Photos from our trip home

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From our trip home. We woke up to a conjunction of the moon and Venus - a fortunate aspect to travel by. Over the next few days we ran into a band doing a full sound check in the middle of nowhere, a bizarre motel with a jacuzzi in the room, a stop at one of our favorite San Carlos motels, a side trip to the beautiful city of Alamos, and a final stop in our beloved Puerto Penasco before heading across the border.

Ta Da!

We are home. It is great to see our friends again and get around this city that we love. We will now have to decide what to do about this blog, whether to continue it or take a break. We shall see.

Leaving Las Jaibas, Part 2

We are packing up and tomorrow morning we will take Corazon Gitano to his storage spot and will then head north to Santa Fe. It's been a busy day but it looks like we have things in order. Tonight we'll walk down to our favorite taco stand, eat some tacos, buy some ice for the cooler, and rest up for a long day on the road.

Gone Fishing

Our friend Bill, the Birdman, took his son Justin who was visiting, and us, sport fishing. We went very far out in the ocean and looked for big game fish like marlin, tuna, sailfish, more. We chased one sailfish for a half hour, like a cowboy chasing a steer, but he got away. We saw a turtle with a bird sitting on him, a mahi mahi fish, some dolphins, the sunrise, and had a great time. No runs, no hits, no puking. A winning day!

The last photo is nobody we know.

Motorcycles are everywhere...

...all over Mazatlan. The 14th annual rally is in town trying to break the Guinness record for motorcycles in a parade. They hope to have ten thousand. We'll find out tomorrow. We've seen Harleys parked at all the best hotels in town - and all the worst, too. We went to the Malecon to watch the parade. What a chaotic, noisy, smelly, entertaining, colorful, fun event.

Adjustment to retirement plan needed

Well, after 300,000 people have left a beach, you would think that there's a lot of coins, jewelry, and more left behind. I went out with my sand sifter and spent the morning combing the beach. Northie was knitting and watching the surfers. Total booty? A 10 centavo coin (worth 1 cent) and an unused condom.

Our town again

Now that's more like it!

Aquarium Day

We finally went to the Mazatlan aquarium and boy, is it great. It's the largest one in Latin America and has birds, reptiles, crocodiles, turtles, fish, and shows all day. There are dozens of tanks with all types of fish and since this is school vacation week there were tons of kids having a great time. Including these two from the United States.

And what do you do with those 300,000 people?

Through the Looking Glass at the Nature Preserve

These are good days to avoid the downtown influx of 300,000 vacationers here for Semana Santa (Holy Week) - a time of year comparable to our Christmas season. We went in the opposite direction and spent the morning at the Nature Preserve with our friend Bill, the Birdman. It was quite a birding education.

Of course, we also went downtown last night to check out the hubbub for ourselves. Yep! Lots more people. It was fun. At midnight there was bumper to bumper traffic still heading towards downtown. Luckily we were going in the opposite direction by then.

Surf's Up!

Fun, fun, fun...

Boogie Boarding 101
It's as easy as one, two, three...

1. Find a scary looking boogie board

2. March into the ocean

3. Wait for the purrrrrfect wave

4. Feel good about yourself - you just "rode one in", got some exercise and worked off calories, and worked on your tan.

The Sun, the Moon, and the Northstar

Tour of new Mazatlan

I had some time to explore while Northie was at the dentista this morning. I wound up in a Disney-looking neighborhood. I had to take some photos of the beautiful houses and landscaping. And this neighborhood actually has street signs that you can read without getting out of your car!