Happy New Year with a bang

Actually more like a bang bang bang since they never seem to run out of firecrackers. They must spend a tidy fortune on those, we priced them out and they're not that cheap. We have it on great authority from a vendor that the Chinese ones are far superior to the homegrown variety, more expensive yes, but more BANG for your bucks.
New Year's Eve didn't feature a lavish party. We had a meal which I prepared, half a kilo of shrimps, wild and not flash frozen in Thailand like so many of the ones we get in Canada are. We drank a bottle of chilled white wine, Chilean, not bad a little fruity and not as dry as I would have liked but there isn't a whole lot of choice wine wise and the price at 72 pesos was more than reasonable.
We walked into town and spent time in the jardin which is that main square. There are still a lot of Mexican tourists but most of them have come by car, no more endless streams of buses.
While in the jardin we had some fun cataloging all the various ways in which Canadian laws are routinely broken in Mexico. I will provide a list and I'm sure I've missed some. Of course this is offered in fun, we love Mexico after all and that spirit of anarchy is what makes it so endearing and frustrating sometimes.

There are many infractions attached to driving.
1. Driving without a license (less common but it happens), insurance (quite frequent).
2. Wearing a seatbelt is law in Mexico but it is routinely disregarded and considered more optional than necessary particularly here in Melaque where we've noticed a lot of people don't even bother.
3. Drinking and driving,(common) drinking while driving (less frequent but it happens.)
4. Riding a motorcycle without a helmet, apparently it's also a law but again it's strictly up to you unless you get stop and ticketed. Some do wear a helmet but they're few and far between.
5. Driving with people in the back of your pickup is extremely common.
6. Three on a small scooter with the kid in front, quite common.
7. Making a full stop at a stop sign,it could happen but then it might not.
8. Not passing when there's a double line on the road, you still pass but you just floor it.
9. Wearing a helmet when riding a bicycle, please let's not even tackle this one, not even a remote possibility unless you watch a lot of American t.V. and want to emulate the lifestyle and have the means to do so.

Firecrackers:
Firecrackers have been completely forbidden in B.C. probably the same in the rest of Canada.
You just can't buy them anywhere even if you want to break the law. Here they're a dime a dozen. Mexicans are probably one of the biggest consumers of Chinese firecrackers in the world and they know their stuff.
They are everywhere and can go off at any time. Even when you're somewhat used to them those incredibly loud bangs can give your heart a run for its money. In fact while sitting in the jardin kids were lighting them up left and right. One took off, sailed over a wall and right into a house. Nobody irate came out so assume it was okay, that's the one good thing about building with bricks, houses don't burn down easily.
In another instance we were at the beach, that same night, watching a bunch of kids of all ages, lighting them up fearlessly when one sailed right over the crowd that was watching them. Nobody got hurt but it was still burning when it hit the crowd. Sometimes they don't detonate right away and kids poke and prod them till they do. Strangely there doesn't seem to be that many accidents involving firecrackers and if there are nobody reports them, unless they're really serious. Mostly they ignore the burns, it's all part of the fun, and just carry on.

Other random ways in which our laws are routinely broken. Buying a six pack of beer at a 7eleven type store, opening one beer and drinking it while waiting in line to pay. Come on that one's a definite winner. Setting up an improvised kitchen on the sidewalk right outside your house because you simply must cash in on those new arrivals who are thirsty and hungry. It doesn't matter how, when, where, why anybody pretty much can open a little stand and sell food and believe me they do. Chihuahuas are truly a beloved dog here and they are extremely portable which is an added bonus meaning you can take them everywhere even in restaurants (not fancy ones of course) in little pouches and that's totally fine. Of course dogs are allowed on the beach without restrictions and you never have to pick up their shit. We've only seen that done a couple of times on the malecon in Mazatlan other than that it's everybody for themselves and watch where you put your feet, much worse than in Paris any day of the week.
Drinking on the beach is not only allowed but encouraged. If you can't get to the booze the booze will come to you.

I've probably missed a lot of other infractions if I happen to note some more I'll add to this list again this is all in the spirit of fun. We're much too restricted in Canada where a state of hyper vigilance and control reigns supreme.

On another note we had heard that two passenger buses got hijacked on the quota (paying) highway out of Guadalajara. This was of interest to us since we will be driving in that direction. I made a few more inquiries and it turned out to be unsubstantiated rumors which is great news.
Bus jacking does happen but it's a pretty infrequent occurrence. Of course we're driving but it's good to know there aren't a bunch of banditos roaming the quotas.

Happy New Year, Feliz Ano Nuevo a todo.


=

Noel Melaque Style

Noel in Melaque is an exuberant outdoor affair. It starts with huge travel buses slowly rolling into Melaque on the 24th, mostly from Guadalajara we suspect since it's the closesty big city. Today the 26th, there are probably over 50 buses we didn't really do a count so it's a rough estimate. I think we're erring on the conservative side, hard to say but the population of Melaque has definitely swelled to fairly big proportions.
The 24th started out beautifully. Carol and Max who manage the bungalows where we're staying came here two years ago. Carol bought some toys for the neighbouring kids and last year it sort of went viral with over 100 kids showing up some from the town of Villa Obregon. This year, with the help of some local women, they decided to restrict it

to the Colonia of Primaveras. A Colonia is the Mexican term for neighbourhood. All the toys were organized in terms of gender and age. Kids started lining up around 10:00 am. They were very well behaved and even though it turned out to be a fairly long wait there was no pushing, shoving or crying. I have to say that I don't think our Canadian kids would have handled it quite as well. Mexicans, in general, have learned the art of patience. Patti, who owns the bungalows with her husband Andreas, had bought some buns and she was waiting for them to arrive along with some milky concoction flavored with strawberry. Both finally arrived and the handing out of the gifts proceeded without a hitch.
The children were delighted, it was a joy to see.
I took quite a few pictures and will post them on Picasa when I update my pictures.
The rest of the day was pretty mellow. We went to the beach and noted that the big crowds had not yet arrived. In the evening some of the older kids went a bit wild with firecrackers exploding all over the place as they played war throwing them fearlessly at each other. It was quite the cacophony but as per usual nobody complained. There was, however, an unfortunate accident. One of the kids, Andreas' son, got a second degree burn on his thigh when the ones he had in his pocket ignited. That incident put a damper on the whole affair and kids retreated to their respective houses. It's a little scary to see kids as young as five handling firecrackers but it's the norm here. Little kids appear to be much more competent, certainly not as protected and coddled as ours. Today we saw a little girl of 3 having come back from the corner store clutching a roll of toilet paper and some chips which she had just purchased. Scenes like that never cease to amaze us. Of course Melaque is small and people do look out for each other. Nevertheless I don't think I'll ever see a kid of 3 shopping by himself or herself in Summerland which is only slightly bigger than Melaque.
On the 25th, the buses started rolling in earnest and there were more revelers on the beach.
We staged our own little party at Bungalow Itzal. We had turkey, chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, gravy, desert the whole enchilada in other words. It was very nice. We enjoyed it a lot, eating outside with stars shining above our heads. Later on we took a walk into town not knowing what to expect but it was business as usual. Most of the stores, restaurants were open trying to cash in on all this influx of tourists to their town.
It hasn't been easy to make a living lately for most businesses in Melaque, this arrival was definitely welcomed.
Today, boxing day, was probably the biggest day yet in terms of the crowds. The beach was packed
but the waves were still mellow and everybody was having a great time enjoying the sun, sea and sand. If they're coming from Guadalajara which is the 2nd. biggest city in Mexico they must appreciate it tremendously after possibly living under fairly cramped conditions.
Tonight I didn't cook. We went into town and had a dinner of barbeque ribs which were actually quite good. We wandered off near the Jardin which is the central square in Melaque.
It's nearly impossible to adequately describe the controlled chaos which reigns supreme in most of the town. Any house who has the space and desire can improvise itself instantly into a sidewalk taqueria. There is the pervasive sound of cleaver on wood chopping all matter of meat, organs and all, into stuffing for tacos. The Mexicans love to graze. They don't actually often sit down for a big meal but they do consume food, in smaller quantities, on a regular basis and when on holiday there's no holding back. Surprisingly one of the most popular stands was the crepe stand. Yes crepes have finally made their way to Melaque and they're extremely popular with neverending lineups of eager customers. I lined up today as well. After Bretagne where crepes reign supreme I just had to check these out. I took a crepe with Nutela and, indeed, it was very good. That little stand was making a killing having replaced churos, the sweet cinnamon sugary donut as the finger food of choice.
We slowly walked back home under a moonlit sky, a perfect end to a really good day.
Tomorrow we're off to another beach, by car, it's called Tenacotita, it should be another great day. Hope you're enjoying reading about our adventure. Don't forget to comment if you're so inclined. Merry post Christmas to all.

On the road to Melaque - observations

Before leaving Puerto Vallarta paid a last visit to our favorite restaurant for our traditional buffet breakfast at le Gilmar. The waitresses were lovely, the food was excellent, many options and the price was incredibly sweet at about $8.50 for two. You just can't beat that, our best price yet for breakfast.
The road to Melaque is another one of those sinuous roads that can make you road sick if you suffer at all from motion sickness. Happily neither of us are afflicted or we would have thrown up our cookies a long time ago. As you get away from P.V. the houses become grander and grander, lavish dome like constructions overhanging the ocean, lots of trees and flowers fill the mountain side and precipices which drop down to the ocean. There are very posh hotels as well along the way and possibly a few all inclusives tucked away here and there. The road leads to a pretty little cove called Mismaloya. Mismaloya is famous for having provided the set to John Houston's film Night of the Iguana. The film is notorious for sparking the torrid love affair between co-stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Few have heard of this film nowadays although if you're at all a film aficionado you will surely know of it. Not a masterpiece but definitely worth a peek.
We didn't stop at Mismaloya and continued on our journey to Puerto Vallarta's botanical garden which was just along the way.
We were the first visitors at the garden on that day. It's not a huge garden but it does have some interesting varieties of palms, like the Bismarck palm (took a picture), vanilla, coffee
bougainvila and some species of orchids.
Since there are over 10,000 species of orchids this was not a representative sample, there were only about 20 or so varieties but they were pretty nonetheless. The botanical garden we visited in Quito/Ecuador had hundreds of different varieties by contrast.
We had never actually seen a vanilla plant. It's a vine like plant and the vine looks like a very thick rope quite large in diameter, smooth and green. It wasn't flowering and we didn't see any pods. Vanilla is the most labour intensive spice in the world which explains and justifies its premium price.
The coffee plants didn't have any berries which are red before being harvested to be roasted.
Mexico no longer produces a lot of coffee, most of it is grown in the Chiapas area of Mexico.
Colombia is now one of the largest exporter of coffee in the world and coffee is the second highest traded commodity after oil, no wonder it's called liquid gold.
We continued on our route along this winding highway,the sun was high in the sky, it was very hot and our air conditioning started acting up or not acting at all. It blew some vapour through the vents and then nada. We contemplated the rest of our trip driving with no air condition and it wasn't a pretty picture. Yes we're spoiled gringos!
In any case we opened the windows, shut the air down and about 30 minutes later tried it again.
It worked just fine. It must have been having a moment.
Listened to some good music along the way. There's something to be said for listening to early Stones blasting Sympathy for the devil as you're rocketing down a Mexican highway. A good play list is a must. We have Bob Marley for a little reggae, Neil Young and Van Morrison for the nostalgia factor and their great music to sing along to. Los Super Seven is a great album filled with wonderful Spanish tunes. Stan wanted Cat Stevens, at times too sugary for my taste, although he does have a few classics. Some CD's I mixed as well we brought along, my tastes are pretty eclectic there's a bit of everything. Still listening to Nouvelle Vague, Nissa made that CD for me. We bought some latin mixes, the best of radio 2010.
Shakira is number 1 with Loca, it's a great tune. Camila is THE rock group of the moment in Mexico, their tune Besame is really good too, check it out on you tube. Lady Gaga is huge with Alejandro. We love sampling new music in Mexico. Bought Los Tigres Del Norte I've been wanting one of their CD's for a while and they're hard to find.
Regarding the violence in Mexico, it's definitely real although it mostly affects some border towns with the violence seeping into other parts of Mexico. Recently there was a huge stand off near the town of Morelia in Michoacan with buses and cars burned by the narcos to prevent the federales from entering the city. They did kill the main head of that particular cartel but it was pretty brutal, some innocent people were killed or injured in the crossfire.
The tabloid newspapers are always filled with lurid photos of violent incidents. That's typical of this kind of reporting which is the same all over Latin america.
The town of Melaque is pretty quiet in that respect, it's too small to matter. The town has been improved since our last visit two years ago. It's cleaner, they have a recycling program for plastic, they've leveled off the road in front of the bungalows, taken care of the swamp all in all it looks pretty good.
Bungalow Itzal where we will be staying for the next 3 weeks comes with a kitchen, bathroom, living room/eating area, 2 big bedrooms and a nice big bathroom. There's a little pool at the back. It will cost $550.00 for 3 weeks, really cheap. All the bungalows are occupied by Canadians mostly from B.C. and one young mother from Quebec with her two daughters. It's a nice ambiance. Our friend Max is the on site manager. His wife Carol had to go back to Quesnel to take care of her mom who is ill. She should be back around the first week of January.
That's it for now. I don't think I'll be updating my blog that much for the next three weeks or so unless something momentous needs reporting, reflecting on.
From Melaque Feliz Navidad y Propero Ano Nuevo a todo.

Adios Puerto Vallarta, Hola Melaque

We left fairly early from San Blas skipping breakfast altogether. We opted to take the more scenic route, the one skirting the coast. That was a very good decision although it took a bit longer to get to Puerto Vallarta. The road was breathtakingly beautiful with huge trees overhanging the road, meeting halfway across it and forming a lovely bridge of greenery overhead. There was dripping bougainvilas their bright red, pink and purple flowers providing splashes of color amongst all the green. The road meandered across verdant hills, glimpses of the sea appearing at unexpected moments. The only sour note were the many impromptu, improvised garbage dumps where a view point might have been. It's an unfortunate reality here. There is far too much garbage and nowwhere to put it. There's no point complaining about it, it will take years before that state of affairs changes, if ever. I don't want to sound pessimistic but it is a real problem and there are no easy solutions.

We stopped in the seaside town of Sayulita. It's a cute little town, soon to grow bigger since it now has been discovered. Quite a few gringos here.
Initially this was where we had wanted to stay but I preferred moving on to
Puerto since it's a bigger city with a lot more options in terms of food and lodgings.

This is our fourth visit to P.V. We came here over ten years ago, coming back from traveling across other parts of Mexico and Guatemala. We knew that the cheaper hotels were situated south of Rio Cuale which is a river in old P.V. Just like in Mazatlan there is an old and a new section, the new being the one where most of the all inclusives are found. There are a few semi types of all inclusives in old Vallarta but not very many. It's mostly condos, houses, hotels and cheaper types of lodgings.

Not surprisingly we ended up on a street called Madero. It's been an old stand by of ours. We've stayed in 3 other hotels on this same street. One was very noisy, one was smelly, one was all right and the one we're in right now Hotel Economico Azteca is by far my favorite. The room is pretty big, two nice beds, there's an inner courtyard, the washroom is functional, cable t.v. and free internet accessible in the room. All this for the tidy sum of 280 pesos a night which works out to about $24.00, a real steal.

The beach is about 4 blocks away but it's a pleasant walk. We only went to the beach twice, once walking and once for swimming and lazing about.
There is much to explore in P.V. The little island separated by the rio is home to a beautiful garden, a theatre and an artesania market. The malecon which is a sparkling promenade along the beach always has entertainment of some kind going on. We saw Tolteca Indians from Vera Cruz, go up this post with ropes which they twirl along the top of the platform they sit on.
There are five of them on the platform. Four each tie a rope to their foot and slowly unfurl the rope coming down while the lone guy on top plays the flute. As they spin around the pole the rope gets longer and longer till they finally reach the bottom. It's quite exhilarating to watch. It's an old Tolteca tradition.
Another most amazing thing is the balancing rocks. We've all seen "sculptures" of rocks on top of each other while walking in the forest or along the beach. This guy, a "rock whisperer" doesn't just do rocks he does boulders. It's unbelievable. He places boulders at the most incredible angles one on top of each other. We actually witnessed him placing a third boulder. He was wonderfully focussed and concentrated. I even saw him talking to the stone before taking a step back and there it stayed this huge rock at an inconceivable angle, it should have toppled but it didn't.
Unfortunately I didn't have my camera. We went back today but Sunday is apparently his day off because he wasn't there. We were told that every morning he topples his creations and starts over.
If we come back to P.V. I will definitely take a picture or two.

While walking I noticed a French cafe type restaurant and bakery. I wanted to see if the croissant and pain au chocolat passed the mustard. I talked to one of the waiters and he said the owners were French. We met both of them Sophie and Pierre who's the chef, one of the 250 best chefs in France we were told. Of course his wife said that and she's obviously biased.
Nevertheless the pain au chocolat was very good so we resolved to have our big night out on Saturday by treating ourselves to a French restaurant meal.
The whole thing was quite formal but the food was delicious and it was a novel experience for us and quite a change from our usual dining venues.

Today we went shopping for groceries at the big Soriana store. Melaque is quite small and it's sometimes difficult to find certain items. We will be cooking for three weeks there. It was important to get certain necessities.
We will probably be going back to Melaque again after our trip to the interior. We've really enjoyed our lovely time in Puerto Vallarta. Hope you do too, it's just a little glimpse I know.

A little blast in San Blas

We left on Tuesday, direction San Blas. The reason we wanted to go to this particular town was a personal one. We have a friend who found his Mexican bride there and she still lives in Summerland. Having heard so much about it we were curious to check it out. The road going there was pretty uneventful. We stuck to the quotas (the paying highways) which charge you indiscriminate amounts regardless of state of the road or distance covered. It's a bit hit or miss mostly miss for us since it cost almost $25.00 to cover a relatively short distance of about 350 kms. We always thought that the quotas were government run and didn't mind paying the money but our friend Pedro told us that they're privately owned and that only a small amount of tax is held back for the government. Score one again for free enterprise.
San Blas itself is your typical, chaotic Mexican small town. There are many buildings in various stages of construction or destruction. Dogs of all shapes and sizes roam the streets. The sidewalks are more or less non existent and many of the roads, most in fact, were unpaved. When we arrived we discovered that the main road had been completely gutted with huge mountains of dirt and rock debris waiting to be pushed around. Work was progressing, albeit at a bit of a slow pace yet in typical Mexican fashion everybody appeared to take it in stride. It was impossible to get to the best hotel in town because of the state of the road but our luck held out. We found this adorable pension, gringo owned, only 4 sparkling clean rooms with a swimming pool, lots of plants and beautifully decorated. The price was 450 a night the same as what we were paying at the Belmar which works out to about $37.00. It was well within out budget and a little oasis in the midst of the generalized brouhaha.
If you want to score a cheap price for oysters San Blas is the place for you. A dozen of medium size oysters will set you back 25 pesos, about $2.00. We had our lucky dozen and they were very tasty. It turns out that the salty rio (river) is just full of them which explains the cheapness and abundance. Fish whole and opened up in a sort of filet style is smoked and barbecued, another tasty dish which we also sampled by the side of the road. There are all sorts of shacks leading the way into San Blas which sell these. That same day we walked to the beach but were not impressed with the sand, kind of grayish in color or the quality of the waves. San Blas is reputed to be a blast for surfers, some of the longest, continuous waves around but the time was not right for those kinds of waves not that we had any intention to try our luck at surfing.
The next day we headed out to find a boat which would take us down the river to La Tovara for a journey of about 3 and a half hours. We found our guy fairly easily, settled on a price and off we went. The rio is home to about 300 bird species and also crocodiles. It's a mangrove very rich in nutrients. The beautiful, meandering river was a joy to travel on. We saw many species of birds which he identified for us. Neither of us are birders so I won't bother naming them for you.
Suffice it to say that spying on egrets, blue and green herons, boat bill herons and crocodiles of all shapes and sizes in their natural habitat was quite a thrill.
The most intriguing bird was an owl that looks just like the branch of a tree till you see its wings flutter, very unusual. When we got to La Tovara there was a restaurant and a crystal clear pool where we had a most refreshing swim. That trip in itself was worth going to San Blas for.
Coming back was equally peaceful, giant ferns, mangrove trees leading the way. The air smelled of decomposition but it was not unpleasant signaling instead nature doing its harmonious work, something dying and something reborn in equal measure.
We enjoyed our short stay in San Blas. It's the kind of authentic, gritty Mexican town that is unvarnished and which less adventurous tourists rarely get to experience. Regardless of their town the people who live there go about their business, boisterously trying to make each day count. Everybody was friendly and open. We wouldn't spend a week there but for a couple of days it was more than acceptable, not a total blast but a little bit of a blast for sure.

Visit to Gringoland

No worries we're still in Mazatlan but we presently reside in old Mazatlan in the centre of this historic city with some freshly renovated buildings and some crumbling ones as well,many are too far gone and are beyond repair. New Mazatlan which is much further down the malequon (beach promenade) is home to most of the newly minted condos and the ever present all inclusives. This is where most of the tourists end up for their one or two week stays. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, it's just not for us. We took a bus to see if there were many of them around and sadly, for Mexico and workers from the area, the answer is not very many. The beach was almost deserted, it's a huge beach, plenty of sand and sea but not too many bodies. The problem is there are so many of these spots in Mexico and only so many gringos to go around.

Furthermore Cancun and Puerto Vallarta have eclipsed Mazatlan in recent years. They are perceived, wrongly in my estimate, as having more panache and more allure thus their appeal to tourists who might not know any better. In the end it doesn't really matter. As far as I'm concerned all inclusives are probably all alike regardless of their location. They offer the same pre-packaged antiseptic types of environment, free of germs, lots of food and booze and easily recognizable signposts which scream "nothing threatening here". For Mexico's sake it would have been nice to see more white bodies on the beach, the vendadores walking from one end to the other are looking mighty lonely with nobody to sell their holiday trinkets to.

Today Sunday was a big day in Mexico. It was 400 years ago that the Virgin of Guadeloupe appeared to a poor peasant just out of Mexico city. She is venerated across Mexico and people traveled all the way to Mexico City to request her favours, not really sure it's working but faith is important in this country, they believe with a lot of fervor.
We went to the Cathedral to check things out and the party to celebrate the Virgin's arrival was in full swing with the usual attendant chaos.
All the childrens and there were many of them were dressed in traditional Indian costumes, cute as buttons, down to the littlest babies. There was also a concert going on with incredibly bad singers, nobody was getting paid, this was all pro bono, which party explains the lack of quality. Nobody seemed to mind with the crowd happily singing along. There was the usual array of vendors of all stripes and colors and lots of finger food to be had. It's going to be a royal mess tomorrow to clean up, nothing unusual about that. At one end of the plaza there is a huge fake Christmas tree courtesy of Coke, coke logos are everywhere on it, even the star at the top is a coke logo. Coke dollars hard at work in Mexico and they do love their Coke, they drink it by the bucket even early in the morning.
We didn't go swimming today. It was windy and the sea was rough plus the water
still hasn't warmed up that much. We're holding out for Melaque, it's further south and it should be warmer by the time we get there. Tomorrow is our last day here. I'll try and post some pictures some time next week. Was able to buy some postcards, strangely enough, not an easy proposition. I don't think people write too many of these anymore. They weren't the prettiest but they will have to do. We've really enjoyed our time here. It's been mellow and relaxed but time to move on. No worries we'll be back Mazatlan.

No gunfights at the Mexican border

We crossed the border in Nogales and luckily although it is hyped as a "dangerous border", it's the same old Mexico that we know and love, nothing has changed. The border crossing may have been uneventful but later on dealing with all the paperwork hassles was another story altogether.
It took 2 hours of going from one spot to the other, a total of 9 counters and very "Kafkaesque" all in all with us dutifully going from one to the other and back again. Apparently there was a purpose to this madness if a total lack of efficiency. It turns out that if you've been to Mexico with your car before it's more of a problem. You have to fill out endless forms, get copies go from one counter to the other to get more copies and this avalanche of useless papers can be quite frustrating. After we got
copy number X we were told to bring out car around, cross over to the other side, as though we're going back to Nogales, and give a guy the requisite two pieces of paper. He then takes our old sticker off the dash and takes a picture of our vin number. He then sends us back to the other side to fill out more paper work, pay for the license to drive across all of Mexico and finally get our new sticker. It's hard to understand why they would insist on cancelling a previous permit, acquired two years ago and which is, in effect, NO LONGER VALID.
Yes, it's crazy loco that way but "asi es Mexico" you got to love it.
The driving on the quotas was fine, not much traffic except when so-called highways go through major cities and then it's not for the faint of heart. We stayed in a lovely town called San Carlos, near Guyamas, it wasn't hot enough to swim and we got there quite late around 5 P.m.
We left San Carlos bright and early and drove for almost 12 hours to Mazatlan.
We're staying at The Belmar, this totally funky hotel, parts of which are literally falling apart. They renovate as the need arises. We have a room with a splendid view of the ocean. It's not the Ritz but it certainly has a million dollar view. The door to our balcony came off its hinges because the wood was so rotten. Yep, that's the kind of place this is and I'm trying to score a better discount than the one we already got. So far we have a 10% discount and I'm holding out for another 5%. The water is never hot, only tepid but it's fine since the weather is warn enough for a cool shower. The room is clean and big and there's even a pool. I will post some pictures of it. The architect must have been on some weird shit to come up with this construction. Obviously he was a lover of art deco, plenty of tile work some in better state than others. It's totally cool. Apparently there are 20% more tourists here than last year but nobody believes it as it doesn't really translate in sales.
There is a tribute concert to John Lennon in a lovely plaza not far from here and we're going. We will be here one week so I won't be posting much unless something phenomenal happens. It's going to be beach time and relaxing time, no car for a while and that will be a relief. I had my first pina colada yesterday and it was wonderful.