Entering the State of Sinaloa

After a noisy night along the highway, we left left the Sonoran desert behind this morning and entered Sinaloa, the state to the south. We noticed quite a change as we made the transition from the dry desert climate to the semi-tropical zone. Cactus and dry earth give way to greener trees and huge fields. Now we see very few cactus, although it may be a factor of the intense irrigation in the area around Los Mochis and Culiacan. These cities are agricultural centres and export most of their crops to the USA and Canada. We saw fields stretching to the horizon on boths sides of the highway. Most seem to be planted with corn in various stages of growth. It occurred to me that here there is no planting season, crops can be started at any time of the year. So different from Canada where there is a definite season for various vegetables. We have heard that there is a huge demand for corn in the US to make ethanol to fuel biodiesel cars. Apparently this has drastically increased the price of maize and thus tortillas here in Mexico. Amazing how interconnected it all is.

The toll roads in Sinaloa are better than those to the north, but also more expensive. It seems that about every 20 miles there's another caseta de cuota (toll booth). Our total in tolls today was $31.30 to travel 329 kilometers—more than ten cents per km. We're debating whether to take the free roads as there is an alternate route everywhere. But since we drive fairly slowly in Mohita we don't want the pressure of big trucks trying to pass us. Also, our gas mileage isn't great so the longer distance of the free roads may end up costing more. Tomorrow we'll drive about 210 km to Mazatlan. We'll see how much that toll will cost.

We met some people traveling who eschew the toll roads completely and enjoy taking the free roads. Allison and Ches have driven from the New Mexico border down to Patscuaro and back up the west coast pretty well on free roads. However, they're driving a small diesel van so it makes more sense for them. We also met a young couple in an old Westphalia who are planning to take the back roads all the way down to the tip of South America. We've met some friendly and interesting travellers. The most adventurous ones so far have to be the couple couple from Sonoma County in California, who are tenting with their three littles ones aged one, two and three—plus a three-month old puppy. They're traveling into Central America and my hat is off to them.