Accommodation

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Low Key New Year’s in Mazatlán

My cousin and I were planning to go to a gala for New Year’s tonight and had our outfits all ready, but a series of events made those plans fall through. I wasn’t disappointed since a late night of boozing and drinking and dancing isn’t really my thing (no, I didn’t get old, I’ve always been boring!).

Instead, we decided to meet up at their hotel and find something to do. I suggested we head down to the Plazuela Machado and see what was what. Neither one of us was particularly keen on being out to midnight, which suited me just fine because the panga home jumps from 8 pesos to 60 after midnight! I would have overnighted at the hotel had we done the gala, but that plan didn’t make sense if we were in the Olas Altas area.

So I headed out to the hotel early this afternoon. In a bid to get some exercise and to save money, I chose to walk from the embarcadero, a distance of 7.5km. If I have time, I don’t think twice about walking up to 10km in good conditions. These were ideal, a slightly cool and overcast day and I knew that I would be safe going through the bit from the embarcadero to the malecón.

Big cruise ships today!

Big cruise ships today!

The trip took me 2 hours door to door, and that included a detour to get a pastry to munch on!

Lamps shaped like seahorses.

Lamps shaped like seahorses.

Seahorse detail in a door.

Seahorse detail in a door.

Not sure what this coliseum is going to be...

Not sure what this coliseum is going to be…

My few minutes in the Golden Zone were enough to last a lifetime. That area is not for me, YUCK! It was teeming with Gringos, filled with NOB stores, and I kept getting harassed (in English, no less) to buy stuff. It was just as bad as being in a border town! Sure the downtown bit I walked through to get to Olas Altas wasn’t as shiny and pretty and there were no big name stores, but people only spoke to me to say hi, I was left to wander in peace and quiet, and the architecture was a lot more interesting!

Welcome to the Golden Zone! Don't worry, we have McDonald's!

Welcome to the Golden Zone! Don’t worry, we have McDonald’s!

Yes, that's a fully operational Blockbuster video store! LOL!!!

Yes, that’s a fully operational Blockbuster video store! LOL!!!

From the hotel, we took a pulmonía down to Plazuela Machado, 120 pesos, non-negotiable! We walked around there a bit, but it was early so restaurants were only starting to get set up. We headed back to Olas Altas, where several restaurants were already doing brisk business.

After perusing menus, we decided to try the quiet Copa de leche restaurant, which had good variety and reasonable prices. The boy had steak with a baked potato, my cousin picked a shrimp dish, I opted for enchiladas with a mole sauce, and we split an order of beef (carne asada) tacos.

Dinner was a Copa de leche, with a lovely view of the water and comfortable chairs!

Dinner was at Copa de leche, with a lovely view of the water and comfortable chairs!

I’d never had mole sauce before and had no idea what I was getting into. Turns out that it is a savoury cocoa sauce! Yes, chocolate! The enchiladas were filled with chicken, tomatoes, and onions, and absolutely smothered in the sauce. Really, there was too much sauce. So thank goodness I also got a basket of corn tortillas to mop up every last bit! 🙂 It was crazy good and I really appreciated the sprinkle of sesame seeds over top, a flavour I have been missing. My taste buds were thrilled to try something new.

The other dishes were apparently equally satisfactory. The steak plate was particularly impressive, with a huge steak topped with mushrooms, a loaded baked potato (bacon and crema), rice, and salad. The tacos were yummy, coming with avocado and a side of refried beans and fried onions.

Total bill, for the food plus two limonadas, one soda, a coffee, and a tip, about 500 pesos, or 167 per person. My meal was only 110 pesos (85 for the food and 25 for the limonada) and the steak was the most expensive item at only 120 pesos, plus 20 for the soda.

After dinner, we headed back towards Plazuela Machado. My cousin confessed that her sandals were rubbing her the wrong way and that she needed ideally both a change of shoes and a bandaid. I didn’t know what would be open at that time of night, but thought that if anything would, it would be around the mercado area.

We headed there, enjoying all the lights at the cathedral, and found an open shoe store! She found a cute and comfortable pair of slip on shoes that matched her outfit for only 79 pesos! I asked the gal at the till if she knew of a pharmacy that would still be open and was directed to one just past the Waldo’s, which I knew was in the middle of the next block.

So that was our next stop and I learned that you have to ask at the counter for bandaids in at least some pharmacies in Mexico! The first request didn’t go so well as we were brought tensor bandages, so I found a picture of a bandaid on my phone and that brought what we needed. I would have preferred to have been able to pick as I would have selected something bigger and sturdier, but my pleas for bigger ones fell on deaf ears and my cousin said she could make do.

She then spent a couple of minutes on a stool applying several bandaids to get the coverage and adhesion she needed. It was a rather absurd situation that we found rather funny. It’s just stuff that happens. I had a hard time with sore feet when I first got here, with the sand rubbing them raw, but my feet have thankfully hardened.

From the pharmacy, we headed across the street to a juice stand. They had strawberry and banana licuados (like a smoothie) while I opted for fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. It was incredibly filling since a small had the juice of THREE grapefruits with a little pulp, but it was very refreshing and tolerably sweet. I really enjoyed it. At just 17 pesos, I think that could be a treat when I go to mercado.

We then returned to Olas Altas to sit on the wall, listen to the waves, and make plans for the next couple of days. They were thinking of heading back to my place tomorrow, but the boy has been ill and they are both exhausted. It makes more sense for them to enjoy the resort for their last full day. I will head out to the hotel first thing Friday to meet my cousin for coffee (she found a roasting house with good coffee, so I plan to come home with some!) and then they’ll be off to the airport around 10:00.

Plans made, it was time for them to head home as they were just wiped. I got them into a pulmonía (again, a non-negotiable 120 pesos) and then walked back to Plazuela Machado to soak in a little New Year’s ambiance. It was just past nine and the partying was starting, with lots of loud music and full restaurants. Really not my scene. I was surprised that there weren’t more vendors.

I flagged down a pulmonía ready to argue that I wasn’t going to pay more than 60 pesos to get to the embarcadero and almost fainted when the driver said 40! Wow!!! I’m pretty sure that’s my cheapest ride ever from Plazuela Machado!

A panga was leaving the dock as I arrived at the embarcadero. The pilot saw me and redocked while I bought my ticket.

It was a quick ride over and then I was on Isla, which was thrumming with activity, with lots of music and some fireworks. Many ‘Feliz año’s were exchanged on my 10-minute walk home, making me glad that I took the time to Google how to say ‘happy new year’ in Spanish.

The neighbours across the street are having a loud party, so ear plugs will be in order for tonight. I just honestly don’t have a desire to be out partying, preferring small quiet gatherings.

Happy new year to all my lovely readers!

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Delayed Flight Adventure

My cousin and her son were arriving from Monterrey (MX) today, due to arrive at 11:50. I left at 10:40 and didn’t think to check the flight status. I’m not kicking myself over that now that I know that the THREE HOUR DELAY was not announced until the flight had boarded at 11:00!

So there I was a the airport with absolutely nothing to do for three hours and no desire to pay for parking for all that time, especially since it’s a crappy airport for waiting because there is very little seating and no WiFi (I only have a little bandwidth left on my phone). The thought of making the 1.5 hour round trip journey to home on The Road to have an hour and a half there made no sense to me. The Road was actually in decent shape and I drove large chunks of it at 30KPH, but I really didn’t want to do it four times in one day!

I wanted to pick up toilet paper and paper towels, bulky items to carry on the panga since I like to buy them in bulk, and I knew that there is a Soriana about 20KM from the airport right off of Mx-15. So I headed there for my first time to actually shop in this Mexican equivalent of Walmart.

I knew that Soriana has food to eat on site, so I figured I could grab lunch there when I arrived. There was actually a little food court out front with Chinese, Mexican, Japanese, and Italian options! The sushi was too pricey for my current tight budget and pizza was really appealing. 30 pesos for a slice with a drink was expensive, but affordable.

The pizza wound up being surprisingly good! It had a very light spreading of a mild sauce very similar to what you find on New York style pizza and the cheese was also close to that. The crust was doughy, but okay. This was my first pizza since I left the US and it surpassed my expectations! The price included a drink and you couldn’t get a lower price for just a slice, so I had the gal run through the options and accepted strawberry, which I thought would be a juice. It wound up being carbonated and surprisingly refreshing and not too sweet. I still didn’t drink the whole thing, but it was very nice!

I then spent almost an hour going through the aisles at Soriana. It really is very similar to a Walmart. There were more options than at Ley, but the prices were higher. Not much, but enough for me to notice (eg. 17 pesos versus 15 for a bag of totopos (tortilla chips) and 28 pesos versus 25 for 200g of Oaxaca cheese). There was LOTS of NOB (north of the border) food, too, like Ocean Spray cranberry jelly! I’m getting a little bored of what I’ve been making, so a trip to a Soriana at some point to get some variety would be nice, but I’ve been correct in my assumption that heading to a store like that would stretch my food budget.

It was about 1:30 when I left Soriana. I thought that since the plane would land at 3:15 and my family would be off by 3:30, I could get to the airport for about 2:30 and only pay for an hour of parking there (I’d already had to pay a full hour for the 10 minutes I’d been there earlier). I was half an hour from the airport, so I decided to head back there, pull over in the shade, and do some reading on my phone.

By the time I got back to the airport, it was 2:40. A man in the parking lot saw my SK license plate and waved me down, asking if I knew how to pay for parking. I took him into the terminal and showed him how to use the parking ticket machine. He thought it’s a weird system, but I’m used to it, where you get a ticket at entry that you pay in the terminal and then insert into the exit machine. Soon as we were done, the power went out in the airport for a whole minute!

When the lights came back on, the plane was still marked as being on time for 3:15 (I’d also been monitoring the flight status on my phone). There is a coffee bar at the airport, so I decided to spring for my first cup of not-made-by-me coffee since I got to Isla. I had lots of time to peruse the menu thoroughly and settled on an espresso helado, just a shot of espresso over ice.

I was asked if I wanted ‘sencillo o doble’. I knew what she meant because you get the same question when you order ice cream, but that gave me something to do to kill time as I sipped my incredibly delicious and oh-so-worth-the-25-pesos iced espresso, Google sencillo. The translations into English made absolutely no sense, with the main equivalent popping up as ‘easy’ and then ‘simple.’ Once again, I was reminded to translate into French because, in French, ‘simple’ means one/single, at least in the context of ice cream scoops or espresso shots.

It was coming on 3:15 when a gaggle of women came by where I was sitting, muttering to themselves about the absurd lack of seating in the terminal. I stood up and offered them my seat, giving them a bench where three can squeeze in, in addition to another such free bench.

3:15 came and went and the flight status went from delayed with an ETA to delayed with no ETA. I started to get worried. It gets dark at 5:30 here and there is no way I would do The Road at night, not just because of its condition, but also because of the risk of banditos on this very isolated stretch of road. In ideal conditions, it would be about 1 to 1.5 hours from the airport back to The Road, so I would literally have to drop my family off without stopping to breathe and say hi! I decided that we would go to Isla and take a panga and pulmonía to hotel. It would only add about 20 minutes to the travel time and I could leave my truck at the embarcardero on the right side of the water.

The flight status finally got changed to landed around 3:45 and they came through the gate around 4:10. Whew! What a long day for everyone involved! My cousin is well traveled so she’s very flexible and easy going. She was glad to see me, having told herself many times that I would figure things out and, worst case, she could surely get a taxi.

We paid for parking (60 pesos by that point) and got the luggage to the truck. It was a tight fit, but we got everything into the back and then she took the jump seat while her son took the front seat (she’s tiny, he’s tall like a grown man). The Road seems easier with company, but still took 40 minutes. Parking at my place is a pain and we were all tired and famished, so I went straight to the panga, my first time driving to ‘downtown’ Isla!

As I expected, we soon had help at the panga to load the suitcases onto the boat. I made sure to tip the pilot on the other side.

Then, it was time to negotiate a pulmonía. I was quoted 100 and offered 80. He accepted a bit too quickly, but we had heavy luggage and were going quite far into the Golden Zone, so I was okay with the price even though I have a sneaking suspicion that we could have had the ride for 70. Anyway, I negotiated a better rate than quoted! My cousin decided to pay 90 when we got there since her luggage was so huge and heavy (she got loaded down with gifts in Monterrey and needs cold weather gear for the New York City part of her holiday).

This was my first time going so deep into the Golden Zone and let me tell you, once was enough. It looks like Gringo Land in there, not my type of place at all!

We got to the hotel around 5:30. Check in and all that took ages (all inclusive resort, so she got blasted with information). By the time they were settled in, we were all famished and we went to the first restaurant we passed in the hotel.

Their meal was included in their resort package, but the cost for me was THREE-HUNDRED FIFTY for a frankly terrible all you can eat buffet. My cousin told me she had this one because it was her choice and I can buy us all supper from a cart here on Isla tomorrow (thank you!). I’m still reeling from shock at the cost. I can eat for two weeks for that kind of money here, seriously! Most of the food was terribly over salted, but there were a few good things, like the squid and this interesting marlin turnover thingamabob that was savoury/sweet. But we were all famished and exhausted (I’ve been up since 5:00) so it was what it was.

It was time for me to head home after as it was getting on 8:00 and we were all just done in. My cousin made sure I was okay with going home alone in the dark and I truly had no issue with it. I walked down to the street and flagged down a pulmonía. The driver was not interested in taking me to the embarcadero. Same thing with the second one. The third guy said he would take me, but for 100, absolutely not negotiable, so I got in.

With my previous two rides down the malecón to the embarcadero, we took the exact same route. This time, we turned off the malecón very early and found ourselves in very quiet, almost traffic-less streets. I figured that he was trying to avoid traffic and cut some transit time, but the trip started to take quite a lot longer than I thought it should and I had no idea where I was.

I started to look for a landmark, anything to situate me on my mental map to get an idea of whether I was being taken for a ride or whether he was, in fact, just avoiding traffic. Shortly thereafter, I saw the Mega store. I’ve never been, but I knew, very roughly, where it is located, and decided to give him a couple more minutes to get to a road called Ejército Mexicano that, in part, parallels the malecón. If we wound up there, I knew exactly where we were going to end up.

Sure enough, that’s exactly what he did. At this point, I told him that this is a very different route than what I’m used to and he literally turned to gape at me, then said, “You’ve done this before?” I knew exactly what he was thinking, that I thought he had taken me for a ride. I reassured him that I knew where I was, understood the route he took, and that there was no problem. We then chatted the last couple of minutes to the embarcadero about where I’m from, the weather back home, what I do, etc.

I was glad to reach the panga because it was chilly and I was quite tired. I didn’t have to wait for a boat, so I was back on Isla in record time. It was very strange to drive home from there and a ridiculous amount of effort, truly, what with having to dodge chickens and dogs and kids and having two people with no headlights on flash their lights at me, which, I think, meant that they wanted me to turn mine off. No can do. Canadian vehicles have running lights!

Back home, I had to wrestled with the gate and the garden hose blocking the gate and I was just glad to finally get in!

My cousin and her son are coming to meet me here tomorrow around 6:30 (I’ll meet them at the panga). I’ll take them for an after dark tour of Isla, buy them a papa loca (crazy potato) or taco from a cart, and then we’ll come back here for a beer or two.

My cousin is here for vacation and wants to enjoy the resort amenities, so we won’t be spending that much time together. I am going over to the resort for New Year’s Eve to attend a gala with her and will spend the night. It’s so good to have the two of them here and we will cherish whatever time we have together!

It’s been a long day and I have three hours of work due for 9AM, so the day isn’t over yet. But what fun and, yay, they made it!

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Dinner With Friends

I got a last minute invitation to have dinner with Janet and Grant tonight, which was very much appreciated! They live at Stone Island Gardens, the hotel attached to Carmelita’s restaurant in a two-bedroom apartment. The space is lovely with a great view, but well out of my price range (which I feel comfortable saying because the prices are right on the website).

It’s quite a walk to the top floor! I’d get my exercise living there. We had dinner on one of their balconies looking over the water at all the lights. Just gorgeous! I can’t believe they are that far up and have no railings on the balconies, though! Oh, Mexico with its lack of building codes… 😀 I think this has been my biggest culture shock!

Janet and Grant are vegan, which means they eat absolutely no animal products. Dinner was hearty, healthy, and yummy, with three dishes, one of potatoes, one of quinoa, and one of rice featuring tons of veggies. I haven’t had quinoa in a while, so that was a nice treat.

I’m always amused when I get invited to dinner by vegetarians and vegans who then apologize for not having meat. 1) You’re vegan or vegetarian, I’m not expecting meat; 2) I was a vegetarian for 15 years; 3) I still make all my old favourite vegetarian recipes and don’t eat meat every day. 😀

I was introduced to jicama, a starchy turnip-like veggie with a raw potatoey flavour that you can just cut up and eat raw, perhaps with a little lime juice and chili powder. It’s a little sweet and very moist, a nice pick me up in a warm climate. I will look for it on the veggie truck next time it passes by!

We gabbed a bit after eating, then Grant, being the gentleman that he is, walked all the way down those steps to walk me home… after walking to the golf course and back today, about 24KM/15miles!!!

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Goat Island (Isla de Chivas), Mazatlán

Goat Island (Isla de Chivas) is now attached to Stone Island (Isla de la Piedra), but used to be separate. Dale and I decided to hike out there today to accomplish four goals: 1) explore, 2) find Benji’s restaurant, 3) see the wild goats, 4) climb Goat Mountain to see if we’re in good enough shape to hike up to the Mazatlán lighthouse (hell yeah!).

We met on the beach and walked all the way out the absolute southernmost part you can walk on Isla, which involved a little clambering. We got a good view of the harbour and marveled that giant cruise ships can get through the narrow channel!

I kept teasing Dale that she had promised me goats and I wasn’t seeing any goats, so she took me a bit around the base of Goat Mountain until she spotted one. They’re big! Once we saw one, we saw a lot!

We then started up the path to the top of the mountain, avoiding as much goat poop as we could. There’s a pretty good path partway up, but then you have to scramble up rocks. It wasn’t particularly challenging and we weren’t even winded by the time we got to the top.

We headed home around 9:45 (yes, we climbed a mountain by 9:30 today!) and I asked a lady cleaning her yard if she knew the location of Benji’s restaurant. She explained to me how to find it. Benji’s is known for its pizza, so I’m curious about going there one day to see if the pizza is any good.

As we headed back to the beach, I asked Dale if she was interested in going for brunch at Carmelita’s, the only restaurant I know has other stuff besides eggs for breakfast. Oh, yeah!

When we got there, I really splurged and ordered a giant glass of fresh squeezed OJ (35 pesos, eep!), but I was really craving some good sugar after all that exercise. Dale had a veggie omelette that really made me wish I could do eggs. It came with refried beans and toast or tortillas. We both do tortillas at home, so toast is a treat!

I actually ordered pancakes! I added a side of ham (65 pesos, not bad!). The pancakes were just the right amount for me, two medium sized ones, and they came with a little plate that had butter, jam, and syrup on it. I like a schmear of strawberry jam on pancakes, so this was perfect for me and I really enjoyed them! The ham was pretty good, too, slice thin but seared to really bring out the flavour. I also finished Dale’s toast, loading it up with pico de gallo!

Dale lets me handle the money when we eat out. The bill was 180 pesos, with my portion being 100 pesos. I had her pay with a 200 peso note and added an additional 20 pesos of my own, then gave her a 100 peso note back.

The exercise this morning was great! I have some work to do this afternoon and think I’ll be able to concentrate now that I got the ants out of my legs. 🙂

map

Our destination was the top of that mountain!

Our destination was the top of that mountain!

This guy was just chilling in the sand. We thought he was injured, but he didn't seem to be in pain and was moving around.

This guy was just chilling in the sand. We thought he was injured, but he didn’t seem to be in pain and was moving around.

I like the path up to this hut.

I like the path up to this hut.

Maz in the distance.

Maz in the distance.

Maz lighthouse.

Maz lighthouse.

Big boat, with a little tug boat beside and behind it.

Big boat, with a little tug boat beside and behind it.

Looking up at Goat Mountain.

Looking up at Goat Mountain.

Heading out into the causeway.

Heading out into the causeway.

Dale compared these cement things to jacks (as in the game pieces).

Dale compared these cement things to jacks (as in the game pieces).

As far out on the causeway as we could go.

As far out on the causeway as we could go.

Looking at Goat Mountain from the causeway.

Looking at Goat Mountain from the causeway.

This lush rocky greenery with a stone croft made me think of hiking in Scotland!

This lush rocky greenery with a stone croft made me think of hiking in Scotland!

This igloo-type thing caught my eye.

This igloo-type thing caught my eye.

Goat!

Goat!

There were lots of these trees with exposed roots.

There were lots of these trees with exposed roots.

I'd come across tons of stone crofts like these when I was hiking in the Scottish Highlands.

I’d come across tons of stone crofts like these when I was hiking in the Scottish Highlands.

Lots of iron in the soil here.

Lots of iron in the soil here.

Looking towards Isla. You can clearly see Stone Island Gardens, the hotel attached to Carmelita's.

Looking towards Isla. You can clearly see Stone Island Gardens, the hotel attached to Carmelita’s.

The first part up had a path.

The first part up had a path.

Dale is a good role model for how I want to age.

Dale is a good role model for how I want to age.

Looking down at the causeway and the lighthouse.

Looking down at the causeway and the lighthouse.

This view reminded me so much of Point Bonita near San Francisco.

This view reminded me so much of Point Bonita near San Francisco.

Roots just clinging to rock faces.

Roots just clinging to rock faces.

Climbing higher!

Climbing higher!

I could see lots of familiar Isla landmarks.

I could see lots of familiar Isla landmarks.

This is where the hike turned into clambering.

This is where the hike turned into clambering.

Looking down again to the causeway and the lighthouse.

Looking down again to the causeway and the lighthouse.

Here we are at the top of Goat Mountain!

Here we are at the top of Goat Mountain!

What a view!

What a view!

If it wasn't for that tree, I could have mistaken that view for Scotland.

If it wasn’t for that tree, I could have mistaken that view for Scotland.

See the goats in the background?

See the goats in the background?

After all the sand on Isla, this red dirt was a welcome change.

After all the sand on Isla, this red dirt was a welcome change.

Love the colour of this house.

Love the colour of this house.

Sitting at Carmelita's, remembering that I earned my brunch!

Sitting at Carmelita’s, remembering that I earned my brunch!

That's a BIG glass of juice and I'd already had quite a bit!

That’s a BIG glass of juice and I’d already had quite a bit!

The pelicans were out in full force today.

The pelicans were out in full force today.

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Wednesday Night in Mazatlán’s Centro Histórico

Tonight, Dale made reservations for us to listen to her friend Rob Lamonica play at Héctor’s Bistro. This is the same friend we listened to at Macaws.

That didn’t work out quite as we planned as we didn’t realise that we needed to reserve an exterior table and instead ate inside, wondering when the heck the music was going to start!

We arrived at six and were promptly impressed by the upscale ambiance at Héctor’s and glad that we were a tad more dressed up than we normally are!

Unfortunately, they don’t have a liquor license, so we couldn’t have beer. Dale had thought that she’d been given permission over the phone for us to bring some, so I had a few in my purse, but we were told that they’d be shut down if an inspector came in and saw a beer on the table. Bummer. She opted for ice water and I had a limonada with mineral water. Funny how I am not a mineral water fan, but I love it in a limonada. Limonada is always more expensive than beer, but here the difference was only 5 pesos, versus 10 at Carmelita’s.

The menu was a little pricy, but still had plenty of options below 150 pesos. Dale had eaten not too long before and is a vegetarian, so I suggested that she get the roasted veggie platter for us to share. This proved to be absolutely delicious, lots of different roasted veggies drizzled with a balsamic reduction and served with whole grain sour dough toast. Dale and I were both excited by the basil. 😀

I decided to have a laugh and order their pastrami sandwich, not expecting to receive anything even remotely resembling a pastrami sandwich. I was right. 🙂 It was a fancy roast beef sandwich on whole grain bread with cheese, Dijon mustard, and a crunchy sour gherkin in the middle, served with a side of bitter greens. It was delicious, with a wonderful mixture of textures (the bread was divine) and flavours. Not something I’d want again, but worth the 130 pesos just for being different from anything else I’ve eaten since I got here.

With the tip, our total bill was 305 pesos; very reasonable for such high quality fare! I do the same thing here that I do in Canada and the US when I pay with cash, tell the server exactly how much to bring back so I don’t have to worry about coming up with the right change for the tip. I must be using the right words because I’ve never had a problem being understood (eg. doscientos por el cambio) and am usually told ‘muy bien, gracias’ (very well, thank you).

We finally figured out that we needed to go outside to listen to Rob and we did so for almost an hour. It was just him on his keyboard doing easy listening stuff. Having barely slept last night, I have to confess he almost put me to sleep. 🙂

Near eight, Dale suggested with walk down to Olas Altas to sit on the sea wall and have a beer from my purse while listening to the waves. That sounded good, so we said goodbye to Rob and walked the few blocks down.

On the way, we pondered the name Olas Altas. I knew that Altas is high and Dale’s best guess for Olas was waves. She was right!

We debated for a bit if we’d get in trouble for having a beer on the seawall, laughing that the courthouse was right behind us, then remembered that we’ve seen people walking around with open drinks during the day. So we discretely cracked open a can of Tecate each, a six-pack of which I recently received as a thank you. It was delicious and a nice change from the Pacifico, with a bit of a spicier finish. I’d brought the beer in my insulated Walmart bag with a bottle of frozen water, so it was still very cold!

We both marveled at the wonder of our life, to be sitting on a seawall in Mexico in absolutely perfect temperatures in early December to be comfortable in short sleeves (and NO BUGS), listening to the waves and feeling safe and secure walking around the neighbourhood so late.

When we were done with our beers, I suggested we go back to Plaza Machado for the leg stretch (just a couple of blocks) and then get a pulmonía back, not quite ready to call it an evening. Dale agreed.

The plaza was not the happening place it was on a Friday night, with almost no merchants and no restaurant tables on the street. I bought ice cream from a cart (coffee, mmmm) and Dale decided to try their tequila flavour (mmm). She still has trouble with the coins and the ice cream gals and I had such a laugh as we did our best to sort her out.

It’s so hard to hang onto small change here and the best she could do was 100 pesos, for which they did not have change. I managed to convince her to part with her 10 peso coin to go with the 1 and 2 pesos coins she had to get to the 20 peso cost of the ice cream. She was holding onto the 10 peso coin for the panga, dreading making them give her 92 pesos in change.

I made her head spin when I reminded her that I owed her for the half of Rob’s tip so I would pay for the pulmonía with a 100 peso note, get 50 pesos back, and pay for both our panga tickets with the 50 peso note, which would require only an easy 34 pesos in change and if she insisted, she could later pay me back the 8 peso advance. Have I lost any of you yet?! 😀

We had our ice cream and then went to negotiate a pulmonía ride. The driver was adamant that it be 50 pesos and I said that I paid 45 pesos last time and I wasn’t paying a centavo more this time. The thing is, I only had a 100 peso note, so I knew that giving me 55 pesos in change was going to be a challenge and I’d end up paying 50 anyway, but I wanted to play the hard nosed residente. We pretended to walk away and the guy called us back. When we arrived at the embarcadero and I told him 50 in change was fine, he was happy.

So that was a Wednesday night in Mazatlán’s centro histórico. Very quiet, balmy, unhurried, and unpopulated, a nice break from the unrelenting noise of Isla, incredibly enough. I’m actually starting to think about looking for a rental in Maz for next year instead of coming back to Isla. I can get used to the street noise. It’s the dogs and roosters that are ruining my nights…

Unfortunately, my iPhone camera sucks and most of my pictures came out blurry. Last time I go out and rely on it for photos. 🙁 It’s nice to have as a backup, but nothing beats my beat up old Pentax Optio W90.