• 30Oct

  Dusty and Dirty

  maz house, our new home 3 Comments

  

  That will be the name of the game here for the next month!

  The courtyard renovation project has begun, at the same time as the mason is here repairing the salitre on our walls. The salitre project should only take a week or so but the courtyard will take a month.

  I went to the Department of Agriculture with a man we were referred to for help with intricate Spanish conversations. We haven’t talked to the last person we need to talk to yet but it sounds like it really won’t be a big deal to bring our parrot Tiko down on the plane from San Francisco. He needs a current health certificate, and then at the plane the Dept. of Agriculture gives you the import permit. Hopefully the fellow we still want to talk to won’t have anything different to say. We really miss our bird, and I am looking forward to a little shopping in San Francisco for a few things we need and can’t find here.

  The picture above was taken from our roof early in the morning. The foreground is a bit dark but I love the sillouette of the Cathedral with the sunrise.

• 29Oct

  Te Amo Beisbol

  maz odds + ends, our new home 1 Comment

  

  Last night we went to the baseball game here in Mazatlan. The Mazatlan Venados (Deer) vs. the Guasave Algodons (Cottons).

  It was our first baseball game in Mazatlan, and as lifelong baseball fans, a city with a team was an important criteria for us when we were selecting our new home. We went to the game with a couple we just met - taking a pulmonia both ways so we didn’t have to battle the stadium traffic.

  The game was a lot of fun - although we made a couple of newbie mistakes. First was that we now know that row three is a terrible row - the railing is right in the way so that you have to duck to see anything. Second was that many people come late - even very late - to the games so seeing an empty seat doesn’t mean people aren’t going to come that evening.

  The play was good - no AAA errors and dumb plays like we’ve seen at AAA games in the states. But the play was a bit slow, and we’d have liked to see a bit more spark in the players.

  I love the craziness of Mexican outdoor events. The Venados mascot, Vinny the deer, was manic most of the time, and sometimes performing risque little skits. 2008 car models were driven out on the field between innings. T-shirts, balls, pens, and candy were thrown into the stands courtesy of local businesses. Kids wore baseball caps with antlers on top.

  The food is always interesting. Fresh peanuts. Fresh potato chips drizzled with salsa. Fresh fruit. Cookies. Some sort of rice thing. Ceviche. Flan. Candied apples. And to go with the food, Pacific beer. And I like how they serve it. Instead of flat beer poured an hour ago like you get in the stands in the US the beer vendor has bottles in 5 gallon buckets of ice. When you order one he opens it and pours it into a paper cup for you.

  Pacifico is based in Mazatlan and is a sponsor of the Venados. The Pacifico logo is even above the players’ names on their jerseys! And Guasave is sponsored by Tecate, so I guess in the beer war last night Pacifico won. The Venados beat the Algodons 4-1.

  Next time I’ll remember my camera.

• 25Oct

  Morning at Olas Altas

  maz odds + ends, our new home 4 Comments

  Yesterday I took a little video while we were near the Pedro Infante monument at the south end of the malecon. It starts out with a view of the newest boutique hotel here - Casa Lucila, then shows Paul and the dogs, Pedro Infante on his motorcycle, and then I just scan around in a circle. The tide was very high.

  Olas Altas is the stretch of beach nearest us, and it means High Waves.

  Kind of a nice way to start the day, don’t you think?

• 24Oct

  They aren’t ruins, they are projects….

  maz odds + ends, our new home, random 6 Comments

  Mazatlan has a wonderful colonial city center - Centro. It is a mish mash of houses, retail, parks, home businesses, and the various entrepreneurs that gather in any Mexican city. (Car washers, carts selling food, street sweepers, etc) It can be messy and loud and incredibly joyful.

  Last night we sat on our patio and listened to people passing by with a background of live jazz being played somewhere not far away.

  Across the street from us and also kitty corner are what the real estate community refers to as “ruins.” Some of them are being held by local families because their owner died and the rest of the family can’t agree on what to do with them. Over time the roof will cave in, trees emerge from the roof, and feral cats take over the interior. They can be saved by passionate people with a lot of vision and probably money.

  The picture below is the house across the street from us with the morning sun hitting it:

  

  The next picture is of the same house but without the sun. It looks just awful, doesn’t it? But here’s the thing….this house is being restored, little by little, piece by piece. If you enlarge the picture you will see the window sills to the lower center windows have all been redone. Some of the cement decorative scroll work has been redone, too. And a lot of the horizontal panel at the top.

  

  If you enlarge the picture you’ll be able to see what I mean. The other night a dump truck came up and dumped a load of sand (for concrete) behind the garage doors. A light is on back there most nights.

  Someday I hope to meet whoever is doing the work and give them my encouragement and thanks. It’s a big job, but I appreciate those who are willing to take it on.

  Below is the ruin that’s kitty corner from us. We haven’t seen any work going on here and no one seems to know the story.

  

  Here’s another one from our walk this morning. This one’s for sale. If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll get the number off the sign for you!

  

• 23Oct

  Tuesday Update

  maz odds + ends, our new life 1 Comment

  One of my last posts brought a flurry of comments that I thought I’d respond to in a post instead….

  Learning Spanish - Both of us have been doing pretty well, but nowhere near as well as we would like. We manage transactions ok if we have thought it through before hand so we have the expected words handy to the tongue, but sometimes we embarass ourselves or have a brain freeze and feel stupid. People are very helpful and forgiving, though. We signed up for cable, bought furniture from our neighbor, are getting kitchen cabinets made, and go to the tiendas and lavanderia all of which have challenged us a lot. A real challenge though, is the phone. Deliveries must be arranged and appointments confirmed, and even those simple things sometimes leave us saying “Well, I THINK the bed will be delivered this afternoon, but I’m not positive!” We know who we want to take classes from, but right now we are having the courtyard redone and the kitchen cabinets made and we just can’t see how we can be away during the middle of the day.

  Saying No to Coffee - This is a funny one that really points out the cultural differences between the US and Mexico. It is really considered rude to say no, a kind of rejection of hospitality that is hard to understand. I try to think ahead to what might be coming, and start off with something like “we are so sorry we can only stay just a minute because…” or ‘we just came from somewhere and we ate so much…” so that when they offer you something you just jump in with your ready-made excuse. What doesn’t work is to say, “no thank you, it is too warm today for coffee” because then they will make you some other involved (but cold) beverage that you also didn’t want. For me the issue is never the coffee. It usually has something to do with my lack of Spanish and that if I am reaching the end of my rope linguistically I just can’t handle the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee.

  Referring to HOME - I wonder how long we will be here before we automatically refer to here as home? It is one of those things that just comes out - especially since so much family is still up north.

  Health Care - We are getting set up with doctors and dentists and feel really good about the quality of health care here in Mazatlan. We’ve read about and talked to a number of people who have had excellent experiences with hospitalizations and feel we’ll be ok. We’re going to buy catastrophic insurance and just handle the small stuff on our own.

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