„What! You made a Tiramisu? Isn’t the making of such very difficult and time costly?“ I was often asked when I made a Tiramisu. In reality it’s a piece of cake to prepare such yummy desert and the rumours are an old wives’ tale.
The situation with the ferries connecting Baja with mainland Mexico is very much alike. We had already been warned about it two thousand kilometres before: „There are no ferries anymore.“ „The ferries go irregularly.“ „The ferries are very difficult to take for foreigners.“ „It is too complicated and a big hassle to take such a ferry.“ „The people from the harbour will simply leave you in the queue and make you wait for the next ferry.“ Old wives’ tales!
In fact, the task „taking ferry“ is also a piece of cake, even with a minimum of Spanish language knowledge.
The night before the departure, we stayed on a beach just after the harbour.
At 7.30 a.m. (opening time is 7 a.m.) we parked next to the Banjercito, the office, where temporary import permits for vehicles are issued (you don’t need one for Baja California). The nice lady, who spoke excellent English asked to see the vehicle title and registration papers, Michael’s passport and visa and copies of all of this, which we could conveniently make next door. We paid the fee in US Dollars ($ 32 for a vehicle, beware, Pesos are not accepted) and left a deposit of US$ 200 (if you pay the fee with your credit card, you don’t have to leave a deposit, however, you will get the deposit back when leaving the country). We received a sticker for the window (this HAS to be returned when leaving the country) and we were sent on our way.
Next, at 8.30 a.m. (opening time is 8.30 a.m.) we entered the office of the TMC agent. “Can we please take the ferry to Mazatlan later today?”, we inquired. The lady made one phone call and then decided the price. A motor home would cost Pesos 13’000, plus an extra Pesos 840 per passenger. A car (no longer than 5 metres) costs Pesos 2’500, plus passengers. She offered us an attractive special: Pay for a car only, but an extra Pesos 840 for the extra 2,5 metres… we handed over Pesos 5’860 (about 490 Dollars), so for the car, the extra length and 3 passengers, received some paperwork and a lot of instructions.
At 10.00 a.m. we entered customs (opening time is 10 a.m.). We had to show the temporary import papers and a police woman looked at the inside of the camper. “VERY NICE!“ she kept saying.
Off to the weighing station, where our weight was determined at 5 tonnes and something. We were given a note for the TMC office.
At the TMC office we handed over the documents from the agent and the note from the weighing master and received the tickets for the ferry.
One hour later we were allowed to drive onto the upper deck of the big ship, where we could cook and sleep during the 18 hour journey. The ship left with one hour delay at 5 p.m. That really wasn’t too difficult!