Author Archives: Dianne Hofner Saphiere

5th Anniversary and 200 Posts

5 yearsOur first entry on the VidaMaz blog was June 14, 2008. At that point, I had been a lover of and frequent traveler to Mazatlán since 1982; Greg since 1993. We had been married here (at the Hotel Camino Real in its heyday), and we had already owned our home here for a few years. In 2007, we had made the decision to change our lives, and the country in which we lived. In June of 2008 we loaded our just-out-of-sixth-grade son into a car, drove south by southwest, and enrolled him into junior high school here in our adopted hometown.

And oh how we’ve loved it! Danny did not want to come. He didn’t want to leave his friends. He didn’t want to learn Spanish. When we woke him up for school on the one-year anniversary of our move here, he proclaimed, “One year since we made the best decision of our lives!” We have made so many dear friends, we have learned so many new things, we have experienced events and realities that have stirred our souls. Our son has become bilingual, bicultural, the children of immigrant parents. He celebrated his 13th birthday in our pool, and just two weeks ago he celebrated his 18th. Every parent says it, but where has the time gone?

We started this blog in order to let our family and friends back home, and worldwide, see a bit of our new lives here. What I really treasure about this blog is the way it has helped us keep a record of our journeys, of some of what we have learned, and most importantly, of the people we have met along the way. Mazatlán absolutely has some of the world’s friendliest, happiest, and most open-hearted people on the planet! Thank you all for allowing us to live here in this beautiful port city with you!

In looking at the blog’s statistics, I realize that the blog has become a source of information for many of our fellow expats. We didn’t plan it that way, but we are very happy to be able to be of some service to others. We have thousands of readers who come here to learn how to enjoy Mazatlán with kids and how to choose a school and live here with kids (one, two, three, and many more). Two of our most popular posts include last year’s Immigration Forum (not a topic we’d normally write about, but the changes in immigration rules were hugely important for all expats, and no one else at the time, at least in Mazatlán, was really writing about it), and Getting a Driver’s License in Mazatlán (information that has of course changed since it was first published, but our readers have kindly kept it updated).

Most of our posts, as you our readers know, are about events and people here in town. We definitely enjoy life here, despite or because we work more than full-time. Other popular posts have included:

HOLIDAYS

  1. Quite a few on Carnavál (one, two, three, and our “eternal calendar” of Carnavál events)
  2. Day of the Dead
  3. Spring Equinox at Las Labradas and the Deer Dances (one, two)
  4. Celebrations for Independence Day here in town
  5. Religious tourism in and around Mazatlán for Holy Week

EVENTS

  1. Happily for us, posts about our favorite event all year—Desayuno de los Pollos, a charity event conducted by my good friend Yoly (one, two), are popular. We have participated in this event from the time we came down as tourists. Danny was maybe eight the first time we had the privilege of participating.
  2. The extremely cool annual swim to Deer Island, the Travesía Anual

PROFILES

  1. Eating breakfast with oyster divers
  2. Interview with a cancer survivor who opened a meat shop and deli (and the story of a historic restaurant we enjoyed decades ago)
  3. Shrimp fishermen (one, two)
  4. Lots of excitement around Ice Skating at Christmas last year

OTHERS

  1. Travel nearby (weekend trips): Mezcaltitán, Bird watching in Singayta
  2. Definitely take longer to fully enjoy Copper Canyon

There are hundreds more posts—our observations and experiences of the culture here, dozens of other holidays, events and people. Please check them out.

Everyone, thank you for joining us! We work full-time, we have a son still at home, we enjoy nature, like to exercise, are always ready for a good time, and we enjoy the opportunity to record some of our pleasures here in this space. We are most grateful that you have found this blog interesting or useful. What has been your favorite post?

Mukimono in Mazatlán

Honeydew melon

Honeydew melon

I’ve been noticing so much more Japanese influence in Mazatlán lately, despite all the cream cheese people insist on putting in what they call sushi here. Yet one more very cool event this week was held on Friday evening at El Roots Café in the Golden Zone. It was an exhibition of mukimono!

Chef Fyek Osuna was leading a crew of students from the School of Gastronomy that is behind the Hotel Hacienda in carving fruits for display. Gilbert, owner of the café, was carving, too. The group had several sponsors, including the school, the provider of the chefs’ uniforms, and a few local restaurants and businesses.

While the group carved watermelons for each of the sponsors, the main piece of art was a large sculpture of a dragon. We watched for a couple of hours, while we sacrificed ourselves eating an incredible meal and enjoying a drink or two. We left before the head and tail were put on the dragon, though. If anyone has pictures of the final, completed work of art, please share them! Click on any photo below to enlarge it, or to see a slideshow.

Chef Fyek builds the dragon
Watermelon dragon
Canteloupe
Advertising melon
Carving for sponsors
Gilbert carves, too
And Mom enjoyed the action

What a creative way to bring people out! It would have been a terrific event for ComoLocal, and hopefully we might see them again over the winter at the Farmer’s Market.

Pechakucha Makes it to Mazatlán!!!

Pechakucha Mazatlán

You know that Greg and I have been so excited by the younger, hipper, more creative energy taking over Mazatlán lately. We’ve written to you about cool new restaurants, activities and programs. It is very exciting, and the energy is palpitating. It is our dream that it will take us to a point where we reclaim what is uniquely Mazatlán, rather than wasting energy trying to imitate Vallarta or Cabos or feeling jealous of Cancún. Building on this theme, I was ecstatic to see that the worldwide “Pechakucha” movement has finally made it to Mazatlán!

Started as a one-off event in my beloved Tokyo in 2003, Pechakucha has spread worldwide, and remains a grassroots effort. The basic theme is for creative people, whoever they may be—architects, artists, designers, musicians, filmmakers, you name it—to present 20 slides for 20 seconds each slide. The idea is that in 6 minutes and 40 seconds, they give us a solid feeling for what they’re working on, what they’re proud of, how their creativity works. And maybe, just maybe, that stimulates some other ideas for those in the audience, some cross-pollination, some interdisciplinary creative breakthrough.

1240017_330699953734189_1719241184_nPechakucha Mazatlán was held on Thursday, September 19, as part of a global event series of 600 same-day events. Come on now, for a global event of 20 slides in 20 seconds, don’t you think it should have been held on Friday the 20th?

The event was held in the bar area of El Parador Español in the Golden Zone. It was very well attended; our guess is about 150 people crammed into the space. And, it was definitely a young crowd; while Greg and I were not the oldest, we definitely stood out. But it was oh-so-much-fun!

Our favorites, as always, were CrisArth’s Carlos Loaiza and Daniel Larios. You have seen many of their urban art paintings here on this blog, from random street scenes to Día de la Música live video. They are terrific artworks, and bring a values-based message to our streets. They have done unbelievably good work in this city, IMHO. Kudos!

Another favorite was the presentation by my favorite local singer, Julio Recinos from La Falsa Orquesta Cubana Sazón. I didn’t realize that he is actually a videographer! And an extremely talented and successful one at that! We have so many multi-talented people in this city!

The mosaic below includes a few of the presenters and slides. Click on any of them to enlarge or to view a slideshow.

Have You Noticed?

new 50 peso bills

Old one on top, newly issued bill on bottom

I will admit that I had not, until Greg pointed it out to me. But it’s very cool. In its never-ending quest to prevent counterfeiting, and probably to line the pockets of politicians by partnering with tech companies, the federal government has restyled the 50 peso bill. The new ones have much cooler markings. Be sure to take a look!

The Faro after Heavy Rains

I thought you might enjoy a few slideshows of the lighthouse this time of year. If you live here seasonally, you may not have seen the lush greens vegetation, and the heavy, heavy ruts and mud slides past which we hike this time of year.

First, a slideshow of the ruts and the terrain, after some heavy rain.

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Second, a slideshow of a few of the views as we climb up. These were taken Friday morning Sept. 20th at sunrise:

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And, finally, after we hiked back down, we walked over to see the pirate/clipper ship currently being repaired in our happily recovering ship repair docks. Apparently this one is from Los Cabos:

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We hope to see you hiking the lighthouse sometime soon!