We are enjoying Mazatlan life. We have been here a week and have adapted well to our new cruising life. We have met many new friends along with old friends Michael and Renee Ditton and John and Debbie Die from Ventura. Marina Mazatlan has a very active social schedule for cruisers.
We have been relaxing quite a bit especially due to heat. It is 90 degress today inside and outside of the boat. We have been exploring the local sights by foot, public bus and pulmonia. Mazatlan has two areas the Goldren Zone and Old Town. We have spent our time in Old Town visiting the cathedral, local markets, plazas, local art studios, and the beautiful malecon(boardwalk) that surrounds Old Town. The Golden Zone is predominately for tourist which we have avoided. The malecon, which is about 12 miles long, has many historical viewpoints and statutes along the route. We have walked many portions of it in the morning for exercise.
We have enjoyed all the local ethnic food. It is very inexpensive to eat here. Local transportation is very inexpensive and one can get anywhere in town. The cost is 50 cents to 80 cents one way.
Today we hiked to the top of the highest working lighthouse in the world, El Faro. We were able to see 360 degrees and had to climb over 360 steps. It was a beautiful view of all of Mazatlan and overlooked the main harbor where the cruise ships come in and where the Pacifico factory is.
Daivd and Alli took an exciting side trip adventure to San Blas which I will let Alli describe.
ALLI:
David and I came up with the grand plan of an overnight adventure to Mexicaltitan, about 200km away in the next bordering state, Nayarit, south of Sinaloa. So we take a local bus from our Marina down to the Golden Zone to the Central bus station, where we need two tickets to Ixcuintlan, where we could transfer to another bus to our destination. However, no buses from Mazatlan will take us to either place but will get us close, a place called Penas. So, 5 minutes later we are on our way! So, we start looking at the map and realize we are actually going to the state of Jalisco, south of Puerto Vallarta! Una problema!! After the bus driver assured us that was a different Penas, we later found out a lot of places were called Penas! So, after reading the guide book further, we decide to go to San Blas, only a little further south, instead. San Blas, had a rich history, with a beautiful beach, old cathedral, and gold/silver Contaduria, and a Jungle River excursion, and we did it all!!! On the La Tovara River trip took us down all the canals of the mangrove/marsh lands that started just outside of town and spanned out to the mountains where the terrain turned to Jungle. We saw crocodiles, turtles, birds and fish.
So after such a successful excursion that we extended it to 2 nights, we were ready to come home Monday. Sunday night we went to the ATM to get pesos for the bus ride home, but it was out of cash. So, we tried again Monday morning, and still no cash... so we went to another ATM and still no cash! We did not have enough to get to Mazatlan! Hmmm... came to find out it was a Mexican holiday and the banks were closed, and the police officers we talked to with giant AK47's just laughed. Thankfully a lady at the nicest hotel in town gave us a cash advance and we ended up back in Mazatlan with 4 pesos to spare! The End.
Now back to Linda. While it appears that we are vacationing we do have boat chores everyday and Angel duty. David drew the short straw today and had to go up the mast to re-engineer the lazy jacks. We had to undo the dingy as we are having chaps made to protect it from the beating sun. We have had to repair the preventor, clean water filters, repair the running lights (which went out crossing the Sea of Cortez at night), repaired the reefing lines, and continually clean dog hair out of the boat.
Last night we celebrated for no reason and had Two for One Pizza Night delivered by Domino's Pizza complete with salsa picante.
David and Alli leave tonight which we are quite sad about. We have all thoroughly enjoyed our adventures together.
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