My cousin and I said our goodbyes at Rico’s at about 9:30 because they needed to be in a taxi for the airport by about 10:00. I crossed the street and walked about a block to a dedicated bus stop where two older Gringas were waiting. It was really nice to see that demographic taking the bus!

This is what passes for a bus stop bench in Mexico. I was just glad to have a bench!

The bus was crowded, but I still managed to score a window seat. It was quite a long drive south because there was more traffic. We eventually left the Malecón and started zigzagging through streets until I wasn’t quite certain exactly where I was. I figured that most of the bus would empty at the Mercado and waited for a huge crowd to stand up to get off, a plan that worked perfectly as that put me right at an entrance to the Mercado.

I hadn’t had breakfast and was starting to feel faint, so I made a beeline for a bakery and got a pastry stuffed with pineapple to tide me over until I could find a proper brunch. I love the pastries here in that even the sweet ones aren’t super sweet. I paid with a centavo coin for the first time!

My blood sugar stabilized, I headed to Waldo’s to get a few things and then I decided to go explore the restaurants above the Mercado. One thing I love about Mexico is that you can get ‘non-breakfast food’ for breakfast, especially at places that don’t cater to Gringos (I could have bought freshly grilled beef and onion tacos from a cart on the walk to the Malecón this morning!). Rico’s had surprisingly decent prices for breakfast, but it was all stuff like eggs, waffles, and bagels, none of which are my first choice for breakfast.

Most of the upstairs restaurants had similar menus. One lady waved me into her place and when I saw the number of Mexicans eating there, it seemed like a fine choice. She offered me a plate of fried shrimp, fries, beans, rice, and tortillas for 70 pesos. It wasn’t a special oh wow meal (although I do have to say that the shrimp were awesome, not being too heavily breaded and well seasoned), but it was hearty, savoury, not expensive, and way more than I could eat (the tortilla stack was bigger than one I get to last me three or four days!).

It’s funny how one of my biggest fears about coming to Mexico was that I would be afraid to eat at restaurants like these that would very likely fail a health inspection back home and now that I’m here, I don’t even think twice about eating at such a place!

Sated, I headed downstairs to load up on fruits and veggies. I never get everything from one vendor. I don’t know why, everybody seems to have the same stuff for the same price and quality!

I walked around a bit looking for a cheese vendor I was told about, but failed, so I exited on Leandro Valle and headed to the Ley. There, I loaded up on dairy products, bacon, and a few other things that were on sale (including a two for one deal on baked tostadas). I’m going to Soriana with Dale next week, so I only got what I needed to get me through the weekend.

One important thing I picked up was powdered milk, which is what I use for my coffee. I bought some in the States and must have gotten a bad batch because it absolutely refused to turn creamy with the addition of hot water, which is another thing that made my coffee situation so bad here. A bag that would have cost me about 12CAD was on sale for only 33 pesos! This stuff was Carnation brand and was perfect in my Rico’s coffee!

Back outside, I balanced my load as best as I could and debated taking Zaragoza or Leandro Valle to get to the embarcadero. The latter is hilly and the former had more chances of my being tempted by a pulmonía, so I obviously picked the harder option, grateful that this was the first time I’ve come out of Ley to a complete lack of pulmonías!

By the time I got to the panga, I was pretty tired, but my work wasn’t done. The dock was quite low, but the water level high, so it was a huge step into the boat. I was wearing capris, so the guys weren’t eager to help me with my bags (I tend to get help if I’m in a skirt or dress, amusingly enough).

When I got back to Isla, I popped into the City Deli to pick up an eight-pack of beer and that was my absolute limit as to what I could carry! And it was a bit much; I was really eager to get home. I ran into Dale partway, so I had an excuse to take a short break. Yes, I could have taken a pulmonía on this side, but I need the exercise!

I can’t believe I’ve been in Mazatlán just shy of two months and am already so comfortable making my way around the city. The last step will be figuring out the buses that go to Walmart and Soriana, something Dale is looking forward to trying.