We are in the midst of Carnaval here. I was going to do a Carnaval post today but last night when we were at Olas Altas I had an unfortunate incident with my camera. I shot a video of the early evening crowd and was going to counter it with one from later on. It was about 9 pm and all ten stages were going with bands playing, but at least on the main stage, they weren’t the main event. Attendance was still kind of sparse, but there were people dancing and starting to get in the mood. But, as I was putting my camera away I missed my pocket and dropped it hard onto the concrete. At least it didn’t suffer, death was instantaneous.

I was able to get the video off the camera, (see above) and today we were able to find another affordable point and shoot with video that can fit in my back pocket. That’s important to me as I like to take it along whenever I head out since I take my blogger job very seriously, you know! Wish me luck tonight, as I am going to try to take video of the fireworks with it.

Last year we were invited to bloggers Jennifer and Chuck’s roof, and were amazed by the incredible fireworks display, better than I had ever seen before. We’re lucky enough to be going back this year and I am hopeful I can take some video to share with you.

Blogging isn’t all work though. Paul and I just booked our tickets to Mérida for the blogger meetup in April. Interested in going? Head over to Theresa’s blog “What do I do all day?” for the details.

So, I’ll see you tomorrow, hopefully with some nice photos and video of a great fireworks show.

Paul and I spent yesterday with my cousin and his wife who came into town on a cruise ship and were only here for about 7 hours.

They have been very curious our decision to move and have followed the blog to keep up on what’s going on. So when they decided to take a cruise that included a stop in Mazatlán in order to have a visit with us, we were touched.

We picked them up at the cruise ship without incident. We jumped into the car and headed home via the scenic route, over Cerro de la Vigia and down through Olas Altas. They loved the house and we sat and drank coffee and visited for a while before heading out to show them Centro.

I guess there are times when my inner neat-freak comes out or something because why would it be that practically the day before they arrived every other flat surface in our part of Centro was covered with graffiti courtesy of “dr clark” (or something like that.) Even our next door neighbors got hit. And of course the sidewalks are always treacherous. And it was Wednesday, garbage day, besides. So our walk over to the Plazuela Republica was an eye opener I think. Bumpy sidewalks, crazy traffic, etc. We skipped the Mercado, instead heading over to the Plazuela Machado, really the heart of Centro. Then to the beach and along the Malecon before heading home.

There’s so many things I wish. I wish it had been night time – Mazatlán at night is so wonderful, especially in the Machado with live music, lights in the trees, people strolling, children chasing each other and all that. I wish the city wasn’t gearing up for Carnaval as the whole demeanor of the city revs up a few notches. I wish we didn’t have such a short time – I mean part of what I love about it here is they rhythm and friendliness of the people. And it takes a while to sense that.

We drove all the way to Playa Bruja, had lunch on the beach and showed them some of our favorite places. They did meet a couple of friends of ours.

I woke up this morning feeling sad when I realized that there’s no way that I could do what they wanted us to do – to “show them what it is about the city that made us fall in love with it.” I think that’s a tall order that takes more than a day. So guys, you’ll just have to come back, this time for a few days at least, ok?

I’ve become really interested in the new style graffiti I’m seeing around town.  Some is freehand, artistic painting and some is done using stencils or even collage.  English words are sometimes used.  Anyway, I’ll let the pictures below speak for themselves.

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