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!

Breakfast Ranchero style

J&R have become addicts for some of the Mexican style foods, including breakfast: put all into little corn meal patties - egg&cheese, refried beans, avocado, salsa - and then try to fit it into your mouth without dropping it or slobbering:

I like it, too - but usually do without the patty and use my fork - to avoid getting it dripping over my fingers and slobbering. R usually eats 3-4 of these, J takes 2, and I, having superior self control, limit myself to 1..

Juarez Street Market

On Sundays, the Juarez Street Market in the SE of the city is in full swing - that is where you can find almost everything new and, mostly, old.

It covers 2-3 blocks in a local neighborhood. One of the bus lines from the Trailer Park takes you directly there.


I bought myself a nice pair of sunglasses for $1:30; an item not to be found in Canada, namely, a "Tauchsieder", and immersion heater for 2:20; some fresh strawberries (they are smaller than in most markets but directly from the field and full of flavor)...

I could have bought some colored chicks for Easter as well - see the video below. There are some entertainers, like the guitarrist singer right in the middle of the crowd (also in the video) and another one who hops the bus and tells some stories to the assembled passengers and then hopes for some panhandling pesos.

Here some shots...

 Fresh shrimp in different sizes (camerones, about 6-10 CAD/kg, depending on size):

Church at edge of market area:

Randy buying fruit: