29 people died in firefights the first week of the year in Sinaloa State. Government and police lost control when hordes of cartel soldiers took to the streets shooting and tipping over trucks and setting vehicles on fire.
The Sinaloa cartel reacted like a hornet’s nest poked by the Mexican Government, which had raided the home of the cartel leaders, the Guzman family, and arrested El Chapo’s two sons. The idea was to behead the cartel as the patriarch known as El Chapo (a nickname that translates as “Shorty”) is in US custody. You pull shit like that and all hell breaks loose in Mexico. 
We saw a larger police presence than usual when we crossed into Sinaloa.
There is a checkpoint on Highway 15D, the main toll road and this time they actually checked out papers, professional, friendly and swift. We were on our way to the sunshine we hoped.
The letter “D” on Mexican Highways indicates it’s a toll road. The tolls, and the road quality, vary wildly. The amounts are clearly shown and you get a receipt so it’s all above board. Some places take Visa cards, some have electronic passes but we keep it simple and pay cash. In God we trust, all others…
One of the things I missed driving Baja was the roadside vendors. It isn’t sustainable in the low population and traffic of the Baja desert, but on the mainland it’s a way for the unemployed to make a living and I’m happy to help.
They call them burritos but not as we know them. Burritos were invented in northern Mexico as simple filled flour tortillas usually with shredded meat and potatoes or beans. A delicious mobile breakfast, bought on the fly at toll booths and topes (speed bumps) on the highways. Usually around a buck fifty for a packet of burritos or sandwiches or cakes.
The other trick is the magic third lane. Slow traffic keeps to the shoulder on either side while passing traffic runs down the middle. No road rage, no tailgating, no speeding up to accommodate impatient drivers who don’t know how to pass. Around here they just go for it. The worst wrecks we’ve seen have been drivers falling asleep at the wheel, trucks or cars rolled over by themselves on long straightaways. The magic third lane is surprisingly effective and I miss it when I’m in the States.
The roads are full of the past meeting the present, signs of a more rural experience still present, a slower pace caused by lack of opportunity and the cost of mechanization. It’s best not to romanticize a slow way of life because when they can afford it horse riders switch to internal combustion. Around here small business loans are hard to come by.
Through all the violence and chaos Mexicans keep on keeping on. For now everything is back to normal with a few extra police patrols.
Layne found a campground with all the fixings in the beach village of Las Glorias on a thirty mile long beach. This we had to see and the violence has indeed died down. Check it out, no wild eyed gunmen to be seen.
The only question is, will it be hot enough to swim in the ocean? And can Rusty handle the stray dogs wandering around? Can I, as my heart goes out to every one of them.
We started at the flag in the north and are at the blue dot in the south. So far.
