Category Archives: Life in Mazatlán

Julión Álvarez live at Culiacan’s Palenque 2012 – The Full Report!

Read this blog post and you will get:

  • A video-packed report of our attendance at a Julión Álvarez concert
  • A better understanding of what “palenque” means
  • Insight into buchones and other things Culiacán

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Well, it finally happened. I got to see Julión Álvarez perform live. What a road it’s been for him and for us. Adopted by Mazatlán, Julión sang for Banda MS (MS standing for Mazatlan, Sinaloa) for three years before going solo as Julión Alvarez y su Norteño Banda. His first album was released in 2007, and sometime after that and before we moved to Mazatlan in 2008, I was introduced to and hooked by his music.

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So, it was a huge opportunity when Julión Álvarez was scheduled to play outside at Sumbawa in April, 2009. How nice to be able to walk down the street and see someone who I knew was going to be huge one day, live in a small venue! What could go wrong — how hard could this be?  Well, some pigs in Asia ruined it all. In March of 2009, the H1N1 swine flu “pandemic” took off in Mexico and part of the official government reaction was to cancel all large gatherings of the general public. Click here to read our blog post from that time. Ignorantly, I assumed Julión would simply reschedule. Ha!

Fast forward 42 months. I’m reading the paper one day and see an article listing the music schedule for the Feria Ganadera in Culiacán, Sinaloa. There he is closing night — three albums, countless videos and hit singles later, Julión Alvarez y su Norteño Banda! Two hours away in the capital of Sinaloa in a city many people warn us not to travel to; Julion is going to be the closing night performer at what amounts to the State Fair. He is to play on December 1. I don’t care what else is going on (and there was a lot) —we’re going!  Somehow by going we earned some “street cred” with the locals. Looking back, part of me gets it, but not completely. Read on and see for yourself.

Buying tickets in Mazatlán for an event in Culiacán was surprisingly difficult. Searching the Internet, I could not find a Culiacán website that sold them, and Ticketmaster didn’t have them. Danny reached out to a friend there and he couldn’t help us. A local friend reached out to her friend there and she said they were not on sale yet. Not atypical. As the date got closer, she reached out again and I reached out to a friend in the state government. Both reported back that they had friends who could get tickets for us. So, our friend’s friend got us two tickets and delivered them to Mazatlan the following week.

The annual International Marathon of the Pacific was held the same weekend. This meant we would miss the annual Festival of Lights fireworks ceremony for the first time since living here, as well as have to deal with stashing our car around the block to get around because our street would be closed for two days.

These issues amounted to little more than minor speed bumps on the way to a great night.

Our tickets were 750 pesos each — or about $60 USD — very expensive by local standards.

About 22 people were on stage the entire time. Julión was performing in a cock fighting ring at the State Fair; this was not Carnegie Hall. The newspaper said there were over 5,000 in attendance. Julión was surrounded by his band and performed “in the round,” making sure to turn and see all of his fans.

Gringos in the audience: 2

When we entered the venue, we presented our tickets (after our third security check and frisking of the night) and were escorted to our seats. A young man with a rag wiped down our seats and then asked if we wanted to give a tip. Whatever, ten pesos.

Following behind us as we found our seats was mesera (waitress) number 12. She presented us a typed laminated menu and asked if we wanted anything. Bottle of water, check. One beer, check (only Tecate Light, but don’t get me started on that). The rest of the menu was for other people: bottles of whiskey, tequila or rum priced at 1,000 pesos and up. Coke was 100 pesos and served in a two liter bottle. So, we sipped and we watched. An average group would arrive of four or five people. They would order a bottle of whiskey, 12 beers packed in ice, a few Red Bulls and maybe a snack. This scene would be repeated again and again all night long with groups placing reorders constantly. Bottom-line, these folks got drunk. And, thanks to the Red Bull, they were drunk and wide awake! With each order of a bottle of whiskey, they would receive a stack of cups with napkins, two buckets of ice and their 2-liter bottle of mixer (usually mineral water). Don’t forget that amidst all of this, the bag o’ beers had to fit on or around them. You can only imagine what it was like to get up and try to reach an aisle! The meseras were not the tiniest thing on the block either, in fact most of them were old battleaxes who didn’t give a hoot if they stood in front of you for 5 seconds or 5 minutes — they were just working the tips. Drunk young people trying to impress tip well.  This, of course, is not hard to do, when one round is anywhere from 3,000 pesos on up. Ouch! But, these young people of Culiacán seemed to just print money. They all, men and women, had fat rolls of cash and were not hesitant to spend it.

There are always distractions at public events — that’s what makes people watching so much fun. This night was no exception. The only problem is where to begin.

First of all, I need to try and explain palenque to you. Essentially, it is a legal, sanctioned cock fight and “raffle” popular at ferias (fairs). In this case in Culiacán, the palenque entrance and the concert venue are one and the same, so the ticket is as well. The whole State Fair is colloquially called the “Palenque.” Want to go watch and bet on the cock fights? Then you are going to see Julión Álvarez as well. Want to see Julión Álvarez? Then you are going to watch cock fighting (or go late). Our tickets said the cock fighting starts at 7:30 and the artist will be on at 11:30. We got in around 10:00 and said goodbye to the cock fighting MC just after midnight. Anyhow, as I was saying, the stage for the performance is a cock fighting ring. Watch the change happen here, or just look at the before and after pictures, same stage:

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The fashion was really interesting. Most men had nice jeans and a nice shirt. Some men wore sport coats or slacks. There were lots of nice cowboy boots and a sea of white Stetsons. The women were the real story. Sequined shorts were all the rage and when I say shorts, I mean short. Leather pants in a variety of colors, leopard prints and tiger prints, were a common sight as well. I believe that Sinaloa women have a natural beauty, but the women of Culiacán are just not sufficed with that. They add. Push-up bras and obviously augmented breasts were a constant distraction to this writer, as were fake butt cheeks (sorry, I honestly don’t know what these things are other than unnatural and unflattering). Dianne was particularly fascinated with the “hair lifts.” The women wore their hair back and in doing so concealed a plastic foundation of some sort that raises the hair off the head, forming a ridge. Sorry, we could not get any decent pictures for fear of retribution. People did NOT want their photos taken!

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There was a guy two rows ahead of that I was able, or almost forced, to watch all night. He did some really strange stuff. First of all, he was dressed nice (for a cock fight) and had no trouble spending lots of money. Had he not been mixing the Red Bull with his whiskeys, he would have passed out. As the night progressed, it got crazy. There were a lot of drunken people and multiple waitresses squeezing past our knees chasing sales and tips. As a waitress would squeak by this guy with a tray full of beer, ice buckets, etc., he would occasionally lighten the tray of a beer or two. It was like a game. All I kept thinking is that the poor waitress has to pay for them. He really pushed things at around 3:30 in the morning. There was a photographer working the crowd. He takes your picture with a fancy Polaroid, puts it into a cardboard frame, gets your money, and he’s gone. Business was a little slow, but he worked hard in his attempt to cover between 5,000 and 6,000 people. This guy carried a satchel across his body on a strap that he would turn toward his backside to get by some tight spots in the crowd. So as he is attempting to get by my friend, there is a waitress coming from the other end and he is forced to stop for a few seconds. When he does, this guy two rows up deftly reaches into the photographer’s satchel and removes a package of the frames — maybe around 50 or so. This is the kind of item no average person has the use for, agree? As the photographer walks on, clueless as to what happens, my friend starts to proudly show his buddies what he has done. One of his friends appeared to have a moral compass. His body language indicated that he was not happy and he began to see if he could locate the photographer. After extended minutes of arguing, the thief grabbed the frames back from his friend. A waitress working in the row above witnessed the whole thing, and even she had the guts to come over. She tried calling out for the photographer, but with the music it was next to impossible. Finally, after the photographer had cleared the row and exited to the promenade, the thief gave the frames to the waitress, who set out in the direction of the photographer, apparently intent on returning them.  My take was this guy was a skilled thief. Every move he made was made with confidence and no fear of recrimination. He did it for pure delight. I knew enough about Culiacan to mind my own business and say nothing (until now).

There was a small opening act of sorts that played for about twenty minutes. Julión and his band came on just before one in the morning and when we left at 4:20, he was still going strong. We understand the concert ended just after 4:30. He played non-stop. His only break from singing came when his tuba player, Cheque, sang a couple of songs. Even during those times, Julión kept busy signing autographs, posing for pictures, dancing with a seemingly never-ending line of women, and being a great host.

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In the first hour, Julión went through most of his biggest wide-reaching hits: La Maria, Las Mulas de Moreno, (click to view)  La Niña, Olvídame… Next, he played a series of his smaller hits and popular songs, and then switched to classic corridos, cumbias and banda songs — the same songs played by every banda group around, but with his amazing voice and incredible backing band. The crowd loved it. In fact, it was often hard to hear Julión’s voice for the sheer volume of the crowd, as they knew every word to every song and were not afraid to help out. Just watch! A few other videos for you:
For the Mazatlecos in the crowd, he sang our song!
See how into things the crowd was at 3:45 (great ad for Red Bull)
A quick shot of the crowd with some house lights on.

A few things made the night special. Julión was the consummate host. He welcomed people on stage to take pictures, dance a few turns or just high five him; it was as though he was returning to his home neighborhood to share in his good fortune. In the clips above, you will see some Down’s syndrome fans that Julión welcomed on stage to dance a few songs for the crowd and share their excitement with the world. When three kids ran on stage to dance, Julión gave clear instructions to his handlers to let them stay. It definitely made for a night that three families will never forget! For about 30 minutes straight, Julión invited all the women to line up and dance with him one at a time. Each gal got a quick spin, a smile, a kiss and if asked, a quick pose for a picture. Watch here. He never stopped making good eye contact with the audience, waving, smiling and making everyone feel welcome. He even gave a special wave to Dianne.

Culiacán — We have spent a little time in Culiacán and know the people there are different, but wow, was this an eye-opening night. Rare is it when we travel anywhere in Mexico that someone doesn’t talk to us about where we are from, were we live, how well we (Dianne) speak Spanish, etc. On this night not one person spoke one word to us. Mind you, we sat next to, in front of and behind people in very close quarters for hours, but nada!

Did we feel safe? Yes. Did we avoid trouble? Yes. Would we do it again? Yes, in a heartbeat. It was a fabulous night with great music in an awesome venue. The late night is no problem if you plan for it. We had a nearby hotel and planned on being out late. Our plans worked out well. I just need a white Stetson hat and a wad of a cash to blend in J (or not).

I was a Julión Álvarez fan before we went and I’m a bigger fan now. That’s the way it should be.

Here is a link to a YouTube playlist of all of the videos.

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Mini Maz: A Work by Marco Hernández

47320_1616036159131_5108622_nI have long loved miniatures. I collect them wherever I travel. I have belonged to groups in which we make them. So, when a friend of a friend posted pictures on Facebook of a miniature city, including my beloved Mazatlán, my interest was piqued!

Marcos & GGMarco A. Hernández has been working on his maqueta for years.

Once a year, during the month of December through the first week of January, it displaces his car and takes over his family’s garage. It brings joy to those walking by on the street, and squeals of delight to anyone smart enough to ask to go inside and take a look around.

Marco started with a collection of toy cars. He built some roads, overpasses, parking areas, and then a Golden Gate Bridge for those matchbox-sized cars. But he didn’t stop there.

FarmHe added a farm. He made the Angel of Independence, and put it in the center of a roundabout.

Angel of Indep

Eventually, and to my delight, he started to add in features of Mazatlán. In his miniature, garage-sized city you can walk along the malecón. It includes benches, plant boxes and a guardrail that look just like the real thing! He has even painted the malecón in the two different designs that I remember it having, thus preserving a bit of history.

Monos BichisMarco has created a miniature Monumento al Pescador. It even lights up at night! He has the pulmonía monument in miniature, as well as the Cervecería Pacífico monument. He has the Escudo, the state seal of Sinaloa, that is in Olas Altas, just down from the Pedro Infante statue.

Escudo

382150_4596447463081_150681162_nMarco has created such detail that this year he even added the row of Salvador Herrera’s photographs that hang in front of the Universidad del Occidente!

167152_1872972422377_5172596_nMarco loves to show off his project, and watch the delight in the eyes and hearts of people who come to visit. I urge you to stop by if you know him. I hesitate to post here his address, but if you’re interested in going, I can put you in touch with him.

garageFor some history on how Marco started, and how the various items in his diorama are made, visit:

http://www.artecar24.com/Coleccionismo/Colecciones/Marco-A.-Hernandez-Mazatlan-Sinaloa-Mexico.html

or

http://www.artecar24.com/Modelismo/Montajes/Una-ciudad-a-164.html

New Year’s Update: I am psyched that more and more people are passing on these posts. Today the local newspaper El Debate ran a short story using this post’s same title, though in Spanish of course.

Cloud-filled Sky and a Lovely Bonus

2.IMG_0548We have a lot of sunny days, rarely a cloudy one. Yesterday, while driving down Avenida del Mar, the sky surprised me with all of its clouds. It was glorious. So I took a few photos out the window as Greg was driving. Today, in downloading them, what I really loved also were the people I happened to get, framed with that gorgeous sky in the background. We can see tourists, visiting our lovely city and taking a family photo.

1.IMG_0547We can see locals exercising, stretching, running, doing situps and pushups and other calisthenics with an ocean view.

1.IMG_0550And, we can see people just pausing, relaxing, enjoying the natural beauty of this city on the bay. Thank you, Lord, for another day living in your beauty!

Mazatlán Immigration Forum

Hello everyone,

Tomorrow morning in Mazatlan, the expat community is having a forum related to all of the recent changes in immigration. The forum was arranged by the Governor’s Advisory Council and will feature representatives from Immigration, Aduana and Hacienda in an attempt to clarify a lot of the things we have all read about on various forums on the Internet.

We have been given access to some of the prepared materials in advance and asked to make them available to interested parties. The first 9 pages are a slideshow in English followed by the same nine pages in Spanish. After that is a Q&A in both languages. The translation is not perfect, but I am presenting what I was given. Please share and enjoy.
******UPDATE NOVEMBER 29, 2012******

Well you didn’t miss too much today. Hacienda was a no-show, so nothing learned about capital gains. Aduana showed, but nothing was prepared ahead of time and they seemed a little lost as to why they were there.

There were a few new things learned after the meeting this morning. The good news for most is that all of the new financial requirements do not apply to anybody currently holding a valid visa. Just don’t let it expire. If it does expire and you go more than sixty days, you not only have to pay a fine, you lose your seniority and have to start all over (after leaving Mexico).

The switch to Permanente takes 20 days. If you need to come and go from Mexico during that time, you can purchase a permit for 320 pesos.

Aduana said that nothing on their end has changed. If you are in Mexico temporarily you can have a car just like in the past. If you are permanent, you need to return your car to the country of origin or consider nationalizing it if it qualifies. At the very end, the Aduana representative made reference to a category of Permanente – Rentista. He said that if you have the rentista designation you can keep a foreign-plated car here. There was no time at the end to circle back and verify with Immigration that they will have such a designation under the new rules for those who qualify. It seems to make sense as the Rentista category clarifies that you are not earning income in Mexico and are supported by sources outside of Mexico. Without this designation, it would imply that a Permanente can work, and we know this is not the case.

Overall, the main message is that this is much better for anyone with a current visa. Once you have four years, you have to go to permanente (or leave Mexico and come in under a new visa). Once you pay for permanente (4,815 pesos), you never pay again. Never is a long time and governments need money, but that is what they said. Also, when you think of it, the immigration offices will be a lot less busy in the future. With one-time applications for permanent replacing a lot of FM3 and FM2 renewals and multi-year temporary applications replacing much of the remaining – they will have a lot of time on their hands – this is perhaps part of the master plan.

The meeting was fairly well run. Somehow during the Immigration presentation the Spanish/English/Slides got out of sync and some people were confused. If you understood even a little Spanish you could understand what had happened.

The place was packed – standing room only and then some. Most people were polite, but there were a few cantankerous individuals in the crowd as always.

There were only a few questions from the floor and they were helpful to keep the car conversation going.

It will be interesting to watch this unfold. I’m glad that I won’t have to let our FM3’s expire and then reapply – that never made sense. We don’t renew until May/June, so we are lucky that others will go through this and iron out the system before we arrive!

 

A Friday Morning Walk

We take a walk, hike or bike ride most every morning. A few times a week we climb the lighthouse and the mirador. Today we wanted to do something a little bit different, check out somewhere we’re not that familiar with.

So, I had an idea: how about we climb up to that cross we see up on Cerro del Vigía? We have never been up there. I’ve heard it’s called Cerro de la Cruz, and I’ve had a few friends tell me it’s public property, that they used to celebrate the Feast of the Holy Cross there.

Well, those of you who live up on the hill may of course be very familiar with this route and can enlighten me more. For us malecón dwellers, we enjoyed a lot of cool discoveries this morning. First was a grass-filled park with a killer view of the port, bounded on the perimeter by gorgeous carved stone columns.

Anyone know how this space is used today? We feared it could be the occasional parking lot. What a perfect place for an open-air concert or public performance of some sort. I imagine in the day it hosted quite the gatherings.

The little park faces and perhaps is part of the property across the street, a very large, beautiful, and historic looking house. Neighbors told us that to see the cross we had to enter through this property; that if we rang the doorbell and asked permission they would let us through. There was no bell to ring (wires have been cut), and no one we could hail to ask, so no luck there.

From the street we could see steps and a handrail going up to the cross. Ominously we also saw a bunch of buzzards, just waiting there on top of the hill. We walked around the block, hoping that there might be an entrance there. As with so many blocks in Mazatlán, we discovered a hand painted Virgen de Guadalupe on the wall, with a lit candle and plant to complete this roadside shrine.

The old house is architecturally interesting. A neighbor told us it belongs to the Campos family, an old ship building family here in town.

The area looks pretty cool. I fell in love with the brick and stone entry steps to one of the houses across the street.

Of course right now there are so many flowers in bloom everywhere, and I had to get a photo or two of that.

We also saw tree roots that appeared to be growing right through the rock. Incredible how living things can find a way to survive and have stability even in the toughest of circumstances!

The whole top of the hill seems to be privately owned. This Noroeste article from 2010 confirms that, sadly.

Giving up on seeing the view from the cross, we decided to walk over and find that old fort that we’ve seen photos of. Years ago a pulmonía driver took us there, but that’s been decades ago.

Well, we couldn’t find the fort either. Two for two this morning. Obviously we need a local guide. We’re thinking the fort access is through a gate? We did, however, see some most gorgeous views. All in all a beautiful walk on a beautiful morning.