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.