
Mazatlan 2004
We have a time share at the
Marina del rey, a beautiful little complex just outside the city, a
short bus ride away. Here we find the quietness and closeness to the
beach so relaxing. When we want the excitement of the city, we just walk
out the door, hop on the bus and in 15 minutes we are there. This time
we spent four weeks. Four weeks of going to sleep with the ocean as
music to relax by, waking up to beautiful sun rises and of course
watching the sun set every evening. It happens fast and there is nothing
like it. A walk on our beach would take at least one hour, it is that
long. At one end there is a wonderful little outdoor eatery that serves
up great Mexican music and munchies - makes the long walk back worth it.
It's nothing fancy, but is clean, friendly and the people working there
are just about the nicest you will ever meet....but then so is Mazatlan
and that is why we keep going back. The picture with the blue umbrella
is looking at our hotel complex from the beach.
I have taken pictures of our room this time, but like every other time,
each room is different and big! Our two bedroom this time was 2400
square feet. You can see that we have our computers set up so that when
the mood struck we could work :) The bedrooms are large, comfortable and
quiet at night. That is the most important thing to us, the quietness of
the evenings. You can sit outside and hear just the ocean. That is what
I try and remember when I get home...that sound. The island across from
us is home to thousands of birds. Mazatlan is home to many species and
it's great fun to just sit and watch them flying by us on the way to
their home. The most common bird here I think is the Chara de Beechy or
the purplish-backed Jay. Those are the ones you see in our pictures
here...each morning and evening they sit on these wires. They are not
noisy. There are many - from hummingbirds right through to pelicans. One
morning the fog came in (first time I had seen fog here) and I had to
take this picture of this building that they were working on. It just
seemed to float. Tom took a picture of a picture of our hotel room. You
can get a better idea of what it looked like from this one. As well, he
had to take a picture of me sitting downstairs at the hotel computer. I
think I was on the live chat with Art Drysdale for this one...we were
lucky to have a high speed connection in the hotel so we didn't have to
go downtown to pick up our mail. This had just come to the hotel the day
we checked in so we were very pleased to see it. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
We did some things
this time that we hadn't done before. Because we were there during
Carnaval we took in the big Fireworks display downtown. We had this
wonderful little bus that came to the hotel and picked us up, then we
headed to our restaurant for dinner and the display. It is based both on
land and on water so fireworks were coming from two places, off setting
each other. A huge display!
Now the bright outside pictures with all the people are those of the
parade...so many people come out for this parade, both the locals and
the tourists. I could not believe it when they said it started at 5 and
ended around 11...how could that be? But they were right. Tom is seen
picking up some sweet pastry for us to munch on...and later on in the
line for mango...wow was this good! As you can see it started out light
then got darker as the evening progressed. Interspaced between the
floats were these huge buses with the queens riding on top of
them...plus the floats had queens on them as well...there are many
queens during Carnaval...do you see the fire truck from Santa Monica? It
was a gift and I guess they were so proud of it, that they put it in the
parade...some enterprising men had built stools and were selling
them...we bought two so that I could stand on one to get a better view
of the parade and let someone else stand on the other. Then we left them
with two ladies as we were leaving so they could enjoy them. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Now we start out
with a picture of Tom on the bridge by the marina and then a couple of
rocks on the beach...and then to the Sand Castles! We had gone both
Saturday and Sunday to this..what we saw on the Saturday might not have
been there the next day as it didn't work for the artist or fell apart.
Once they are built they mix water and glue together and spray them to
hold them and then hope that they stay until the next day. The little
church didn't make it for the next day. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Now the little gold
mini was the start of our Homes tour that we took. We saw six incredible
homes, all totally different and individual. I have to admit that the
first one we visited, with the artwork, was just about perfect for both
of us...we ended our tour at this wonderful little town that a
grandmother put together for her grandchildren...and it just keeps
growing and growing. This was all built so that the grandchildren could
find out and keep the beautiful customs of the region in which they
live, feeling proud about his origins and the culture that surrounds
him. We finished off the tour with a nice lunch at the El Cid Golf &
Country Club. The funds raised for this tour go to Pro-Mexico to
increase the quality of life for persons with a deep respect for life,
liberty and human dignity. They have a medical clinic providing health,
dental, pharmacy and lab, a school of arts and crafts, elementary and
secondary open classes in english, computing, sewing and culinary. |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Every night like
clockwork, just before the sun sets our feathered friends (those
purplish-backed jays) come join us by sitting on the wires outside the
hotel. They are not noisy though and by the time the sun sets they have
flown off to their own home for the evening. Right across the road from
us there is a bird sanctuary and we got to see many birds as a result. |
 |
|
 |
 |
Now we are on the
Jungle Tour, something else we hadn't see yet...it starts with the
cruise ships..we went by them on our way to the mangroves. Here again, I
take many photos but once in a while there is one that just blows my
mind....the one of the shrimp boats does it this time. Mazatlan has the
largest shrimp boat fleet with over 500 of these boats and it seemed to
me they were all here...a beautiful shot in my minds eye. The beach here
is for turtles...they lay their eggs here. That is why it is so clean
and pure looking. There were huge mango trees and each of them just
loaded with blossoms. There was also a coconut grove here, the largest
one I had ever seen. Coconuts take 7 to 12 years to reach maturity, then
they will produce up to 500 coconuts per year, each taking about three
months to ripen. He said by four months they are ready to fall off the
trees. The crowning glory on our trip back were the pelicans, they were
sure cheeky and as you can see by the one hanging off the top of our
canopy, not at all shy about grabbing food. |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
We finish off with
a few floral pictures, a couple of benches and our footprints in the
sand...until next time... |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|