I’m afraid that this winter is turning out to be all about the FOOD. 😀
I’m in a funny little eye of a hurricane right now, not much in the queue, but it’s most certainly going to explode, so I took a long lunch on the beach today.
I went to Lety’s for the first time and ordered one of the most expensive things on the menu, their shrimp brochette (kebab). I’m sorry I didn’t bring my camera because, OMG. 🙂
I read a bit while waiting for my meal and chatted with the blanket guy, who was shocked to see me reading a Spanish magazine. He tried to sell blankets to ladies at the table next to me, but refused to sell them blankets like mine for less than 300 pesos! I’m trying to figure that one out since I’ve been told that my 250 pesos wasn’t a great price and he turned down two sales at that price! So maybe I did get a good deal. He told me that if I want another one, he’ll honour his 250 peso price. I’m more than tempted!
Back to lunch, my only complaint food-wise since I’ve been in Mexico is that I’m pretty much eating the same flavours in various combinations. This was the first time since the mole that I felt that my taste buds were getting something truly different.
There were two brochettes made up of shrimp, onion, green peppers, squash, and onions, all grilled to perfection and brushed with a BBQ-type sauce that was sweet with a bit of kick. As sides, there was a good rice probably cooked in chicken broth with carrots in it and also a huge green salad with radishes.
In addition to this, I got a basket of tortilla chips so I could indulge in the four salsas that came with the meal.
One was your typical pico de gallo, with tomato, cilantro, jalapeño, and onion.
Next, there was a pineapple salsa with something really spicy in it. Thanks to the sweetness, I was able to eat quite a bit of it. It was my favourite of the four.
After that was another tomato-based one that was more smokey than spicy. If it had come as the only salsa, I would have gobbled it up, but it wound up being my least favourite.
Finally, there was a syrupy tamarind salsa that reminded me of thick prune juice. I would have found it a better match for plain yoghurt than chips, but will confess to stealing a final spoonful to quench the fire from the pineapple salsa when I was done. 🙂
With a beer and tip, lunch came to 175 pesos, and it was worth every centavo!
Well, I had a rather dramatic time making dinner tonight, even more so than the first (and last) time I tried to light my oven.
I had the cast iron pan on the stove and it was hot seeing as I was searing red peppers (since I don’t have an oven I trust).
Next thing I knew, there was a boom and the counter and my left forearm were on fire. The BBQ lighter I use to light the burner, resting a full foot away from the stove, had exploded!!!
I cook like this at home all the time — propane stove, BBQ lighter a foot (and even less) from the stove, extremely hot cast iron pan, etc., so I can’t figure out what went wrong tonight. The only thing I can imagine at this point is that the counters here are made of tile and get hotter than my laminate counter top at home.
I actually have no idea how I put the fire out. I think I might have used a dishcloth. There’s absolutely no evidence that anything got cooked, except for the lighter casing being melted.
I am absolutely fine. I lost all the hair on the left forearm and it feels like I got a mild sunburn on it, but that’s it. I’m not even anywhere near close to a first degree burn. I am just annoyed that I don’t have a way to light the stove tomorrow morning to heat water for coffee!
The acuario de Mazatlán (aquarium) is a great place for a family to spend a few hours. It is a combination aquarium, zoo, and botanical garden, with several live shows during the day.
I will admit that I had some concerns prior to my visit about what the aquarium would be like and how the animals would be treated, but my prejudice was unfounded. I have been to aquariums and zoos in Canada where the conditions were nowhere near this good. While I found some of the enclosures small, the animals were all well taken care of, with plenty of fresh food, water, shade, and stimulation.
Entry to the aquarium is 100 pesos for adults or 70 pesos for children, a fantastic deal, especially if you take in at least one show.
Street entrance.
You buy your ticket from a disembodied voice. Seriously. The ticket booth has a mirrored surface and you cannot see the attendant. You then take your ticket inside and trade it for a bracelet. I was greeted in Spanish and blasted with information that I didn’t entirely grasp. I asked the attendant to please repeat herself and she instead switched the flawless English, telling me about the schedule for the shows, where to grab a tour, the location of the bathrooms, etc.
The ticket booth.
The entrance.
My snazzy Acuario bracelet.
All the other staff I interacted with during my visit had a good level of English. There is rudimentary English signage throughout the aquarium, but you really do need a basic level of Spanish to get the full experience and read all the informational placards. That said, I still think you can get a lot for your 100 pesos if you don’t speak Spanish.
You start in the building that houses the aquarium proper. It’s well done, but nothing spectacular, with tanks holding different varieties of fish and other critters, and a few small exhibits about boats, shellfish, fishing traps, coral, and a few other things.
Then, you go outside to visit the botanical garden, aviaries, zoo, another building with more fish, and a few other exhibits.
The tortoises were one of my favourite things I saw today.
Tortoise skeletons look rather sinister!
I’ve got one of these on my desk!
And one of the sand dollars, too (bottom left).
Sea lion skeleton.
I couldn’t find any signage explaining what animal this is.
There was a little booth showcasing all the things to see and do in the state of Sinaloa.
I’ll like to go see this.
It is called the Mirador del reloj and is in Choix.
The interior part of the aquarium is quite small, but beautifully done.
I arrived at 10:45 and there was a sea lion show at 11:00, so I went right there from a very quick inside tour (returning to the inside exhibits later). The sea lion show area was covered and had heaps of seating.
Interestingly enough, a sea lion in Spanish, like in French, is a sea wolf.
The show was really fun! The sea lions seemed to be enjoying themselves and it was obvious that the trainer has genuine affection for them. The only thing I disliked was that the commentary was done with a background of very loud music so I could barely hear anything, even when they said things in English.
At one point, the commentator asked the audience where they were visiting from and pointed to me. I said, “Canada,” and he switched to English to ask me where in Canada. I replied, “Saskatchewan,” and he wowed me by asking closer to Saskatoon or Regina!
Pictures really can’t do justice to this show, so I’ve included a video with highlights from it at the end of the post.
After the sea lion show, you can take a picture with a sea lion for 30 pesos with your own camera or 50 pesos with theirs and you get a framed print. Good deal! I would totally do this if I was visiting with a child.
Show set up.
This sign made me laugh. Spanish: The sea lion jumps could wet the people in the front row. English: Siting (sic) in the fronts (sic) seat will get you wet! I like that the Spanish one explains the English one. 🙂
Some sort of bird of prey was sitting above us.
Stork.
The stork few down to the show area and made itself comfy to watch it. I like that the trainer would periodically send it fish, too!
Here comes Bony!
Notice that he’s holding himself up by his flippers!
After the sea lion show, I wandered the grounds.
Interesting placard talking about how far back in history botanical gardens have existed.
It’s a fair sized facility.
I’m pretty sure I saw the first ostrich of my life. Wow, their heads really are disproportionately small compared to their bodies!
Ostrich! I think this is my first time seeing one!!! His lunch looked really yummy, lettuce with all sorts of veggies mixed in, plus seeds.
There was another, small, building with fish tanks. I think they might sometimes have sharks there, but there were none today.
Doesn’t he look like Casper, the friendly ghost?!
The crocodiles were amazing. They look like they are carved from rocks. I spent a lot of time just staring at them. The video at the end of the post shows one moving to a warmer spot.
Crocodile.
I literally watched this guy for 10 minutes to see if he was alive. He was. He breathes very shallowly so you have to really look to see his chest expand and contract. I also saw the tongue undulate a bit.
I did not expect to see a tiger today!
These silver foxes were very friendly. They ran up to me and made it very clearly they wanted to be petted. It was very hard to resist!
Koi pond.
You can pay extra to snorkel with the stingrays!
I love their translations. Do not introduce your hands.
There were a couple of aviaries where you could walk among the birds.
I think this might have been my first time seeing peacocks in North America, and very likely my first time seeing coloured ones (I saw albino ones at Scone Palace in Scotland). The plumage is stunning, but the birds are actually quite unattractive.
Peacocks are actually quite hideous, but their tails are impressive.
I could have taken in a bird show, with trained parrots, but it didn’t interest me at all, so I skipped it. They have a third type of show, but I didn’t catch of what and it wasn’t running today.
Toucan!
Barn owl.
Fresh food for the birds.
A goose who followed me around.
There was a small display with snakes and frogs that I enjoyed but for the fact that the glare made it difficult to see things. I’ve never seen so many boa constrictors in one place and there were babies, too!
I love that Spanish has a word for ‘frog habitat’ (ranario).
All told, I spent a solid 90 minutes at the aquarium. I could have easily added an hour to that by taking in the other two shows (if the third had been running).
I haven’t had a real weekend off since I arrived on Isla, a couple of days that I choose to take off rather than them being imposed, days where there is absolutely no need to be glued to my computer hoping that a last minute project will come in, and which I can truly enjoy because there are plenty of projects behind me and I know when the next ones are coming in.
I finished work around 11:30 yesterday (Friday) morning (putting in a full five hour day!) and then spent a few hours updating my professional website before giving the house a thorough cleaning. After that, I collapsed with a movie and a beer, stepping out to get some hot dogs for dinner. I went to bed early since I’d been up since 5:00.
It was 6:30 when I woke up this morning and I enjoyed the incredible luxury of fixing myself a cup of coffee and going back to bed with it! I obviously don’t bother doing that in Miranda since once I’m down that ladder, I stay down!
I stayed in bed for a good hour reading and playing games on my iPad. I finally got up, put some laundry on, took out the water bottle, brought a full bottle in, and made a ridiculously huge breakfast.
After I ate, I went over to my landlady’s house and, yay, she was finally home! I paid my rent and told her that my roof had leaked during the recent rain, just in the bathroom, and it had messed up the ceiling paint. (By the way, roof and ceiling is the same thing in Spanish, techo.)
We then discussed something important. Drum roll please… I told her I am 90% certain I want to rent this house again next winter! I’ve been looking at other options and have decided to play it safe and just come back here. I really do like the house (and location!), I have laundry and internet, and the rent, while a bit higher than I’d really like to pay, is very reasonable. She said to call her late this summer to confirm. Of course, it’ll be a shorter stay next year, five months instead of six, and so I’ll probably arrive at the end of November and then leave mid-April.
All that done, I packed up my tote bag and headed to Maz, with the plan being to visit the aquarium. I arrived on the Maz side only to realise that I had never actually looked up where the aquarium is exactly. But I’d seen plenty of signs for it and had a pretty good idea of where it was, so off I went. I’ve come a long way from the frustrated gal walking around in circles!
I took Gutiérrez Nájera towards the Malecón, got myself a grapefruit juice, and then turned northish (Golden Zonewards) one block before the Malecón. I just walked this road for quite a while, enjoying how peaceful it was. I could periodically see Avendida del Mar (what this stretch of road along the Malecón is called), so I had quite a few landmarks.
No idea what this building is, but it made me laugh.
Detail of the exquisite doorway.
And then, I spotted a big blue building off in the distance.
Could that be…
It is!
Well, that was easy. 😀
I’ll do a separate post about the aquarium!
I came out of there after a few hours and spent two hours literally just walking aimlessly. I found myself on the Malecón, the hilly part of Centro histórico, Olas Altas, Plazuela Machado, the Mercado, and then Zaragoza, at which point I was ready to go home. I had vague plans to get lunch, but it was just too dang hot!
I did get some ice cream from my favourite vendor. I now know that it is called nieve de garrafa (English article) and is a water based fruit sorbet native to Mexico. They had pineapple today for the first time, and I got that with mandarin and prune.
One of the many papier mâché statues along the Malecón.
Colourful houses on a street in the hilly part of historical Maz.
A sweet little bench across the road from the Malecón.
Devil’s Cave.
Well, that was anticlimactic.
I got in around 2:45 after stopping for fresh tortillas and made a salad with some cream cheese roll ups and a beer for lunch.
It’s been a wonderful day with lots of entertainment, sun, and exercise! I’ll finish it up by getting some shrimp burritos from Miguel’s and watching a movie.
Tomorrow will be an at home day where I’ll catch up on bookkeeping and admin tasks and do a project for Contessa. None of this counts as work in my book!
Off to prepare my aquarium post. First, I need to splice together a movie!
I’ve turned off comments on this post, but, as of 9/28/20, I favour Lurpak and Président butter in that order.
One of the common complaints I hear from Gringos in Mexico is that the butter here is terrible. Croft and Norma go so far as to load up their fridge with Canadian butter before coming here.
My first experience with Mexican butter had me wondering what the heck they were talking about because the butter I bought was exactly like unsalted butter back home, sweet and creamy and delicious. I mixed a little salt in when I wanted a spread for fresh bread and it was perfect.
But the next time I got butter, I got a seemingly identical package, only this time with salt. And it turned out to be margarine, not butter, and tasted like the topping for movie popcorn, very artificial and salty.
Next time I saw the no salt real butter, I bought it. And, again, it was just like butter back home.
I avoid margarine, so I started buying salted butter in different brands, to find one I liked. Guess what? It was the same over salty disgusting movie popcorn topping taste, regardless of the price I paid.
So now, I just stock the unsalted butter, stock piling it because it’s hard to find and I can only get a small stick at a time. I let it soften, mix it with a little salt to taste, and refrigerate it because I don’t use enough to keep it from going rancid in this climate.
So Gringos, this is the butter you want in Mexico:
It is Lala brand. Make sure you buy mantequilla sin sal, not margarina con sal as the packages are almost identical!
A good clue is that pasta can be healthy, pancakes not so much. 🙂
