mazatlan with friends

tuesday:
arrival in mazatlan about 1pm, and we had the whole top floor of a double decker bus to take us to the resort. it was a very informative trip, thanks to a lovely lady, Kyky (kiki), who met us at the airport and was both an escort and tour guide on our way there. the kids had a blast sitting at the very front and had an up close view of where we had ended up.

ahhhhhhhh hotel. this was our tiny deck off our room, overlooking the pool, snack bar and a somewhat ocean view. we could hear the waves crashing on the beach at night, and i had a hard time getting to sleep at night when we got home - it was too quiet!



wednesday:
el patio -this was our favorite spot for breakfast. it was on the land side of the resort, across the street. we were able to order breakfast a la carte, and it was just fantastic. the guys that looked after us over there were amazing - pictures of them later. it was a quiet little restaurant, and we were surprised there weren't any more people over there. most of the time it was less than half full, and we only missed breakfast there 2 of our 10 days.

this was one of the coolest things at one of the pools - a cliff to jump off of! the kids had a ball with it, and if we had to ever guess where they were, this was it.




city tour- we had agreed to attend the dreaded timeshare presentation in exchange for a city tour on a trolley bus, as well as credits towards an island tour. we had a fantastic tour guide who told us about all we saw. we opted to go on wednesday afternoon at 4:30 as we didn't have any dinner plans at that point, and the weather was a bit cool that day.

in picture - ds2, dh, friends j & l.

along the malacon there are alot of different pieces of artwork representing various aspects of mazatlan culture and history. this is a pulmonia, an open air taxi that tourists quite often opt to use instead of a traditional taxi or bus. they come equipped with LOUD stereos, and their horns make all sorts of crazy noises.

as the sun goes down fairly early (5:30-ish) we hit the sunset as we were on our tour. these dolphins were part of a larger statue, representing the cycle of life.

this guy is one of the divers that entertains the tourists - for a tip. (tips are a HUGE thing LOL- tipped to death i tell ya!) he jumps off a natural store tower to the side of this square.




pretty amazing stuff - and rather enterprising if nothing else. the depth of the water is only about 12 feet where he goes it.


this is the highest accessible point in mazatlan, and a restaurant over looks the city. its a rather interesting view, and gives you a better sense of just how large mazatlan is.

thursday:
ah yes, the timeshare presentation. we did get to see some show suites with fantastic views of the ocean and beach. the rest of our day was spent by the pool and the beach, as it was sunny and hot.

friday:
we decided to take a trip to old mazatlan and the downtown quarter. the easiest, cheapest and most fun way of getting there was these trucks. the back end of small pick ups are converted to people movers, and 10 of us fit very comfortably. they are covered, and come equipped with driver operated stereos. we did hear some rather odd stuff on this one! for 80 pesos (about $8 canadian) one way, we had our transportation.

a quick stop along our walk, we had a drink at one of the sidewalk restaurants. pacifico beer for 120 pesos ($1.20) and lemonade for 150 pesos.

the circus was in town (apparently - we didn't go) and we saw the animals go by down the street, with a police escort and loudspeakers advertising the show.

the old market - ok, a little gross, but i spoke to one of the butchers and asked what is done with a pigs head. it is used to make posole - a type of corn soup. it sounded good, but i don't know if i could actually handle the pig's head myself!

this is one of mazatlan's landmarks - the cathedral in the historic part of town. when it was being built, the church had run out of money, so the jewish people helped by contributing the remainder of the money for construction. interesting to note that because of that, the stained glass windows at the very top had the star of david imbedded in them. it was absolutely beautiful and quiet inside.

the main square across from the cathedral, where open air concerts are held on friday nights (didn't get there either LOL)

we thought this was just hilarious!!! our best guess without a translator is that people need to pick up after their dogs!!

walking towards the ocean, this street takes the sidewalk almost a storey up over road level. it made for an interesting perspective.

saturday:
b was not feeling well, so i stayed behind with him while the rest of the crew went to el cid marina to check it out. apparently you can't fish there...

another pool with cliffs to jump off of... i bet the kids were itching to do just that!

looking out to the ocean...

the little bit of beach at that resort, but no ocean access...

pool view from the hotel side...

wouldn't you just love to have flowers like these at home??

luxury golf cart transportation...

sunday:
was spent on the beach/pool. no pictures to post from that day
monday:
back over to the marina for our day out to stone island. this pelican was quite funny to watch. a fellow had some fish sitting on the dock, and she was quite adamant that she would get some! she was also quite pretty, with bright feathers on her head.


out at sea! we took our tour on a trimaran. j was not quite the sea man he thought - he has his mother's tummy and did not get his sea legs!

this little outcropping in the water (a good km or 2 off shore) was a great place for these sealions to hang out and sun themselves. one of them even waved! HA!

this was NOT the boat i would have chosen to go anywhere on... especially with that name! LOL

one of the places that could be rented on stone island - with a beautiful garden and the ocean across the street.

coconut grove - we couldn't see where it ended!

off for a horseback ride!

view of the beach from the restaurant/base where we spent our time there.

j & s kayaking - they went almost all the way out to the island in the background!

j - on our way back

dinner!! this was the mexican restaurant, and we had a super dinner! amazing homemade tortillas made to order as quesedillas or tacos.

j being silly - he wanted the lampshade for a hat LOL

just one of the silly signs we saw that something was lost in translation...
tuesday: another day on the beach or by the pool. no pics to share!

wednesday:
view of the snack bar in the morning...

off we went on another red truck to the aquarium. the white castle looking thing in the background is valentino's - the "cootchie cootchie" bar that is hopping on the weekends.

a view out over the roof of the truck.

our driver that morning...

our visit to the aquarium was probably the most expensive thing we did on the whole trip - just over $30 for the 4 of us to go to. it was very well kept and maintained. we also found it interesting that the majority of the people working there were handicapped in some way. alot of down's syndrome or other issues, but they were all very pleasant and helpful and looked super smart in their uniforms.
there were a number of exhibits that were very interesting. everything from birds to crocodiles! check out those teeth!
sea turtles
everyone taking a look
frogs
rays
sharks
sea tortoises
toucans! i loved these guys!
parrots in the open exhibit - we were able to go into a huge enclosure and wander around with the bird.
funky chicken

sea lion show - this was very cool!
sea lion fishy breath kisses LOL


outside the aquarium
doing the macarena on the red truck home - we laughed and laughed - and attracted alot of attention!! there was also the chicken dance too LOL
a picture perfect view...
tequila volleyball in the pool
our last night, as we went over the bridge to the sushi restaurant...

senor frogs was also at the bottom of our hotel.
thursday morning:
time to go home, and one last breakfast at el patio. the green juice is cactus juice, a pleasant discovery that ricardo started feeding us a couple days before we left (to lose the extra weight we gained on the trip!! LOL) the cook was also awesome and gave us some well wishes on our cheesecake... (it says nice trip)

our awesome chef that made our yummy breakfasts in the morning - ricardo called her the "fat lady" and dh called him on it - "she doesn't speak english, does she??" LOL

ricardo (left) and ramon, our awesome servers who made our the start of our days just amazing.

ricardo giving dh a little loving...


these two were such hams - they made us laugh and were the best of the trip.

the tide was super high most mornings, coming all the way up to the beach loungers...

dh & ds1 enjoying the view...


rested, relaxed and tanned... and very reluctant about taking off the bathing suit in exchange for jeans and a sweatshirt!

an over the shoulder shot of everyone in the van on our trip to the airport.


ROFL - this guy looked like he was taking a piddle!

the company that dh works for has an outlet in mazatlan.... hmmmm... maybe he should be asking for a transfer??


the end!! thanks for taking a look!