The part of Mazatlan we don't usually see.

The last couple of posts have been about the part of Mazatlan we don't usually spend much time in. This is the real touristy area with all the big hotels, lot of restaurants and bars, and stores selling all kinds of "nobody really needs" things. And most prices in this area are in US Dollars not pesos. Basically for years, with a few exceptions - when Bill was in hospital or when we are looking for certain ceramic Talavara goods, we only drive right through this area going somewhere else. The last two days we've been walking around the area. We don't want to lose our parking space right in front of the hotel.
I went to bed last night feeling like I was coning down with a cold. Can't remember the last cold I had! This morning though feel fine. But Bill woke up with a nasty back ache - hopefully moving around will take care of it. We both miss our memory foam RV bed. 
The last two signs in our hotel room. No idea what this one says.

 Help us keep the towels white by using them properly. I guess don't take to beach or mop floors with them?

The power pole right outside our room. It's a wonder anything works.  

 Had a quiet day yesterday. Did go to the market for a couple of things. Then went to Ponchos again for a late lunch. I had shrimp stuffed avocado with slices of cucumber. Excellent. At this restaurant you get chips with two different salsas, then little deep fried peppers as an appetizer - We tell them No before they bring them to us - just too hot for us. Then your meal. After the meal a little glass of Kahlua and cream OR Kahlua ice cream. No charge for the appetizers or desert. Bill had Ceaser Salad with a side of fries. Both of us had a soft drink. Price around 20 dollars with tip. 

The other day we had a really good experience at this restaurant. Good food and outstanding service so Bill left a good tip on the credit card. We had hamburgers, fries and soft drinks plus all the extras. The bill in dollars was 16 - he left a tip of 5 dollars. total bill 21 dollars. Today I got an email from the credit card company asking if we meant to leave that large of a tip or was it a mistake. Boy they really check things. Good to know. 
The X marks our room.  There are only four parking spaces. !7 rooms in hotel. Luckily most guests don't have cars. 

 Took another walk after eating lunch. This time on our side of street. 

 A couple of hat vendors walking down the street

 A restaurant. La Catrina. Never eaten there. 

 Plants growing up the palm trees.

 Walked by Fat Fish - the RIBS waiting to be boiled. A lot of them there

A chain link fence covered with plastic greens. With real weeds growing over the top too  

The way they support the higher floors while building. They have to find a lot of straight trees. 

And talk about timing. I've been trying to take a picture of the Puppet Man for a couple of years, but have never seen him. He is very famous here in Mazatlan. And there he was getting ready to set out for the beach with his puppets for sale. Click here to read an article about him in the English paper here in Mazatlan. Give it a second to download and the story about him is on page 5. 

Getting all his puppets untangled and lined up.  

 Just an interesting old tile wall. The tiles are really faded now. 

Saw friend from the RV park having lunch at Poncho's. After visiting a bit we too decided to have lunch there. If you want they will make special salsa for you right at your table.  

While eating lunch we also got to watch the Barcelona soccer game on the restaurant's TV. So far this year they are unbeaten in their league.  Bill's back still bugging him so after eating we are home. Hopefully only two more nights here. 

Walking in the Golden Zone

Continuing with yesterday. A few more of the signs in our hotel room. 
There will be a charge for leaving dirty dishes. 

 Thank you for tipping the cleaning lady. 

 Check out time 11 a.m.
The sink in the bathroom is not a washing tub. Please don't wash clothes in sink. Thank you for understanding. 
(There is a laundry room here. - The laundry room also contains the microwave. You don't realize how many times during the day you use a microwave until you don't use it.)

It was such a nice day we decided to take a walk. Neither of us planned on walking too far, so didn't take water with us. And I didn't put on my FitBit. A couple musicians either walking to work, or hoping for work. They are walking north we were walking south towards the main part of the Golden Zone - or tourist part of town.

 Took a side road out to the beach. A BIG fish in front of a restaurant. 

 Looking north up the beach. Not many people out by the water. 

 Looking south. All the big hotels in the Golden Zone. 

 Three vendors taking a break. Two of them are rolling up a hammock. 

 The red sign says It is prohibited to throw trash in this area.  Hum...

A couple of years ago all the sidewalks in this area were redone with the colored designs.  

 Looking across the street at some of the architecture. There are six or seven different businesses on the ground floor. Top floors are living quarters.  

 New palm trees in the center divider. I don't think they are going to make it. Most look dead. When we first got here they were green and pretty. 

 This building has an interesting front. It is phony grass.

Huge construction truck. The only way he could get into site was come down the street the wrong way. And even then he had to go up over the curb. 

During the walk we saw a couple of ladies out sweeping the sidewalks in front of various hotels. 

 A beer boutique. Wonder what it is like inside that makes it a boutique? 

 I like the look of this hotel. It looks like it belongs. Not like the straight up cement and glass ones being built now. 

 The entrance to that hotel. 

More shopping for tourists.  

 All sizes and shapes of buildings along here.

 A band going somewhere,

 They stopped and posed for me

Survived first night in hotel. Day trip to Malpica

Well we managed to survive our first night in the hotel. Our little heater kept it plenty warm enough to be comfortable. There are several signs in the room with do's and don'ts. This one says "Please don't put your hands and feet against the walls. Oh, oh I just touched my elbow on the wall. 

 Please turn air conditioner before you leave room. 

 Washing the dishes is not the responsibility of the cleaning girl. 

 They seem to be reasonable requests.  Talk about dumb gringos. We couldn't figure out how to light the stove. See the little white pip by the arrow. It is the pilot lite - need to put a match to it when the burner is turned on. Dah. But we didn't bring any matches. Had to get them from the hotel. 

 Coffee this morning on the balcony. This is the first day in weeks that it has been warm in the morning. Turned out to be a perfect day for a day trip. 

 Our view. The big hotel across the street. 

See all the people waiting at the gate. They are all employees of the hotel. Seems like the hotel is remodeling and are selling all the furniture and fixtures to the employees at unbelievable prices. 

 Loading up their pickup. Everything from small refrigerators, chairs, dressers, mattress sets and kitchen sinks.

 Several people left with microwaves. 

 He had pillows, a glass topped round patio table and four chairs. 

 Looking into the courtyard where everything is put - like a huge furniture market. Kitchen cupboards, closet doors, see the toilet and the kitchen sinks. Also a small apartment refrigerator. 

 She got a mattress set, two chairs and all the drawers for 300 pesos. About 16 dollars US.

We picked up our friend Mark and headed to Malpica to go to the bakery. Not writing about it today. But I have written about it a lot in the past. Do a search for Malpica and several posts will come up. Looked like several of the homes had been recently painted.

 I have always like the way this old abandoned home looks. 

Today I looked in through the broken window. 

A good part of the roof is missing. But there is still furniture in this room. 

Three chairs and even a painting hanging on the wall. The chairs have weeds growing up on them. I wonder why they weren't moved out. 

 More newly painted homes. 

Rested a while after we got home then took a long walk into the Golden Zone - pictures tomorrow -
Took a pulmonia back to Poncho's Restaurant for dinner.
On the tables there is pepper but no salt. You have to ask for salt and this is why.

"Restaurants, pubs and cafes  have permanently removed salt shakers from their dining tables.The government-sponsored move is apparently a part of a larger effort to raise awareness on the dangers of high sodium diets and its correlation to hypertension and other diseases prevalent in Mexican society." Interesting. Here are our dinners. I had filet of fish Veracruz and Bill had a Caesar Salad with chicken. He said it is the best he's ever had. 

Tomorrow some pictures from our walk.