Since we’ve moved here, I find myself frequently telling people, “Oh, it’s another parade,” as I rush out to the terrace to enjoy the festivities.
In the spring, during the festival season in the city’s schools, we can get three or four parades pass by in a day. You might think that after five years of living here, the enthusiasm diminishes, but who can NOT smile when you see colorful balloons, hear oompah bands, and usually get to see young people with smiling faces, crowns and sashes? Everyone shouts and hoots, beeps their horns, waves a flag or banner, and there is always a police escort with lights flashing and siren blaring.
No, the malecón is not the place you live for peace and quiet. It’s a pulsating artery of the city, and we enjoy that completely. Several times a week we also have terrific fireworks to watch, and there is always a rush in the house to discover whether the fireworks are out front over the bay, or out back over the stadium at the city. Ah, life’s challenges.
I took a bit of video of today’s parade. I think it’ll bring a smile to your face…. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we do! Simple but sweet. Video is below.
For those of you who wanted to view the video but couldn’t, because I’d used a clip from a song, I’ve now deleted that clip and the revised video is above. You should be able to see it no problem now.
How many times have I posted to their Facebook wall, asking them to play at home? How many times have I joked with Joel in the elevator, telling him we need him here?
Finally, last night, we were able to see Banda El Recodo for the third time in concert. They played up at the Mazatlán International Center, as part of events leading up to tonight’s Premios Oye, the Latin American Grammy awards. Below is one of the first songs they opened with, the Corrido de Mazatlán, of course.
Their music is so tight; sound was perfect. They all danced, kicked and blowed their horns for two hours non-stop. It was an evening full of joy and life, minus my querido Poncho, of course 😦 Click on any of the photos below to enlarge it, or to view a slideshow.
Every time we see this group, we are so impressed with the event itself. It is incredibly well orchestrated, on Vegas levels. Below I’ll post a slideshow of some of the backdrops, the staging. Banda El Recodo has to employ the best graphics and stage design professionals anywhere! At the start of the concert, a huge screen on the right side got loose and blew dangerously in the wind. It took less than two minutes for a stagehand to get it down and safely secured, and maybe two songs later, it was back up, securely fastened and in working order. Most impressive! Enjoy the slideshow below.
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For those of you attending the ceremonies tonight, I can share with you a bit of what we learned last night. This applies to general admission people only (we were not VIPs). They will not let you take in any food or drink, or any sharp items that could hurt someone else. There are 3 or 4 areas where your tickets are checked and your bags/person searched, so no friends getting friends in. Tonight they are expecting 12,000 people, so get in early! Parking was of course crazy, especially when things finished, as you have all those people walking in front of cars trying to get out of the lots. Parking was on the street and in dirt lots like last year; the parking garage was not accessible. They even had the overhead walkway blocked off (you know I wanted to sit up there).
Tonight’s Premios Oye stars are scheduled to include: Alejandro Sanz, Emmanuel, Mijares, Sasha, Benny y Érick, Cristian Castro, Belinda, Alan Tatcher, Danna paola, Francisco Céspedes, Banda El Recodo, Banda Max, Carlos Gatica, Fey, 3Bal MTY, Chamín Correa, Monserrat Olivier, Jan, María Daniela y Sonido, M15, Fobia, Il Volo, Pedro Rivera, José Manuel Figueroa, Juan Solo, Kinky, María José. Miró, Grupo Pesado and Sofí Mayen. Carlos Gatica and Fey will be the masters of ceremony.
Red carpet starts at 7:00 pm, and the awards ceremony at 8:00. Special awards will go to four founders of Sinaloan banda music: Don Cruz Lizárraga, René Camacho, Germán Lizárraga and Salvador Lizárraga. Special tribute for their artistic career will be given to the singer Marco Antonio Muñiz and guitarist Chamín Correa. A special tribute will be offered to our dearly departed “Diva of the Banda”, Jenny Rivera.
I received an announcement today that urged people to dress comfortably, since most of us will be standing during the awards. I know lots of people will dress to the nines, and I’m looking forward to seeing that. But me, I’ll obey the advice, thank you very much!
After a most wonderful Mothers’ Day yesterday, which went from early morning till early this morning, we were more than happy to sleep in a bit. Thus we got a late start on a Saturday morning bike ride.
This is our favorite time of year: quiet, without crowds, perfect weather. The sky was blue, the air was warm with a light breeze. We biked down the malecón and around downtown to run a few errands. Below are a few of the sights that caught my fancy (you can click on any photo to see it larger, and then click through a slideshow if you’d like).
I always love to watch the fishermen and their boats or pangas. It reminds me of the Izu Peninsula, in Shizuoka, where I lived in Japan for so many years. Somehow, fishing villages worldwide share so much in common. (Again, you can click on any photo below to enlarge it, and then click through a slide show if you’d care to.)
Today there were so many birds out and about. They were loving the fishermen, and the tourists and others who were buying fish who were willing to feed a bit of their purchase to a poor, starving sea bird. As if…
The sun was just a bit too tempting for Greg. He laid down for a bit, enjoying soaking it in. Soon it will be too hot to enjoy doing this, but for now, it’s absolutely perfect!
Why do I love sunrise so much? Acompáñenme, por favor. Pull up a chair and join me, won’t you? Here’s the walk I took just after sunrise this morning. Get why I like it? There was quite a bit of fog over the city, as you can see. Vamos a comenzar el camino un poco después del amanecer. Caminaremos hasta arriba del faro. ¿Ven porque me gusta tanto? Hoy había bastante niebla sobre la ciudad, como pueden ver.
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¿Y desde arriba? ¿Como se ve? Aquí arriba no había nada de niebla hoy por la mañana. How did it look up top this morning, looking out over the city, and down on the boats? There wasn’t a bit of fog up here this morning.
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After a short break up top, I start the walk back down. Now I don’t have to turn around to see the view—it’s in all its glory right in front of me! Después de un pequeño descanso por arriba, comienzo la bajada. Ahora no tengo que voltearme para apreciar la vista—todo está esplendidamente enfrente de mí.
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Al fin, tengo que volver a casa, para comenzar el día de trabajo. Pero me quedan unas vistas más. Qué difíciles las mañanas aquí en el puerto, ¿verdad? Finally, I have to make my way home so I can get to work. But I still have a few things left to see; it’s such a difficult challenge living here in our fair port. 😉
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Thank you for joining me! ¡Gracias por acompañarme!
Many of you follow this blog because of the school information we have posted over the years. Posts on how to choose a school, how to know how schools rank, or how to navigate the day-to-day challenges of schools here in Mazatlán have tended to be our most popular.
Our son is a junior this year, and thus he’s thinking about and planning for university. Here in Mexico college planning seems to start a lot later than it does in the USA where we’re originally from. Next year, as a senior, Danny will accompany one of his teachers to five or so universities in Guadalajara. Some friends in his “generation,” as they call it here, have toured a few universities already this year, but that seems pretty rare. Mostly such tours occur senior year (if ever).
Danny may go to university here, or anywhere else on the planet—he’s considering lots of options—and he’s looking at universities in the US as well. Most US-bound foreign and domestic students need to take the SAT, a standardized college entrance exam, as part of the entrance application process. Most of those students based in the USA are also fortunate enough to be able to participate in study sessions to prepare for the test. Here we have a double whammy: Mexican schools of course do not teach for the SAT, and live prep courses are few and far between, especially here on the coast.
We were disappointingly told by several high school directors here in town that Danny would need to travel to Tucson or Phoenix, Guadalajara or Mexico City, to take the SAT. We found this incredibly hard to believe, when there are so many international students here in Mazatlán, as well as so many talented local students with international ambitions.
I am very happy to report that, after much searching and legwork, we found that Instituto Anglo Moderno right here in Mazatlán is a certified SAT testing center! Claudia Ortuso there helped us out. She speaks wonderful English and was very kind. She tells us that normally there are two SAT test dates per year at Anglo: one in the fall and another in the spring (it was today, Saturday May 4th).
Normally they also hold a prep course in the spring, though this year they did not. I suppose that is because no Anglo students were taking the test. They were four exam takers today: two from ICO, one who came from Los Mochis, and a fourth who flew with her mother from Los Cabos. There is most obviously a demand for testing sites here in Northwestern Mexico!
So, how to register, if you have a child who wants to keep his or her options open for university in the USA? First, go to the College Board site. There you can check test sites and schedules, and register for tests. Instituto Anglo Moderno is test center #69213. While on the College Board site, you can also create an account and set up an Organizer that your student will use to study and practice for the test, sign up for daily emails to help them gain familiarity with test question types, and monthly emails reminding parents how we can best support and guide our kids through college planning. To me it was a godsend, and it was all (minus the test itself) free.
I would highly recommend that your son or daughter spend a few months actively preparing for the SAT. Engaging the online curriculum, and getting a practice SAT booklet from Claudia, will help. Danny also signed up for a few mock tests online via Kaplan. He didn’t pay for any of their courses, but he did find the mock tests with the scoring very helpful to guide his studying. There seem to be loads of online study courses accessible to those of us here.
The other thing I really recommend is getting a couple of good college prep books while you are in a major city with English language bookstores; Kindle versions just don’t work like dog-earring pages of a paper book. Danny’s currently enjoying one called The Best Colleges by the Princeton Review, and there was another one called the College Board Book of Majors which helped him immensely. The majors and options up north are just so much more extensive than most of the kids here are exposed to.
We aren’t there yet. The college selection and application process is only just beginning for us. We thank Anglo Moderno for helping us with this first hurdle!!!
¡VidaMaz! 