Category Archives: Events and Holidays

Definitely Feeling like the Holidays!

P1220962Thank you all for so generously helping out Desayuno de los Pollos. Today I went out with Roger, Sue and Dave on a toy shopping spree. We each pitched in several hundred dollars of our own money, but we used some of what so many of you have kindly donated for toys also.

I’m guessing what we purchased today is going to bring smiles to the faces of 500-600 children, babies and teenagers this Christmas. We bought art supplies, games, toy cards, puzzle books, baseball bats, balls… While I felt bad to contribute to ruining our planet by buying cheap stuff from China, it was sooooo much fun to pick out the gifts, trying to balance girl, boy and gender-less items (difficult task, I might add)… I trust it lightens a parent’s worries a bit, as well.

Many thanks to Importaciones Sanfri, who gave us a 20% discount on our purchase, because they knew the toys were going to needy kids. Today’s outing definitely put me in the spirit of the season! Thank you all!

If you would like to contribute to buy toys, chickens, or anything else, please click on the “Donate” button on the upper right of this blog, or email me at dianne@vidamaz.com. We look forward to seeing you all on the 24th around 7 am!

 

Festival de la Luz 2014

DSC_0120 - Version 2©Last night’s Gran Maratón del Pacífico fireworks, called the Festival de la Luz, were spectacular! As usual we watched them from our pool deck with a few friends who happened by.

I love being in the middle of the 15 launch locations here, but I’m always pulled and torn which way to look: left, right or forward. There is no way to capture the magnitude of the event all in one glance or photo from the middle of things. On the other hand, being in the center of things does rock… One year I do want to go to one end or the other to watch them, as the perspective would be so different. It’s just so comfy sitting at home with a glass of vino!

I got out the tripod and did my best to capture some of the glory of the evening’s main event. It’s fun to finally be learning and practicing how to use all the manual settings on my camera. I’ll eventually get there. Thank you for your encouragement during my learning journey! Click on any photo to enlarge or view a slideshow.

Note the moon in this one

This year this terrific annual event included four flyboard performances. The flyboarders performed at different locations around the bay. One was very close to us; it started with one performer and ended with two. I spliced footage from the fireworks and the flyboard together in the movie below. Enjoy!

Festival de la Luz

01_90One of our favorites every year, Festival de la Luz/The Light Festival sees the launching of fireworks from 15 locations along the malecón, this year along 4 kms from Playa Norte on the southern end to the Don Pelayo Hotel on the northern end. It will happen on Saturday night, 29th November, at 8:00 pm, as a lead-up to the Maratón del Pacífico on Sunday morning. Thank you to the Tres Islas Hotel and Motel Association for this terrific annual event!

This year’s 25-minute show, expected to be attended by 50,000 people, will also include laser lights, four LED-illuminated flyboard (those cool waterjet-propelled thingies that they practiced with a couple of weeks ago) acrobatics, and four LED-illuminated paramotors (like we used to see at AeroFest). 10424298_851467651559611_582996139347249912_n

Full schedule will be:
  • 5:00 Turtle release
  • 6:00 Waiter race
  • 7:00 Mascot race
  • 8:00 Light show
Launch sites will include:
  1. Don Pelayo Hotel
  2. Insurgentes
  3. Coral Island Hotel
  4. Las Gavias
  5. Olas Altas inn
  6. Secretary of Tourism
  7. The aquarium
  8. The Sands Hotel
  9. Lola Beltrán
  10. Aguamarina Hotel
  11. De Cima Hotel
  12. Playa Marina Hotel
  13. Rotarismo
  14. Fishermen’s Monument
  15. Playa Norte

See you there!

“Chicken Breakfast” 2014!

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Last year we fed 2300 families, in Mazatlán’s poorest colonias: La Felicidad, Ampliación Felipe Angeles, Universo, Quinta Chapalita, Nuevo Milenio, Jardines del Valle, Villa Tutuli, Nuevo Cajeme, Montebello, Francisco I. Madero, Ladrillera, El Basurón, El Conchi 2, and the Ex-Hacienda de Urias. It’s a Christmas tradition dating back to 1990, spearheaded by our friend Yolanda Medina. It is the absolute BEST way we’ve found to celebrate the holiday here in Mazatlán. We are so grateful for this annual opportunity—locals and expats coming together, working shoulder to shoulder, to reach out and bring a smile to those less fortunate. I’ve met so many wonderful people through Desayuno de los Pollos, and have witnessed such strength of spirit. 2014 will be our eighth year participating. You can view photos of last year’s event here.

How did this whole effort start? And why in the world is it called “chicken breakfast” or desayuno de los pollos?

“It was Christmas Eve, and daughter María Yolanda’s days were numbered. Yolanda and her late husband, Modesto, were in no mood to eat, let alone have a Christmas dinner with all the fixings. But that night, a woman knocked on the hospital room door and peeked to see if there was someone with the patient. She came in to hand Yolanda and Modesto a box with a hot Christmas dinner — roll and all — and told them Merry Christmas and that God was with them. Yolanda never forgot that gesture.”

Yolanda, her husband and extended family started repeating that gesture for others, and over the past 25 years the project has morphed into two main parts:

  1. The handing out of whole chickens, 10 days’ worth of food, plus clothes, toys and candy, to inhabitants of Mazatlán’s poorest communities. This event takes place each December 24th.
  2. A fundraiser breakfast (not chicken! Usually eggs, chilaquiles, beans, breads, juice, coffee), held to raise money to buy the food. This event takes place each year in early December or late November.

Read the full story of the Chicken Breakfast here.

Would you like to join in this incredible effort? There are so many ways you can help!

  • Attend the fundraiser breakfast on the Saturday the 29th of November starting at 8:30 am (serving till 10:00 or so), at the cruise ship port (API on Agenda Emilio Barragán). Tickets are 150 pesos per person and include a full, home-cooked breakfast, a holiday bazaar of handicrafts and baked goods, a silent as well as a live auction, and a whole lot of socializing and fun. You can buy tickets by contacting me, Dianne Hofner Saphiere, or one of the many other people around town who sell them (Yolanda, Jorge and Isa Medina; Jeanette Leraand, Barbara Narvesian, Lana Reid…). If you can’t attend the breakfast, you can still make a donation. 100% of what you donate will go directly to helping, as everyone involved is volunteer. You can browse photos of last year’s breakfast here.
  • Help us gather great things for the live and silent auctions! Each year Jorge Medina makes at least one wrought-iron table for auction. We often have artwork, and many gift certificates to hotels, restaurants and shops around town. Last year we had an original artwork by Armando Nava, and a 2-night all-inclusive stay at El Cid Marina in the silent auction. You can view just a few of last year’s great prizes here. Many thanks to everyone who donates to support this cause! If you know a business that would like to participate, you can download blank gift certificates here. Once you fill it out, be sure to get it to me, Isa or one of the other key people so we can put it into the silent auction. Thank you!
  • Be a cook! Cut vegetables the night before the breakfast (November 28th), or be one of the cooks on the morning of the 29th! We’ve had several of our cooks move away, so we are in need. It’s a great way to learn to make some Mexican staples, and to meet some new local friends.
  • Help set up and clean up the breakfast (setting out plastic chairs and tables the night of the 28th, and stacking them up after the breakfast on the 29th). My husband Greg is still gimpy, so we will be short-handed this year and could use your help.
  • Help pack food into smaller packets (e.g., bulk rice and beans into baggies), during the week prior to December 24th. A group gathers at the Medina family home in Quince Letras nearly every evening.
  • Gather gently used or new toys and candy, to hand out to the children on the 24th. Last year we had so few toys, the sadness on the kids’ faces just broke my heart.
  • Gather your gently used clothing, shoes, blankets, and jackets to hand out on the 24th. Please get these to us ahead of time, so we can sort things in preparation for the big day.
  • Bring your truck or large vehicle on the 24th, to help us transport the frozen chickens, foodstuffs, and all the Santa-hatted people out to our poorer colonias. Again, please let us know ahead of time, so we can plan. Thank you!
  • Join us on the 24th, to be in one of the six or seven caravans of cars and trucks that go to the poor outskirts of the city to hand out food and goodies! Directions can be found here.
  • Donate any amount that moves you. We are all volunteers, so 100% of what you gift goes to help those who need it. Just click on the button on the upper right side of this VidaMaz blog.

It is a terrific event, and we very much look forward to joining in with those who participate in this annual tradition, as well as welcoming those who are new to it! If you have children or grandchildren with you, it’s especially important to teach them to reach out in this way, and to let them see how simply other people live. We look forward to having you join us.

Día de los Muertos, Mazatlán 2014

La Pareja: Together in life and death

La Pareja: Together in life and death

What a welcome home! The callejoneada (alley parade) this year for Day of the Dead in Mazatlán was the best ever, if I dare say so! It was a perfect evening weather-wise: clear skies highlighted by a gorgeous crescent moon, and warm weather that was cool enough for comfort. More people and especially more complete families participated, more dressed up, the beer flowed more freely and was better organized, and the main costumed characters were spectacular!

This year’s event was a tribute to Maestro Rigo Lewis, the long-time creator of our unbelievably gorgeous Carnavál carrozas/floats, so the callejoneada for Day of the Dead had a Carnavalesque air to it this year; it was a beautiful fusion of two local traditions for which Mazatlán has international fame. Kudos and thanks to CULTURA and to the Centro Municipal de Arte staff and students! By the way, I’ve been told we will STILL this year AND next year in the Carnavál parade will have carrozas designed by Maestro Rigo! His legacy lives on, thanks to his hard work and passion.

Click on any of the images below to see it larger or to view a slideshow.

I loved how this Katrina had so many faces, thanks to Carnaval/DOD masks.
Ghostly revelers; I really enjoyed this fortuitous pic!
So young and gorgeous…pirates die, too.
Dancers can die young as well…. Such a festive celebration of our ancestors and departed friends this year.
The wee ones are always the cutest, particularly this sister and brother enjoying dinner at La Tramoya.
Mazatlecos! The main reason most of us so love it here! THIS is joie de vivre!
The free beer was given out from five different carts this year, and refilled a few times over the route. This year pitchers were used rather than everyone waiting for the tap.
Mother and daughter beauties.
Spinning fire dancers
More ghostly revelers, due to the rapid movement and the low light. I personally love it!
We had one very scary katrina this year!
Handsome lads to be departing this world so young
Maestro Rigos photo crowned this former Carnavál queen
Closeup of the tribute to Maestro Rigo Lewis.
This aerial of the crowd from CULTURA
The setting, our gorgeous architecture, is such the star of Day of the Dead
Jesters apparently retain their sense of humor in the afterlife.

I am sorry to have been so long away from this page, but after seven years it was wonderful to reconnect this summer with family and friends north of the border in a lengthier, more meaningful way. We were able to celebrate my aunt’s 80th birthday, be with my sister-cousin through surgery, and settle Danny into his dorm room and college life. For that I am ever grateful! Plus I had a month of work in Europe, where I met incredible people and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Of course we missed home, and our friends and family here, terribly.

Saturday night felt like our personal welcome home party, as we hugged loved ones everywhere we went. Funniest, to me, was how often I had to ask, “Who are you?” as the costumes were so excellent that they disguised identities quite effectively!

Apparently you can, indeed, take it with you to the grave!
Lovely people and gorgeous setting!
The hat, the parasol, gloves, dress and makeup were incredibly sophisticated.
So hard to have fun, you know… 😉
Great photo opps for posing our friends
As usual, some of the makeup was just unbelievably detailed, with full costumes to match!
Groups of good friends having makeup parties and then enjoying the night’s festivities
Every year a different costume and makeup, all gorgeous
Soon good to reconnect with good friends!
Smiles, smiles and more smiles. The warmth of this town is infectious.

I can’t imagine not dancing in the parade with the live music, if one is able to do so, as it is just so much fun! There are, however, many people who line the route to watch and enjoy, as well as those who camp out at front-row-seats in bars and restaurants to watch the parade pass by.

Terrific live music
The moon over the stilt-walkers
Even the beer servers were made up this year
Dad and daughter
The moon again
Life in the Plaza Machado after the callejoneada was a sight to behold as well. I unfortunately can’t tell you anything about the event inside the theater, as though we waited in line at the Machado for about 90 minutes to get tickets, they ran out long before it was our turn.
We met one woman who was here in town to celebrate her 50th birthday, all the way from Washington DC with two of her best girlfriends. They obviously brought complete Day of the Dead costumes with them for their holiday! We saw store-bought costumes, handmade costumes, traditional and modern versions, and fortunately there were many of us who were still alive and un-costumed to enjoy the rest!
50th birthday girl from DC on the right, her girlfriend on the left
Loved her approach!
Modern costuming makes things much easier!
A modern version of a costume. I need this dress!
Getting in on the fun
My absolute favorite moment of the evening, and there were so many awesome ones to choose from, was as the callejoneada entered the plazuela. Just in front of the theater, a group of young men started cheering loudly, dancing and jumping around. “Güero! “Güero!” they were shouting. As I turned around to see what all the happy commotion was about, I realized they were cheering on my partner, Greg. He was dancing happily, having been soaked with beer head to toe earlier in the evening.
31.DSC_0378Guero!
CULTURA TV is going to stream it’s video of the callejoneada this Wednesday, November 5, at 5:00 pm local time. Be sure to check it out! There are many more aspects of Day of the Dead in Mazatlán; the callenjoneada is just one activity. This blog post can give you a broader idea for your trip. I know my favorites include making an altar to remember my departed family members and friends, as well as remembering them in Mass each year. We hope you’ll join us so we can dance with you all next year!