Two of the 4 day in Huatabampito were terrifically windy. We took one of the windy days to go out to a shell beach that was quite a long bumpy, dirty road, but well worth the drive once we got there. Never have I seen so many shells on one beach. We passed a shrimp farm and an oyster farm on the way, so stopped to buy oysters on the way home. Mario shucked them for me and we got 2 dozen for about $5 US. We had part of them fried and part of them in a stew. Our last night at Huatabampito as we ate dinner there was a loud knock on the door and there was Carol of Carol & Al. So glad to see them ... the 4 of us headed north to Hotel de Cortes near Guaymas. What fun to get to spend a couple more days with them.

Huatabampito

We got off fairly early Saturday, but had problems with the small trailer hitch and monkeyed with it for about 45 minutes before getting it figured out. Then it took an hour and a half to get the 12 miles to the pavement. All the rains had left ponds in the road and it was a bit more washed out and bumpy. We took the libre out of Mazatlan and stopped around 4 in the afternoon in a Pemex just a few miles from Culiacan. This morning we got on the road and drove on to Huatabampito using the Maxipista and the cuota roads. It is a bit cooler here than it was on Stone Island when we left , but beautiful with a nice breeze off the sea. Even on the 4 lane highways you will see horses, cattle and goats grazing beside the highway and in the middle between the lanes. Usually the horses are tied or hobbled, but not the cattle and goats. Another good argument not to drive after dark in Mexico. When we were on the Baja a few years back the main animal you would find on the road were donkeys. And you can just drive around them, they are not going to move!!!

Villa Union

This is the small mercada in Villa Union and their beautiful cathedral. Note the German Shepherd in the aisle about halfway down.

I know I have remarked on the fact that you can buy anything in the Old Mazatlan Mercada ... I took this picture just to reinforce the wide range of good available. Not only can you get a pig's head, but any other part of that pig is available as well!!! Tomorrow, Saturday, we hook up and head north. We will take about a week to get to Kino Bay where we will stay for most of the month of March. We do plan to be across the border before Easter. Mazatlan and all the friends, old and new, have just been wonderful this year. It is nice to have the quiet of the island with the easy access to the city.

Aquarium and Manicure

It was rainy here on Wednesday, so we took the opportunity to go into town and do our laundry, grocery shopping, etc. We visited the Acuario Mazatlan. We caught 2 of the 3 shows they have ... the sea lions and the birds. I thought when I got home I would check my dictionary and find out what the show we missed was. Unfortunately, none of my dictionaries have the word "bucco". Anyone know what this is? The sea lion show was just exceptional .. the bird show and the walk through the gardens was beautiful.

Check out these fingernails!!! This young lady was on the water taxi with us the other day and I couldn't resist asking if I could take a picture of her hands. These are definitely "Carnaval" fingernails. Carnaval and Valentines Day fell at the same time and both are big celebrations in Mexico. One of the girls in the park had a manicure and she got hers done similar to this, but not quite so bejewelled. It took 4 1/2 hours for them to finish her manicure. I am afraid I would never be able to do anything with all of that on the end of my fingers

The water taxi dock and the unique Mazatlan conveyance ... the Pulmonia

Our tractor pulled carriage and the Puesta de Sol

Happy hour at Al & Carol's

Mazatlan Cathedral

The Mercada where you can buy almost anything

Pizza at Benji's on the Island ... Garlic shrimp pizza was the best!

February 9-14

When you are about 2/3 of the way to the top, you find steps (335 of them) for the final 1/3. Merle in front of the lighthouse and me with old Mazatlan in the background ... had to have proof that I really did get up there!

Well we have had another week here in the sun and sand. It has been a busy one ... lots of running down the beach at low tide to find sand dollars and other treasures! I found a part of a paper shell nautilus and was thrilled. I would love to find a whole one. Years ago on Tecolote beach out of LaPaz, Merle and I were walking in the surf when a Mexican man approached me and gave me a paper shell ... It was almost perfect and is one of my prize possessions. Neither of us spoke the others' language, but managed to communicate my appreciation. We were soundly defeated in a crib tournament despite winning 3 of our 4 matches. Unfortunately, keeping total points, the fact that we were skunked (almost double skunked) really hurt us. We have made several trips over to Mazatlan and enjoy exploring old town. We took a party boat out to watch the fireworks ... reenactment of Mexico's defeat of the French near Olas Altas ... We had joined the crowds in Olas Altas two years ago for Carnaval and the fireworks and didn't really want to battle the crowds again. The boat we went on carried 250 people ... 30-40 from our two parks. They picked us up at 7:30 (dark) with a tractor (no headlights) pulling a big wagon ... We were taken to the water taxi dock and a panga shuttled us across the harbor. There we boarded the Puesta de Sol for our trip. They provided an open bar and a fantastic spread of food. It was really nice to be on the water for the display as you could see the fire from the cannons firing from shore and we were quite near the boats shooting back. The display was over about 11:30 and we got home a little after midnight. Our neighbors had company visiting ... the man is the head of the music department at the University in Culiacan. He is one of the world's leading classical guitarist and he gave us an impromptu recital ... so it was well after 2:00 before we got to bed. Valentine's Day, we went across and hiked up to the lighthouse. It is the 2nd highest lighthouse in the world and the highest in the Americas. I think it is 550' to the top of the hill it sits on. It was an arduous climb for me ... but well worth it for the 360 degree view from the top. Last night then we went back to Union and the Cuchupeta restaurant for dinner. We need to get over there during the day so we can visit their lovely old cathedral and shop in their mercada. Neither of which we could do on a Sunday evening.

Margaritas, food and the game on 3 televisions.

Machado, Super Bowl and Mechanic

Eating with friends and shopping at the Machado on Saturday night. They close off the streets around the square and the restaurants use the space to extend their eating area ... the vendors are out. This is the theatre and arts area of old Mazatlan and a concert was going on so they had it piped out to the plaza and showed it on a large screen. Very nice!

We are glad we did not go to points further south this winter ... the rain we had this past week was a class 2 hurricane in Puerto Vallarta. Did quite a bit of damage to the towns just north of PV. We just got the heavy rain without the winds. Sunday was Super Bowl with lots of US and Canadian fans ... Roger and Suzie made their spot available for all of us to congregate and watch the game together ... Everyone brought food and enjoyed the usual superbowl hype and chatter while eating all of this yummy food. We have a new margarita maker and he was pretty funny with lights on his hat. Our quad has had a problem with a squeak and yesterday the display was not showing the right gears. We asked around and got directed to a mechanic that was doing some work on the atv's they rent out on the island. We went to his house and he kept our quad for a few hours checking everything out and changing the fluids. When I went to pick it up he let me know that the problem was with an electronic part he could not get, but the transmission was fine. He also said the squeak was a ball bearing problem, but it was alright to drive. He will get a part and we will take the quad back to him on Tuesday to finish the repairs. Now, this was all understood without me speaking Spanish nor him speaking English. I utilize my Tex/Mex and charades and he is used to tourist on the island and we managed to understand one another fairly well. I tried to pay him for the work already done on the quad, but he would not let me. He wanted me to wait until he finishes working on it. He spent several hours going through the quad and checking everything out, but I doubt the fee will reflect the work done. They work for very little and usually are very good at what they do. I will let you know Tuesday what the final bill is. I think we are talking hundreds of dollars in the states ...

Oysters, driftwood ...

Merle's practice range

I absolutely covet this beautiful piece of driftwood, but the reality is that there is no way Merle will try to get it across the border. It would look great in my front yard!

The birds are in the lunch line ... waiting for the surf to serve them.

Well, our repairs held up to the rain Wednesday night. Of course, it wasn't the hard rain we had on Tuesday, but I think it is fixed. Take note of this ... my non-seafood eating husband took me to a restaurant in Union we had heard about called El Cuchupeta ... I had heard they had wonderful barbecued oysters and I really wanted to try them. I hoped they would have something non-fish for Merle, but, wouldn't you know, they did not. Being a good sport he ordered their crab salad and really liked it, but the amazing thing was he tried my oysters and really liked them, so we ended up sharing. They reminded me a lot of oysters Rockefeller. We both agreed it was the best meal we have had since we left home and I am pretty sure I can get him to take me back. We cut out about 9 miles of bad road by driving down the beach (like a super highway) to the 3 palm trees (shown in the background of the picture of the driftwood). A quick trip through a coconut grove and we are back on the road for the last 2-3 miles of bad road before we hit pavement.

Repairs

Margarita Mondays, shopping, rain

I was without my camera for a few days as I could not find lithium batteries here and I failed to put any in my camera bag before we left home. We have Margarita Mondays in the park. These will change considerably since George is heading north this week and his blender has been the center point of our margarita making. Homemade with a real gasoline motor controlled by motorcycle handlebars, this contraption makes the happy hour quite festive and unique. Since I did not have my camera available and George and blender are now enroute to Arizona, you will have to use your imaginations to envision this engineering masterpiece. Aha ... I was able to borrow a couple of pictures from someone else!!! Merle and I took the water taxi over and spent the day Monday doing a bit of shopping and exploring in old Mazatlan. Tuesday has been the first overcast and cool day since we got here. Temps were in the low 70's and felt quite cool after our higher temps. About the time Merle returned from his golfing ... the bottom dropped out and we really had a downpour ... I am not sure how much rain we got here, but one of the campers said PV (Puerto Vallarta) and points north got 11 inches. We would definitely be a point north of PV. Merle thinks we got at least 6". Anyway it came down so hard and fast that we discovered a couple of leaks and Merle has gone up on the roof to resilicone a few places.