Sunday, November 17, 2019

Mazatlan, Mexico, el diesiseis de noviembre, 2019

First thing this morning I called Alan to extend my stay until November 28 - a big day in my life!  I’d stay longer but this place is booked so seeing as I had to move out anyway, I decided to treat myself for my 58th birthday so booked into The Palms Resort of Mazatlan for two nights!  After all that excitement, I hung out until I was hungry and then went walking.  The streets were alive - I’m in a very local/commercial area - Woolworths is across the street, there’s a taco stand on the corner and the market is around that corner.  I ended up in the busy market and bought fruit, breakfast stuff - chorizo, eggs, onions, tomatoes and peppers, a ton of shrimp for next to nothing as well as chilorio which is Sinaloa’s specialty.  It’s spiced up pulled pork made with chili sauce, onions and cumin-


After lunch I went exploring.  It was a day for weddings and there was a couple hiding in the back of this car-


and another wedding at Catedral de la Immaculada Concepcion which took 45 years to build and was completed in 1899.  It’s a mixture of neo-Baroque, neo-Classical and neo-Gothic architecture and truly beautiful-




The bride looked lovely-



and the bridesmaids all wore different dresses, as if they had just picked something out of their closets.  The friends and family were dressed to the nines.  All the men wore suits and all the women except me wore beautiful long gowns-


The Catedral is found in the Plazuela Republica which has a pavilion at the centre, many shoeshine booths on the outside sidewalks and of course pigeons, there are always pigeons-


The Centro Historico reminds me of Cuba although the buildings here were never as opulent-


nor are they as run down.  Still, Mazatlan is making a comeback and in 10 years or so.....








My next stop was Plazuela Machado-


which is still decorated for el Dia de Muertos-



and ready for tonight’s crowd-


I signed up for VBike which, for 49 pesos or $3.38/month, I have access to a bike for two one hour trips/day.  There are various bike parking lots in the touristy areas and so I walked to the Malecon and picked up my ride-


I should have looked it over beforehand because the front wheel was pretty wobbly. It was missing a nut on the front right side but I didn’t think the wheel could actually fall off so away I went.  

Guide books say the Malecon is 8.5 km long but not according to my statistics-

According to Vbikes GPS I did a total of 12.24 km and burned 805 calories! I went way past the Malecon to the north, looking for The Dugout, the bar where I will be watching the Riders defeat the Bombers tomorrow.

The Malecon is the best and the views are beautiful!  Looking south-


Looking north-



The beach-

 
The Malecon is mainly for walkers but for about three quarters of it, there are separate bike lanes-


There are a million statues along the way including La Mujer Mazatleca-


I got to the north end of the Malecon, then kept going for quite awhile to find The Dugout.  I didn’t like having to bike on the street with all the traffic so tried to stay on the sidewalk as much as possible but that wasn’t easy either.  I arrived at the 60 minute mark of my rental and locked the bike which technically ended my ride.  If you ride longer than an hour, you are fined.  I went into The Dugout to make sure they were showing the games and Fabio even made a reservation for me!  Too funny.  Meanwhile, I got a text that I had not parked my bike in a proper VBike station and would be fined.  So, I got on it again for my second one hour trip.  Coming home, the views were lovely-



Tomorrow I’ll have to bike to the last VBike parking lot and then walk which is fine.  There’s also a green gringo bus that goes back and forth from the Centro Historico to the Zona Dorada where most tourists spend their time.  I can take that too for 76 cents and it’s even air conditioned.  

Coming home I biked right to Plazuela Machado-


where I could legally leave the bike.  The Plaza was hopping with music and many booths selling all kinds of stuff a person doesn’t need.  I watched this artist for awhile-


His finished product is pretty amazing-


Considering I’d burned so many calories....


I love how they always bring tapas.  I had a Corona, but it tastes like skunk piss here too so I’m sticking with Pacifico.

Walking home, many of the reno’d buildings are lit up-


I had a great day and am looking forward to a Rider win tomorrow!

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