Day 4: Los Mochis

Naomi:
We decided to relax at the beautiful hotel playa de cortés this morning. We set off unsure of our final destination for the day, and drove to the end of the road at Topolobampo (near Los Mochis, a major city along the coast), which unfortunately was not the beach we were looking for. Apparently it is a destination for people who want to “touch flipper's flipper.” I like dolphins, and would like to go swimming with them, but riding on a little boat on choppy waters to touch them is not my idea of fun. Instead we ended up returning to Los Mochis and found a sweet hotel here (check out the tiled staircase and tree photo). We walked in to Best Western (don't hate us, we were tired and hungry), but were turned off by many things including: Monsanto (genetic modifiers) trucks parked in the lot and the receptionist quoting us a price higher than on the sign. No thanks. :-) We treated ourselves to DQ and watched a storm come up over a beautiful cathedral.

Jose:
So as we traverse along la costa on day 4, our lives continue to decompress and LA becomes a distant memory. SIKE, we haven’t forgotten you LA. But we sure aren’t hankerin’ to come back just yet. Some of the interesting things I found along the way to Los Mochis (Moh-chees) (our next stop 223 miles south) were the Tecate Beer stands that reminded me of Dominoes. “Yes, I’d like to order a case of beer and some crazy bread.” They were all along the roadside for miles. We stopped at a Wal-Mart for snacks and enjoyed the ride with Bachata playing on our iPod. On our maps we found a little town near the water called Topolobampo (a mouthful). However, it was not the Guaymas of our dreams. Like Naomi said, tourists go there for the dolphins, no real beach and very choppy waters. We made a u-turn and headed back to el centro de Los Mochis looking for a hotel. Best Western was acting like it was Le Mondrian. They were a bit stand-offish but it was all for the best. We found a great place across the street with a jacuzzi and internet called Corintios Hotel (Greek themed). So far everyone has been very friendly. I’ve been able to strike up a few conversations when people asked me where my accent is from. “Dominican,” I say. I equated my Dominican accent to the British version of English. Naomi said Dominican was more like the Aussie or New Zealander in comparison, which I think she might be right. Anyhoo, they love my accent. Who knew! We ended the night with a mouthful of Burger King and a scoop full of DQ. (how u like dem apples benny).
Tomorrow we drive further south 263 miles to Mazatlan.

Leaving the beautiful Hotel Playa de Cortés.

The Tecate aka Dominoes franchises.

Tompolobampo sans dolphins.

Coritinos Hotel courtyard.

Nuff' said.

Ahh! Le Sunset in Los Mochis.

A perfect way to end the day.