Roaming around Mazatlan

Yesterday, Friday we had a full and fun day. Much to our surprise the Malecon is now open in both directions clear to the harbor. {Our first stop of the day though was to a new, to us, bakery. More about it later.} The drive on the Malecon was great. Very smooth and most of the work is complete. The morning started out pretty hazy so pictures have a weird tint to them, especially when taken out through the windshield. Nice waterfront sidewalk and wide bike path. New light posts in center divider and some parking on the northbound side. 

This is the part that was closed until yesterday. Looks like this restaurant got completely remodeled. Nice mural on it.

Very little traffic in the morning, don't think any one knew it was open. New sidewalks, new walls. 

Still doing some work here and there. Mostly clean up.

The fountain/statue - La Continuidad dde la Vida - has been repainted. The man and women are a bronze and the dolphins are now gray. Looks good, but the water wasn't on. At night it was lite up though. [can just see part of it in the background]
We went to the look out point near the lighthouse. A zoom of the light house hill. See the thing sticking out from the side - it is a glass walkway. Wish I had the "get up and go' to climb up there and see it. Something like 300 steps, as in stairs, to reach the top.

I love the bubble lights. At night they are neat looking too, but don't give off much light. Sorry about all the wires. Downtown in the distance. 

Had some errands in Centro so heading for parking lot. Restored, cared for buildings on one side. Ones needing TLC on other side of street. All colorful. 

This is the lot with the graffiti. We parked in front of this one. Then noticed the name of the artist. It is Gilbert Alcocer - the painter who did the hoods of the Jeep and the RV. 

Some of the other pieces. Done by different artists.

This one was done by Gilberto too. Couldn't get it in one shot as there was a car parked in front of it. Didn't he know I was coming to take the picture?

I know kind of weird. 

Walking toward the Plazuela Machado from the parking lot.

See the pile of these long things on the ground. They were cement with rebar in them and must have been heavy as it was quite a production to pick it up and get going the right direction. Then they had to take it up stairs and make a right turn. Didn't stay to watch that part.

The plants in the Plazuela Machado really look pretty this year. 

A decent picture of the corner building. Got newly painted last year and the upstairs exterior was refurbished. The shutters were added and so were the iron balconies. And it looks like a couple of rooms up there are being lived in. Two different restaurants downstairs in this picture.

The building next to the one above. This is where our favorite restaurant Beach Burger used to be. It is no more. New repaired doors and balconies and new paint. Looks good, except I wish they'd used a brighter paint.

 Looking west from the plaza to another beautiful building. All of the buildings surrounding the plaza are original from the mid to late 1800's

 Looking down a side street west of the plaza. These are private homes, most but not all,  owned and restored by Canadians and Americans. All the streets in this area were repaved in the last year. Also all sidewalks repaired or replaced. Lots of new trees planted too.

 Interesting building. Has a bar and restaurant, used to have an art gallery but it is now gone. At night the sidewalk is full of tables.

 Walking up towards the center of town. On our way to have breakfast. This building was built by a Frenchman in late 1800's. It is one of my favorite buildings because of the tile around the windows and balconies.

 And here is where we ate. Got to sit outside. Both of us had French toast with strawberries. Inside to the other street is the bakery where we bought our cinnamon rolls that we were disappointed with this year. WELL, they are now making them like they did last year. Will buy some in the near future. 

 About the cinnamon rolls. Seems like we weren't the only ones disappointed. Bill talked to the baker and got this story. According to the baker, "This year he has a new room to prepare his baked goods, it has air conditioning. He finally figured out that was the problem with the rolls, Now he goes to work and doesn't turn the AC on until after the rolls are in the oven. When it was so cool inside the dough didn't raise correctly and the icing didn't spread right." Voila - now we have excellent yummy rolls again. 
The Casa Haas across the street. Restored a couple years ago, now used for concerts, art exhibits and other cultural events. 

After eating we stopped by the optometrist and picked up the rest of Bill's glasses. All of his glasses now have his new prescription in them. And we also dropped off a couple of his watches that he wanted cleaned. 
And this was just the beginning of our Friday. Good thing we had such a busy day as for the next two days we will be home. The main highway from north to south is closed for two days of Marathon AND the painter just picked up the Jeep to redo the Rhino Lining on the fenders, bumpers, etc
I know my blogs have been posted all over the times lately. But haven't figured out a good time to post morning, afternoon or night.
Sometimes it depends on when I get up to get things ready or what we are doing later in the evening. 
Right now we are watching the inauguration of Mexico's new President. If he can do half of what he is planning it should help the country. Really wants to go after corruption.