The beach has really been eroded.

Sunday January 20, 2013

Over the past week or more the weather here in Mazatlan has been quite cold and windy.  The surf has been pounding at night and has made a huge bank of sand where there used to be a gentle slope to the ocean.  Many of the condo complexes south along along our beach have had their walls undermined. 

This is the bank in front of the beach road where we come over from the park to walk and sit.

That tower is just across the street from the Las Jaibas RV park.  Looking north.

Not too bad here……

Bad here and no way to get onto the beach from the condos……How long till the wall caves in?

  This has nothing to do with the beach but….Dennis called me over the other day to look at this stick bug.  It was sitting on the cover on the top of his truck….a really huge one.  They think they are invisible so they don’t move.  Very interesting.

Lunch in Concordia

Thursday Jan. 17, 2013

Every year that we come to Mazatlan there is always time for a road trip and lunch in Concordia.  So….late Thursday morning Eric & I on Big Red and Frank/Sandi along with Dennis & Marilyn in the jeep hit the road.

After winding our way out of Mazatlan south we took the first portion of the new toll road from Villa Union to Mesilias and then west to Concordia.  This new toll road will eventually go all the way to Durango when it is finished.  It is a huge project with massive bridges and tunnels that will open up the truck and traffic route to Mazatlan by providing a safe road for travel.  The road that is used now from Copala to Durango is called the Devil’s Spine and for very good reason.  Not a road for the faint of heart !   So….The old road (free road) from north of Copala to Villa Union will be much quieter when the truck traffic is rerouted onto the toll road.  Next year when the new toll road is open we will take a trip to see the massive bridge that everyone is talking about. 

Concordia fruit and vegetable store.  Neat, clean and pretty like most of Concordia.

Dennis, Frank and Eric.

Sandi and Marilyn ….two wild and crazy gals out on the town!

The huge church in the town square.

Beautiful painted door in the church.

There was some huge event being set up in the town square.  Speakers, bleachers and a stage….who knows for what!

We took a tour through the town …mall where they have their government offices, police station, library and quite a lot of historical information on the walls. 

I wonder if these flowers have anything to do with the big event being set up in the square or….did someone just die.

 

Waiting outside the mall….where is Marilyn?

We have eaten at a small restaurant just outside the mall and the food was very good.  Today, however  we decided to go back to La Graneria a couple of streets over.  We have eaten is this very attractive and popular restaurant in past years and have always enjoyed a very tasty and reasonably priced lunch…today was no exception.

The special included soup of the day, two toasted tortillas (filled with chicken) beans and salad.  Cost 55 pesos or about $4.40….a bargain.  

Wall in the restaurant. 

I peeked in and took a picture of the kitchen.

A huge courtyard behind the restaurant where large gatherings could meet.

Front street outside the restaurant.

 

It was very warm in Concordia….probably 90F.  This little guy was behind a house door on the street and was really objecting to us being on “his street” so …..I took his picture.  The Mexicans are a cold people so this little fellow was wearing a jacket. 

A quick walk back to the square where we were parked and then home.  We took the free road from Concordia back to Villa Union and already it is much quieter.  The trucks must already be using the new stretch of toll road that we came in on.  A much quieter drive. 

All over Mazatlan these murals are being painted on walls, fences etc.  These were new ones on our way back into downtown on a side street in Mazatlan.  Much prettier than graffiti!

A good day!

Margarita party

Every year a local restaurant….Costa Marinera comes to the park to provide Margaritas, appetizer food and a live band to encourage us to come to their restaurant. 

On Wednesday about 4pm they arrived in the park to entertain, serve drinks and feed us. 

Luckily the weather had made a modest improvement and nobody froze to death! 

Big water bottles full of Margaritas to get everyone happy houred up and then the musica started.  No tubas… (yahoo!) and I must admit the band was very good.  I good singer and very nice musica.  I popped up the front for a quick Margarita and a blog opportunity. 

Enjoying the band.

They were serving food with ribs, buns and some sort of shrimp in cream sauce.  It looked the food was was a big hit and everyone enjoyed themselves. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The party continued on for a while after my short visit and a good time was had by all.

Zip A Dee Do Dah….we went Zip Lining!

Tuesday January 15, 2013

Last week at happy hour Marilyn informed me that she/Dennis/Frank and Fred were going to go zip lining this week and I thought that it sounded like fun.  As my health is pretty good right now (all things considered)  it seemed like a good time to join in.  Eric wasn’t really enthused at the beginning (probably because he spent a lot of his working career at B.C. Tel and CNT  climbing poles and working on wire) but he did agree to come…..so on Tuesday morning six of us met at the front of the park for an outing.

Our Chariot!

Frank, Kathy, Dennis, Marilyn, Fred and Eric.

First stop was the Bruha Restaurant at Cerritos where we paid our fee and waited for another van as there was another group on this tour as well.   The weather over the past few days has been stinky…..cloudy, cold and windy so we all hoped it would be better inland where we were heading.  

Each group loaded into a separate bus and hit the highway.  Out the highway south past the airport where we turned left towards El Recodo and the small town of Veranos where they have the zip lining tours.

 

 

Wood fired oven where they bake the empanadas every morning.

First stop on the tour was the small village of Lomas de Monterray where we could buy fresh emapanadas (Mexican turnover.)  A choice of caramel, queso & chile (cheese) or a local pumpkin/squash filling.  Fresh from the oven and 7 peso’s each and delicious to boot.  These are gone by noon and are resold in Mazatlan for 14 peso’s so a bargain here in this small town.  A nice mid morning snack to boost our energy for the athletic activities to follow.

Our first stop in Veranos before the zip lining was the equipment outfitting with harnesses,  gloves and helmets.

 

Getting suited up.

Frank and Dennis with Eric, Fred and I behind.  What a bunch of goobers!

Eric and I ready to go.

Fred, Eric and Frank.

 

So….where do you think this part goes?

Up the hill to the instruction site.  The weather is warm but not hot and no wind….perfecto!

These guys are the Mexican rescue team!  If we get stuck part way between take off and landing someone will come out to bring us in.  Funny guys!

So…do I really want to do this ?

I guess I do!  Hang on, brake part way and arrive at the other end.

Here I come!   Turns out I’m really built for speed….the Mexican who was on the catching end had to be on his toes as I came in fast.  They kept telling us to brake but it didn’t work for me so I just let them catch me.   I surprised them a couple of times when they didn’t gauge how fast I was arriving…..zoom, zoom…Zoom!

Marilyn’s ready to rock!

Off she goes.

Perfect landing.   Marilyn did this last year so she is a pro!

Now it’s Dennis’ turn.

Yee haw! 

Here he comes….good landing.   Turns out Dennis ended up more tired than necessary as he thought he was supposed to hold his weight up by his arms instead of letting the harness hold him.   His wife Marilyn set him straight on  that and then it got easier. 

Now who is this guy….looks like the safety inspector!   If he had his climbing hooks on….he’d look like he was going to work.

Look at the length of those legs….Eric aka ….The stork!

Here he comes….ready to land!

Each take off was named and the length of the run noted.   This was a long one.  From the end of each run we walked to the next platform for take off.

Frank’s loaded and ready to go.

Flying through the air with greatest of ease…..

  Up in the air and now on his feet….good job!

Fred getting ready to go.  Fred’s done this before…can you tell! 

Easy peezy nice and easy….no problemo for Fred.  

Three amigo’s heading back down to the town.

Doesn’t that laundry look pretty!

 

Right down in the village there is a hot spring and I do mean hot….too hot to put your hand in.  They can scald and pluck a chicken in this water!  I’m not kidding…it really is that hot. 

Lunch is served.  Queso fondido in a moljacete dish….(hot cheese in a hot stone wear pot.) Tortilla’s, chips, salsa and small burritos….with the best thing of all….cold beer. 

The small town tequila factory right next to the square and the zip lining.

There was a whole wall of beautiful leather masks for sale.  We have one in our rig and we just love it.  Real works of art.

 

 

Bottles of local tequila to taste and buy.  Coffee, almond and just plain tequila.  I liked the coffee one.

Tequila processing stills. This is not the season for tequila making here right now.

 

 

 

 

 

These three murals were in the courtyard where the tequila is made and they show the process of making the tequila.

At this point the tour was over and we loaded back into our bus for the ride back to the RV park.  We had driven out the main highway on our way to the tour but now we took the overland dirt road short cut home.  A bit bumpy but much faster and a bit of different terrain to see. 

All in all a good day that was enjoyed by everyone.  Cost for the day 750 peso’s each (about $65) and well worth the price. 

So what’s next….?