Visiting Kopala

Kopala is a village (600 people, just like Weiten-Gesaess) half ways up into the Sierra Madre, about 70 km from Mazatlan. I took a day-trip with a tour company. The village is quite old and only some ten years ago got a single telephone connection - the lady who serves it has to run to get you when someone calls. My idea of maybe spending some time in that village is slightly dashed by knowing now that there is no Internet... I talked to a Canadian who lives there and offers a re-furbished house for rent (500/month): no mosquitoes, no need for air conditioning, safe, clean and relaxed. The population is poor and little boys try to sell you form a dollar little house carvings from a local bark.

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The Canadian sells for the people some handicrafts - stitchery, mango jam etc. (See picture with the table - this is the house for rent).


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The village is way over 100 years old, maybe 200, and of course has a beautiful old church. There some restaurants because there are quite a few visitors - touring from Mazatlan, usually on day trips. Once they are gone, in the later afternoon, the place reverts to peaceful village life. During the heydays of silver and gold mining (only a very few silver mine in the region is still active). The overall scenery really is now traditional Mexican as you see from the houses. Astonishing is how clean the place is kept...

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The surroundings are very green - forest and shrubs all the way to the mountain tops. The village is maybe 1000 m in altitude (my guess), but the road creeps past it, tuck air brakes rumbling in the background, steep up the the so-called Durango Highway, a major engineering feat, soon to be paralleled by a more direct highway which will have dozens of tunnels.

Flooding in Mazatlan

I thought my bus would take me to downtown, but it was the wrong one, and so I saw a part of town called Juarez, never mind. Then I took one to downtown, much delayed in time, and when I got off at the Mercado the skies broke and a thunderstorm discharged a lot of water. Inside, there were many leaks, but not too bad.

After some 20 min shopping the rains subsided - but look what happened: The roads were fast flowing rivers. But because they were flowing, the flooding did not persist too long...

The storm later also reached Punta Cerritos, but only with wind: It cooled off so much I wore a T-shirt at night for the first time and needed sheets for cover...

Spanish Lesson

I am not making too many efforts to learn Spanish right now - sometimes I look something up on a little hand unit or by using Google Translate (= excellent program ad-on from Google). Having coffee with a local real estate man I learned the following:

The name "Sabalo" is all over on busses etc - does it mean anything? Yes, it does: it is a kind of fish and Sabalo simply denotes an area close to the marina lagoon where people used to fish a lot, I guess, so they called it after the Sabalo fish. Darlene's friends did not know that, although they live there: but now they see some sense in that all the streets in the division have other fish names (Their's is "Marlin", but "Sucker" would seem like a nice one to choose, too.)

Does "Cerritos" mean anything? It does: cerro is hill, cerrito is little hill, and so I know now that I live at "Littlehills Point".

Cerritos: make sure you rrrroll the R's.

5thWheel Angles

Some angles of and around our unit: TV antenna is set up, flower pots (waiting for new plants in a month or so). Two bushes and a palm tree are growing from the ground. Bought a more comfortable plastic chair after the portable one collapsed on me (the second one this year - a terrible commodity)...


The red showing on the bedroom move-out could be blood from my head, but actually it is a foam pad that I stuck there now to avoid another collision. My head wounds actually are healed now.

Moved to new spot, some views

Various views of the park - still not filled (as it will be closer to Xmas). Renters can build some walls etc. around their cement pads, to create an outdoor patio environment, and this adds to the color of the place. Graveling is underway...so we are still in a construction/completion phase here. The pix with the dish looks at the growing Las Vegas Rio Hotel that is going up a km down the road at Playa Bruha. The last pictures shows our trailer at the left (blue tanks behind it).

Kelowna Visitors

Darlene and Dennis (l), neighbor's of Joan's in Peachland, showed up with some friends and we enjoyed some drinks/coffees at the Cerritos Mall coffeshop. Their friends have a nice house at Sabalos. All have been comning to Mazatlan for many years.

I played tennis that day, for the first time, too: I dropped by the Costa Bonita development down the road where I saw tennis courts - to see whether anyone there needs any partners - and a lady I met there was quite happy with that, and yesterday we played doubles, one lady being from Kelowna. It was not the most demanding I ever played - but you have to get your foot in the door.

In the downtown shopping district of Mazatlan it looks not much different from downtown St. Vincent - there is just much more of everything, crowded, traffic squeezing, lots of shops and a big indoor market building with touristy stuff but also meats, fish and vegetables.

Sometimes, not often, you have a merchant who knows some English. One item I tried to buy is nowhere to be had: a can opener. There are Made in China kitchen items, but not an opener.


On the main shopping street the buses back to Cerritos and other places pass by, and I locked my bike to a post and still have it. But I was told to NEVER leave it unlocked. Oh well, it is just an old bike.

There are hundreds of "Supermarkets" all over, in the center and along the entire road systems - not offering much "super" stuff, and no matter how limited or small, they call it SUPER Market. There are at least three or four huge shops (MEGA, Soriana and Walmart with "everything" on the shelf: including an incredible selection of meats and bakeries and vegetables. A kg of chicken $3, vegetables between 1.5o and 3.50, fish (MahiMahi) 8.- etc. Will not go hungry, I guess.

Till next..

Mazatlan promenade and beach

I took the bike on the bus and dropped off at the beginning of the long promenade, about 3-4 km, enroute to downtown Mazatlan. Views are towards downtown and back, and onto the beaches along the side.


Surfers were down there, and further to town there are lots of restaurant setups along the beach with shade areas.


Along the flat and beautiful promenade, biking is prime. I biked around the big hill showing on one of the shots in the distance, and there are many sheltered beachsides closer to town where people bathe. Everything is so sparkling clean...

Hurricane watch

This week (today Oct 11) I watched Hurricane Norbert approaching Baha - avoiding us fortunately.

But further south a new one, Odile, is lurking and moving up the coast. So, nothing is guaranteed except that those threatening the Caribbean will not harm us here.

Sunday at the beaches

At the beaches I showed before, there is a different atmosphere on Sundays - so I found out: Hundr3eds of cars and hundreds of people, putting up shades, having food and drink and play in the water. Among the women, i have not seen a single one on a bathing suit - all wear their street clothes. Something catholic or whatever, worse than in the Caribbean.

About 1/2 km down the road there is a 4-lane sideroad to the beach further towards town: with a better view of the skyline of the Mazatlan hotels, and next to a lagoon (where people bathe) a new hotel going up!

Beaches at low tide

At lo tide lots of rocks are showing up,


...and some flat areas right by the wall of the park are showing and will get even lower with some pools forming...


Some guys are fishing with handlines...




...and further to the right a sandy beach shows up, and at the one further back one can swim without stepping on rocks under the water. The "restaurant" on the right is a rather makeshift construction:

END

My new mailing address

In case you want to send Xmas presents early, here is my new address:

Hans Baer
Trailer Park Punta Cerritos
Avenida Sabalos Cerritos
No 3500 y Acceso 6
Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico

Office phone and fax: 669-988-1505
(efax: 630-563-1719)

Bye bye, hans

Beaches next to the Park

This is right at the end of the Park - and at low tide there are flat rocks and pools for kids to play in. It is wise to call the kids back before the tide returns...


More to the right of the above, some 50 m, there are two small beaches at low tide, and to the right are to restaurants: A filling fish meal was some 8 dollars.


Playa Brujas: 5 min walking along a paved road takes you to the beach above: looks like the end of the Zona Dorada, with hotels showing in background and encroaching... Brujas means "witches"!


A closer shot of Playa Brujas: There were two surfers out there, with waves breaking a bit early. The island in the back is opposite the city of Mazatlan. (I think there is witch sneaking away on the right...)


Playa Bruja towards the right - around the corners are the beaches shown at the top.
END of POST

First Pictures - Punta Cerritos

Here are some pictures of the Trailer Park

The Entrance:Our trailer:

View of Park:

The Mall along the park:


Guess where those folks are from? Renters can build some walls to extend outside living spaces...
End of this blog.