City Tours

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Monday Night at La Chupiteria in Mazatlán

Dale’s friend Rob plays at La Chupiteria on Paseo Claussen, just north of Angel Flores, on Monday nights. Long-term Mazatlecos would know this location as being the former Canucks bar.

We left my place just past six and took our time getting there, winding and wending our way through the historical district so that we could stick to well populated areas. I was thrilled to pass ‘my’ ice cream guy, whom I haven’t seen in ages because I’ve been going to Maz too early or too late. I tried a new flavour, green, and can’t remember what he said it is. I’m not sure why, but I only got charged 15 pesos!

La Chupiteria is a lovely location across from the Malecón. The decor is splendid. I took lots of photos, but I haven’t mastered my iPhone camera since these two were the only ones that sort of came out. 🙁

The ceiling was gorgeous!

The ceiling was gorgeous!

The band was playing sock hop/rock 'n roll stuff from the '50s and '60s.

The band was playing sock hop/rock ‘n roll stuff from the ’50s and ’60s.

Before the music started, we walked around the back part where there were a few vendors. I’ve been looking for a certain style of apron and found exactly what I wanted for only 120 pesos (handmade by a group of 11 women sewing their way out of poverty, so I would not haggle), but I hadn’t brought that much cash with me. I doubt they are going to sell out and I’ll try them again another week.

The music was really good and lots of people got on the dance floor. Dale and I tapped to the beat, but did not venture out. I’m used to being the youngest in the crowd, but it was particularly noticeable last night!

Dale is a very slow drinker and I like my beer cold. So I drank two to her one. Total cost for three beers was 75 pesos! While I had a good evening at La Chupiteria, it would not be my first choice of place to get a beer in Maz since they charge 25 pesos. It’s been my experience that a beer is 20 pesos in Maz and 25 on Isla, so La Chupiteria is a more expensive place to drink. I know, I know, five pesos isn’t much, but it’s the principle of the thing.

We then walked down to Olas Altas to look for the Looney Bean coffee shop and can’t find it. Dale is sure she’s seen it. We are confused.

From Olas Altas, we headed to Plazuela Machado and stopped en route at the Panamá bakery to get some treats for the road. I got a savoury jalepeño-y bun thing that had a thin layer of ham and cheese in it, very yummy!, and a pineapple filled thing. 24 pesos for a small late supper, not bad! Dale and I are huge fans of Panamá’s as the pastries are super cheap, always fresh, and we’ve never had a bad one! This was our first time at this location; we usually go to the one between the Mercado and the cathedral.

My night soured when I got home to find no internet, hence the lateness of this post. More on that in my next post!

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Sunny With a Chance of Goats and Stingrays

I only had a little work to do for tomorrow morning, so I finished it first thing today and then headed out to hike up Goat Mountain a second time.

It was a gorgeous hot and sunny day, the first that we’ve had in almost a week. I ran into Janet and Grant on the way and caught up with them, as well as getting cuddles from their dog, Boo!

Watching ships in a harbour is something I really enjoy, so I took my time getting to Goat Mountain, using the zoom function on my camera in lieu of binoculars to watch containers being loaded on and off ships.

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The pelicans were out in full force. They never cease to amuse me, even though they are not an exotic creature to me since we have them in SK and I saw plenty of them in Texas!

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Check out the wary expression on his face!

Check out the sly expression on his face!

The goats were also out today and did a good job of ignoring me!

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Put in sheep or hairy coos instead of goats and I would wear that this picture was taken in the Scottish Highlands!

Put in sheep or hairy coos instead of goats and I would wear that this picture was taken in the Scottish Highlands!

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Scotland, seriously!

Scotland, seriously!

There were also lots of a bird of prey, probably a hawk, at the very top of Goat Mountain. Getting up and down it was again rather anticlimactic because it looks so imposing from a distance!

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Can you see the spires of the cathedral?

Can you see the spires of the cathedral?

Dale and I are going to climb up to the lighthouse soonish. She's done it once.

Dale and I are going to climb up to the lighthouse soonish. She’s done it once.

Lots of these birds flying around.

Lots of these birds flying around.

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Using my excellent zoom to show off this incredibly clear water.

Using my excellent zoom to show off this incredibly clear water.

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More goats with lots of bleating, probably telling me to go away!

More goats with lots of bleating, probably telling me to go away!

On the way back, I passed a municipal police truck. Both the driver and the officer standing in the back holding a weapon were wearing bandanas over their face, which I read means that they are narcos attempting to protect their identities. They slowed down to give me a once over and I removed my sunglasses, smiled, and nodded. I got no reaction from them at all. Goat Island is quite an isolated part of Isla with little traffic, so it’s nice to see it being patrolled. The police force here does a good job keeping order. I’ve witnessed one arrest for what was very likely drunk and disorderly conduct.

I came home by the beach, which was eerily quiet for such a beautiful day, but explained by the numerous yellow flags warning swimmers that there was a risk of stingrays. Some hardy souls still braved the water!

Yellow with logo is a warning for stingrays.

Yellow with logo is a warning for stingrays.

It took about two dozen pictures to get one with the wind catching the flag just right so that I could capture the logo!

It took about two dozen pictures to get one with the wind catching the flag just right so that I could capture the logo!

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Like a Pack Mule

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!

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.

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Taking the Bus in Mazatlán

Today, I took another step to becoming a Mazatleca, I took the bus! Finally!

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The water level was very high this morning!

I left home at about 7:00 and was to meet my cousin between 8:00 and 8:30 at her hotel, which gave me quite a bit of time to walk to a bus, wait for a bus, and then walk from wherever I ended up to the hotel. I was told to take the Sábalo-Centro route, which essentially goes between the Mercado Piño Suarez and the northernmost tip of Mazatlán, along the Malecón and through the Golden Zone.

It was the same distance to walk from the embarcadero to the mercado or to the Malecón at the fishermen’s monument using Gutiérrez Nájera, so I decided to go the later route, figuring it would be easier to identify a bus going towards the Golden Zone.

I’ve seen a few bus stops in Maz, but not many, and certainly not along the Malecón. It looks like a lot of people just hail them down wherever the bus can safely stop. I walked for a few minutes until I saw a bunch of people loitering around a pole and figured that that had to be a bus stop or, at least, a place where the bus could stop safely. Indeed. The driver was quite put upon to tell me the fare (10 pesos versus up to 120 to take a pulmonía!), so I was glad I didn’t have to rely on him to help me figure out where to get off.

The bus was just like any city bus, only a bit battered with torn seats. The suspension wasn’t great either! 🙂

My first point of reference in the Golden Zone was the Banamex, after which time I kept an eye out in the distance for the overhead pedestrian bridge attached to my cousin’s hotel. It was still quite far off (less than 10 minutes on foot) when a bunch of people got up, so I decided to get off with them, concerned that the bus driver might be a jerk and purposely make me miss my stop and leave me even further from the hotel.

This turned out to be a good plan because it allowed me to pass a Santander bank, which was recommended to me by a reader here (Kathe?). I’d tried before and it wouldn’t take my card, but this time I had no trouble. The fee was only about 30 pesos and, best of all, I got a few small bills!

My cousin’s room is quite deep into the hotel and I was there at 8:05 on the dot. My first Mazatlán bus trip was a success!

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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!