Life in Mazatlan

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There’s new paint everywhere

There is even more fresh paint in Mazatlán’s Centro Historico than I reported back in March here.  Some of the painting is just the usual homeowners painting their houses before the rainy season comes, and some is a joint project between the Coppel Foundation and the City of Mazatlán.  I thought I’d show you a few from a very small patch of Centro.   The one at the top had needed a lot of concrete repair, but it looks great...

It was one of those Mexico moments…

We’d planned on spending the day at Isla de la Piedra with Jessica and Lourdes, but the usually perfect weather in Mazatlán had changed to a downpour seldom seen in the winter.  It rained for 12 hours straight, and the drains around town were trying their best to handle the challenge. So instead of walking that night we took the car when we went to dinner (another delicious Pizza Moreno meal!) and headed home past the Plazuela Machado.  Originally we...

There are always chores to do…

Paul and I are lucky, and we know it.  Guadalupe comes to our house two mornings a week.  She cleans upstairs one day and downstairs the other.  She sweeps the floor, dusts, cleans the bathrooms, and mops.  And I am grateful for everything she does! But… there is still plenty for us to do around the house.  Windows to wash.  Landscaping to water, mow, and  trim.  Fountain to clean.  Ceiling fans to clean.  Hardware to oil.  Oven and fridge to...

It’s a puzzle to me…

Anyone who has read this blog for long knows how much I love Mazatlán.  But sometimes I just don’t understand things around here. For example, earlier this year there was a large civic project where some of the malecon concrete surface was chipped out and replaced North of the Fisherman’s Monument.  Seemed strange to me since that portion of the malecon seemed in very good repair already.  Of course I was hoping they’d continue on South from the Fisherman’s Monument...

Cruisers are in town

Mazatlán is a multi-faceted town.  We have a huge shrimp fleet.  We are the home of Pacifico Beer, Café Marino and Coppel. But tourism is a large part of what sustains the town, and part of those tourists are visitors from cruise ships that visit the port. Usually on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday there are cruise ships in town.  This month there are 24 cruise ships expected.  That’s great, because for every cruise ship of 3,500 passengers, approximately 80% leave...

Mazatlan has soul

If you don’t believe me, just read the New York Times!  Click on the here to go to the article.  There’s also a slide show, here....

the good, the bad, and the feo

The dress for Consuelo The good: Paul has come through his two weeks of the dengue unscathed.  He slept the clock around a couple of days, then mostly slept the clock around, then became well enough to only sleep half the day, and when we finally knew he was on the mend he was sleeping normally.  He lost his appetite completely for about 10 days, and thanks to the Dengue Diet he lost 8 pounds.  To all of our readers...

This place makes me smile

I’d decided it was time to cover our two plastic tables on the upstairs patio with a tablecloth.  These are plastic Coca Cola tables that have a groove on each side to keep spilled or sweating drinks from dripping off the edge.  The problem is these grooves collect rain and dew and dirt, too.  I figured my favorite heavy duty flowered plastic would be perfect!  I think it looks pretty cool (above), don’t you?  (23 pesos per meter) While I...

blog post a la carte

Paul and I attended the local Linux users group on Friday, mostly because blogger Jennifer was going to give lessons in Gimp, an open-source photo editing program. I learned some good stuff and am enthusiastic about Gimp, so I came home and fooled around with a few photos that I thought I’d share with you. Paul has now gotten interested in Linux and has spent some time using it and will probably keep working with it just for fun. The...

Mazatlan is ringing

Back in late November or early December the downtown Cathedral began ringing its bells every three hours. At first we thought these bell ringing songs were related to the Christmas season, but no. They are still going on, and are actually becoming a noted moment throughout the day. About a month ago they had a week or so when the 6 am one was so loud that it was waking us up. A petition went around our area spearheaded by...

Everyday life in México…

I thought I’d do a little series about how I know I am adapting to life in México. Here goes! 1. I like covers on things. Washer, Dryer, Mixer, Blender, whatever. Why not? It is dusty here and the geckos like to run around on things and it’s just neater. (above) 2. Below is a picture of the little coin bag that we keep in the car. In the car you need coins handy for the random stoplight purchase, window...

Friday update

It’s just been regular life around here, but we like it. The weatherman in the newspaper says that it won’t be cold anymore, and will just get warmer and warmer.  This year has been very mild, I have only worn pants in the evenings a few times and never got out my socks and shoes like I did last year.  There has been some blustery weather though, but the temperatures were still mild even though the ocean got very choppy. ...

Never a dull moment

This morning while walking the dogs we stopped to watch the surfers at Olas Altas.  One surfer was way far too the left near the rocks.  I wondered what he was thinking and even asked Paul if he thought the surfer could catch a wave from there.  It seemed a strange place to be.  We headed back North and within a half block noticed a lifeguard on the beach removing his shoes.  He strapped a bullet-shaped foam life preserver on...

The Holidays in Mazatlán

Jumping on the bandwagon after Steve and IslaGringo, here are a few pictures of some Christmas scenes in Centro. The picture above is the nativity scene in the Plaza Republica.  As is usual in these kinds of scenes, there are various size animals sharing the barnyard.  See the HUGE turkey on the left side of the picture?  I took this picture as we met up with Guaymas blogger Brenda and her husband Roy.  It was so nice to finally meet...