It’s funny how things come in groups. I read an excellent article recently called Romney Jumps the Shark: Libya, Egypt and the Butterfly Effect. You know the butterfly effect – to quote the article above:
The late science fiction writer Ray Bradbury authored a short story about time travelers. They were careful, when they went back to the Jurassic, not to change anything, but one of them stepped on a butterfly. When they got back to the present, the world was slightly different.
At about the same time I was reading Stephen King’s book 11/22/63 where the butterfly effect is a main theme – would it be possible to go back and prevent Kennedy from being assassinated? – which might then change a whole host of other terrible events such as the Vietnam War or the assassinations of Robert Kennedy or Martin Luther King. The book was quite absorbing, the first entire book I’ve read of his except for an excellent book he wrote on the craft of writing.
After I finished the King book I picked up Penelope Lively’s How It All Began, which states (from the Amazon site):
In this engaging, utterly absorbing and brilliantly told novel, Penelope Lively shows us how one random event can cause marriages to fracture and heal themselves, opportunities to appear and disappear, lovers who might never have met to find each other and entire lives to become irrevocably changed.
What’s that? The Butterfly Effect again? I think I had better think about this for a bit.
Now I’m back.
You know what? The Butterfly Effect is happening now in Mazatlán. One little change is changing our community for the better. What change, you say?
The cruise ships pulling out of Mazatlán. That’s right. I’m glad they’re gone.
What does this mean for Mazatlán? Now we need to think about what the best features of the city are, and care for them. That means keeping Centro and the beaches clean. Painting out graffiti, picking up after our dogs, and emptying trash containers. It means providing wheelchair ramps and making sure the street lights work. Keeping the statues and monuments in good repair.
What makes a city somewhere tourists want to visit? It’s not just being a day stop on a cruise ship itinerary. It’s being a place that has interesting things to do and see that are accessible and available. There are many wonderful things to do here – and I’m sure that one of the happy results of the cruise ships pulling out will be more thinking about what other opportunities there might be.
I have lots of good ideas and I’m sure you do, too. I trust that the Butterfly Effect started by the cruise ships leaving is going to end up making this town much more beautiful, much more treasured, and much more interesting to tourists, too.
At the top of this post is a picture taken on Angel Flores and Niños Heroes as the sun went down. Our beautiful city. Sigh.
Marty
September 18, 2012Good point-it takes more than an afternoon to discover all the wonders of Mazatlan. El Centro is really shaping up!
Lourdes T
September 18, 2012I agree. Let’s reinvent Mazatlan and make tourists fall in love with the city.
judith
September 19, 2012Beautifully expressed and I sure hope you’re right, Nancy. We need a concerted community effort to make these things happen.
Lee
September 19, 2012The media have treated the cruise ship pullout as a disaster, but you’re right. Ships can have an unsettling effect on a city overall, turning them into a funhouse mirror image of their former selves. Key West was never the same since more ships started docking there. Rowdy, then dead, then rowdy again, then dead again is a horrible cycle to be repeated in a small locale
Jennifer
September 19, 2012Thank you Nancy! As usual, your prespective is refreshing. I agree with you. We will be back in January for a week….to explore my favorite city once more. So very much of Mazatlan we have not seen yet.
Someday…I hope to make it our home too. The cruise ships so not factor into our Mazatlan experience…it is the people and the city that have made us fall in love.
Thanks for all you do with the website….I miss my favorite place in the whole world a little bit less while I wait for the next time to get there.
Babs
September 19, 2012Beautiful photo Nancy. I so hope some day to get to Mazatlan…….truly.
The thing “they” are calling the butterfly effect now used to be referred to as synchronicity. I like the butterfly effect more, for many reasons.
Enjoy your blog – just don’t always comment.
B
Zoe Jussel
September 19, 2012I think we all have that “what if” curiosity, and often in our own lives vis a vis “the butterfly effect”. You present a good perspective about Mazatlan and thinking and taking this wonderful city to a new level of consciousness. Onward and upward.
Andrew Paez
September 19, 2012The great hope is that some of those whose jobs were adversely affected by the lack of cruise ships found work in the recent Centro remodel.
What a great photo. I walk down that street several times, usually at/before sunrise, whenever I visit Mazatlan. Something about the wall and the residences there always attracts my attention and makes me want to go back. I’m sure I have a similar shot somewhere in my archives, but nowhere near as nice. Looking forward to seeing it all again soon. Thanks for posting that, Nancy.
Shannon Casey
September 20, 2012Lovely photo Nancy. I hope some day our budget will allow us to revisit Mazatlan. It’s been about 30 years since I last saw it and Todd had never been there. It is a long drive from the mountains though.
mary klassen
September 20, 2012an amazing shot.
Contessa
September 24, 2012What a wonderful concept! Mazatlan’s future can only be better because of you and Paul.