Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico - Carnival, Feb. 2010. Installment 2

Feb. 12, 2010

Mike:
     2/12 Angela sleeping in. Up at 8, shower, dress, e-mails, & journal. A beautiful morning in Mexico - I could live like this!!! Angela up at 9:30 - to breakfast at 10. Breakfast very good - smoked marlin in flour tortilla - deep fried, eggs with ham, Mexican cheesy potatoes, Pork (I think) stew in red sauce - stew is excellent, except the part that winds up on the front of my shirt - that part of the stew is a jerk!

Angela:
     2-12 Friday. Up about 9:30. Mike up before me being productive and doing useful stuff. Down to breakfast. Mike raves about it, but I guess I'm just too American. I'd just as soon have something bready and maybe a hot drink or milk. Most of the food seems more like dinner than breakfast. The fried-tortilla-fish-thing is yummy though. Yama! They also have pancakes and fruit, so I guess I'm set. Nice to sit by the pool for breakfast.

Mike:

     Back to room to wash stain from shirt, then a walk to Avenida Del Mar (Malecón) - Taking the back street with less hustle bustle, more upscale shopping - definitely all tourist zone. A stop on the playa (beach) for a break yields fish fillets breaded and fried rather than smoked marlin empanadas as hoped. Ah, the language barrier! Fish is good though, but I didn't order because of hunger and we pick it over pretty well without actually tuckering in for a meal. Glad I only ordered one to share.

Angela:

     After breakfast we walk, and walk, and walk. It's interesting and I'm happy, but I do question my choice of shoes once or twice. (Thin, flat sandals with no arch support or cushiony protection, comfortable - almost like walking barefoot, but after miles of pavement my feet feel pounded flat.) We walk all the way from the hotel up the Malecón, which is the sea wall/main street; then over to the cathedral. I love all the interesting box-buildings everywhere. For the most part the only really big buildings are the hotels/time-shares, and there are some majorly huge houses up on the hills overlooking the city and ocean; the rest are mostly one to two story building block type buildings, many brightly painted. The Malecón is lovely, a beach beneath and a nice wide sidewalk to walk on. Of course it is a super-busy street too, but after a little bit you just get used to all the noise here: cars, people, honking, live musicians, recorded music pouring from buildings and vehicles. It's just noisy here; it gives the place a feeling of excitement and vibrancy. We're accosted time and time again by timeshare salesmen. It appears to be one of the major occupations here; there is usually one or more every half a block or so in the Zona Dorada. They are quite persistent, but the whole trip I only came across one that was actually rude. The neighborhood around the cathedral is amazingly interesting. Tons of little box buildings; hugely varied in upkeep, from roofless and falling down to perfect with spiffy new paint jobs. Undulating curbs, some waist high to the street are aesthetically pleasing and make walking a challenge. I want to stop and take pictures, but Mike is nervous and I am shy.

Mike:

     7pm - 1st full day in Mazatlan. It appears that carnival is a Mexican party, at the party last night it was mainly locals. Today it appears that for tourists there is no real difference versus any other week, but tomorrow could tell a different story. The Carnival crowd may be flying in tomorrow, we shall see. Today was all walking. We left the hotel and walked clear down to the cathedral - about 8 miles I would guess. We had a great day. Took a pulmonia back from the cathedral, now showers, then dinner - maybe Italian, or Spanish, or let me think - oh yeah, Mexican! All I know is it won't be Gus Y Gus, Dominos Pizza, Applebee’s, Dairy Queen, El Pollo Loco, McDonalds or Burger King; all of which are within walking distance. I need to walk to the bank, about 2 blocks and to dinner, probably across the street, and my legs/feet are so tired that I'm slow to get going... on second thought maybe all of those restaurants are beyond walking distance tonight! Now to find people speaking English on the TV.... but not Oprah.

Angela:

     The cathedral is beautiful. It has a different sort of vibe to it than European ones. It is newer than most European ones, having been completed in 1899, and is constructed of poured concrete. The concrete is painted to look stone-like but its lack of real texture gives it a "clean" look. The cathedral is lovely and peaceful, though there are plenty of people there. No apparent tourists other than us, everybody is praying. We sit and look quietly and take our photographs unobtrusively so as to not disturb the worshipers. The clerestory windows are glazed with red, green, and white to cast a patriotic light throughout the church. The main altar is a radiant Christ, heart exposed. It is lovely. Three men surrounded by glowing blue are painted above it on the ceiling. Possibly the godhead - do they portray the godhead as three men in Catholicism? There is a side chapel on either side - Madonna & Child on the left, Mary? on the right. I follow the Stations of the Cross out of order and realize I don't know the story as well as I would have thought I did. I notice the confessionals. They are not very private. There is a main cubby with a comfortable straight back chair facing out in the center, saloon-type swinging doors cover the face area, but the body is left exposed. On either side of the priestly seat is a grate and then a kneeling place with no privacy for the confessee. No priests around. My favorite part is all the saints of various sizes and materials that surround the walls and pillars. I didn't recognize any of them. Some are small and down at table height in glass cubicles. One has little gold charms pinned all over it and money in its box. Most have a money box for donations. (I later find out that the golden charms each represent a miracle that the saint has performed, that was a very accomplished saint.) Near the main entrance at the back is another side chapel, with another of the many incarnations of Mary (or maybe another female saint?). We give this possible Mary some money and I say a prayer but don't light a candle because there are only electric candles to light with the flip of a switch and that as a symbol doesn't connect for me.

Mike:

     Dinner at El Parador, Espanol, tapas with shrimp, sausage, cheese, prosciutto. Bread a little too buttery, but good. Damn the diet - I love butter! A nice chardonnay from Chile called Rumbo Sur (2008) and cherries flambé for desert - Damn the landlord - I love cherries flambé. Life is Grand! The timeshare guy at the door spent a long time visiting with a guy with 90s long hair, cargo capri pants, a denim jacket, and a snake around his neck. A blast from the past, I'm just not sure what past it is - late 80s, mid 90s or early 2000s. He is certainly a collection of styles.

Angela:

     In the evening we head back to the hotel, and after refreshing showers, we head out for tapas at the Spanish restaurant across the street. We sit on the balcony and we chat a little bit with the host who wants us to go to a timeshare presentation and lies that he has only been in Mazatlan three weeks, when Mike clearly remembers him from last year. Friendly, nice guy anyway and an enjoyable evening of finger food with extremely crunchy bread. Pleasant people and traffic watching, especially notable a young granola-type man with shaggy hair and a pale orange snake around his neck. Snake-guy and timeshare-host stand on the sidewalk and chat for quite a while; somehow I don't see the snake at a timeshare presentation. Most of the evening we are the only customers there, but later two couples arrive and eat in the indoor dining room, so we still have the balcony to ourselves.

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Touristy Side Street - Zona Dorada

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Avenida Del Mar (Malecón)

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Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

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On the Mazalteco Streets

I Ride with the Reaper!-------------------------------Cute Bimbo Bear! 

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