Well, it took a full year less eight days, but I finally made it back to Mazatlán’s archeology museum! I thought it would be something fun to do today since Sundays are free admission.

I’m glad I decided to go to town since I ran into one of my riding friends on the lancha and we are riding tomorrow!

It wound up being a cruise ship day and I guided some tourists to the Malecón from Plazuela Machado (just keep going straight till you hit the water!) before getting to the museum.

The outside of the museum hasn’t changed at all.

Nothing had changed at the museum other than my reading comprehension being even better than it was last year. I took my time reading all the informational placards and looked up the odd word on my phone. I think my favourite exhibit was the Aztatlán pottery, said to be some of the most elaborate pottery in all of the Americas. It is absolutely gorgeous!

This style of drawing never fails to amuse me. It feels so contemporary, something you’d see in the funny papers!

This is a statue of a hunchback and was found on the site of present day Mazatlán. I was surprised to learn that hunchbacks were revered as sacred figures and conferred important governmental jobs.

This striking statue is out in the rear courtyard. I think it’s a bird of some type.

I liked the mixed mediums used for this T-Rex.

There were some lovely paintings in the museum lobby. I liked this one, called “The Last Memory,” the best.

A large tour group came in as I was finishing up, so I didn’t dawdle. I headed the block back towards the Plazuela so I could have lunch at The Water’s Edge. They are still doing a prix fixe lunch menu, identical to last year, but $20 more, for $120. Still very good value for a gourmet lunch with a beer or soft drink!

I sat in their lovely courtyard.

After much hemming and hawing, I ordered what I had last time, their ‘Asian’ chicken salad. Mangos aren’t in season, so they subbed tinned pineapple, which worked! It was a perfect lunch for a hot day. It doesn’t look like much, but there is a whole grilled chicken breast under the greens.

After lunch, I met some more very lost tourists right in front of the Panamá’s a block from the Plazuela. One was a frantic man who had 40 minutes till his ship was leaving port and whose map was pretty much useless since there are so few street signs. He just needed to get back to the blue painted line on Carnaval Street, which would eventually lead him to the docks, and he’d be fine. I told him he had plenty of time and I would personally walk him to the start of the blue line, but, first, let me help these other folks.

They were looking for Hector’s, which was easy. I pointed and said, “See that yellow wall two blocks down with a green sign?” “Yes…” “That’s Hector’s!” They ran off to their own meeting and then I told the first gentleman to follow me. He had been wandering in circles for over an hour and whatever lovely morning he’d had in Maz was obviously ruined by the stress of getting lost. 🙁 I thought he was going to cry when he got to the blue line, he was that relieved. I made sure he didn’t want me to take him all the way to the dock (where I would have taken the more expensive beach lancha to get home) and he refused.

So I turned back and headed towards the other embarcadero, stopping for nieve de garrafa and a pair of earrings along the way. The vendor didn’t recognize me, but she did recognize the earrings I had on as being one of her pairs! There wasn’t much choice today, but it’s not hard to find a pair I like for just $10! And I have to stress again that I’m talking pesos here!

Then, I hoofed it up to Ley to get some sundries and my favourite yoghurt before making a beeline for the embarcadero because I was beat. I did stop in at an abarrotes to pick up a cold bottle of water for the remainder of my walk.

Well, the holiday is over. My first transcription job of November just landed and I really should make inroads in it today since I’m riding tomorrow!