• 31Jan

  We’re bracing ourselves for…Carnaval!

  maz odds + ends 1 Comment

  

  We’ve heard stories about what a big event Carnaval is ever since we first visited here. Some people choose to leave town for the week and others get into the spirit in a big way. This being our first year we have asked a lot of advice but in general are taking a relaxed perspective on the celebration. If we feel like it, we’ll do it - otherwise our fridge is full and we can crank up the tunes at home and enjoy ourselves just fine.

  The strings of colored lights went up all over town before Christmas. When they didn’t get lit up for the holiday, it dawned on us that they were lights for Carnaval!

  The elections of the various Carnaval royalty took about a month. Lots of campaigning, articles in the papers, voting, and parades culminated in the choice of Olga as the Carnaval Queen. There was a bit of crankiness here and there as people complained because she was from Cuba originally. Whatever.

  Anyway, the last several weeks have seen a lot of projects around here. Potholes have been filled, the malecon has been cleaned and a lot of the seawall has been painted. The palms have had their dead fronds removed and all the parks have been groomed to within an inch of their lives.

  Then came the construction. Centro is where it all happens, or most of it, anyway, and most of the action is at Olas Altas, the beach next to Centro. So it is closed to traffic every afternoon and stays closed until 5 am. Hopefully most people will avoid downtown for the duration but the street closure means we expect our street to turn into a crazy honking parking lot at times. Our car is parked and we won’t even try to drive until next Wednesday.

  People are going to be charged to get into the main zone down at Olas Altas. So naturally there are barriers everywhere and ticket booths, too. Here is one, below:

  

  There are going to be five bands going pretty much all night long. Banda, Banda, Banda! This music is distinct to Sinaloa and is really fun. People dance in the streets and of course party! Here’s one of the stages, but you’ll have to enlarge it to really see what’s what. On the left is a green wall built (I think) to indicate where the stairs are to the beach. Pacifico, our local beer is planning on dominating the beer stands I think.

  

  There are gates all around Centro, too.

  

  With all this beer, you know what else will be needed, right? Bathrooms! There are several big banks of bathrooms like the green ones in the background of the picture below:

  

  Tonight we are going to the crowning of the King of Joy. Afterwards to the Plazuela Machado for a food fair. There are two huge fireworks displays, two parades, and the Burning of Bad Humor and the crowning of the Queen, Flower Queen, and Child Queen. I am probably getting these titles mixed up, but it should be non-stop Carnaval fun from here through next Tuesday.

  A link to the Carnaval site can be found here.

• 30Jan

  Is it real or….a beautiful mural?

  maz house 10 Comments

  

  The mural in the sala fresca is complete, and we are so happy with it! It really brings such a nice feeling to the room, and we are not exaggerating when we say it has made the sala fresca our favorite room in the house!

  The artists are very proud of the work, and this picture shows how happy they are. It was a very interesting experience to watch them work and has given me even more appreciation of the finished artwork.

  I thought it would be a good time for something kind of funny… When we bought the house we loved that the interior courtyard had a Virgin of Guadalupe tile mural near the roof. It’s pretty, right?

  

  But something just didn’t seem right. Take a look below and see if you think someone shouldn’t have been just a little more careful with the tile orientation!

  

• 29Jan

  I’m hard at it.

  language 2 Comments

  When people would ask Paul and me before we moved what we would do all day once we retired and moved to Mexico, the first thing we always responded was that our job would be to learn Spanish.

  Every day we work on it every chance we get. At the store. With our neighbors. When answering a misdialed call on the phone. When talking to our painter or our maid. When talking to waiters. When calling for something to be delivered. At the bank. We are frustrated a lot but it only serves to make us more determined to learn Spanish - and learn it as well as we can.

  One of the tools we used up North turned out to be a good foundation for actually being able to communicate down here. These were the CD’s we listened to by Michel Thomas. The teaching program is similar to the way we are being taught here in Mazatlan, and there is something wonderful about being able to build sentences you will actually use on the first day. Both Paul and I listened to them back and forth to work in the car and whenever we would drive anywhere together.

  Our current teacher also uses translation drills as a major teaching tool. Sheet after sheet of English sentences to translate. New words are in small print in the margin so you continually build your vocabulary.

  Anyway, I am making a leap this week, and I’m a little nervous and a lot excited about it. I am leaving my beginner class and joining Paul’s…but he has been in class for five or six weeks…so I have a lot of work to do to feel okay about my skill level as it compares to his. I probably spent four hours at it this morning and need to spend most of the day tomorrow in order to feel ready for class Thursday. Can you tell I’m nervous?

  I will probably be spending a lot of my time with my nose in my books, but progress really feels great! Wish me luck!

  (by the way, if you want to see a video on learning Spanish that is really funny, visit Rosanna Hart’s blog here)

• 24Jan

  I can’t help myself

  maz house 8 Comments

  

  I was going to wait until the mural was all done to post a picture, but I can’t! I just love it too much!

  The artists are a father and son team, although the son is the one who researched and drew the plan for our wall. Every day they just quietly work away, occasionally backing up and looking at things and conversing about their progress. They run up the street to bring back a small comida in the middle of the day, which they eat while up on the scaffolding.

  Last night the father said it was nice to work here - that it was muy tranquillo! That was nice to hear, but some days when the doorbell rings a lot and Lucy has to bark at each ring of the bell tranquil is not how I would describe it!

  I think they are pushing to get done by the weekend…but I’m not sure. I’ll show a picture when it’s done, of course!

  But now, time to review again before I head to Spanish class!
• 20Jan

  Lista para estudiar Espanol

  language 5 Comments

  I have my bookbag ready and packed with my pen and notebook. I’ve been listening to my language cd’s. I’ve been taking every opportunity to talk to neighbors. I am even working out sentences as I fall asleep at night!

  So, yes, I am ready to study Spanish!

  Tomorrow I start classes, finally. Paul started in December but since we couldn’t both be away from home at the same time while so much work was going on at the house, I elected to start in the next session. Paul is doing great - gets extra work every week because he is doing so well.

  Our teacher was recommended to us by a number of people. The main thing we heard is “if you are serious about learning Spanish, he is the one for you.” And we are most certainly serious.

  The classes are small - four or five people - and take place at the teacher’s dining room table. You dive right in with necesitar and querer as those verbs can be used to make a multitude of sentences without learning the conjugation for a zillion verbs. Vocabulary is huge. The class is spent going around and around the table, translating sentences. Proper pronunciation is stressed.

  I know all of this through conversations with Paul and others who’ve taken classes from this teacher, of course. But tomorrow I get to find out for myself!

  I had a conversation with my neighbor yesterday. I think I did pretty well communicating - but I know my speech wasn’t always perfect Spanish, to say the least. We talked on a variety of topics, and I promised him that in one year we were going to be able to have a much better conversation! He laughed and said “Bueno, bueno!”

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