Sometimes routines can be a really good thing. We hike the lighthouse hill, as you know, several times a week. It’s wonderful to see those who also have that routine, and to notice the small, day-to-day and week-to-week changes.
Sunrises are always gorgeous here, and today’s over the harbor was no exception.
Flowers are in full glory right now. The smell is intoxicating, and they are also a definite feast for the eyes. I love how the flowering vines grow over and decorate the cacti, and I especially love watching the shrimp boats just outside the port.
The other day we noticed some young men painting new murals on the walls of Colegio Pacífico on the hill. There was already one there from 2011, but now there are quite a few more.
And, finally, as we worked our way home to start the day’s work, we met up with a march for World Mental Health Day. Marines, nurses, and a whole lot of young people took part in the parade. It was encouraging to see.
And, we’re showered and at our desks by 9:00 am! Thank you, Mazatlán, for all your beauty!
Well, since the SATs (college entrance exam for many schools in the USA) are held in Mazatlán only in the springtime, we drove to Durango this weekend so Danny could take the test. The last two times we drove that route, it took 3 and 3 1/2 hours for us to get from Mazatlán to Durango. This time, on Friday, it took 5 1/2! Granted, it was raining and foggy, and there was a whole lot of truck traffic. But we counted only 18 tunnels and 12 bridges that we crossed. We would swear that more of the new highway was open the last times we went. Perhaps more has closed due to damage from the recent heavy rains?
Needless to say, we arrived on Friday evening much later than we would have preferred, since we had to get up at the crack of dawn to get Danny to the test. But we had a great weekend! Unbeknownst to us, Durango is celebrating its 450th birthday (since summer), and right now is the Festival Cultural Revueltas—music, literature, dancing, theater. The streets were packed and all were having a grand time. While we have seen a lot of folkloric dancing in our day, it was the first time we’d witnessed ballet folkloric danced to banda music! (I post a short video below, if you’d care to see.)
We stayed in a beautiful hotel very near the American School, where the test was held—the Hotel Gobernador. Click on any photo below to enlarge it or view a slideshow.
Hotel Gobernador registration desk
Comfy corner of the lobby
View of the café
Outdoor seating in the café
View of the swimming pool
View of the lobby
Chandelier from underneath
Huge wooden chandeliers in the lobby
While Danny took the test, Greg and I spent a whopping 20 pesos to go round-trip on the teleférico, or gondola, one of four in Mexico. What a gorgeous day we had, and such incredible views! At the top of the route is the Santuario de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, a beautiful, small, and very old church, dating back to the founding of the city itself (and worship at the site by native Mexicans even earlier). (Click on any photo below to view it larger or view a slideshow.)
Sign for the gondola
Sign for the gondola
Sign for the teleférico
Looking from the gondola
View looking down from the gondola
View looking down from the gondola
View of the city from up top
The teleférico
Nuestra Señora de los Remedios
Crucifix in the sanctuary
Inside the church
Bell tower
View of the city from up top
New cross to be built up top the cerro
On top of the cerro, a hole for the new cross?
View from up top
Kids inside the gondola
Sign for the church
Us up top the hill
At the top of the gondola, a group of folkloric dancers were performing. Many of them were the same dancers that we’d happen to see again that evening in the Plaza de Armas. (Click on any photo below to view it larger or view a slideshow.)
Folkloric dancers
Duck quickly!
Hello, lady!
Folkloric dancers
Acting out a funeral
Acting out a funeral
Acting out a funeral
Ready for action
The smallest dancer
Once Danny was finished with the test, we ate lunch at an incredible restaurant, Esquilón (Hidalgo #411, tel 618-811-1632). The space was awesome, the food was very, very good, and they have loads of private party areas. We highly recommend it. (Click on any photo below to view it larger or view a slideshow.)
Main dining room
Ceiling decorations
The front room
The patio
Patio
Our appetizer
A party room
Upstairs party room
View from upstairs
View from upstairs
Dianne’s lunch
Danny’s lunch
Greg’s lunch
Our dessert
Goofy and the dessert
Private dining room
Us on the patio
As part of the festival there was a handicraft market going on. As always, I was interested in the native peoples. There was a lovely Huichol couple doing beadwork, and several Tepehuanos sewing barbasca de pino/pine needle basketry. While we weren’t able to make it this trip, there is an Artesanías Tepehuana (O’dam) at Tuxpan 227, cel. 618-151-9862 or 618-116-8849. We also learned that there is an Indigenous Art and Culture of Durango Cooperative at Isla Acerralvo 211, cel. 618-171-9661 that sounds well worth visiting. Danny was able to buy a nice birthday gift for his friend, made of animal skin, so he was also quite happy. (Click on any photo below to view it larger or view a slideshow.)
Huichol couple
Huichol couple from the rear
Huichol lady beading
Tepehuano gentleman doing basketry
Tepehuano gentleman doing basketry
Tepehuano gentleman doing basketry
Our favorite part of Durango, always, has been the beautiful architecture. The climate there seems to be so much more forgiving than ours here in Mazatlán, and they light the buildings up so gorgeously at night! It is breathtaking.
An old doorway
Plaza IV Siglo
Church near our hotel
Church near our hotel
Night lighting
Night lighting
Cathedral and main square fountain
Siglo IV at night
Night lighting
Night lighting
Night lighting
Night lighting
Cathedral at night
Night lighting
Cathedral at night
Cathedral at night
Finally, let me share with you some various shots of children playing and other city scenes.
Bicycle
Ready and waiting
Playing in the fountains
Old convent hotel
Door to the old convent hotel
Great cena place!
Cucumber juice and tequila!
Cenando
Night lighting
Night lighting
Once the highway and the Puente Baluarte are truly open, they are predicting that the trip to Durango will take 2 1/2 hours. Even at 4 hours, it is well worth a visit!
One of the most commonly searched out foods in Mazatlan is great ribs. Most of what passes for great ribs in town are not, they are just relatively better than what everyone else has. Well, the bar has just been raised. Oswaldo Cordero opened his new barbecue stand on Saturday Sept. 28. These are meat packed ribs with incredible smokey flavor and a homemade sauce. Oswaldo lived in the Bay Area for over 12 years and is happy to speak English with you. Click through the pictures to learn more, like how to find him!
Our 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:
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.
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?
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.
¡VidaMaz! 