Mechanic, Painter and Landscaper OH MY

Another beautiful day in Paradise. This morning we are waiting for: the mechanic who is going to change the spark plugs [we brought them with us] in Willie, the painter who we hope can remove the decals from the Jeep and then paint the same design on Willie. The decals are all cracked and peeling. Also waiting for a load of small sized rocks to be delivered and spread around our site so we quite bringing in all the dead weeds from outside. But to go back in time…(it is 9:20 and the mechanic is here.) 

Sunset Monday night. Not beautiful but pretty.

Sunrise Tuesday morning. Again not spectacular but okay.

Spent early part of yesterday morning watching the birds in our breadfruit tree. We put the bread and fruit in it.

Just a couple of them. Sure fun to watch.

Then we picked up Otto and Edna, friends here in the campground and headed to El Quelite for breakfast. The road to El Quelite was being cleaned of dead weeds. The guy walking along the road had a load of weeds stuck on a pitch fork that he was taking to the place where they would be burned. At first I thought he had an umbrella of weeds.

Met a horse and black and white cow on the road but didn’t get pictures of them.

Going into El Quelite – just some of the colorful houses.

Parked and walking down the street to the restaurant. It is such a pretty street.

One of the turkeys in the wash next to the restaurant. There used to be lots of sheep and goats there too, but they are all gone.

Inside the restaurant. Not too many people there in the middle of the week.

I had scrambled eggs with ham. Also everyone got chips, cheese and fruit dish. And of course gorditas. Yum. We always get a few extra to bring home.

This hen and her chicks were walking around in the restaurant. Future chicken enchiladas.

One of the rooms in the restaurant. It is such a pretty place. I’ve taken so many pictures of it in the past it is hard to find new things to photograph.

The back room and one of the many murals.

Came home and waited for the painter who was supposed to show up yesterday afternoon…we are still waiting. Supposed to be here in about 10 minutes…we’ll see…

Later in the afternoon – around 5:30 we went to pick up the laundry. US$8.50 – well worth it to me. And then on to Soriana the big supermarket – had to buy bread for Bill and the birds and fruit for the birds.

I hate being on the road that time of night. That’s when all the workers who ride their bicycles are going home from work. No lights on most of the bikes. Scary.

I still haven’t cooked a meal, but plan to tonight. Got chicken defrosting.

Had salads for dinner and watched a news program about Cuba. Bill translated a lot of it for me. Interesting. 

This is for you Rona - my little plant who was struggling in Vegas, is loving it here in Mazatlan. 

And we are into a cool down, high of 81 expected today. Some light cloud cover. Yippee. 

A busy productive day Monday

We had a busy day yesterday. Got a few errands done. Before we left to get things done I sat outside and watched a few of the birds. We put some fruit in the little tree next to us. 

 Then we headed out to get things done. First stop dropping off the laundry. I love that while we're here I don't have to do laundry. We just drop it off and get it back all nice and clean, smelling good and folded and ready to put away. They would even iron things if we had any thing that needed ironing. 

Next stop was our favorite parking lot over in the Centro Historico - the old shopping district of Mazatlan. We've been going to this parking lot for several years. And this year it has really changed. It has been painted. The sculpture of the Whales Tail that some artist was building in a couple of the spaces is gone. Click the link and read about it - weird. Also see the difference in the parking lot. 

 For any of you who have been following us you know about this parking lot. The wall separating it from the street was an original wall from the 1800's. Over the years it weakened and bowed out towards the sidewalk. It was held up with chains going around some big trees just inside the lot. Well over the summer part of it finally fell down taking the trees with it. Luckily during a time when no people or cars were outside on the street. So this is the result. The wall now is completely illegal! In this area of town everything has to be original. If something comes apart it MUST be rebuilt exactly as it used to be. 

How it used to look.

 

I know I had more pictures of it with the chains but can't find them. 

Bill talking to the parking lot manager. About the tail and the wall. He was laughing so hard I thought he'd fall over. 

 Walking through the main plaza. Just one of the many shoe shine and shoe repair men. We're heading towards the big Central Market.

We walked through the Central Market saying hi to all the shop keepers we know there. Got many "Welcome homes" from them. Seems like we know more people here than we do in the states. We had an hour to waste before Bill's eye appointment so we stopped at Panama Restaurant for lunch.

 All the servers are dressed the same. The women must have their hair in a bun and all wear white stockings and shoes. The guys dressed in black pants and shoes and green shirts. Looks really nice.

 We ordered - Bill a chicken salad and me a tuna sandwich while we were waiting for our meal in walked Contessa and Colin. They were buying baked goods and saw us there. They didn't stay to eat but we made plans for next weekend. 

 I ordered Chabala - a sweet drink with fruit cut up in it. 

After eating we went to Bill's eye appointment. We've been going here for years. Last year I got a couple pair of prescription sun glasses here. 

 It's called Optica Nueva and right across the street from the main plaza. His new glasses will be ready tomorrow. Bifocals with the clip on sunglasses and eye exam. US$80. Then he will also get the new lenses put in his old frame. 

 Stopped at a candy store to get some freshly made candied peanuts. They smelled so good we couldn't resist.

 And then to the watch maker to pick up Bill's watch. US$2.50 - cleaned, new battery and band shortened. 

 These are really old magnifiers. 

While waiting I noticed the paper showing the winners of the Marathon - men's and women's classes

 Heading towards home. The pink building is a restaurant we always say we are going to go to. Maybe we'll really do it this year. They advertise watermelon margaritas. 

 Just normal traffic driving through town. 

 Stopped at Mega Supermarket to pick up a few things. I like this display of fruit.

 Eggs - Remember 20.3 Pesos to 1 US dollar. So these are just a little over one dollar a dozen. 

On home were we stayed the hottest part of the day. Took a quick drive to the beach to see the sunset but it wasn't too much to look at. And it was very windy out. Then Bill cooked dinner.Today we are going to El Quelite with friends for breakfast/lunch. 

Machado dancing

If it doesn't show up below here it is.

Mazatlan Sunday Marathon and Music

We had a really nice Sunday here in warm Mazatlan. I started out the day by walking up to the street to watch the first runners of the marathon pass. To the right of the tree are the four Kenyon men leading the rest of the field by a long time. Quite a few of the people from the campground were out front to cheer the runners on. When they heard the clapping and bravos most of them picked up their speed a little. 

 His choice of running outfit was interesting.

 The Kenyons - only two of them leading the pack back towards town. 

 About a minute later the other two came by. Distance between first and these pictures was about 7 kilometers. 

 A new convenience store has gone in in front of the RV park. Haven't gone in it yet to check it out.

This is for you Nancy. The Healthy Iguana is gone - new owners, new name and new menu. Too bad they sure were nice. Will ask around to try to find out what happened. 

Spent most of the heat of the day sitting in the shade visiting with friends in the park. Then home to read and nap with the AC on. 
Come evening we piled into the Jeep and headed for the Plazuela Machado for dinner and music. Walking around before eating I checked out a display of drinks one restaurant serves. I wonder if they charge for the bees that were swimming in them. 

 The main doors to the Angela Peralta theater were open so looked in. I'd forgotten how pretty it is

While we were just walking around the plaza we heard, "The Golden Years, right?" What? A man stood up from the bench and introduced himself. He recognized us from my blog. Talked with him and his wife for a while. They are staying here in Mazatlan in another RV park. He has been following our blog for a while. He also writes a blog at www.heartonthewing.com.
We ate dinner at Beach Burger one of our favorite restaurants. We have a front table for the evenings entertainment. For those of you who don't know on the weekends the street is closed and all the restaurants put tables in the street. Each set of lights is a different restaurant. Both of us had Italian Chicken Salads. Delicious as usual. The owner of the restaurant, Conchita, came over and gave us great big hugs and welcomed us home. Waiting for the music to start. 

 Rafael Rodriguez. He sings and plays guitar. All kinds of music. We really enjoy listening to him. 

Wish I could have gotten a better picture of these two guys. One was completely coated in silver the other one in bronze. Hats, faces, clothes, everything. They were just walking around the plaza.

 Raphael, his wife and a friend sat and chatted with us during his break. 

 The woman in the white blouse is his wife. 

There were a lot of people dancing to his music - more than we've seen in quite a while. Always fun to watch. Some really good dancers and some just swaying to the music. All ages.

 A couple of videos from the evening. Turn the sound up.

This is my favorite. Who would think Achy Breaky Heart would be so popular here.

And here is Willie patiently waiting for us. Will have to write more about this parking lot when we've been there in the day light. A lot of changes since spring. 

In the plaza it was 82 degrees, here in the campground it was 74. Always a big temperature difference between the two areas. Sbout 10 miles apart. 

Today it is not supposed to be quite as hot. If the humidity would drop too it would be perfect. Might take laundry in and I think Bill is planning on getting Arvi washed. Then...