Año Nuevo - at Playa Cerritos und Playa Bruha

Over the holidays tour buses and corresponding masses of visitors from the interior have invaded Mazatlan, including the beaches next to the trailer park.

Playa Cerritos:

Playa Bruha:

Happy New Year!

Juarez Market again

Mazatlan's largest market - Sunday Flea market at Juarez (=not the famous drug and crime center at the US border, but a part of Mazatlan) needed to be re-visited. But I must say, after a few minutes there I escaped to a side street and back to the bus stop. It is an incredibly busy and congested place, both with cars and people, where hundreds of businesses and traders congregate over a few blocks, without any special assigned place or area, everybody spreading out his wares on the sidewalks, under tents - and some walking among the crowds draped with their particular wares or items. In some streets, of course, there are regular businesses including fast food outlets and tace shops.Whatever the item, here is where you probably find the best prices for both new and used items, and gadgets you have maybe never seen before. I wanted to take lots of pictures - but it is so crowded, you feel inhibited and limited in what you can do. I bought some strawberries, fresh off some fields and some citrus - and fled the scene.

Slowly moving through the crowd:

Here a merchant created a small traffic obstacle - nobody cares:

And overhead I saw an advertisement for a young lady with the nice German name Gretel - candidate for "Child Queen" for the carnival (whenever that will be). Her Hansl probably got lost in the crowd.

Happy Hour

Some Park inhabitants have their daily rotating Happy Hour where they discuss philosophical, political, religious or ethical issues of the day.

One one of those occasions I joined them and actually supplied some sustenance in form of a cake and some condiments. Actually, these I supplied for some of the neighbors who kindly had helped with manpower and trucking of items from J&R's downtown location back to our trailer - during their temporary absence in Canada. But, the word spread and many others showed up - not to miss the sustenance:

Eventually some non-human visitors also showed up - they may well be recent arrivals from Canada: I learned a lot interesting things about these critters from an Attenborrough BBCvideo  (there re some others, look for them on YouTube).

 And all evening I had a view of the most recent palapa that was built by a newcomer to the Park - it now happens to be the highest or largest of palapas and has thus been labelled the "Trump Tower":

I doubt I will become a regular attendant of those Happy Hours sessions, because, as it turns out, political, ethical, religious, philosophical discussions do not really take place - and i do not need information on how to install a TV dish (have no TV), find parts for your truck (do not have a vehicle) or review restaurant menues (don't attend any). I am asocial and a certified bore. And the women are all taken.

Pickle Ball

This has become a widely enjoyed racket game, played in the US and Canada and increasingly elsewhere. Check the US association website where you can find national and international locations and times of play. That is where I found out that there are a few places right here in Mazatlan. If you have any experience with tennis or table tennis, you can be off and play very quickly, even if your knees are hurting and you have gotten a bit lame.

Here is a place where I have been playing a bit, but I must admit, it can be tough in the heat and I would like a few more people to join, because currently we have only about 4-5 regulars - of which one is very good, making it hard to sustain any rallies. This will be evident from the few scenes I am showing below:

Visitors at Cerritos Beach

On weekends the Cerritos Beach (and others, of course) are busy with local visitors and those coming by buses from the nearer Villages and towns - all the way from Durango up in the Sierra Madre. This beach is right besides or below our trailer park. The water in the middle of November is still pleasantly warm.

Mexicans are enjoying the beach and the services. 

And the Canadians are getting ready for a swim:

Visitors from Canada

Kian, and Mummy Heide and daddy Guy are visiting with grandma, and today they came out to Punta Cerritos for a day of swimming in the sun:

So, you are ready to come out and visit? YES!

It took only a split second, and he liked it (he has been primed to go into a pool back home in Canada):

\

Great place - much better than the pool back home!

 Grandpa bought him a mini pool, hoping he will be able to enjoy it back at grabdmna's place

And now let's see some real action (if the video refuses to play, try using this Google Drive link instead:   https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZbsTNvEi6hkLKXFvY5Q8AZcLeLto5KyH)

Alberca Olimpico - the new Olympic Pool

In the spring of 2017 the new Olympic Pool opened in Mazatlan: 

It is not quite completed. The stands need finishing,  so do the showers, toilets and change rooms. Also the diving area is only in the rough.

But the main pool with its 50 m lanes is fully operating, and you can pay for daily, weekly or monthly use. The monthly fee is about CAD 35.-. The water is sparkling clean, and I found that in the mornings around 9 or so there is no crowd and you have a lane all to yourself. I prefer pool swimming more than ocean swimming where there always are waves slapping your face and white sharks nibble on your feet, jelly fish tentacles  embracing you and sting rays luring in the sand to whack you... So I am a fully subscribed customer! In the winter, when our pool at the park is pretty cold, this one is supposed to remain heated - how wonderful!

There are one or two supervisors who speak decent English - not that I could not tell them in Spanish what I wanted to do: nadar!

These are the unfinished diving towers, 3, 5 and 10 m:

I found that many of my compatriots did not know where this new pool is located - it is part of the university complex, close to the Aquarium, off the busy Avenida Ejercito: easy to reach by several buses:

Behind the fence on the left is the pool's huge parking lot:

Joan and Randy's new house

As I mentioned and documented last year, J&R are building their house in the famous "Historic Center" of Mazatlan. Joan stayed here all summer to assure that the building makes progress. She says that progress is slow, but progress there is. You may recall (and can of course go back and access) my blog from last spring, showing the building site.

Well the gap has been closed, and here are some shots: Walls ceilings and floors still are raw concrete and the interior finishing has to be started. lets take a look:

Upper floor (3rd of three) - leads to this lofty outdoor area, looking to the Malecon (seaside promenade) as well as at the trees of a new park under construction.

Looking towards the city center to the east:

Same, a bit more to the north-east:

Zeroeing in towards the new park:

Looking over my shoulder uphill - not so exciting, but all these transmitter towers on the Icebox Hill, as it is called, serve as a landmark if you get lost:

  

On the wide open lower, middle or main floor will be a kitchen, and when I left there today they expected delivery and installation of a 3-section sliding door:

On a lower floor will be utility areas, parking and work area - no pictures for now. But let's step outside: The new place is between those two posts

A view from higher up - remember there is a shrine for the Virgin of Gouadeloupe across - shows the flat roof with the large water tank.

The car is parked inside behind the large iron gate:

Well, Kian and family will be visiting soon, and I am sure that until then there will be significant further improvements!

On my way back I got a bit confused on thus my first downtown visit this fall, and \i took the bus in the wrong direction, ending up in the harbor area. No problem, I just rode all the way back and arrived home, just a bit later.

Back in Mazatlan - Fall 2017

Hello friends:

I am back in my winter quarters at the Punta Cerritos Trailer Park in Mazatlan.  If you want to hear about some activities here, consider entering your email on the side bar - so that you automatically will received notifications whenever I add a new post. It is too cumbersome - with my small portable laptop that is not working very fast - to send messages to all as I usually do. Much easier to let you know any news via this blog.

Hasta Luego!

Historic Center Nudism and Sexual Entertainment Hotspot in Mazatlan coming!

Ha: I got you: this sort of title seems to be catching and increase viewer traffic.

The original title was: "The new house site for J&R". But the statistics analytsis showed me that titles that include words like "nudity etc" are much more effective in attracting readers - and a blog author of course likes reader numbers to go up...

So, no nudism or sex in this blog, sorry!

I took a little hike to the new place Joan and Randy now own in the Historic Center of Mazatlan, having completed the legal and financial steps just this week. Lets look at it before a new building arises from the ashes:

Here I am walking up the road - about 1 block to go - and on account of J&R moving there, the city decided to replace the sewer pipes:

 Past the construction, we are almost there:

 Here we are: the green arrows indicate the lot/old building:

 This is it: a delapidated and abandoned building, where by the lot extends to the back quite a distance. Note that there is never any space between the houses: no trouble with upkeep of in between spaces then:

Across the site is a shrine, well maintained (one less chance for neighbors to live there and make noises):

 There used to be a an hermit lady living there - see the inscription below:

Next to the capella/shrine is another abandoned building, which seems to have been destroyed by a fire: If you buy it, make sure first that the Agency in charge of historic buildings does not have an original record of this house, because in that case the new owner had to rebuild the original - potentially costly (but also looking very nice in the end...):

From the site of the capella you have a nice view towards the Malecon and the ocean side: This would also be the view from the back of the J&R building: 

Here a view from the capella site (not the house) towards downtown/Historic Center): 

 And a view also of the house and its adjoining buildings - all looking quite clean:

The door being locked, I could not take a shot of the backyard (all open, no construction), but I could take a peak through the fencing of the one and only room - which of course will either disappear or renovated during the pending construction.

 Less than 10 min walking downhill takes you to the Malecon and beach:

Now, let's see what kind of new building the designers will come up with during the following few months! Good luck....

Hector - the local artist!

Many park residents have solicited the services of a local artist by the name of Hector. His style is simple, a bit Grandma Moses, and colorful with lots of local flavor.

You tell him where you want the painting - on a door, a bottle, a TV dish or your wall. He paints true to local reality - showing how the world is still in order in this here country of Mexico, where the woman walks and the man rides!

Sun-cured and colored

If I wanted to enter the US I might have trouble, being mistaken for a person of color. After 2 months of biking in the Mexican sun, this is how things look:

I know that this shot of my legs does not do justice to them - being unfavorably distorted by the camera angle - but they sure are colored!