Leaving Lareto to La Paz took us from desert lands to several oases inhabited by both local Mexicans as well as transplanted Americans and Canadians, primarily from the west coast and western provinces. Many come down with their motorhomes or trailers as well some have permanent homes of all stripes, from simple palapas to multi-level estate homes. This particular section of road is ideal for those of us that enjoy smooth pavement and long sweeping curves that allow you to look at the scenery without having to totally focus on the road. We arrived in La Paz at mid-afternoon, stopping at the local VIPS(similar to Denny's) for their excellent soups. We then drove 23 kms.to the ferry terminal to get our vehicle permits and tickets for the ferry ride to Mazatlan. Unfortunately the vehicle importation kiosk was closed so we drovwe back to La Paz for a nights sleep. Like many towns and cities in Mexico, the streets have no signs to indicate where you are making finding hotels and banks etc. very frustrating. The next morning we got our permits and tickets straightened out and then proceeded to wait for the boarding procedure. We met up with Jim from BC who was heading down to Puerto Vallarta on his KLR as well as 3 young men from France, Canada and Great Britain who were heading down to South America on peddle bikes, hard core indeed. The normal 12 hour trip on the ferry turned into 14 hours with no explanation. The cabin on the ship was bright, with an outside window, great bunks and a nice long sleep was had by Carol and myself, a thing that is hard to come by when you sleep in a different bed every night. We passed right thru Mazatlan with the intention of meeeting up with Jim outside of Puerto Vallarta. We stopped for lunch an hour out of Mazatlan and had some local fare. Well about a half hour after lunch Moctuzuma had his revenge. I had to take an emergency pit stop in the bushes off the highway much to Carol's concern, seeing the 4ft long carcass of a dead rattlesnake 20 ft away from where we stopped. With our late start due to the ferry, we didn't make it that night to hook up with Jim. As the sun was setting off to the west, making seeing upcoming corners and cars extremely hard we decided to shut it down for the night. We had heard tell of motels used primarily by the locals for sexual interludes with their mistresses. These no tell motels offer water beds, jacuzzis, several porn channels and privacy via either a pull up garage like door or curtains drawn behind the parked vehicle. After a brief discussion with the female manager of the hotel, she indicated that her hotel was probably not our best bet, we needed a good nights sleep, and suggested another hotel 3km. down the road. We'll make it to one of these hotels in the future just for shiggles. We made it to Compostela, a small town 40km. out of Rincon Guayadibitos, to a modern motel with 18 ft high walls, poor lighting, lime green walls with painted on fish. The TV was 12ft in the air making watching only comfortable while laying on your back. The motel also doubled as a big rig truck wash and repair shop, very curious. Supper was by Oxxo,the Mexican version of 7-11.