On Monday, December 30, Eric was feeling antsy to get out of the marina. The other cruisers had told us the public transit for the area were mini-vans called Collectivos that followed a route. The route had no set stops or scheduled times; people just waited for it somewhere along the route and waved it down when they saw it. And apparently you indicated when you wanted it to stop to let you off. We were told that the Collectivos can get quite crowded. 

Eric wasn’t thrilled about trying the collectivo on a holiday week, so he called a taxi to take him to the airport (about a 15-minute drive) and rented a car. He went back to the marina to pick up Christi and Eric and they set out to do some exploring. 

From the marina, we followed the main highway north for a few miles. The building belching smoke was indeed the closest one to the marina. We later found out it was an instant-coffee factory.  We passed several industrial looking compounds, including an area that had big fuel storage tanks and an area under construction. We later found out they were building a train line.  

We turned west onto the cross-road that led into Puerto Madero and followed it to the ocean. From what we could see, Puerto Madero was a typical small Mexican town.