Chaos Leaves Town

We, Ismael, Rosita and I, went out for dinner last evening around 6 pm. This was the dinner I wanted to buy for Ismael and his wife since they have been so nice and have given me lots of free time or services here at the park. Plus Ismael has driven me all over town several times and all the way down to Teacapan last week. Of course I kind of repaid that by being the local computer guru around here, and helped Ismael install a new repeater for the WiFi.

They choose the restaurant and it is right downtown in old Mazatlan. There are narrow streets, very old buildings, lots of street activity including a street discussion of a book. There were about 70 people listening intently to a women talk about a new book that had just been published. The area was a grand plaza that had lots of booths set up selling books. I’ve never seen that in the states.

We sat outside since the weather was so pleasant. I ordered a weird soup kind of thing that came in a very hot & huge stone bowl. Had beef, cactus chunks, and vegetables. Couple dabs of goat cheese and some diced peppers too. It was excellent and very spicy. There was so much that I brought a large doggie tray home with me.

Then we wandered around the area, checked out the bookseller booths, and then went into the old opera house. They were having a ballet and the tickets were only $60 pesos but I couldn’t talk them into going. I’m not a big fan either but I did want to see the inside of that building. It’s a couple of hundred years old, very ornate, and typically Mexican. I took some pictures out in front of a wedding couple.

Ismael and his wife Rosa (Rosita):

A shot while on the street of one of many gardens that seem to be everywhere:

Don’t know what this is:

Here’s where we had dinner:

A close up shot, I didn’t get the feeling that they were mad at each other but I don’t know why she looks unhappy with Ismeal:

Here’s the ‘booksellers row’:

Here I am enjoying the exotic surrondings and company:

As we approached the Opera House:

One happy couple, outside the Opera House:

Wow, it’s been several minutes and they are still happy with each other:

I wandered down to the north of the Golden Zone to look at that boat I found on the web. It’s not exactly what I hoped for but the price is right. What I found is that it doesn’t appear to be a 36 footer like the ad states. It seems shorter than that. Allot less room then I expected, I’ve been on several 35 footers and this didn’t feel like one, not really anywhere to put my electronics shop or tools. The dealer told me he thought it was a 30 footer and a printed estimate they handed me after the tour shows it as a 26 footer. Makes a big difference in the price.

But, the price isn’t bad…$13,000 USD and then around $7,000 to get her seaworthy. And it has radar (most don’t at this age). It needs new rigging, wiring upgraded, painting and the bottom cleaned and checked for voids or rot in the plastic.

While I was waiting, I looked around, there are some of these for sale, this club doesn’t allow any ‘For Sale’ signs on the boats.

This trimaran is for sale for $160,000USD. To rich and ugly for me:

Here’s a view of boats from the dingy, just ’cause:

And the fantail of the boat:

The cockpit:

The dinette:

The galley:

The bow:

Again:

The tail:

I wanted to see the 7 RV parks in Teacapan so Ismael and I drove down in his car to save wear and tear on my rig, plus the fuel would be less expensive for the trip down and back. We went around 300 kilometers total. I got a few shots of the road side and some towns we went through but mostly I was interested in the RV Parks. I’m looking for a remote place to spend a few weeks, away from the big city (Mazatlan).

There’s one fairly big town we passed that has an arch at the entrance and another at the exit. They were built in 1655. And the town was probably 100 years old before they could afford to go to that much trouble. There’s an old church steeple you can see from the hiway that looks that old. We didn’t stop. Maybe next time I go down there I’ll try to get into the town (the hiway bypasses it) and get some pictures.

Just a road side hacienda that seemed more interesting at the time I took the picture:

This is the ‘rio’ that Ismael tells me is full of water most of the year. I tell him it’s not a river, it’s an arroyo. He insists it is a rio.

After about an hour of driving, a little of the countryside near the ocean, looking east:

This first park we stopped at, Rancho Los Angles, is remote, it’s the farthest park (8 miles) from Teacapan, has most all the amenities except WiFi. There is a resturant here. The road is a little rough and during the rainy season it floods, but I think most rigs could make it OK if they take it slowly. The weather was cool, around 75F, with a constant breeze off the ocean. I could stay here for weeks, if I could get my satellite internet working.

This is the mile long driveway into the park:

And the park itself:

This next park is just down the road from LA, called Villas Onac, has the same poor road into the park. But then it has WiFi. It’s big downfall is that it has no character. It has the appearance of being a boring place to stay.

Down south a few miles more is La Tambora RV Park. It appears this place hasn’t had anything done to it for years. The wiring is very old, you would be lucky to get even 15 amps here, which means you probably could not run your AC if there are more then two or three RVs in the park. It does have a mostly paved road going to the park. Rustic is too kind of a word:

This next one was my favorite place out of all the parks in this area. They are in the process of remodeling the outbuildings so the restroom is new, there is a new office going up, the place has loads of character, there is a nice swimming pool, restaurant, the rates are low, the amenities fine. And it’s the closest to town. An easy walk or bike ride. The beach is excellent, the park appears to be in a little cove, there’s plenty of activity, the cocos forest behind the RV park is pleasant so it is an area that could hold your interest for weeks. When I come back to this part of Mexico next fall, I think I’ll stay here for a few weeks.

Here’s a few shots of Teacapan:

The town square:

Here’s Ismael and Rosita back at the office at La Posta RV Park:

Last evening I wandered out of the RV park down the road (West) toward The Golden Zone. It’s about 2 blocks from here and I wanted to visit a neat looking place right on the beach that I’d passed by several times but curiously never really noticed until a day or so ago.

It’s a restaurant in one section and a club in the other. There might be a hotel there too but I didn’t notice that. The building is kinda interesting with long stairways and hallways and empty or dark rooms off of corridors.

I went into the dinning area first. It has a beautiful grand piano in the foray and when I was there a lounge singer. Of course this is the off season so the place was nearly deserted. I check out the prices, around $35 per person for a dinner & drinks, so this is a pretty spendy and trendy place. There were several waiters standing around in their tucs waiting.

Here’s a view of the sunset from the veranda. Sure, there are several tables out here and out of respect for the diners, I didn’t take any flash shots of them while they were eating. The other portion of the building is hanging there on the cliff. That’s were the club is. A bar and dance floor. With several smaller areas (roped off while I was there) for different bands.

Here’s a view south from the veranda. It looks towards the ‘old town’ of Mazatlan. The beach here use to be where all the fishermen parked their boats. Since Mazatlan turned into a tourist destination over 100 years ago that all moved away over the years. Now it’s used for swimming and tanning.

One more shot of the sunset:

Or maybe two:

I had dropped my satellite dish on the ground when I first got to Mazatlan several weeks back and finally got around to fixing the problem that was created. When I picked the dish assembly last Sept. there was a piece of metal that the bolt goes through to hold the dish to the top of the tripod that had a crack in it. Over the ensuing weeks that broken part finally fell apart. At the Las Jaibas RV park, when I tried to set it up and at least test for a satellite signal, the part finally gave way and the dish toppled over. That bent an adjustment screw and broke a small piece of the dish (I’ll glue that back on).

Yesterday I took the tripod into a local machine shop and had them make me a humongous washer out of aluminum that fits up into the hole. Then I had them make me a new adjusting screw so I can tilt the dish forward and backward. The original was made of soft steel and wasn’t very good to begin with but the new one is hardened stainless steel. Should last a very long time.

Everything came to $285 pesos. My friend Ismael was kind enough to run me over there and I’m helping him install a better WiFi antenna system. He worked as a taxi driver for years so he knows where everything is in town. I’ve gotten to see tons of stuff I wouldn’t have otherwise known existed.

So when Ismael quit his job at Las Jaibas RV Park, we had become friends enough that I sympathized with his issues with the patron’ and so moved to a different RV park where his wife works. This one is about a block off of the main road that goes through the Golden Zone and parallels the beach.

My new space:

See that white tree stump there near the rear tires? That’s where I left my bike the second night I was here. Totally forgot to lock it up. Next morning it’s missing. So Ismael hears about it and has his wife offer me a free week at the campground. Down here, a bike like mine costs $125 US. Up in the states it’s only $80. I took them up on the offer since the weekly fee here is around $105 US. I’m now in my second week here at the park and I’ve meet some new friends…

Jerry and Judy:

Bill:

Since Ismael no longer has a job, he’s taking a few weeks off before he goes back to taxi driving or whatever, so he offered to give me a ride over to Stone Island (not really an island – a peninsula now but it use to be an island) to look at the RV park over there.

On the way:

Looking west:

One of the more famous singers in the area owns this house. He’s in the process of selling it so they can put up condos:

I took this shot to get that purple house in the frame…I liked the color but the house itself is kinda boring from the street. That patio is pretty cool though. Let’s assume that the inside is purple too.

As we rounded the hill, looking back east to Mazatlan proper:

This is one of the streets down in ‘Old City’ of Mazatlan. Kind of hard to get around in a big rig, glad I never had to try it:

We hired a boat to take us over to Stone Island:

Here’s where they park those cruise ships that come here. Ismael’s home is about 2 blocks to the starboard side of that ship:

After we landed on Stone Island, we walked over to the beach. The RV park we’re looking for is way off in the distance. The buildings along the beach are all businesses for tourists, but as you can see, there aren’t many because of the difficulty in getting here. The road is terrible with hundreds of pot holes. The other way is by boat. All those trees in the distance are coconut trees, it’s a huge plantation:

This is a shot of the little town we passed through by pedicab on the way to the RV park. It was a very, I’m mean very, rustic town. Would have gotten more shots but we were bouncing around too much:

Two days later we headed south to check out another RV park, these are like explorations for both me and Ismael since I’m looking for some ground to buy, maybe even a RV park, and he is looking for a new job sort of. And we hit it off so we’re hanging out and he’s showing me his favorite spots. We went to one ‘buy your RV plot’ place where last year he was offered a job but he turned it down back then because there was nothing but a couple roads on the land. Now there is a big beautiful meeting center, a pool is going in, there are a couple of buyers parked on their improved sites, there’s an apartment for the manager, etc. He wanted my opinion about the place. The park is 3 miles from the Mazatlan Areo Puerto, about 20 minutes from the Golden Zone, out in the sticks where you have to drive through a really old Mexican town with cobble stone paving, narrow roads, etc. The land slopes toward the hills, it’s quiet, peaceful, and the developer is ‘required’ by land use laws to reinsert the green that they removed. So, trees and grass will be reinstalled.

In short, I think the place will be a great success and told him he should take the job if it’s re-offered. Like I said, he hadn’t seen the place for months, and was impressed as I was. They gave us the grand tour. Had a great time. I hadn’t expected much from his descriptions so I forgot to take any pictures for you guys. After we left there, we headed even further south into the semi-big town 3 miles from the RV place and I started taking pictures again, this is a typical street in a typical small town in Mexico:

Here we are heading out of town due south:

Friday night I went out and did some dancing at The Purple Onion. Had a few beers and then added two martinis. It all hit me about 30 seconds before I hit the bed at home (good timing), added to that, I was plenty tired. And just before that, I couldn’t find the $200 pesos I know I had when I walked out of the bar. So I didn’t pay the taxi anything. He didn’t come back the next day so I guess he found it.

The band stand.

Dancing!

Me and some ‘one night stand’ friends:

More bar back there:

Some of our newest and bestest friends ever! Now, what were their names?:

Couple of days later, when I go shopping. I’m in one of the little taxis that are all over the place. This trip cost me $60 pesos, but I had tons of groceries so couldn’t take the bus…$5 pesos for the bus.

Well, I’m finally over the illness. I have been fighting with Montezuma’s revenge for 6 days. Nasty. It relaxed yesterday morning and I was able to eat a little. When the vegi man came by in his truck I grabbed a bunch of fresh off the tree bananas and ravished them. Soooo hungry. And I wanted to eat something that is recommended for the revenge. Also, I had a honey and peanut butter samich. Honey is well know as an anti-bacterial. Going back thousands of years (you should know that).

Yesterday was the first day since last Wednesday that I felt well enough to ride my bike so I took the opportunity to enjoy the beach. The two miles into a fresh breeze was soothing. A little hard on me, but I felt better after the ride.

When I got to the turn around I saw, again, all those yellow and black dogs hanging around. I did find out that in Mexico, very few own dogs or cats. They are here, but as feral. The thing that’s impressive is that these feral dogs just hang out around humans…they aren’t running from them. I’ve not seen one of these dogs bark, snap or even look afraid like most dogs do in the states. They are non-territorial here. They don’t come if you entreat them but they accept a scratch if they are near or wander by your outstretched hand. I’ve seen them all over Mexico, not just here.

One of them, just hangin’:

‘Place holder for picture of Mexican dog’

Here’s what I’ve learned. Mexicans do not mistreat these animals. They are allowed to live their lives in peace. Peaceful treatment leads to peaceful animals. They do have to scavenge for food, but many here will drop them something now and again. I never saw a fat dog, but never skin and bones either. Sometimes I saw them actively playing with children on the beach. But when the people would leave, the dogs would stay.

I’m impressed with that. What nice people. And it implies that we in the states are doing it soooo wrong.

Today I went into town to attend to my appointment with a skin doctor. First I stopped at a X-ray place to have my hand X-rayed since it’s been giving me trouble ever since May ’05 when I hammered it with a 5 pound hammer. I thought I had an axial break…those take a long time to heal. The cost was $20 bucks or so. I took the shots over to the skin doc and she says that the bones are fine. Nothing on the X-rays. So I’m confused and she gives me a reference to a hand doc. See it’s been 10 months and it still gets puffy and I can’t use it to grip. Sometimes it hurts to bend or make a fist.

After discussing the hand, we start the surgery for the cysts and skin tags I want removed. Along with a mole or two that have gotten to big over the years. She does put on gloves this time but no mask. She jabs me with a needle for the topical and uses her rusty…I mean ‘trusty’ scalpel to whack out the cyst I had. Then she moves to the other one on my chest and I get a few more jabs of the needle. Hmm, when she starts cutting? That hurts. So I complain a little and she jabs me more with the topical. Cuts again, still hurts. This happened 5 times before she finally had enough of the topical anesthesia injected. But really, not that bad. Did feel like a rusty scalpel though, before the topical started working. I found out later that there is a huge illegal drug copying syndicate in Mexico that bottles water in drug bottles that look ligit. Even doctors buy them. I think that was what she had, or a watered down version of the drug.

So now I have my thingys done and get on back to the RV. Five, six days from now I can get the stitches removed. I’m happy I had it done down here because I saved around $700 (ignoring the cost to get here, but I would have come anyway) and it needed to be done. Always felt she knew what she was doing. We had trouble communicating once in a while but I always got what she was telling me eventually. I hadn’t thought about the stitches before so I might be here in Mazatlan for a little longer then I thought. Maybe a week more. Then I’d like to head south to Teacapan’.