Patricia, "Chicken" of the Desert
Trip Start
Jan 23, 2011
1
183
195
Trip End
Feb 14, 2012
Topolobampo, Sinaloa, Mexico
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Then, there it was, a smaller sized but "Chicken Bus" nevertheless and proudly sporting the wonderfully named destination of Topolobampo :-)
We clambered on and joined the already fairly full bus. As usual, we took our bags to the back and sat as close to them as we could. Not usual at all, a first in fact, we sat on a sideways bench at the back which was a bit strange but gave us quite a good view in forwards and backwards directions. At one point I took a photo of the nothingness behind us. A young boy was watching and had a quizzical look on his face as if to say, "what on earth are you taking a photo of?!". I showed it to him and explained the nothingness with a "nada nada", he got it but still laughed at me :-) He did try and help us understand where we should go and where to get off the bus though which was nice of him.
Knowing where we were heading and the number of bus rides we had ahead of us, this was likely to be, and turned out to actually be, our last "Chicken Bus". It's almost sad :-)
In Topolobampo at the bus station there was a small shop doubling as a ladies nail bar :-) and they gave us directions: one way to the ferry terminal a kilometre or so away, the other direction to the "Malecon" (promenade along the water) where we would find public toilets. They turned out to be at a house where the owners had built them, charged 5 Pesos per use and had a steady flow of patrons. Who said entrepreneurship doesn't exist? :-)
Relieved, we sat at the chairs and tables of a nearby yet-to-open open-air fast food stall and had a lovely sandwich-picnic in the sunshine while we watched life and birds passing by. In front of us was the promenade and the beautiful blue water of the Sea of Cortez (which we would be crossing later) with fishing and pleasure boats and Pelicans bobbing about. The promenade soon became a hive of activity as the many food vendors starting setting up in preparation for the daily ferry passengers. Many are in cars so, rather than waiting at the ferry terminal for hours like we foot passengers would be doing, they come and eat the pizza, French fries, seafood and various other foods on offer at these stalls. When the lady came to open her fries stall we took that as our cue to move on.
We wandered along the "Malecon" for a while to admire the water, boats and birds and then set off for the ferry terminal. Along the way we had offers from taxis looking for a fare, quickly dropping their prices in hope as there were so many of them and so few possible passengers. We declined them all in favour of a walk.
We had a quick stop along the way at an OXXO but just for cold-drink and "Tostadas", yummy giant, crunchy, round tortillas - not hot chocolate but still big kids stuff :-)
The walk to the ferry terminal seemed a bit longer than we were expecting but we got there in the light which was our aim. A kind taxi driver returning from dropping someone off pointed in the right direction and shouted to us to make sure we knew where to go. How nice :-)
Inside the ferry terminal we had a fun time with the ticket lady as she wanted to learn a few words of English from us, especially ¿como se dice de nada en ingles ? "you are welcome" as an equivalent to the Spanish "de nada" for "it's nothing" :-) We decided to splash out on a cabin rather than looking for somewhere to sit in the open seating - the ferry was due to set sail at 11PM and we had also heard from fellow travellers that the showers in the rooms were the best :-)
It was early so we settled down at a table to wait, and wait, and wait.... for a loooooong time! The ferry only runs six days a week, my theory is so that it can start the week on time again as it gets later and later throughout the week. We only boarded the ferry AFTER MIDNIGHT!!! We finally set sail around 2:30 AM!
The dinner included in the price of the cabin was pretty good and I can confirm that the cabins are very comfy and the showers are superb! In fact, we would have liked to spend a couple of days on board rather than just the 8 short hours that we did :-)
