The Sinalo--The sign of Sinaloa

Puerto Vallarta (Jalisco, Mexico)

... 'from here (La Paz, Baja California Sur) I will take the ferry to Mazatlan (Sinaloa) tonight.' That was the last sentence from my previous post. That journey was actually delayed a few days. I received a phone call from the carrier company to cancel the trip just a few hours before boarding. I was stranded in La Paz three more days until I managed to board an alternative vessel.

I got Mazatlan, Sinaloa, on Saturday 12. This Mexican State, along many other States, has been associated with drug cartels (J. Guzman, 'El Chapo') and crime in the Western media. Anyone coming to Sinaloa from outside Mexico would expect violence and fear on the streets. There is nothing at all of that here. People park the cars with the windows down, business operate with less surveillance than in the US, ladies enter their houses and leave the street door completely open behind them, and police patrol the streets as usual. There is not homelessness, no beggars, no public intoxications, no drug dealers on the corner.

Mexicans are, generally speaking, hard working people, with business initiative, very social and family oriented, pious, modesty, and friendly. They are not violent at all. I would say the opposite: Mexicans are very peaceful. In more than a month ripping along this nation, I have not seen any kind of incident. If there is something I dislike of them is how they enjoy playing loud music. So far, my concerns have been traffic and dogs only, like almost everywhere else for a cyclist.

I hope I will say the same at the end of the trip. I am taking, of course, all the precautions to make it happen.