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Monday, February 1, 2010

Ullama in El Quelite

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Today a group from the park along with Sam and Rita on their Harley and Eric and I on ours went up to El Quelite to the Los Arrieros restaurant for lunch and the pre hispanic show of dance, "Ullama ball game" and cock-fights.  The Harley crowd left a little behind the cars as Sam was having a nap and didn't know what time we were supposed to leave.  The ride up was uneventful and we arrived in El Quelite just after 1pm.  The rest of our crowd was waiting on the street just at the beginning of town and when we stopped to talk we could see they were expectant and a bit worried.  The car carrying Jack(driving) and Pat along with Hal and Helene had experienced a scary incident a few miles before El Quelite.  They had noticed a LaLa truck stopped at the edge of the road heading south as they were heading north.  When they got close a Mexican was giving them a slow down sign and Jack thought there had been an accident.  When he got very close and slowed to about 35mph two more Mexicans with balaclavas stepped out  and lifted a rifle and gestured for them to stop.   They were very close now and Jack, a Texan took one look at that and hit the gas and flew right by the bandidos.  No shots were fired.  As they looked back the bandidios ran into the bushes.  The Lala truck left, ( a victim or accomplice?) and it was all over.  Pretty scary stuff and Pat was having a fit that they had stopped us.  We saw nothing on the road.  When we got to the restaurant we told the waitress and she said she would report it to the policia.  Now I could have left this out of the blog but since the world today is not Disneyland this is just that something that could happen to you anywhere.   Such as a car jacking in Vancouver or maybe even Thornhill.

The gang at lunch.  Jack the Texan, is third back on the right.

When we arrived at the Los Arrieros restaurant we all settled in and ordered drinks and lunch before the show started.  In front of the waterfall feature the dancers in full body paint and head dresses exhibited traditional Aztec, fire, hunting and rain dances.  Very impressive.  There was a short cock-fighting show with the spurs of the roosters covered ( for the North Americans ) and then it was time for the Ullama ball game. 

A pose by one of the dancers.

We all trooped outside to the parking lot where they had marked off a temporary court for the demonstration.  There were three young men at each end of the court and they were using a 4 kilo solid rubber ball.  The object of the game is to only hit the ball with your hip and when you drop to the ground to get the ball you must not let your hip hit the ground.  When the ball is in the air it is  hit it with the hip back and forth without letting the ball hit the ground.   The exact rules of the game were not explained.  However all of this takes huge athletic ability and strength.  In a real game the court would be sloped to the centre and the ball would have to be hit into a  hoop at the top edge of the court.  In Aztec time the leader of the loosing team would be beheaded!  Ouch!  We all enjoyed the show and then headed home. 
Getting ready to play.

The ball is in the air.

Keep your eye on the ball.

Preparing to slide down for the ball.

Eric, Sam and Rita - "I don't think we could do that!"

The makeshift court in front of the restaurant.

A pose by the top player. 

A cock in a cage!

 
Last night was the final game of the Pacific baseball series here in Mazatlan.  The local "Venados - the deer"  were playing the Hermisillo "Naranjos - the oranges!"  I had been trying to find out where and when the games were here but had no luck.  When a big crowd left the park with Venados shirts on I figured something was up.  Turns out the game was sold out and was also on TV.  We turned on the local TV station and settled in to watch.  No sound on as it was in Spanish but the stats were shown so we knew what was happening..  Good pitching, a few sloppy errors and the Mazatlan Venadados lost 1 nothing.  Eric says they spit and adjust their jocks just like they do in North America.  Men!  Out of the series so no more big games here.  Oh well, maybe next year. 

Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010

I got an email back from Rusty this morning and it gave me the warm fuzzies.  Although you get to know people while you are away and they become friends it is not the same as your friends from home.  At least not for me.  I have been feeling a little homesick and even Eric says he feels the same way (just a bit though!)

Eric has been working on Blue this week as she has been kicking back on the starter for a long time  ( the engine has been over advanced I'm told.)   It took him awhile but he found the inoperative vacumn switch and he removed it.  Since removing it  Blue has never run so well, sounds like a Harley and has lots of juice to pass.   He could get a new one from Yuma  $50 and shipping $75 but she runs fine without it.  Good for outrunning Bandidos, just kidding!

We did our grocery shopping this morning as Sunday is a quiet day on the road.  Even so it is still quite bizarre.  It even makes us laugh a little now and then.  We also sing " Drive like a Mexican"  sung to the tune of  (for those of you who remember it " Walk like an Egyptian" while we drive! 

This afternoon is Wii bowling at Pat and Jack's and since I came in second last week I will bowl and try to win the trophy for a week.  I think it's a wine bottle in a cozy that looks like a bowling pin.

Well, I wore my lucky Canadian t-shirt (alias bowling shirt) and although I showed great form (ha-ha) I lost.  Oh well better luck next time.  Bowling will be out this coming Sunday as it's Superbowl and all the men (and some of the woman) will be watching TV.  Last year we watched in Arizona because they were playing the Pittsburgh Steelers and we had to cheer for Jeff and Krista's team.  This year no one we know so we won't even watch.  Eric is in the football pool though so he could win some money.

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