arrived at the ferry terminal around 12:30 and purchased our tickets, which were 710 pesos each, bout $71.00. At 1:00 PM they lined everyone up to board the ferry, unfortunately we stood in line for about 1/2 hr. before being allowed to check our luggage and board. We hung around on the deck watching the birds and looking around for a short time and then realised that they were serving a meal. We were happy about this as by this time we were very hungry, not having eaten yet that day. We had a choice of 3 entrees and we both chose a beef stew served with rice, refried beans and tortillas. It tasted very good, the meat was very tender and the stew was tasty.
After eating we again went outside and watched them undo the lines holding us to the dock and we were away. At this point it was 3:30 PM. We spent the next hours walking around the boat and wandering outside hoping to spot some whales or sea life. We didn't see anything until just before sunset when there were some dolphins that followed the ship for awhile.
We arrived at the dock in Topolobampo at about 9:30 PM so the actual "on the water" time is about 6 hours. We then stood in line again for deboarding, this seemed to take forever and was about 45 minutes, everyone was getting tired of standing. Once we deboarded we collected our luggage and headed to find a bus to Los Mochis. We were lucky that we had gotten into line early and gotten off the ferry before a lot of the other people as the bus was extremely full. People filled the aisle standing!! The bus from Topolobampo to Los Mochis was 20 pesos, about $2.00. This bus stopped at a bus station in Los Mochis and we got off as everyone else did. Unfortunately for us this particular station did not have a bus heading to Guaymas so we got a taxi to take us to the Tufesa station, taxi fare 50 pesos, about $5.00. At the Tufesa station we bought tickets for Guaymas, by this time it was 11:30 at night. The bus tickets were 215 pesos each, about $21.50 and the bus was due to leave at 1:30 AM. We had a coke and sat in the bus station waiting for the next 2 hours. Thankfully the bus was on time and we headed for Guaymas finally. After a restless night with next to no sleep we arrived in Guaymas shortly after 7 AM, which was actually 6 AM our time as we do not go on daylight savings time. We then caught a taxi home, 45 pesos, about $4.50.
Once home we carried out all the stuff from the patio that we had stored inside while we were gone, vacuumed, went to the corner store for a few groceries, made sure the computers were online, ate and then laid down for a much needed nap.
We had a good visit with our landlords family and some of the neighbors in the evening and then later watched some fireworks from our patio. This week Guaymas is celebrating The Battle of Guaymas which occured in 1854 with the French according to our landlord. I guess there was a mock ship battle at the malecon around the same time as the fireworks; but we were too tired to go. Today there is to be a kayak race and a swimming race on Sunday.
We will have a busy few days as we need to do some heavy duty cleaning, do a major grocery shopping as we tried to use up almost everything before we left. We both also badly need haircuts as we were too lazy to do it in Los Barriles.
IT IS GOOD TO BE HOME!!!!!
Birds perched on one of the docking lines.

Getting ready to let go one of the docking lines.

Another of the docking lines.
An old ferry.
One of the lifeboats.
Man in the orange coverall working on deck.
Beautiful sunset over the Sea of Cortez.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Baja Bound

Baja Bound
We will be leaving in about 1/2 hr. for Baja. We are taking a bus south to Los Mochis and then going to catch the ferry at Topolobampo. We will then catch the overnight ferry over to La Paz where our housesit family will pick us up and then we will drive to their home near Las Barriles.
I will continue to post from over there and hopefully have lots of pictures.
Til later.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Back To Normal

Back To Normal
Well, yesterday was "fat Tuesday", so it was the last day of Carnaval here. We didn't go to the parade, as I was supposed to have spanish class. I am becoming "muy frustrado" with my spanish classes. Last week I made the trip to San Carlos 4 times, and actually had the teacher show up for 1 class. This maybe doesn't sound like a big deal to you; but for me it kind of is. You see I need to leave home about 10 minutes before 2 PM to catch the local bus uptown, then I have to wait for the San Carlos bus and catch it, arriving in San Carlos just before 3 PM when the class is supposed to start. After the hour class is over at 4 PM, I have to catch the bus back to Guaymas and then my local bus home. I arrive home about 5 PM. So I am taking 3 hours out of my day for this 1 hour class. Yesterday we (the students) all arrived and again the teacher did not. We sat around for awhile and then headed home. I realise that the teacher had a personal problem last week and I have some sympathy for her. What I don't have sympathy for, is the fact that she does not contact anyone to let us know that she can't make it to class. She just doesn't show up, and before someone reminds me that this is the way things are done here, the teacher is not a mexican person. I am still deciding whether I will give her another chance and go out there tomorrow or not. I just feel like I am wasting my time the last couple of weeks. I badly want to improve my spanish; but this is not happening when there is no class/teacher. We (the students), joked yesterday about starting our own class. Some of my fellow students will begin leaving shortly, as they are "winter" residents, so I don't imagine that the classes would continue through the summer anyway. I am beginning to think that I may just quit now and try to find something else after we return from the Baja in July.
Speaking of the Baja. We chatted on IM last evening with our housesit lady there and they have booked their tickets for their vacation. We will be leaving here on May 17 th to go over there and will be returning sometime after the 11th of July. We intend to take the bus to Los Mochis and then another one to the ferry terminal at Topolobampo. Then take the ferry over to La Paz, where they will pick us up and drive to their home, which is not quite a 2 hr. drive south. They live out in the country about 6 miles from a town, right on the beach. We should have a nice time there with their cats and are looking forward to it. Of course, before we get to do this, we have to head back to Albuquerque, New Mexico for 2 weeks in mid April, so we are going to have a busy and interesting spring.
Yesterday I made homemade baked beans and put them in the slow cooker to "bake", they were good for a change. You can't buy baked beans here, so we haven't had any for almost a year.
We are out of coffee, so I need to go to the store today and need to get a haircut soon. We are thinking of going down to the sea also. With the "cold" weather and my classes, it is quite awhile since we have gone and just sat and watched the birds and the waves.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Saying Farewell

Saying Farewell
We managed to get the laundry done yesterday and some other housecleaning. Roy washed off the patio and also washed the car. A hard days work, ha, ha.
Today we had made plans to go for lunch with the people from Saskatchewan that are staying in the RV park in San Carlos. They have to leave for home on Thursday and we wanted to get together before they left. She runs a greenhouse there and needs to get back as she has to go and pick up some plants in Winnipeg by the end of the month. I don't envy them having to go back at this time of year. We met them and went for lunch and then went to a couple of shops and the Belles Artes to look at the paintings, etc.. By this time, it was time for me to go to spanish class, so we said our goodbyes and I headed to class. Roy took them back to the campground and then he returned home. We have enjoyed spending time with them and will miss them; although we will stay in contact by computer and possibly Skype.
It looks like we will be going to the Baja to do a housesit after we return from Albuquerque at the end of April. The Baja sit is supposed to be for 2 months, from the middle of May to the middle of July. We will probably bus south to Los Mochis and then take the ferry over to La Paz. We have been wanting to take the ferry over to Baja, so this will be a perfect time to do it. We are looking forward to it and hopefully it won't fall through.
I have homework to do for tomorrow, so time to get at it.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Bloggers Dinner Out

Last evening Bliss and Jim , Cynthia and Mike , Roy and I got together for dinner at a restaurant in centro called Los Barcos. Los Barcos is not to be confused with our favorite restaurant La Barca. Can you tell by the restaurant names that Guaymas is a port city? Los Barcos means the boats (plural) and La Barca means the boat (singular). This name game can be confusing, as one evening we were to meet some people at La Barca, we waited and waited before finally ordering and eating our dinner. Unknown to us they were doing the same waiting game at Los Barcos. Pretty funny. We did finally get together with them on a different evening.
We sat around chatting and when we finally called the waiter over to order he seemed relieved. He told us that the kitchen would be closing in about 15 minutes at 6:30 PM. Early closing.
They had 3 specials: shrimp in orange sauce, fish in orange sauce and chicken in orange sauce. See a trend here? Roy decided to try the chicken special and I decided to try the shrimp special. The others ordered shrimp in a variety of ways. The orange sauce was tasty, nothing great; Roy said he really liked it; but then he likes citrus more than I do.
Dinner over we chatted for a few minutes and noticed that they were locking the doors so we decided to leave so that they could close up. It was 7 PM. When Roy and I were at El Coco Novillero the other night they also appeared to be closing up at 7 PM. This seems very strange as most of the Mexican people eat dinner at a later hour so perhaps the bulk of their business is for lunch. Los Barcos is open to the outside so does not have air conditioning; they did have a couple of big fans going though, so it was pleasant inside.
As we stood outside chatting a group of 4 backpackers arrived, they were Italian and had just gotten off the ferry from the Baja and were hungry. They spoke a little English so we were going to try and tell them where another restaurant was, this was going to be interesting as there are none close to Los Barcos without taking lots of twists and turns. They told us they were on their way to San Carlos so Bliss and Jim offered them a ride. They all piled into their car, packed like sardines. We had a good laugh as it reminded us of the clowns at the circus all piling into their little car. Off they went to San Carlos to find their hotel and some food.
Cynthia, Mike, Roy and I chatted for awhile longer before heading off to our respective homes. A nice evening.
I didn't take my camera; but both Bliss and Cynthia did so there may be some photos over on their blogs. Personally I hope not, I sure hate having my photo taken.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Housesitting

I have had lots of interest expressed since I talked about housesitting. Kelsi, the radio girl,
(who did an interview with me last winter about moving to Mexico), had some questions about it also. I sent her an email and she did a blog post about it today. If you are interested in housesitting you can head over there to read it.
Housesitting can be a fun and enjoyable experience if you do your homework before leaving. Have some experience with the pet varieties that you will be housesitting. As an example, if you have never had anything to do with birds, it is probably not a good idea to apply for a housesit that involves lots of bird care. Use your common sense. As with anything else in life, remember that people are not always the same in person as they portray themselves in emails or on the phone. Be prepared for unexpected things, be flexible, be open and hopefully nasty surprises will not happen. We have been lucky so far, with very few misrepresentations given us by the homeowners; but it does happen so be aware.
Remember, when you do a housesit you are there to look after the homeowners house and pets, it is a BIG responsibility and that responsibility is YOURS. It is NOT all about you wanting a free vacation. If there are pets involved you will only be able to be away from the house sightseeing for limited hours at a time. The pets need to be looked after, fed, walked, and loved so please remember that it is not all about you.
On the other hand we have gotten to see some things that we probably wouldn't have otherwise. The first time we went to Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA it was during their big Balloon Fiesta
and the many balloons were a sight to see. The second time we went to Albuquerque for a housesit we arrived a day early and went and spent the day in Santa Fe. We are not big on touristy type towns, so we probably wouldn't have gone there, gotten a hotel and stayed. This way we just went for the day, wandered around and saw the sights and then headed to our housesit. We enjoyed spending a few afternoons wandering around "Old Town" Albuquerque looking at the shops, galleries, buildings and listening to the street music. We went to several museums, botanical gardens, etc. and really enjoyed our time there.
Entrance to "Old Town" Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Church in Santa Fe.

We spent 7 weeks in a beachfront home on the Sea of Cortes on the Baja Peninsula. Unfortunately, after being told that we could swim, snorkel and fish, the beach and water were full of big rocks, so we did not swim, snorkel or fish after lugging our things all the way from here on the buses and ferry. You live and learn.
View from the patio on the Baja.


We also spent a few weeks close to home in San Carlos, Sonora. We got to walk to the beach on Christmas Eve and watch the lighted boat parade. We probably wouldn't have driven out there to see that and it was a pretty sight to see.
Overall we have had good experiences, so go ahead and try it, you might like it.

Friday, June 01, 2007

Hurricane Shutters

Hurricane Shutters
Yesterday morning we were just sitting around when a truck drove up to the gate. It turned out that it was the crew that were coming to install hurricane shutters to the house. They were supposed to email before they came so that we could make sure and be home. They hadn't emailed; but we were home so it didn't really matter. They spent all day doing the installation and did a good job. We did some chatting with the boss and found out that he has been doing this for 18 yrs. and is originally from Toluca, Mexico. He told us that some of his buddies go over to Hermosillo to pick grapes during the season. We swapped information about here and Guaymas, while he was on a break. They went into town for lunch, so we didn't have to feed them. They work out of Los Cabos and have 2 days work up here this time. He said that sometimes they camp in an arroyo and cook fish that they have caught; but this time they are staying in town.
We saw the whales again this morning and Venezia caught herself another lizard of some type. She has caught 3 or 4 that we know about and they have all been different varieties.
We went into town, had some lunch, found the bus station and got information for our trip home. I think that we will bus all the way to Santa Rosalia from here, (approx. 654 kms.) and then take the ferry straight home to Guaymas. We will spend a night and day in Santa Rosalia looking around.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Mothers Day and Baja

Mothers Day and Baja
Thursday was Mothers Day in Mexico; although we waited and celebrated it on Sunday, old habits die hard. I spent most of the morning calling and talking to people. Calling landlines in Canada is easy from the computer and very cheap. The voice quality is very good and as my mother put it, it sounds like you are right here. It was nice to catch up on all the family news, I don't phone as often as I should and my excuse is, that with not having an actual telephone I just don't think of it, and I don't.
We later went out for dinner at La Barca and as usual it was very good. We both had the enchilada plate, and this time they were chicken. Sometimes they are beef, you never know and we never ask as it doesn't really matter to us. The usual refried beans and some salad rounded out the plate, with of course the usual coke to drink. The bill came to 100 pesos for our dinner, (about $10.00). After we finished eating we stopped at a store so that I could pick up a couple of things that I was needing yet for our trip to Baja.
We have been busy getting all our ducks in a row for Baja. We have all the bills paid up until the end of July and pretty much everything is ready. I did the laundry this morning and then packed my clothes, which wasn't a big deal as we are not taking much. The house that we are going to be housesitting at for the next 2 months is right on the beach of the Sea of Cortez, so we expect to be spending the majority of our time in shorts and bathing suits. We are taking all of our snorkeling stuff, so by the time you pack 2 pr. of fins, etc. you don't have much room to pack many clothes unless we want to drag a truck behind us.
We will be leaving Thursday morning on a bus south to Los Mochis and then will take the overnight ferry from Topolobampo over to La Paz where our housesit couple will pick us up Friday morning. We will then drive to their home in Las Barriles an hour or two south of La Paz. I doubt that we will get much sleep Thursday night, so I am sure that we will be tired the next day.
I intend to continue blogging and posting photos while we are gone, if the computer connections function. They have been having trouble the last while, both with their computer and their connection; but hopefully have it fixed now. If not there are internet cafes in the town, which is only 6 miles away. So for the next 2 months we will be the new parents of 4 cats, which will be nice, as I still miss my pets that had to be left in Canada.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

2 Years Of Blogging

2 Years Of Blogging
It doesn't seem that long ago; but yesterday was my second blogging anniversary. Two years of putting my thoughts down on virtual paper. I started out on Windows Live Spaces; but quickly got frustrated with it and switched to blogger. Altogether I have made 346 posts.
When I started blogging in May of 2005, we were planning our October trip to Mexico, supposedly only to escape the Alberta winter. Well, as you know, things changed and we have been down here ever since, (other than 3 mths. back in Canada to get rid of everything). Amazing how much ones life can change in 2 short years.
At the moment we are getting ready to head to Las Barriles, Baja Sur to do a housesit for 2 mths.. We leave a week from today and will head down to Los Mochis/Topolobampo by bus and then over to La Paz by ferry. Should be an interesting trip. We will then spend the next 2 mths. looking after some kitties and a home on the beach, on the Sea of Cortez. We will be looking across the Sea of Cortez from the other side for awhile. It should be a quiet time as the home is 6 miles out of town. We are looking forward to it.