Lunch at El Quelite

Friday January 4, 2013

The weather was nice on Friday and Sam and Rita along with Eric and I decided to take a ride to El Quelite for lunch.  I haven’t been out on the bike since we got here so a ride was in order.

It isn’t very far to El Quelite but it is a nice ride north on the free road without all the hassle of going south through the Mazatlan traffic. 

El Quelite is one of those pretty little towns with good restaurants and some touristy shopping.  The town has made a huge effort to pretty up the highway coming in and this time all the potholes had been patched with concrete so it was a much more pleasant ride in.

At the far end of town and over the bridge to the right is the Los Arrieros restaurant where we prefer to eat.  We usually sit outside on the patio and it is all quite pleasant.  The service is great and they are very generous with tortilla chips, fresh cheeses and salsas, mini appetizer pizzas and even a nice rice pudding for dessert.  We all ordered lunch and it was delicious as usual. 

After lunch we stopped at the Designer Bar on the way out of town.  Nice clothes and very tasteful art objects.  I saw a little mask I liked but we didn’t have enough dinero.   No big deal….next time!

While Rita and I had a look around Eric and Sam had a blab with a couple of guys out front. 

Eric is talking motorcycles with Jason who is the owner of this shop and the same shop in Zona Dorada in the Golden Zone in Mazatlan.  Jason has an 883 Harley Sportster and his brother-in-law has a BMW.  He was quite interested in the size of engine on Big Red and it turns out the engine size is twice the size of the Sportster.    He and Eric had a nice chat about all the specs, stereo and all the add ons.  The talk then ran to the local economy in Mazatlan and the lack of tourists.  Jason said that two hundred businesses have closed in Mazatlan.  The cruise ships are no longer coming and the tourist areas are very dead.  He said that the wage of a Municipal Police policeman is 150 pesos a day ($12) so it is no wonder they are corrupt….would you take a bullet for $12 dollars a day…I think not.  The young men of course turn to crime as there are no jobs.  A sad situation with no easy solution. 

Little burros all over town and this guy was leaving for a ride.

Saddles for sale in the shop shown above. 

A nice day, good conversation and a pleasant ride home. 

There was still time to hit the beach for a walk when we got back….so all in all….a good day.