View from up high

At the very southwestern tip of Mazatlan is the highest located lighthouse of the world - 515 feet above sea level. From there a nice view:

(1) Harbor entrance, city being off to the left;

Look back to City Center;











Tele shot into downtown - with the famous Old Town this side of the cathedral;










And a look towards the north with some marker arrows for orientation.





Well, this was my Christmas trip...probably my last report for 2008.

Christmas Eve Party

Christmas Eve at Punta Cerritos:

A small party at the "neighbour's", some nice food, drinks (except for me), and a gift exchange.

Which ones of the gift packages would you pick? It does not matter: the next person in line has the option of taking away yours or picking a new one - in my case they picked away from me whatever I opened, and in the end I had to hold on to a cap light, which is useful but not as useful as a Frieda shopping bag - which was picked away from two other people and ended up in the hands of the guy whose wife had bought it to begin with (he should have been "disqualified".

Never mind, this was all fun. Maybe not as much as going sledding in Vancouver with the unusually plentiful snow there this season!

After that, I did not sleep well: too much food.

Felice navidad!

FELICE NAVIDAD:

I am not sure this is really a Christmas picture or symbol - but I just bought this little piece of ceramics as a preset for a small gift exchange here at the RV park where those not committed othe4rwise will have a little getogether... but whatever fun we'll have there, I will miss you all!

Christmas with Ejerctio de Salvacion

The Salvation Army came to the Park with school children form an orphanage to entertain the gringos with singing and dancing - the most colorful dance was with Jalisco Marriachi costumes.


They did dances characteristic of different states in Mexico - and the one from here, Sinaloa, used the same type of crazy music you may remember from the video: hitting, blowing and plugging all instruments at the same time and hard.


In town it is sometimes a bit sad: there are now many people sitting along the roadsides before the shops begging... and unfortunately they look like they really need it: an old man with no eyes and no hands jerking around his collection box between his stumps of arms, a young girl looking miserable and sad, a lady with a
baby suckling, in poor clothing. What can
you do? Drop a few pesos, I guess...

The kids loved it and were all rewarded with some food and a collection for the Home...

Felice Navidad!

Different living quarters, different cowds

Where would you rather stay: In an RV park (which, as you see, around Xmas is filling up nicely - although, as some tell me, it is not as full as usual because of the economic/financial crisis)?






Or how about a bunker which the new Rius Hotel down the road will be providing some time next year?

Oh well, it would just be a different crowd!

No nude girls!

Hey, from the top of the cerritos today I spotted those nude girls by the beach, and immediately I went into telemode on my camera, almost dropping the lens cover down the cliff, and took a shot:






...but, too bad, they were both dressed to the hilt. Maybe next time....

By the way: this is not the Riviera and there are not so many German tourists here, so beach nudity is banned. So, of course, there would not be so many German tourists here!

(I met one overnighter at the Park yesterday, from Berchtesgaden: They shipped their Mercedes RV to Halifax, trucked to Alaska and now down south into Mexico...Golden retirement, Golden Zone)
(Playa Bruha would be 200 m to the left)

Let's see whether these girls have any clothes on..turn my tele lens a bit..and there we are:

...yes they do. Oh well!

This is right behind the Cerritos - Playa Bruha would be to the left.

Playa Bruha, December

Playa Bruha Shots in December.



There are still plenty of surfers out there, but I find the water now too cool for swimming - too bad.



Maybe the fish like it.

This beach, till the hotels in the background (tele shot), is about 4-5 km long.

After death in Mexico

Now I can understand why they celebrate a joyous festival, here in Mexico, when it comes to remembering "Los Muertes", 2-3 weeks ago: They are partying right in the cemetery, and the dead, los muertes, really have a very beautiful environment to enjoy. This is a long shot from the most dreary of all especially named Sundays in Old Germany where you remember the dead on "Totensonntag", under grey and rainy skies standing in the muck, late in November, fighting off your latest cold.

Wouldn't you like to be buried here instead?

This cemetery is outside the village of Vainillo, about 40 k outside of Mazatlan close to the Airport.

Weather changing

The weather is a-changing: It got really cool last night, and most of the day was some hi cloud. The skies looked ominous, and with the wind blowing I needed two T-shirts.

Dinner time

How would you like to join me for dinner tonite? I bought some special stuff and just have to cook it up - how would you like it: stewed, boiled, fried or maybe just raw with some lime juice? Let's enjoy!

Party time at Punta Cerritos

On Friday before sunset we had a small party: food and music by a kind of Mariachi band (Google: Mariachi is a type of musical group, originally from Cocula, Jalisco, Mexico. Usually a mariachi consists of at least three violins, two trumpets, one Mexican guitar, one vihuela (a high-pitched, five-string guitar) and one guitarrón (a small-scaled acoustic bass) and by a a Sinaloa (= the local province/state) band. You can watch a small video on that at http://www.screencast.com/t/QRt2bpuq0xQ . They ususally play "simple" songs of olden times, basically "fun time" rhythms good for singing along (I did not) and dancing (I would have liked to but was too shy, as you know I am, to ask Teresa). I got a bit soft when they played "La Paloma Blanca" which was the theme song of the Odenwald big July event of the "Wiesenmarkt" in Erbach some 40 years ago! Anyway, even without singalong and dancealong it was a nice event for the geriatric inmates of the Trailer Park. Which, by the way, is pretty much filled up by now.

Season's Greetings

It was a close call putting myself into the picture, what all with running over climbing up, before the self-release on the camera fired - but here it is: Hans in the middle of Mazatlan!

Season's Greetings to all!

Reading

I am reading 2-3 books a week, between eating, drinking, hiking, swimming, biking, shopping and working on my website. Now, in mid-November it actually is a bit cool in the shade, so I move into the sun.

What a life.

Trailer Park party and recreation plans

The powers that are here at P. Cerritos organized a potluck party today. Hallelujah. Later, after good foods and lots of drinks (for them), a lady announced all the great plans for activities and entertainment during the lonely winter days here: Crocheting, flower arranging, cookie baking, canasta (or something like that), walking, bible hour, Playboy reading, finger nail polishing, bingo, tea drinking, etc. etc. Jippie, looks like I am in business? I signed up for all of it hoping I will meet some girls during those activity events. They are all around 55 or 60, so there is a good margin to draw from. I will try to hide my German accent and act devout Rebublican. Just to play it safe. I will be busy - and so I may have to give up biking, swimming and hiking.

Alien markings in the sand

Rick - I cannot read this. Can you?

Looks like aliens came here?

(Back there where the big building is, that is close to the trailer park...)

Picnic site problems

Hey, I wanted to go and have a picnic at the beach, after biking a few km north of Punta Cerritos, but I ran into this problem:

Where should I possibly put my blanket down? What would you do??

Nice views from higher up

Looking back towards the Signal Hill above Old Town (or the Historic Center) and, more to the right behind Old Town, the Cathedral in the center of Mazatlan.

A little bit of artistic architecture and finishing...

Mexico has a longstanding tradition in arts and architecture, rooted in Spanish and Indian cultures, I presume. Compare this with a young country like Canada where the building tradesmen mainly use standard measures, cut off at right angles, slap over a piece of plywood and forget overall that your living space would be much enriched if only you would put a bit of decor into your structures. Like window frames, some artistic finishes, some organic curves on visible structures etc. etc. Anything to get away from the prefab look.

Here are some shots of simple buildings or building elements that turn simple buildings into optically pleasing structures: Window framing, post heads, outside finishes and a nice partition in the coffee shop next door. It looks like the workmen would be ashamed of themselves if they did not put a bit of decor and design into what they leave behind...and it seems so simple!

Die Liebe zum Detail!

Nice Manager?

With a manager of the Trailer Park like that, who would ever argue about the cost of renting a space...meet Teresa:

Food cost

One 7 kg water melon, 15 fresh eggs, 6 super-sweet oranges, two real tasting bananas...what would that cost in Canada, Germany, St. Vincent?

I paid 53 Pesos, about 5 US Dollars.

Now you know part of the reason why I had to move to Mexico.

Blogging my way...

Many people write to me and ask, who is this fantastic blogger? Well, using the self timer, here I am blogging my way, in our homely 5th wheel, a great place to work on 5th Estate stories. But I will stop now and move outside and read something. See you later.