Tag Archives: Sinaloa

Mazatlán: Pulsating Center of Atleticísmo

malecón aerial view

You already know how much we love living in Mazatlán, and that one of our favorite delights is living in the center of the world’s largest and most beautiful gymnasium — the malecón.

For a couple of weeks now, during our morning walks, we have been accompanied by runners we don’t see the rest of the year. We know they are people who have come to acclimate and train for the marathon. They are also loads of locals, often accompanied by their children and friends, who decide to heighten their training this time of year in order to be prepared to participate in the shorter runs or the marathon itself.

42k marathon routeToday as Danny and I were out walking I was reminded how this, the day before El Gran Maratón del Pacífico, is so incredibly delightful. The space between the Bosque de la Ciudad/City Park and the baseball stadium pulsates with music, dancing and tents filled with running gear, as busloads of runners and their families and friends arrive from every corner of Mexico and beyond. They register, take a look around, and then fan out across the city. Nearly every restaurant, coffee house or juice stand we see is filled with healthy, excited, friendly people, eager to run and test their skills along Latin America’s largest bay. It is, truly, delightful.

marathon runners ocean viewTomorrow, non-runners that we are, we will awake to the sounds of that same music, plus the sounds of cheering, as the first runners glide by the front of our home. We will make coffee, get dressed, and go out to the street to join in the cheering. People compete in the 5k, 10k, 21k half-marathon, and 42k full marathon. Festivities will continue on the malecón until about 1:00 tomorrow afternoon.

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Then, tomorrow (Saturday) night, our bay lights up with fireworks launched from FOURTEEN different, coordinated locations around our beautiful bay. And, poor us, we are, again, right in the center. Gotta love it! On our beach the fireworks have been set up and ready to go since this morning. That’s different than in prior years, when they set up on Saturday morning during the run itself.

So, athletically speaking, we’ve got:

And, of course we have the normal daily, weekly and monthly athletic events of our good city, such as

I often imagine how it feels to live in the city that hosts the Olympics. Obviously it’s not a fair comparison to these events, but I can imagine the energy, the buena vibra, the buena onda, is very similar. And here, we get to experience it at least several times each year, rather than once in a lifetime (hosting the Olympics).

Mazatlán, a working port, center of tuna and shrimp industries, famous for its beaches, banda music and sport fishing, is becoming quite the hotbed of healthy, athletic living! And we are loving every moment of it!

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.

New Skate Park?

We have the terrific skateboard park on the malecón in Playa Norte. We all love watching the kids enjoy themselves. Maybe some of you even enjoy it, too.

We’ve heard that the work being done right now in front of the Bosque de la Ciudad, city park, in the median there of the avenue, is another skate park. I can’t find where we read that now in my searches online, but we did take a few photos today.

Hopefully this will be one more terrific thing for kids to do in our gorgeous city. If that’s what you’re here wondering about, you can check out an earlier post, Visiting Mazatlán with Kids.

If you know more about this project, would you please let us know in the Comments below? We know quite a few teenagers eager and hopeful!

 

Desayuno de los Pollos/Breakfast of the Chickens

Our group driving into a neighborhood on Christmas Eve morning as part of the Desayuno de los Pollos project.

Since 2007 we have had the privilege, as a family and with families of friends, to participate in Desayuno de los Pollos. It is the BEST way to spend a Christmas Eve morning that you can ever imagine! If you have not yet participated in this homegrown, very powerful effort, now is your chance!

Delivery schedule in 2010. As you can see, more than 2000 chickens go out to familias necesitadas.

Over 2000 whole chickens and 7-10 days’ of food are given out to families in need in the poorer areas of Mazatlán. Before we participated in this project, we hadn’t even known about some of these neighborhoods.

A group of kids in one of the communities wait their turn to get clothes and candy.

As in most any city worldwide, amidst the luxury you can find extreme poverty. These colonias on the outskirts of town do not have power or water, and the homes are cobbled together mostly with scraps of wood and metal that residents have been able to find.

The dignity of the people is beautiful to witness, and they are so grateful for the food, the love and joy we bring, as well as the clothing, candy and toys that many of us also collect to hand out that day.

Yolanda at left and a community leader on the right

You may know my friend Yolanda Medina. She sells crafts in the Plazuela in the evenings. She is Jorge Medina’s sister. You may know Jorge from Rotary or from his ironwork business, Quince Letras (that’s the area of town the family lives), or his wife Isa, who is very active in our bilingual community as well.

Jorge is on the right, with our goofy son (a few years ago) on the left.

Well, Yolanda is responsible for this most incredible project. She began it back in 1990. Just before that, sadly, her daughter María Yolanda suffered an illness. Here is how Isa tells the story:

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

“After María Yolanda was gone, Yolanda got us all together and told us what had happened.  So, the first couple of years, we had culinary arts students volunteer their time to prepare a Christmas Dinner meal, with donated ingredients from friends and family, and again, all of us volunteered to fill the disposable thermal boxes (like box lunches) with the hot dinners and then put them into several cars and pick-up trucks, and off we went, to hospitals, traffic intersections, parks, wherever we thought we might find people that, for one reason or another, wouldn’t be privy to a nice Christmas Dinner.”

“However, this was a huge effort, and very expensive, so we couldn’t cover that much ground. So we thought in terms of something more practical, that may be cooked and prepared at home. This way, we could make sure many more families could have a Christmas Dinner. That’s when we started the Desayuno de los Pollos, and the rest is history.”

A group of madres de familia waiting their turn for despensas

Happy kids in one of the communities during Desayuno de los Pollos on Christmas Eve morning.

Homes in one of the communities and a mobile business

The Desayuno de los Pollos project has been written up in the local newspapers the last few years, and has really grown every year we’ve participated. It is a true community effort, with aid now from the food bank (Banco de Alimentos) and Protección Civil.

This woman, first in line, was 87 years old when I had the pleasure of giving her a chicken a couple of years ago. She told me her husband was 93.

What funds this ability to buy whole chickens and kitchen staples for 2000 families? A breakfast. Yes, a simple breakfast. This year (2012) that breakfast will be held on Saturday, December 8, from 8:30-11 at the API dock/cruise ship dock. Tickets are 150 pesos.

The breakfast is served by local teenagers who volunteer their time, and your ticket includes a raffle and entrance to a Christmas handicrafts bazaar. It’s fun. Even if you can’t attend, please buy some tickets or make a donation to this very worthy cause. 100% of your donations go to those in need, as everyone involved volunteers their time and talent. A couple of years ago we didn’t have enough money, and Yolanda borrowed $600 from her now-deceased mother in order to buy the required chickens. Let’s get the funds we need for everyone to eat this year!

One truck is loaded and ready to go. If you have access to a truck early morning on December 24, let us know as we could use your help!

We hand out the supplies in big convoys to 5-6 different colonies on the 24th of December, starting about 5 or 6 am when we begin packing, sorting, and loading. Anyone coming can bring candy for kids, used good condition clothing to hand out as well. Wear Santa hats. It’s well organized and very humbling. The people receiving the food so need the help, and have so much dignity and gratitude. It’s beautiful.

The plastic bags are filled with despensas or food staples. This is the loading line, moving the food from the house to the trucks outside.

Yolanda, Isa, and others go out to the colonias a week to ten days ahead of time, to meet with community leaders and organize things, to be sure that every family in need gets a ticket for a chicken and staples. And, so that things are fair, to ensure that some families don’t double dip. It is all incredibly well organized, efficient, and filled with joy.

We are fortunate in Mazatlán to have so many groups and projects designed to help others. This one doesn’t have a formal group surrounding it, more an extended family and friends who come together each year in incredible ways.

Contact me (Dianne) for tickets to the breakfast or to donate items (dianne@vidamaz.com, or cell 6691-22-8962), in English or Spanish. If you know Yolanda, Jorge or Isa, you can always contact them, too. There will be breakfast tickets at the door on December 8, if you prefer to just show up.

If you are able to save your (gently) used clothing and toys for this project, or you or someone you know can donate toys, clothing, or food, or who has a truck to drive on December 24, please let us know!

Two families we have been privileged to meet

Smiling kids are always a joyful sight!

Two Santa Clauses handing out candy and toys. It is a good lesson for kids about helping others whenever we can.

“Thank you for coming and Merry Christmas!”

We do hope you’ll join this project and help us bring joy to more families in need during the holidays. Thanks!

The scene in the living room a few years ago prior to loading the trucks. This room is filled with clothes, blankets and toys.

The garage filled with whole chickens, delivered that morning frozen solid. We have to get them in the hands of their recipients quickly, before they melt. Most people tell me they cook them in a pot of water over a fire, though there are those occasionally who tell me they’ll roast theirs over an open flame.

Other posts on this blog about Breakfast of the Chickens: