More Rain - Caravan came to Park

Rained off and on all day yesterday. Never really hard – just enough to make it icky out.
Around four in the afternoon we drove into town and went to the nice mall Gran Plaza. Had a little sign made for Willie’s back window – “I’ve Been Towed All Over Mexico” – written under a palm tree. Also walked around the mall some. Cannot get over all the high heeled shoes that are sold. And some are butt ugly! And lots of stores with formal gowns – most are beautiful – mainly for the 15th birthday celebration.
From there we went to a restaurant we’d been told about but had never stopped at. The name of the place is Fat Fish – but it is a steak and bbq rib place – go figure. By the time we got there it was starting to rain harder. By the time we left after eating the streets were flooded! If we’d been any later finishing we’d have had a very iffy drive home. It freaking POURED! At times the water was so deep we could barely make it through. And the deep places were hard to see – so a couple of them were a surprise and the water splashed up and about blinded us. Made for an interesting ride.
Back to the restaurant. We ate out on the patio which had a roof – that leaked – just a little – Every once in awhile a drop would come down and land on Bill’s leg. Kind of funny. The meals are two for one as are the drinks IF you order beer or margaritas – Cokes are one for one. Choice of meals are BBQ Ribs, Rib Eye Steak or Shrimp. Comes with salad, baked potato, garlic bread and cole slaw. We both ordered the ribs – YUM delicious. And a huge portion. In fact I still have enough left for lunch today. Including tip it came to 250 Pesos – at today’s exchange rate US$ 19.50. About US$15 without the tip. No wonder everyone raves about it. The only problem – well not a problem but…. It was full of gringos . The ribs and steak are cooked out on the patio on a big charcoal grill. The cook was kept pretty busy and I bet was glad for the cool breeze and rain. It must get really hot for him during regular weather.
Had to laugh at the people who finished eating and were trying to wave down a bus or taxi to take them home. No one wanted to go out in the street so everything just passed them by. Finally one guy braved it and got one of the pick-up taxies to stop – The only problem – they had to ride in the bed of the pickup which had a tarp over it but was open on the sides. I think they were probably wet by the time they got where they were going. We gave two guys a ride to their hotel out by where we were staying. They were glad for it. (Well maybe except for when Bill couldn’t see where he was going.)
At least we know that neither Willie or Jennie leak anywhere –
The birds in the trees behind us are really making noise today – reminds me of a jungle movie sound track. All kinds of weird noises.
Going to put our satellite down for now. There is a caravan of about 15 coaches that just came in and they all jumped on our internet. I need to get it password protected before we put it back up.

Nuevo Mazatlan

February already. Time flies. We’ve been on the road 81 days – sometimes it seems longer – depending on how small Jennie feels that day. Actually it is working out okay with living in her. We’ve got cooking and clean up down. We both have “our” areas. Mine is mostly the dinette – Bill has his chair and computer and reads on the bed. So we can get out of each others way if we feel like it. And thank goodness the air conditioner in Jennie is working very good. Most days it’s been in the 80s and sometime between midnight and dawn it goes down to 50 something at night which is nice. We noticed that it is colder here at the campground then it is in the Plaza Machado – sometimes as much at 12 degrees difference at night. Over there we are comfortable in shirt sleeves but here need a jacket.
Today is starting out strange, very cloudy and a very cool wind. In fact I think I’ll close the window as I’m getting cold sitting here.
Haven’t done a whole lot last couple of days. Both Sat and Sun evenings we went to Plaza and listened to the music. During the day just keep busy stuff. Went to Home Depot to check out a “Propane Detector” (ours went crazy and wouldn’t stop screaming.) No problem except with its innards so had to disconnect it. Any way found one in HD – over US$100 – think we will keep looking. We did find Citronella candles though – need them at night here if we want to sit out.
Did take a drive north first out by the Cerritos area campgrounds. There are a few small fishing boats there and a couple of restaurants and shops.

Same stuff that is for sale everywhere.

And the only language we heard spoken was English. Then we went out towards what is called Nuevo Mazatlan where the big Emerald Bay resort is.
Entrance to Resort.
Some serious topes in front of it.

Passed over these and continued on up the dirt road. Came upon some really nice homes built right on the beach.
A few of the houses and some of the lots were for sale

Even found one really big one – like a compound - that had guards at the gate. When we slowed down they got really interested in us. Moved on quickly.The road continued on through the bush but we turned around. Getting to that point we had to drive over a wooden bridge that had parts missing. Fun.


Especially the creaking and cracking from under us as we slowly drove over it.
I’ve been playing with the beads a little. The needles I got are shorter than what I’m used to so I keep losing the beads I’ve picked up. And the thread is much finer – it is like really really fine fishing line – a nylon type. And I can’t see it. So much fun threading a needle with a tiny hole with thread I can’t see. Need a magnifying mirror like I have at home. But it is still fun.
Backed up my computer yesterday – try to do it the end of every month. Probably should do it more often but….Wouldn’t want to lose my pictures and info about the trip. I often wonder what the life expectancy of an external hard drive is? I’m I backing up for northing if both drives decide to go? Maybe I should look into doing something on-line.
Bill got his hair cut yesterday by Luis, the older gentleman who comes through the campground a couple of times a week. It looks good – he says maybe he’ll let it grow a little for a while so he can comb it. And that’s about all the news that’s not news.

Still Here - Doing Chores

Well another departure day has come and gone – and we are still in Mazatlan – just something about being here that we both like (of course it would be nicer if we were in Alfie.) So why did we decide to stay another week? Ummm….too lazy to move, like going to Plaza nights, visiting with people from the city days – And real reasons, had to find a watch repair man for Bills favorite watch (we did and it will be fixed by Wednesday and will cost US25 – was asked three times that to “maybe” fix it in US.)

The watchmakers place in Centro
And had to find an alterations lady for his new pants.
That’s done too – 60Pesos to shorten them (US$ 4.75) Found one thing that is not cheaper here – ink for the printer – same price here and there.
Took some pictures of some of the beads we bought
There are five of these boxes full
And over 100 of the little cups full
and some of the other material. - this is the woven stuff
And wouldn’t you know we found another bead place in centro – this one has real beads – not just seed beads and they had earring backs. Opens up a whole new world. Paid 600Pesos appx. US$55 for what would have cost around US$500 at home. WOW. I love this country. (no pictures)
Beautiful full moon the last couple of nights. Last night, Saturday, we of course went over to the Plaza Machado again to eat and listen to music. There was a big “to do” there. The Queen of Carnaval was being chosen in the main plaza by the Cathedral but in Machado there was a huge TV screen and seating so people could watch. Big cheer went up when one of girls scores were read. I think she must have been the favorite and was eventually the one chosen Queen. Quite a big deal here. She will reign for a year. Sitting next to us in the restaurant were a couple of very nice ladies – Bill got talking to them and it turns out one of them had been the queen quite a few years ago. But she now lives in Minnesota and was just back for Carnaval. Both claimed they were in their 50s and both looked mid thirties – I want their secret. Another enjoyable evening and fun ride home. As I mentioned before Saturday night is park and drink on the Malecón and cruise the town through the Golden Zone. Cannot be in a hurry. One thing we saw that I hadn’t seen before. Well I’d seen the guy standing at the curb in front of a store with a box in his hands but never knew what he was doing. Well…..the car in front of us stopped at the curb talked to the guy – he went into the store filled the box with beer cans – 20 of them and brought them out to the car. Money exchanged hands and the beer went into the front seat. Then the guy went back into the store and brought out a bag of cans and opened the trunk and put them into a cooler that was waiting there. He waved and the car pulled away beer cans being opened as it moved. Curb service of a whole different kind. We asked and the legal drinking age here is 18 – but no one seems to pay much attention to it.
More and more of the streets in the Centro district are being blocked off at the Malecón getting ready for Carnaval. Crowd control when its party time. The lighted masks are up on all the light poles. Brightly colored lights are strung from pole to pole and across streets. More platforms for performances are going up and porta potties are being brought in. In the fabric store the area selling sequins and feathers was mobbed – carnaval costumes in the making. The road going to the campground is being dug up for new pipes. So we take a detour over the parkway in the center. To make sure you notice it at night there are big buckets full of flaming diesel fuel to mark the way.
Hard to get a good picture of them while we're moving - but its the two lighted areas in the middle.

So how are we going to amuse ourselves for another week – who knows?