So, the next morning I went out and about to see how Mazatlan was doing. Take a look at the empty streets. It’s looking like a ghost town. But the city administration isn’t helping because they haven’t made it very attractive for cruise ships to keep coming here. I don’t remember the details but a story I read in the local English newspaper really blasted their hard-assed attempt to wring too much money out of the cruise lines, and they simply stopped coming as often. Really cuts the crowds down. Which is good for me because it was a bitch jostling with the crowds here six years ago. Now, I could browse without getting pushed along with the crowds. And of course there is a lot of tourists that are just deciding to go somewhere that there isn’t a drug gang war.
Nearly empty beach.
Breakfast...for $4US.
Empty street into the Golden Zone at 10 in the morning.
Back to the beach. Water was a little cool. But the weather was fine. Around 75°F.
So I wandered around the Golden Zone for a couple hours after that great breakfast to remind myself where my favorite haunts were. Pleasant day, had a nice Pina Colada late in the day at the old Purple Onion…which apparently was sold to an Asian immigrant who proceeded to break the rules for doing business in Mexico and got busted. It had been owned by an American when I first started coming to Maz and he got tired of fending off the gangs that wanted to kidnap him or members of his family or wanted ‘protection’ money. Now it’s owned by a Mexican chain of bars/resturants locally owned and operated. The bar itself hadn’t changed much, even had some of the same people working there. Food menu looked great but it was early afternoon so I promised myself to come back in a few days to try it.
Needed my sun screens.
I was parked on the East side of the RV park and the late afternoon sun was starting to get the RV up to the mid 80’s so I put on my shades. Had to run the AC in the late afternoon.
Got the wheel covers on too.
But I did have nice shade from the tree so the bedroom stayed relatively cool. Notice how bad the vinyl stripes look? Wait till I post the ‘after’ shots from the paint job.
Checking fluids.
Spent a couple hours checking fluids and the general condition of the rig after the 3300 miles of driving from Alaska to Mexico. Everything seemed fairly normal. Sure am sick of the ugly look of the rig.
Might as well show the whole rig.
Spent the first couple weeks wandering around, finding my favorite mechanico and getting him started on some projects, arranging for a paint job, talking with the neighbors, and generally having a good time. Helped a neighbor with their WiFi set up and when I entered their rig, they asked me if I could also get their TV and remote set up. They had inadvertently pressed the wrong button on the remote and couldn’t figure out how to get their satellite reception working. Took me less then 30 seconds to push the right combo on the remote and they were back in business. They’d been without TV for several days and none of their park friends had been able to get it working. Then I went to work on their WiFi issue and took around 45 minutes to get that all working. They were so happy, especially about the TV, that they gave me a 5th of Crown Royal. About $68 US. I don’t care for CR but my gurl friend up in Alaska loves it, so I’m saving it for her wedding next year.
It was strange walking the streets at night and finding so few people, nearly empty bars, closed businesses and the like, some of them looking like they’d been partially bulldozed. Heard some stories of gang attacks with automatic weapons on bars/clubs who refused to pay protection money but those stories could be bs too. But I come down here for the weather and service on my RV and company at the RV park mainly. Don’t do much night life stuff anymore. And I travel alone so not much to do but stay home and play on-line. Facebook, the RV forums I help on, etc.
Afternoon on the beach.
The cool weather is a treat, and I especially like the cool breeze that picks up around 4pm. Every night. Sometimes lasts for a couple hours, other times all night. Refreshing.
It was now around mid February and my friend Stacy had moved up to Maz from Puerto Vallarta because she has several friends up here, me included, and likes the area. Plus the Carnival was coming along in a couple weeks and she wanted to be here for that. Worlds 3rd largest carnival. I went over to visit her at her hotel room several times and the following pics are from the pre-carnival festivities.
One of hundreds of beer kiosks.
See that island in the background? It appears white because of the type of stone. But it is fun teasing people who ask by telling them it’s all bird poo.
Band tuning up.
Waiting for Stacy to finally get done primping and join me. Visiting with a couple of her local friends.
Finally, she shows up.
Sunset on the Olas Atlas in Old Town Mazatlan.
And a good time was had by me.