It was a long journey by ferry across the Gulf of California, much longer than we expected. We managed to get a cabin; there are only a few of them on the ship. We were lucky; most of the travelers spent the night in their seats. Passengers were mostly Mexican truckers. On board the crew served two meals. These were typical examples of Mexican cuisine; breakfast is not much different from dinner. There are always beans on your plate regardless if you ordered them or not.

At one o’clock in the afternoon, after 20 hours at sea, ship docked in Mazatlan. Only driver was allowed to leave the ferry by car. All other passengers had to walk out. It was not clear where we should meet on land. To find each other we lost almost an hour.

Mainland Mexico differs from a quiet, lazy Baja California. There are many highways, some free, some tall roads, cities and heavy traffic everywhere. There are no large free spaces. After 8 pm, we reached the town of Tequila. Yes, it was that Tequila, the place from which derives the famous Mexican liquor. It was time to find a place for a night, a difficult task as it seemed at first. We ended up in the backyard of the motel. It had a strange name, Delicias 29 de Enero or Delights of January 29. Balios parked behind a high wall, the gate was locked and for a 100 peso (7 USD) we had the entire area for ourselves. We were happy not to spend a night in one of the motel rooms, but we could sleep in our Jeeps' pop-up tent.