Tuesday, January 31, 2023

More Mazatlan colors and other sights.

Spectacular sunset from a few nights ago. Hard to choose a picture to share.




A photo from Las Vegas, NV. Glad we are here.

So we have been keeping busy with all our friends here. Mostly going out to eat and looking for the monigotes - Carnaval statues. Saturday we went out for breakfast in Centro (found the two new  monigotes on the Malecon) Spent the afternoon at home - doing nothing. Then went out to dinner and missed another sunset. There haven't been too many really great ones this year. Not too much in the way of sunrises either. Weather gets up to low 80's during the day and down into low 60's at night. But the wind has been constant, a cold wind from the northwest. 

So here we go again with more pictures of colorful buildings in Maz. This one is more ornate than colorful. Lots of fancy iron work on it. 

Pink and blue. Pastel colors but pretty non the less.
Very crisp looking home. Looks newly painted. 
Building is blah, but awnings are eye catchers. 
This is one of the interior walls of the parking lot we go to a lot. So many layers of time. The bricks are old, hand made ones. Different layers of plaster. 
A lavender building - taken from the car window so some glare there.
The city is getting ready for Carnaval. This is a public bathroom. 
As Bill says "expect the unexpected" when driving here. 
Working on another new highrise.
At first from a distance we couldn't figure out what was on the roof. Looked like either cotton candy or balloons. Turned out to be a big floating toy.
Went to Plazuela Machado last night for friends, music and dinner. Perfect way to spend an evening. There were seven of us, two taxis were used. Bill doesn't like to drive so much at night any more. And the traffic was terrible. Didn't take many pictures. The Pirate all lite up in the evening. 
Just one of the restaurants in the plaza. Lots of people there for a Sunday night. 
Just a few of us. 
Rafael singing. Always great to listen to. 
And always people dancing. 
Some video clips from last night. Turn on your sound. First two are short ones. The music and musician and dancers are great. The photographer needs more practice. 




Here is Raphael playing Bill's favorite music piece Malaguena  Click here to watch it in full screen. I zoomed in on his hands and watch his facial expressions as he plays

Bill bought me another hummingbird. This one is a Huichol beaded one. Laying on his back - his tummy. 
His back. 
And that is it for today. 

Monday, January 30, 2023

Some interesting old buildings on Venustiano Carranza

 The other day we took a ride up Paseo Claussen then back on Venustiano Carranza. That's a mouthfull. We actually started way before the blue line and ended way after the blue line, on the same roads but Google Maps would not cooperate with me so..

These first pictures are from Paseo Claussen. For once the fountain was working here.

Can barely see them but this house has blue whales painted on it. 
The heart shaped look out point. 
From just past here we made the turn on to Venustiano Carranza. There is actually a cannon between these buildings. Should have stopped and got out of car to take the picture. Original cannon? No idea.

Two big cruise ships in that day.
This is an interesting old building. No idea what it was when it was built. Not sure if it is still occupied. 
Don't think that satellite dish works any more. What a tangle of wires up there. 
A lot of interesting details in the construction. 

Continuing on down the road. Colorful home. 

This must be a pretty old section of town. 
That car parked at the curb was in the parking lot on the other side of the street for years and one day it was moved to here.
The first time we came across this building it was empty and falling apart. Then one year work started on it and it was eventually repaired and painted. It is now for sale.  And again it is slowly showing its lack of upkeep. 
It has a great history. I searched the web and finally found this from "THE MAZATLAN WEEKLY. " 


Casa Herrasti was built in 1907 as the family home of Doña Francisca Rojas de Paredes, a direct descendant of Don Bonifacio Rojas who discovered the prosperous gold and silver mine of El Tajo in 1655. This led to the founding of the nearby mining town of El Rosario, Sinaloa.

It now bears the name of Don Alejandro Herrasti, a Basque merchant who married into the family and was the last inhabitant of the residence.

At the time of the Mexican Revolution, the Paredes left the country and the uninhabited house was taken over by revolutionary groups that occupied the city, as a military barracks along with other spaces, one of which was also the Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez school.

he house’s signature architecture is an eclectic interpretation of classic elements artfully created with local materials and construction techniques that extends along its three grand street frontages that cover 23,680 square feet of multiple interior spaces in a lot of 13 thousand 993 square feet.

We must remember that it was one of the first house-rooms, since in those years the constructions in the area were dedicated solely to business.

It is known as: House Herrasti or Paredes (by its owner) and is considered an architectural beauty of Mazatlán and more because it continues to preserve that neoclassical style from the 19th century to the Art Deco of the early 20th century, mainly influenced by European constructions.

It has been used as a school by private higher-level institutions, and in 2016 it

It has been used as a school by private higher-level institutions, and in 2016 it opened its doors for the Delfos company, which presented a work based on the house coming to life through human portraits.

It was the headquarters of the University of Mazatlán and UNITESIN.


I hope some one buys it and puts some work into it soon. 

Sunday, January 29, 2023

Eye candy. The many colors of Mazatlan

The only theme to this blog is the "the many colors" pictures where something caught my eye and I've been able to get the camera focused in time to snap the picture. Some of these are from walking around Centro, but most are from driving around. See the bushes growing out of the buildings. 

The green door and the green post really stand out. And the bush growing out of the top of the building.
Not a color combination I would pick, but it goes together okay. I know the iron work is for protection but it adds a romantic look to the building. 
They were still working on painting Pedro and Lolas - they should be finished now. Too bad they couldn't paint the whole building a different color. 
Interesting long "beans" on this tree. I think I remember someone telling me they were edible. 
The gazebo in the Plazuela Machado. No one took care of the poinsettias all but one are dead. And the gazebo itself needs lots of TLC.
Piñatas hanging in the trees at a restaurant in the plaza. 
Down an old narrow street. Each building a different color.
Nicely brought back to life. 
Each color is a different home or business. 
Some have added a second story, some have removed the second story. What tales they could tell. 
I think that might be a restaurant up on the roof. Not sure. I like the lavender building. But only the front is painted. 
The blue one is for sale. Brain storm! I'd like to look at some of them that are for sale. 
Even colors inside a restaurant. 
Beautiful tile work inside the whole restaurant that used to be an old home. 
Even the outside window sills are tiles.
Sunrise the other morning. There haven't been any really amazing ones that I've been up to see this year. But this one is nice. 
There are supposed to be 10 Carnaval Monigotes but so far have only seen 9. Still looking though. I've been in a rather melancholy mood lately. No real reason why. But I think it has to do with something I was told years ago by a Palm Reader. A bunch of us girls, yes girls, in our early 20s went for a lark. I remember some of the things he told me. I was a divorced mother of two sons at the time. He told me I would have five sons, I would live in a Spanish speaking country (lots of laughs then.) And as I got older my legs would bother me and I'd be in a wheelchair and a son would take care of me. And I'd live to be 84.Well so far I had five sons and lived in Argentina for awhile and spend every winter in Mexico. Luckily my health, legs and mobility are still quite good and I'm half way into my 84th year. But it bothers me a little...Two out of four...No I don't really believe it...
We found two more monigotes that makes 11.

Every time we go out a new experience.