So what are we doing still in Mazatlan? Well we like it here. It’s a very pretty city. Lots of shore line – blue sky and blue sea.
And pretty sunsets most nights. Lots of restaurants, good grocery stores, the quiet RV Park, the Plaza Machado and the cliff diver area with its many vendors. We keep discovering new things here as we drive around. So what have we done? Well Friday Bill did the laundry (I could get used to that.) then Friday night we went to the Centro Historico to the Plaza for dinner again. Once you sit down the table is yours for the duration of the evening. No one expects you to hurry up and eat and leave. We people watched and listened to a really good band. On the way back to Jennie we decided we needed to stay here a little longer. As I posted before good thing we wanted to stay what with the problem we had with Willie. So Saturday we pretty much hung around the campground. Sunday we finally made it to the market and found what looked like a neat mall, but didn’t go in. The Sunday evening we started out to the plaza for dinner but when we passed the area where the cliff divers perform we saw a huge crowd of people watching something. Of course we had to check that out. Found a parking place and wandered down to see what was going on. The street was lined with vendors selling every kind of food imaginable. Roasted corn on the cob, which gets slathered with mayonnaise.
Little Mexican pizzas made on flour tortillas. Cocos, tacos, machaca, soft drinks, cotton candy – you name it. And just about everyone had some kind of food in their hand. The kids were skating on their in line skates or riding their bicycles around the lighted area around the flag pole. Frisbees with colored lights in them were flying everywhere. Iridescent bubbles from bubble guns floated by. Children chasing them. Then we got to the group that was watching something. Turned out there was all kinds of free street entertainment. When we got there it was a clown who was interacting with the children in the crowd. We stood and watched for awhile. The parents and other children were really enjoying themselves. When he finished we started to walk away then noticed another group enter the arena. We stopped to watch and I am sure glad we did. There were five young men and one girl and they “played with fire” literally. They lit the ends of batons and balls on the ends of cords. And played with them. Amazing – and they were really, really good. Just took a short video of them as I didn’t have the movie camera with me. I was going to post it right here on the blog but the picture was so small – couldn’t make it larger – that I decided to do it this way – to see it right click on this
http://www.movingon1.com/flames.php then click open in new window, when you finish watching just close the window and you’ll be right back here [I think] Turn up your sound. Also on that page is a clip of the singer we listened to in the Plaza
When they left for the night so did we – we continued up to the Plaza Machado for dinner. Ate at a different place, Las Brasas, where we could enjoy the great music of Rafael Rodriguez on the guitar. And watch other dinners dance the evening away. There is a clip of him on the same page I listed above. On the way back to the campground we passed the diving area again and it was still packed with something else going on in the entertainment area.
Monday we went to investigate the mall we had found.
The major department store - very expensive. Lots of well known name brands
It’s the Gran Plaza and is right behind the big Mega and Sam’s Club. It is beautiful. Has over 120 stores in it.
A big food court, a couple of high end department stores, clothing, furniture, accessories stores (both home and people) and lots and lots of shoe stores. Also a couple of day spas and a multi-screen movie theater. The tile floors were so shinny I’m glad I wasn’t wearing a skirt.
From there we went back into the central city to the Central Market. Quite different.
A little bit different -
It sells everything from people shoes to pigs feet. It is crowded and loud and chaotic and not quite so shinny.
We were looking for shirts for Bill, something cooler and dressier than a T-shirt. He wanted a Guayabera – the cool, short sleeved button front shirt that is popular in Latin America. Also wanted cotton, not synthetic. Finally found a couple and in his size.
And I found a neat blouse that would be cool to wear – loose and light.
Ate lunch in the Plaza again and found out that there is going to be a major remodeling of it taking place during the summer. All the streets will be closed off permanently and it will have more artist galleries around it. Sure hope they don’t ruin the atmosphere of a small town plaza as it is now.
Went out later for a ride and decided I really like the blouse so back to the Central Market to get another on. For both shirts and both blouses it cost a total of US$45. We had parked quite a ways from it so walked there. Lots of people on the street. Took a picture of the church, it’s pretty at night.
We felt very safe walking in this area. Would never walk that far in the middle of the city in Indianapolis. (Sorry Indy.) A lot warmer here too.
It was funny there were bus loads of people each group with its own guide in his/her green shirt. They were being hustled into the show area for the Voladores – the Indians who “fly” off the pole with their ankles tied to a rope. We saw it last year. So the stores were pretty empty and gave us a chance to browse.
The restaurant at the beach end
Tile steps leading to the beach
The beach was covered with vendors – couldn’t walk two steps without someone shoving something into your face.
Need a big sign with NO on it. It is a pretty view out there though. A couple of parasailors were up. And one sail was waiting for a taker.
I keep thinking I’d like to do that but then chicken out. This is looking south on the beach towards the older part of Mazatlan
Back out onto the main street we went into the Shell Museum. Every kind of shell you can imagine. The shells that we brought back from Huatabampito last year, bags of them, were being sold for US$3 to 5 each! Shoot I should set up shop and sell at discount prices. The place has an upstairs so up I went. Sure glad I did. They have a huge mural made out of shells and right in the middle of the room is a big fountain. I can’t describe it but it was beautiful. The center piece and all the surrounding parts of the fountain were shells.
A close up of the shells
Later we were just window shopping in the Centro Historico and went into one home shop and saw this carved painted wood bedroom set. LOVE it. Reminded us of the dining room set we saw in Hidalgo last year. Beautiful.
This is the leather mask we got in La Noria - it's about 8 inches long
