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.

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.

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?