Saying goodbye to my Swiss Miss was tough!
I loved Panties, and she was the only one I`d travelled with so far! But, being as it was, we had always seen it coming exactly when it would… so without thinking too much, we hugged, took more wacky pics together (maybe fifty or so?), and I set off back South in hopes to warm my toes once again and meet some Torontonian friends in Mazatlan. The cool air in the high altitudes of Cooper Canyon had been rough on my delicate, beach-loving system…
Panties would stay in Las Barrancas for another day or two before (like most Euros) heading up North to discover the shining shores of California.
So I hopped on the CHEPE around 12PM (first class again! Damn tight schedule…), only hoping I would please catch a bus at a semi-decent hour out of Los Mochis. They were supposed to run every hour and a half or so…
I was lonely for the first hour or two until our favorite playful train conductor hopped on at… well, I`m not sure where exactly it was he hopped on at, but somewhere along the route South of Divisidero.
He spotted me instantly and came to sit down and chat a little.
The rest of the trip was essentially like that. Me reading, and sitting around in different places around the train; him finding me, and plopping down next to me doing everything he could to entertain.
He kind of looked like Slater, from Saved by the Bell, and joked around like him too. This all made my 11 hour journey so much more enjoyable.
Though as his Méxican-style flirtation increased in intensity (“chicitita (giggle), mamasita“, etc.) I grew slightly annoyed. “Why did guys have to be like that here?“ I wondered. “Always putting on a show! There is no way Méxican girls like this!“ But he was cute anyway. They always have to go and ruin it…
Then he snuck up behind me pretending to read over my shoulder a letter I was writing to a much cooler boy back home… though I didn`t think he could read written English. I blushed anyway. And then he kissed me.
In my seat! (I was laughing so hard in my head!) But he had a little conductors hat, and an outfit to match, so I took the experience in, and tried not to giggle out loud.
Besides, it got me an invitation to movie night in the last car, with the security guards with the big guns. And THAT made my trip just perfect. The time passed like it was nothing! I smiled at my good fortune, where I was, and at my most interesting day. I wanted Panties to be there so badly…
Later, I took an intermission from movie night and watched the sun set over the mountains from my first class seat on my CHEPE train ride. I looked around between the seats to try and determine which, if any, families had witnessed my illicit make-out session with Slater the CHEPE train conductor…
And by then we were only about an hour away from Los Mochis!
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I hopped a short cab ride with a couple friendly German dudes; we had wanted to split the price, but the driver just ended up making it more expensive because there were three of us! 
Lesson Learned: The prices for cab rides, especially from bus and/or train stations are essentially fixed, a lot of the time per person… and the drivers will gang up on you like some informal union to ensure they get the price originally quoted. Send one person up alone to negotiate a price, and you will be better off.
The Germans were spending the night here before heading to Mazatlan, whereas I meant to go right away, spending another night on a bus.
The CHEPE train, my ride, and the bus service was just all a little too efficient for me that evening… and because I didn`t want to arrive in Mazatlan at some ungodly time in the early morning, I decided to skip out on the first two buses that rolled through, and wait around Los Mochis` smallest, and sketchy-as-all-hell bus station for an extra two and a half hours to catch the latest bus.
Trying so very hard not to pass out, I read the Kite Runner as enthusiastically as I could and took long, deep breaths. Luckily, there was a sizable crew of young, loud and obnoxious Méxican guys around my age, who looked like they were heading out somewhere fun for Semana Santa - the week-long Easter Break here in Méx.
I was relieved to get onto my bus – it turned out to be packed full, and everyone was already sleeping. I slid in to a seat in the front to pass out, only to be sufficiently creeped out about an hour later, when I was woken up in the night by the assistant bus driver (and he was a close talker!) to `discuss my bus ticket`.
I was displeased. SO very displeased. But I figured it was the universe telling me that perhaps I`d simply had too much fun on my last long ride…
