Mazatlan is at 23 degrees 15 minutes 31 seconds North (23.258611) by 106 degrees 26 minutes 43 seconds West (-106.445278) , just one degree north of the latitude of Kauai. At least those are the co-ordinates of my swimming pool according to my new GPS toy. It is almost exactly even with the tip of the Baja Peninsula, which is the easy way to find it when you are looking at the Weather Channel. Fly to Mazatlan unless you really enjoy driving. It is a full, long day's worth of driving to get here from the border. While the roads are generally good, its a long hard day, believe me. We usually fly Alaska Air out of either San Francisco or Los Angeles.

To get to Mazatlan from the USA your choice of originating cities is quite limited. There are charters during the winter with direct flights from Mineapolis and Denver, as well as Salt Lake City and Oakland. In terms of regularly scheduled flights on American carriers, you can fly Alaska Air from Los Angeles, Continental out of Houston, America West from Phoenix, or Frontier Airlines from Denver. There is a new daily one stop flight out of Dallas with American Airlines that stops in Guadaljara. The only other airlines with regularly scheduled flights into Mazatlan are Mexicana, Aeromexico, and AeroCalifornia. The airport is about 40 minutes from the city. You can hire an individual taxi by buying a ticket at the booth to your right as you exit from baggage claim. The cost is about $20US for the cab, which holds 3 or 4 people. You can also ride in a shuttle bus for about $7US per person. Both the taxi and the bus should have plenty of room for your luggage, unless you like to travel like Nadine, who tends to take things along, just in case! There is no regular city bus that serves the airport, so the shuttle bus is the best you can do, price wise. Also, don't worry about carrying your bags. Just after customs there are lots of strong young men eager to help you schlep your stuff to the bus or taxi. A one dollar tip will make them happy and save your back. Warning: as you exit baggage claim you will be approached by numerous people offering you a free ride from the airport. No Virginia, there is no such thing as a free ride, not even in Mexico. These nice people are all timeshare salesmen, and you will be required to sit through a sales presentation to collect your free ride. Trust me.

• Alaska 800 426-0333
• Aeromexico 800 237-6639
• Mexicana 800 531-7921
• America West 800 235-9292
• Continental 800 523-3273
• AeroCalifornia 800 237-6225
• American 800 433-7300

Airport Transfers

Some enterprising tour agencies now offer round trip transfers. Here is a breakdown of the destinations and fees:

ZONE 1 $22.00 Round Trip

Freeman, Belmar, La Siesta, Vidalmar, Plaza Marina, Hacienda, De Cima, Agua Marina, Vista Dorada, Cabinas, Suites Venecia, Del Sol, Acuario, Olas Altas Inn, Amigo Plaza, Howard Jonson Don Pelayo, Las Jacarandas, Damys, San Diego.

ZONE 2 $25.00 Round Trip

Riviera Mazatlan, Los Sabalos, Los Venados, Playa Bonita, Plaza Gaviotas, Playa Mazatlan, Azteca Inn, Coral Ref., Las Flores, Los Arcos, Lindamar, Marley, Los Girasoles, Club Balboa, Las Casitas, Balboa Tower, Royal Villas,Costa de Oro, Suites Tecali, Inn at Mazatlan, Granada El Cid, El Cid Castilla, El Moro Tower, Islas del Sol, Holiday Inn, Quijote Inn, Solamar Inn, Paraiso del Mar, Caravelle, Oceano Palace, Luna Palace, La Mision, Pueblo Bonito, El Faro Mazatlan, Marina El Cid.

ZONE 3 $ 27.00 Round Trip

Marina Mazatlan, Marina Tennis, Playa Escondida, Ammaczatlan, Pato Blanco, Playa Maria, Marina del Sol, Marina del Rey, El Rancho, Torres Mazatlan, Mayan Palace, Vidafel Sea Garden.

ZONE 4 $29.00 Round Trip

Costa Bonita, Cerritos Resort, Emerald Bay, El Delfin.

Take a taxi. It's not that expensive, it's fast, you don't make any additional stops, and the driver's sure could use the money.

Mazatlan is 746 miles from the border in Nogales Arizona. You should take Mexico route 15. It is a long days drive. You will have to start at daybreak in order to make it. You do not want to drive at night in Mexico. You have been warned. Many people try to break it up and take two days. Here are some typical driving distances from Mazatlan:

Tepic, Nayarit	182 mi
Guadalajara, Jalisco	324 mi
Mexico City	746 mi

Buying Gas

Looking for a Shell, Exxon or Texaco station? Good luck! There is only one brand of gas in Mexico, and it is called PEMEX. It is owned by the Mexican government, and they know a good thing when the see it. One of the advantages of having a monopoly is that you can charge whatever you like an get away with it. You'll find gas prices in Mexico about twice as high as in the US, so be sure to fill up just before crossing the border. Most of these stations take credit cards, but when we drove down several of the stations credit card machines were broken, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring cash, preferably in pesos.

How to bring your car into Mexico

Cars are quite expensive in Mexico; they are heavily taxed, and foreign cars must pay a pretty stiff duty. Because of this, the government is pretty strict about allowing foreigners to bring their cars into Mexico. Basically if you bring a car in, you had better drive it back out. To ensure that this happens, there are a bunch of procedures that you have to go through as you enter Mexico. Here is what to expect.

This year (1997) Nadine and I drove down to Mazatlan from California. We are now in a position to tell you first hand what to expect on your trip down, should you plan to drive. I'll begin by starting in Tucson, Arizona. We broke the drive up into two days, but some of my friends tell me they do it in one day. I must admit we are not macho enough to attempt it, as both of our driving days seemed very long.

Starting in Tucson, take Interstate 19 down to Nogales. If you haven't done so already, you can stop on the US side of Nogales and buy your car insurance. There are several insurance "storefronts" on the way, with "barkers" encouraging you to select their particular agency. We had already arranged our insurance through Internation Gateway Insurance Brokers. Our policy allowed us to select how much of Mexico we wanted to be covered in, and we selected the whole country rather than just the northern states. The cost for the basic coverage is $458US for a year. The daily rate is $11US per day. This is for a Ford Explorer valued at $20-$25K. Their phone number, in case you want to use them, is: (619) 422-3022. Be sure to purchase your insurance before crossing the border, as your standard American insurance is not valid in Mexico. If you are in an accident here, and are not covered by insurance, you will be taken to jail until you can prove that you are able to be financially responsible for any claims that might arise from the accident.

Just follow the signs to the border. The crossing was no big deal for us. As you get to the border, your car triggers a customs light that either flashes green or red. The three cars ahead of us got green, but we got red. The guard ask us where we were headed, and when we said Mazatlan he waved us on our way. The "real" border doesn't happen for another 20 miles or so. When you get there, plan on spending about an hour to go through all the formalities. Park your car and take your papers with you. There are 4 stations, and they are numbered. Station 1 is immigration. You will need to fill out a tourist visa and present your passport or other documentation proving you are a US citizen. The officer inside will stamp this and give you a copy to take with you. Next proceed to station 2, which is inside of the station 3 building. It is a small window with a copy machine. The nice young man will make 2 copies of your visa and your driver's license and your vehicle registration. This will cost you a few pesos for the copies. Next go outside to one of the windows at station 3 and present these copies and pay the fee for the "temporary import permit." The person behind the window will fill out the form, and collect the payment, with can be cash or credit card. It comes to about $11 US. No big deal. They will tell you to go back to your car and get in line for station 4, which is the "real" customs inspection. While you are in line, someone will come around and paste a holographic sticker inside your windshield. Do not leave the area unless someone has done this. Don't be tempted to drive off. This sticker, and the form accompanying it, shows that you are allowed to drive your car in Mexico. If it is missing or out of date, the police have the right to impound your car at once. I repeat, don't drive off without this sticker. This queue will again bring you to a green and red signal, but this time it is always red, so you will have to pull over and a customs official will look inside your car. In our case, we opened the trunk and he poked his hand into a bag of dirty clothes, asked where we were going, and sent us on our way. All in all, the whole experience was no big deal, and nothing to lose any sleep over. In case you are interested in the official version of what can and cannot be brought into Mexico, the consulate has provided that information online. One note however: They are very strict about bringing in firearms. Don't do it! You may let a Mexican drive your car as long as you or your spouse or family members are with him. If you aren't and a Mexican is caught driving your car, it will be impounded, and you will wish you never heard the word Mexico. Finally, you are only allowed to keep your car in Mexico for 6 months. Make sure you and your car exit Mexico before this time period expires, or your car will again be subject to confiscation.

Once you are on the road again, and just about up to 65mph, you will see a sign saying that you are approaching a town, and the speed limit will drop to 40kph. I advise you to slow down at this point, as there will be people crossing the highway in a few minutes, and there was a parked police car on the side of the road. It looked to me like an old fashioned speed trap. You have been warned.

Once on the road again, we decided to take the toll roads all the way down. Look for the signs that say Cuota, which means toll rather than Libre which means free. We decided to break the trip down into two days, and spent the night in San Carlos, about 260 miles from Tucson. It is right next to Guaymas on the map. In the table that follows, I'll list the various tolls that we encountered. The last toll of the first day was Hermosillo. The tolls listed are for a regular car. Trucks and campers are higher. All the amounts are in pesos, and the date of the trip was the end of October 1997. An update! Recently I received an email from Manuel and Adriana Espinosa giving me an update on the prices at the various toll booths. I have included the new rates below. Also they recommended stopping over at Obregon, and staying at the Days Inn. These are current as of May 31, 1999. Thank you Manuel and Adriana.

Name	Time	Amount
Magdalena	10:41	42
Hermosillo	14:43	42
Empalme	8:44	42
Esperanza	9:58	42
Fundicion	10:43	42
Estacion Don	11:45	42
Puente Sinaloa (de Peaje)	12:42	14
San Miguel (de Puente)	14:11	17
Plaza de Cobro #59 (Las Brisas)	14:31	19
Plaza No 58	15:34	19
Culiacan	15:33	19
Costa Rica	15:41	75
Marmol	17:26	70
Total	485	485

There are plenty of gas stations along the way, and all of them have unleaded gas. Some, but not all, take credit cards. You would be wise to have about $200 US in pesos with you for gas, tolls and snacks along the way. There were plenty of money exchanges in Nogales, but past that the only place to change money is at a bank. Also, even past the border and the second border, we were stopped four times along the way by checkpoints. I am not 100% sure what they were looking for, but I believe that for vehicles heading north they were searching for drugs, and for vehicles heading south they were looking for guns. They never detained us or looked at our stuff. There was also an agricultural checkpoint, which also waved us through. All in all, the trip was uneventful, but long. I hope yours goes as well, should you choose to drive. One last note, we basically drove the speed limit all the way down, and many times we were passed by other cars that made us look like we were parked.

Going thru Durango

If you are starting from Texas, chances are your trip will take you through Durango. Do not let the roads from Texas to Durango fool you. They are new, straight, and fast. On the other hand, the short drive from Durango to Mazatlan will take you 7 hours because of the narrow, poorly maintained, and winding mountain roads. Under no circumstances should you attempt this drive at night. Unless you have at least 7 hours of daylight left, spend the night in Durango and set out the next morning.

Why you should not drive at night

It isn't because of banditos or anything like that, its just that you can't see what is in front of you as well. It is not uncommon for livestock to wander on the roads, especially at night. Encountering a cow at 70mph will be unhealthy for both the cow and yourselves, so don't chance it. In addition, all the potholes that you avoided during the day are still there at night, only they are harder to avoid. Do yourself a favour, pull over and get a good night's sleep and set off as the sun comes up in the morning. You'll be glad you did.

Travelling with a Trailer

Here are some words of advice from other RV'ers who have travelled down to Mazatlan. Never let your gas gauge go below one quarter tank. It is often a pretty long way between gas stations, and it doesn't hurt to keep it full. Be sure to fill up, way up, in the US before crossing the border. Gas is about as expensive in Mexico as the US. Also, be careful when pulling into and out of gas stations and driveways, it is pretty easy to bottom out. One other thing to look out for is speed bumps, or topes as they are called in Spanish. If you see a sign saying topes, slow down immediately. You can't count on them being marked or painted, so use extra caution. There often isn't much warning, and you can do some serious damage to your suspension if you hit one at full throttle. Also, be aware that when going through towns, these topes are frequently not marked, so drive slowly. Finally, if you do decide to take the libres, or the free roads, and find yourself going through the towns, always make sure that you can make it all the way down a street before turning into it. People often park creatively here, and you can find yourself stuck between two parked cars waiting for the owners to return.

There are also several trailer parks in Mazatlan, where you can drive up, hook up, and hang out. I've visited two of them so far, and found the owners friendly and helpful. One is on the beach, and called Mar Rosa Trailer Park. Their GPS co-ordinates are 23 degrees 15 minutes 26 seconds north and 106 degrees 27 minutes 35 seconds West. The cost is 10-16 dollars per day depending on the proximity to the beach. They charge 3 dollars a day extra if there are more than 2 people in the trailer, and require a 100 deposit to reserve space. The nice thing about this park is that it is right on the beach, in the middle of the golden zone. Needless to say, the beachfront spaces have been reserved by the same people for years and years, but no matter which space you wind up in, you are only seconds away from the crashing waves. The second trailer park I've been to is the Las Palmas trailer park. It is just across the street from Guadalajara Grill, right in the heart of the golden zone. Their GPS co-ordinates are 23 degrees 14 minutes 40 seconds north and 106 degrees 27 minutes 04 seconds West. The cost is $270 dollars per month. Particular spaces can be reserved for a minimum of three months, and require a one month deposit. The folks here love to get together and go down to Lario's for dinner and Margaritas. The office is on the third floor of the building overlooking the trailers.

There is direct service through Nogales, Arizona. Believe it or not, the bus service in Mexico is generally very good. The busses are luxurious, and the seats very comfortable. If you are afraid to fly, and don't want to drive, the bus is a very good option. If you are coming from Nogales or Tijuana, the Elite line seems to be the preferred choice. People tell me that their busses are newer, cleaner and more comfortable than other lines they have riddden. If you've seen the movie "The Big Bus", you will be reminded of it when you travel on a Mexican bus. No, there isn't a piano lounge, but there is a bathroom, video entertainment systems, and an on-board movie. If you're willing to plunk down an extra 50 pesos or so, try the Executive class. Here the seats fold down even more than on a first class airline, and each passenger receives a pillow, a snack, and a soft drink during the trip. These busses are usually scheduled to travel overnight, so you can arrive in Mazatlan refreshed and ready for a full day of touristing. Here are some phone numbers you might try:
Elite 981-3811
Transportes del Norte 981-2335
Transportes del Pacifico 982-0577
Estrellas del Pacifico 984-2817
Remember to prefix these numbers with 011-52-669 if you are dialing from the USA or Canada.

There is also a ferry from Mazatlan to La Paz on the Baja Peninsula. The ferry carries hundreds of people, as well as cars. There are three classes of travel available, Salon, Tourist, and Cabin. Salon class offers reclining seats, Tourist class is a small room with 4 bunks and a washbasin. Rooms are assigned to all males or all females. Cabin class is two bunks and a bath in the room. The travel time is 18 hours, and the ferry leaves Mazatlan at 3:00pm every day except Saturday and arrives in La Paz at 9:00am the next morning. Prices in pesos are as follows:

Salon	174
Tourist	346
Cabin	518
Special	691
With Car	1753

For more information you can contact:

Mazatlán:
	Prolongacion Carnaval S/N
	Fracc. Playa Sur
	Mazatlán, Sinaloa
	981-7020 or 981-7021 (Voice)
	981-7023 (FAX)

Remember to dial 011-52-669 from the USA or Canada first. The ferry service is now online! Check them out at http://www.ferrysematur.com.mx/