On the road in Mexico Mainland – Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco
Article updated on 01.10.23

Sur les terres du Mexique - Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco

After an incredible month of volunteering in Baja we hit the road for La Paz. We wanted to visit the South-East of Baja but unfortunately a hurricane came… The day we left the ranch, we went directly to the port of La Paz to take the boat to the Mainland of Mexico. We were lucky to be able to board on the ferry the same day.

Direction mainland of Mexico by ferry

We arrive at 11am at the port of La Paz and we are lucky that there is still room on the ferry. We buy our ticket and check in. (Our article with our tips for taking the ferry to the mainland). Around 3pm we go to the queue to board the boat. We waited until 7pm before we could get on with our vehicle. At 9pm, we leave the boat.

The journey is not the most restful… between the movements of the waves with the sea sickness, the trucks which leave their engine on for the air conditioning and the heat that avoids us from sleeping peacefully. We are very happy to arrive the next day at Mazatlan harbor around 12pm!

Mazatlan

After this very rough night, we treated ourselves to two nights in a small Airbnb in the center of Mazatlan. Our friends Sophie and Max that we met at the ranch join us for the second night. We do not hide you the pleasure to find a sofa and a hot shower (even if it is more than 30 degrees…). We take advantage of these days to walk in the city, to eat tacos and to drink good margaritas.

Little coffee

The colorful streets of Mazatlan

A good little aperitif

A restaurant surounded by trees, wonderful!

The raccoon who lives his best life

The view from the lighthouse of Mazatlan

Direction the Pacific Coast of Mexico

We hit the road towards the Pacific coast with Sophie and Max. For our first night, we drive to a spot that normally has surfing… unfortunately it is not the case. Indeed, because of the hurricane, the ocean is wild. In addition to this first disappointment, when we arrived in the village, we tore off an electric wire. It was too low and we are more than 3 meters high with the camper… Fortunately the villagers are nice and just ask us for some money to repair the line. On top of that, Sophie is sick all night long.

Playa Novillero

Just before the gastro comes...

The next day we drive to discover the chic bobo town of San Pancho and Sayulita. We are not in the best shape physically and mentally. Audrey has stomach cramps and we are very hot. This drop in morale is also linked to the fact that the “vanlife” is much less easy than in Baja. We were not used to live on beautiful desert beaches, while here, it is very difficult to find beautiful places to rest with the camper. Despite this little slump, we still enjoy the region for a week and take the opportunity to plan the rest of our trip in Mexico.

Sayuilta

San Pancho

Troubles after troubles

We are heading towards a beach when all of a sudden, because of our size, we take some branches with our vehicle. When we arrive at the beach, we notice that our solar panels are not working anymore. The branches broke the cables of the solar panels. Fortunately, we had other cables in stock that we could use to repair the damage.

A few days later, we get back on the road and decide to avoid a toll because they are very expensive in Mexico. Unluckily, a police motorcycle stops us. The policeman tells us that we are driving at 110km/h on a 80km/h road. We know that this is not true because we never drive that fast. Our vehicle is huge and we always keep a maximum speed of 90 km/h (even in the USA we drive slower). We have no evidence to prove him wrong and he knows we are a wallet on legs. Either we pay him right away, or he takes our plates as a guarantee that we will pay the fine at the police station. Seeing him take our license plates, we stress and unwillingly agree to pay him the $100 fine. We are too angry, but it’s Mexico… Moral of the story, cheap is expensive… From now on, we will always take the toll roads.

Never two without three as they say… We have to fill up our gas tank. In Mexico, we never fill up the gasoline ourselves. There are always employees who do it for us. When we arrive at the gas station, the employees tell us that we can’t pay with the card and that we need cash. We accept because we absolutely have to fill up. At the moment of the payment, the lady changes one of our 500 pesos (25 euros) bills by one of 50 pesos (2,5 euros). In the stress, we don’t know anymore if we were mistaken or not. This is another scam that made us very angry!

Solar panel cables under repair

We make holes for the new cables

Visite de la ville Tequila

La chaleur a eu notre peau, nous avons décidé de remonter dans les terres pour profiter des chaleurs plus agréables.

Premier stop, la ville Tequila.. oui oui tequila. Dans cette ville, vous l’aurez deviné, ils produisent de la tequila. Nous en avons profité pour visiter une distillerie afin d’en apprendre un peu plus. Par exemple, nous ne savions pas que la tequila est faite avec de l’agave. La région est magnifique avec tous ces champs d’agaves !

The agave fields

Agaves with their branches cut

Visit to the Tequila distillery

"Maragrita in the making" at the end of the visit

The best region in Mexico

Many people have told us that Lake Chapala is the best region in Mexico. Why? Because the climate is just perfect, not too hot, not too cold and no humidity! We meet a Swiss-German couple who are doing the Panamerican-highway from Alaska to Ushuaïa, Lilya and Anton. We spend a few days together and even share a fondue on the edge of Lake Chapala in Ajiji.

We have a little crush on the city Ajiji which is very pretty with street art in the old town.

Our beautiful spot with a view of Lake Chapala

A good fondue in good company

We took our time during this beginning of our trip in the lands of Mexico because we have an appointment somewhere with great people! To discover in our next article 😉