Paul’s birthday is in June and each year we have been taking advantage of low season summer specials for hotel rooms in Mazatlán to have a bit of a getaway.  Last year we spent only one night at Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay, and this year decided to spend two nights at the Inn at Mazatlán.  It is great to lounge by the pool and let someone else do the cooking and cleaning!

The Inn at Mazatlán’s staff seems very friendly and competent.  They do sell time shares there but once they heard we live here they asked for our room number so they wouldn’t bother us.  We had a Junior suite that was nice and clean, and the furnishings were comfortable and  modern.   The view from our room is at the top of the post.

The hotel doesn’t have free wi-fi – you have to go to their business office during  office hours, and (I believe) pay for internet access. We didn’t bother with that, just took our laptop over to Rico’s Coffee across the street for a nice coffee and breakfast. We loved their waffles and french toast! 

We changed into swimsuits and headed straight to one of the two pools.  Happy Hour starts at 1 pm and of course I received two margaritas at once.  We swam, and read, and then swam and read some more.  The picture below is where we could be found for most of two days.

We had lackluster food most of the time we were in the Golden Zone – at the hotel’s restaurant, Papagayo, at the Italian restaurant Villa Italia, and at a Spanish tapas restaurant named El Parador.  I am wondering if the head chefs around town take the summer off and leave their underlings in charge.  A picture of El Parador is below – we love the Miró inspired art and furniture.  They did make a mean Spanish coffee and a terrific Roquefort salad, though, that are worth going back for!

Paul is still working part time so it was nice for him to get away from work for a bit.  Both of us enjoyed being away from day to day chores and relaxing and reading as much as we wanted. But -  we are both homebodies and were ready to head home after a couple of days.

I know Paul had a happy birthday, and next year we’ll try another spot!

Mazatlán has a very large shrimp fleet, and right now they are all in port because the season is closed.  We had an opportunity to see some of the fleet from the water recently and thought we’d share a few photos with you.

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If you’re interested in learning a little more about the shrimp boats here in Mazatlan, blogger MazReal did a great post on his visit to the fleet by land here.

Last time I posted about all the fresh paint going up around town I had said it would be my last post on the topic.  Well, enough people said they enjoyed them so here is another, and yes, this will be my last post about it, for sure!  Especially since we had a few sprinkles last night and I expect the rainy season to begin sometime in the next week – and it really isn’t a good idea to paint when the humidity is high!  (Not saying that no one will be painting, just not so many, I’m sure…)

So, without further delay, here goes!

This lovely building is the lavanderia (laundry) business and home of the folks we used before we bought our own machines.  The house used to be a faded pink.  I love the dark color scheme.

This one is in the “what were they thinking” category.  This poor little house has seen better days, I’m sure.  The grass growing where the roof should be and the decayed wall – I don’t know, it seems to me it needed a bit of repair before it deserved paint.

Some of the color combinations we see are a bit shocking, but this little guy looks great with such a bright color scheme!

Now here’s one that’s quite soft and muted.  I love this house.

Here’s a series, first one is before: (Notice what I call (thanks to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) the Tree of Heaven at the roof line?)

Then, after:

But maybe you want to see a closeup of that roof line?  Funny!

Here’s another beauty:

But want to see what it looked like before?  I mourn the loss of this lovely bougainvillia.

Here’s another before & after… Before:

and After:  (I think these might be perfect canvases for new art works…)

Another cool beauty:

This is another “what were they thinking” one.  This ruin consists of only exterior walls.  Inside, there is a parking lot.  But it is entirely crumbling and the top of the facade is just raw brick! (It is garbage night, the bags will be picked up in an hour or so…)

The Medrano building is a very special building in Mazatlán.  I think it’s looking beautiful.  Now if only its owners would find a new use for it!

Here’s another one I that I teased you about earlier.  The first is a before picture of the Genaro Estrada house:

They did some concrete repairs but little cleaning on the exterior before the paint went on.

Here’s the finished product.  It’s too bad that they don’t do anything to the woodwork, makes it look a bit like a pretty lady with runs in her stockings!

I hope you’ve enjoyed a tour of the new paint in Centro Historico!  If you’d like to see all the pictures of new paint, please click on the Photos page in the top menu bar.