New Year's Eve - Willie had his new fuel pump and was rearing to go so Bill and Carol picked us up at 10:30 and we stopped at Cerritos, the beach at the northern end of Mazatlan.
There is a small shopping market, restaurants and beach where the fishermen come in.
We stayed in for the evening and cooked our steaks, onions, mushrooms, green peppers and garlic bread.
These steaks were great and they only cost $100 pesos, less than $10 at Henderson's.
We watched the ball drop in Times Square at 10 PM local time.
Friday - New Year's Day
Sparkling wine and fresh orange juice to start the new year followed by bacon and eggs.
We headed down to Plazuela Machado planning to go to Pedro and Lola's but it was closed. So we strolled around and ended up at The Shrimp Bucket but sat inside as it was rather cool outside right on the ocean. Lots of Mexicans cruising up and down the Malecon.
I love the walls with hand drawn wallpaper.
There were lots of women line dancing as Rafael performed at Plazuela Machado.
Saturday
They were busy setting up for another party this morning. This puzzle is numbered.
Bill and Carol were going to run some errands and asked if we wanted to come along. Sure, if we could drop by the centro bus terminal to get our tickets for next Saturday to Guadalajara.
We found the terminal and John and I were confronted with rows of various bus companies and lots of Mexicans lining up for tickets. We looked at prices and noticed that the most expensive one had no line up and was advertised as Executive service. Just then Bill and Carol arrived so it was nice to have a translator and we bought our tickets. It cost $1,340 pesos and we selected our seats.
Then we all needed some groceries so headed to Soriana's.
These are nopales or cactus paddles. They are readily available in Mexican grocery stores already cleaned.
First, to choose them, you want paddles that are bright green and although soft, not limp. The smaller the paddle the more tender it will be.
To clean them, if it’s your first time, you may want to use plastic gloves. Rinse under cold water being careful with the thorns. Nopales are persnickety, their thorns are almost invisible, but a good clue is that wherever there is a bump there may be a thorn.
They are often served with scrambled eggs, click here for a recipe. I'll be sure to let you know if we ever try them.
Carol found the flor de jamaica that was the basis of our yummy drink last week at Panama's. Turns out they are dried hibiscus flowers, known in Mexico as jamaica (pronounced "ha-ma-ike-ah", rather than like the name of the Caribbean island country.
We had a club sandwich back by the pool, perfect!
They are further along in setting up the party.
The puzzle is in place.
Guests of honour or hosts arrive, makes us assume it is an anniversary party.
Then B and C picked us up and we went for a great Italian meal at Villa Italia.
My eggplant parmesan.
John's slightly blurry but excellent lasagna.
We get back and it is a rather sedate party taking place.
But once the mariachis leave and the recorded music comes on then the dance floor fills up.
This morning we are picked up at 9:30 and the four of us head to El Quelite for breakfast. We've been here twice before this trip and in the past but it never gets tired. It is such a pretty town and today it was packed as it is the last day before the new year reality sets in.
Click here for our last visit.
To start we were served bowls of fresh fruit and a selection of handmade cheeses made from the milk of local cows. Click here to see the cheese being made in town.
There were wedges of mildly-flavored queso fresco and a curdled cottage cheese. Also an order of gorditas.
Gorditas - are a sort of maize masa-harina edible parcel that you can stuff with your favourite filling. They're also known as Itacates (from a Nahuatl term used to refer to food to take on a journey or into the fields).
Monday
I went for a haircut at the Gran Plaza, $50 pesos.
So odd to see the Christmas decorations still up, especially when it is so warm and sunny.
We then walked to the Malecon and ended up walking for 12 km or 15,877 steps before we got the bus back to the condo at 5 PM.
Just what the heck are cockroach shrimp? I looked it up and you may not want to know....
Garlic shrimp, delicious.
More strolling.
Tuesday
We meet at Torres Mazatlan for breakfast. They were starting to take down the Christmas decorations.
We took the bus downtown to the market. We hadn't visited the shrimp ladies yet this year. More fish pics to come.
A flower shop, not the flower area, near the funeral home.
Mural inside a small hotel.
In the market can never resist taking photos.
Crossing through the church we saw several men around town dressed as the Three Wise Men beards and all. They were selling rosca de reyes or kings' ring. A pastry traditionally eaten to celebrate Epiphany January 6 the celebration of the DÃa de Reyes (literally "Kings' Day"), which commemorates the arrival of the three Magi or Wise Men.
Next stop was Angel Flores St. to get more photos of this colourful street.
From there we continued down the street to the Malecon where we took a break and ate HOT salsa.
You can't see the tears from the salsa, but they were there. We realized that a cruise ship must be in town as there were numerous tour buses passing by. The port is behind me. As well lots of pulmonias whipping by taking passengers back.
Then a stroll along this end of the Malecon.
A swimming pool we hadn't noticed in other years.
Lots of vendors about, another sure sign the cruise ships are here.
The cruise ship tour buses stop for this, the cliff divers.
We've taken many photos of this statue but the light was perfect today.
Shrimp Bucket on the corner where we will have dinner later.
We found a spot to await the sunset. While waiting John walked up and got his photo of a famous Mexican actor.
We headed to Shrimp Bucket for dinner and I had warned John that it was karaoke night so all the gringos would be out. How bad could it be, we've heard lots of karaoke and people who love to sing and sing well.
Weeeellllllll not in this case, almost everyone was flat and horrible! No, seriously, awful.
We ate and were out of there.
Not a bad day, we had left at 9 AM and returned by 8 PM 12,368 steps later.
Wednesday
No real plans, relaxed and then walked over to the supermarcado and Henderson's for steaks.
Back and pool time with lunch, club sandwich. Then a nap for me and some reading time.
We can't really see the sunset from our condo but the sky was looking interesting so John headed down to the end of the pier and caught this!
Steak and frites for dinner, a perfect ending to a lazy day and another great week.
What a FABULOUS few days. Love the colorful buildings, the statues, the food. Wow. I think I'll pass on cockroach shrimp. *shudder*
ReplyDeleteThe dolphins and mermaid sculptures are my favourites.
ReplyDelete