A Beach Scene

At a palapa along the Malecon beach, some late afternoon in May, with a Margarita in front of me I watch the waves breaking: They break too soon and thus are not ideal for surfing, but along other stretches of the beach you often see surfers in action. Mexican families rent umbrellas and tables and chairs, and the kids enjoy the shore breaks - but is good to keep an eye on them because the backwash could be a bit too strong for the little ones.....

Rent a Bike

As of this season, there are some 50 locations in Mazatlan where you can rent a bike. The system is called Vbike. All you need to do is download an app to your phone and register your name, payment info etc, and off you go. The system is very reasonably priced, and you can choose various time frames, from hours to months. It probably is cheaper than buying your own bike and see it rusting away in the salty air. I would like to use this system - but I am still refusing to use a cell phone and pay for data - but can see the time coming where I will have to overcome my resistance to being like everyone else...

Here, along the Malecon with its 8 km of bike lanes along the seaside, bike rental business is excellent!

Quite a show I missed

I guess you have to have your ear closer to the ground to catch on to events and figure out - maybe from advertisements in Spanish - whether they are hip or hop and worth going to. Well, I missed one two days ago which seems to have taken place just some minutes away from where I live and where I take a walk quite often: A big open-air fashion show with artistic performances and lots of hoopla. at the Olas Altas seaside.

You might read about it in the latest Vide Maz! message I just got, with more and better photos than I could have taken!

Physiotherapy - El Faro Lighthouse

The main reason I came to Mexico this time is to practice some physiotherapy for my second knee replacement in the warmth of the sun and with some moderate, enjoyable real exercise: What better place to choose than Mazatlan with the highest lighthouse in the Americas 523 m above the sea)!

Look at the website that describes it all with additional video/pictures and details!

Tip: If you do the "climb" (now on a nicely built, solid path) after 4/5 pm, you won't run too hot even in the summer season). I still used my walking sticks, and coming down I had to be careful not to stumble, but the hike is more than half of the Grouse Grind in Vancouver (which, I believe, is somewhere short of 900 vertical meters).

Part of last years path reconstruction includes a glass bottom walk out into the void: the light reflections on the sea must be that from the nightlights of Hongkong, China:

Nxt time, I will bring my wingsuit for a 500 m flight...:

Nice views in all directions:

Some Malecon Shots

While waiting for the damn circus to open, I was sitting at the Malecon breakwater wall, enjoying the view. Even during this off-season time (as far as tourists go), lots of people come and picnic and swim...

Here is a look back at the ice Box Hill - my house is just to the left of the larger brown building:

(The above view is exactly the one El Chapo Guzman would have had from his hideout hotel room before he got arrested the first time many years ago....

Circus Time - almost

When did you last hearing about a circus coming to town in Canada? Well, there is the big circus school in Quebec, Circus de Soleil or something, and sometimes they may perform in Canada, but then only in big cities, eh?

The last circus I attended was some time in the 2000s in St. Vincent of all places: It was a small setup and great fun: Rick may remember that they brought out some tiny lion pups for kids to pet and handle (warning: they (and, if you touch them, your hands) stink like hell, but maybe they were not kept cleanly...

 But then I discovered here a setup of a smaller circus right along the Malecon - and I was eager to go (expecting to be in the good company of a lot of cheering little kids). I tried to find out about their performance time. A young girl I spotted near the entrance told me it ould be on Monday at 7 and at 8. A sign said it would be 7:30, and some workers at the amusement park said it would be at 7. A lady picking up some garbage said it would be at 8.

I camped out at the side with the cooling ocean breeze fanning my back - but even as late as 7:30 there was nobody lining up or showing up at the gate by 7:30 last Monday - and as the sun was setting I gave up and went home. In the Caribbean I had learned about "Caribbean Time", here I guess we are dealing with "Mexican Time" which does not show on my dial...But here are some pix  of the circus - maybe I will try again on the weekend.

 : And here the empty/deserted entrance over an hour

POSTSCRIPT:

Yesterday I went to the area to enjoy a sunset at the beach and found that the circus is gone - all taken down and disappeared. Oh well, there will be another some time. 

Cinco de Mayo - any idea what this all about?

It is a national holiday - but NOT the Mexican Independence celebration (which takes place in September!).

If anything is going on in town - I will not know or see, because I still am not mobile enough to go and find out (particularly not on this rather hot day). My impression is that everybody is sleeping today because it is really quiet in this neighborhood.

So, in case you care: there are of course several videos and stories out there, such as this one on YouTube: The day commemorates the victory of Mexican forces over a French army in Puebla, southern Mexico.