Feliz Navidad

Plaza Machado Mazatlan

Our weekly recap
December 2018 - Mazatlan Mexico

Saturday
Six Word Saturday Jack Frost

Lazy morning, slept in, fruit salad and yogurt for breakfast.

I forgot to mention grocery prices. Head of lettuce $1 CDN as opposed to the $5 I paid before we left. Half a cantaloupe $0.82. 2 green peppers $1. $1.71 for a dozen eggs.Bottle of vodka $9.

We strolled out for lunch and decided on Chili Pepper's right on the beach, we hadn't been here before.

Not a bad view.

Good salsa but Pancho's is still leading the pack.

My coconut shrimp with warm mango sauce, really good, we'll definitely be back.

John had garlic shrimp.

Never been in, the expats like to hang out here.

Just a little guy today, not warm enough for him to come out.

A siesta is always good.

There was a wedding at the resort and the band was loud! But good.

We watched a really good 2017 movie with Pierce Bronson The Foreigner.

Sunday
Inspired Sunday Barcelona Spain
One Word Sunday ANTICIPATION
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge REFLECTIONS

A cloudy day so we lounged around, catching up on TV, reading and watching football. Fruit for breakfast and an omelet for lunch.

We had dinner plans with Bill and Carol, but it was going to be a chilly evening to dine outside so we decided to rebook.
John was content with two football games to watch. I  watched the original, original A Star is Born with Gloria Gayner!!


We had chicken, broccoli and potatoes for dinner.



Monday 
Foto Tunes
Monday Mural
Wordless

We headed back to Los Osuna this morning but the fermentation process was completed yesterday. No worries, we had a private showing.

Heading to work.

Butterflies are in abundance this year.

Click here to see more of Los Osuna.

My Dona Pena crepes.

John's chorizo, eggs, beans and chilaquiles.

Carol's chocolate waffles!

In the men's bathroom "The Drunk".

From there we made a stop at Cerritos, where a lot of the small fishing boats come in. There is a market and some seafood restaurants.

He just took these oysters out of the ocean!

Showing John a close up of the oysters.

Some musicians off to work.

Click here to see Carol's post with a video.

Fresh fruit served with chili.

Musicians grabbing a snack of oysters with hot sauce before serenading the people on the beach.

Bill took his drone up.

And this little guy was fascinated.

While this one ran up and down the beach following it.

Tuesday

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge

Tuesday Treasures and Travel Tuesday

Tuesday Photo Challenge Cold and Warm

Christmas Day and we went to Lucky B's for breakfast. There were two cruise ships in town so it is fun to watch them wander around town.

John had an omelet and this is my ranchero eggs.

Bill and Carol left to see the divers and we wandered a little.

Yes, my little tourists, come buy some sillllver!

Took a pulmonia back and relaxed the day away. Steak for dinner.

Wednesday
ABC Wednesday Letter Y

We took the bus into town, the first time this trip. It's always an experience. The cost is 11 pesos or 0.75 Cdn cents.

We got off at the market, found the health food store I had read about, but it didn't carry any gluten free bread. Then walked around a bit before lunch.

The blue building is just a shell and is used as a parking lot.

A new art gallery and will be part of the monthly Art Walk.

A new craft brewery.

New consignment shop this season.

Lunch view.

A Mexican plate for John.

Tequila shrimp for me.

From there we walked back to the market to get the bus.

This guy was napping in Gandarva Art Gallery.

Just another pretty picture of the church.

Waiting for the bus at the market.

Thursday
Thursday Doors Los Osuna
A Photo A Week NEW

Walking around the dock early in the morning.

My new favourite Oikos yogurt coconut!

A lazy day until we went downtown to meet a couple for dinner. She had been in John's Spanish class in the fall and is here for two weeks on vacation.
We went to Topolo, known for their pork shank, which three of us had. No one took a photo!

I did video the Spanish coffee preparation.

Friday
Pull Up a Seat Mazatlan
Weekend Roundup Letter Z
Weekend Reflections Los Osuna
Wit's End Weekly Photo Challenge 2018 Selfies
#TimeSquare LV NV

We were just sitting around in our jammies and drinking coffee when Carol called and said "you've got 15 minutes if you want to go to Malpica and Copala"!

Done!

Malpica is a sleepy town outside of Mazatlan, known for its bakery. It is far from the honking horns and crazy drivers currently in Mazatlan for the holidays.

The oven that makes the bread and pastries taste so good.

Mural depicting the town's history.

Just before Concordia, off highway 40, there is a small town with hot springs. The government built a laundry facility over the springs which included washboards.

Kind of a fun, communal activity, doing the laundry together. But then you have to wring those jeans out, and drag it home to hang out and dry.

Bill has a big bag of candy to pass out to the kids.

Carol, then John, testing the water temperature, HOT.

On to Copala, passing by Concordia.

Copala used to be a busy little town, but since they've built the new, faster highway to Durango, this town is fading away.
No stoplights surrounded by the Sierra Madre mountains

During the last part of the 19th century, Copala was the center of the region’s silver mining district. Eventually, the mines closed, and the town became nearly deserted. Today, it's a National Historic Landmark with 650 full-time residents and a part-time community of retired Americans and Canadians devoted to the village’s picturesque solitude.

The black wagon says Copala Butter Company.
For a time, early in the 20th century, the largest mine operator in the region was Charles Butter, who also owned properties in Colombia, Nicaragua, South Africa and Australia. His Copala operation included 11,000 acres of lumber and grazing land, 2,000 acres with mineral deposits, 4 tube mills, a 1,000-horsepower steam boiler, a foundry and machine shop. Among the most productive on Mexico's West coast, the Butter mines processed 3,000 tons of gold and silver ore monthly. The Mexican Revolution took its toll here as elsewhere, though, and the town also suffered a cholera epidemic and a devastating cyclone. What had been a city of almost 10,000 shrank to less than a tenth of that in decades to follow.

Now the bells of the Iglesia San Jose ring out while the square is mostly deserted.

Click here to visit the church in 2014.
Gorgeous church, falling into disrepair.

See the gap at the top?

There it is!

The Christmas creche.

In a craft store.

Time for lunch. This restaurant just opened. Seems there's a scandal/murder associated with the place. Husband came home and found his wife in flagrante with her boyfriend, they ran out naked and the wronged husband shot him.

The sign by the fireplace also says Copala Butter Company, which has nothing to do with the dairy spread. Instead, it’s a small restaurant  400-year-old structure which is said to have previously housed the offices of the Butter Mining Company.

I had the shrimp rancheros.

The others had the chicken fajitas.

 

Carol hitching a ride.

Heading back.

BOOKS

I'm on a Lynda La Plante kick, catching up on her series. I finished Above Suspicion and started Silent Scream

Also finished The Ever After, started well but then nothing, seriously.

Deadly Beloved, my first foray into this author, obviously loved by many, but it didn't work for me.

A Game For All The Family - don't think I'll bother finishing this!

Final count for 2018 - 86

LINKING UP WITH:

Beth hosts Weekend Cooking where you can post anything food related.
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Sundays in my City
Seasons
Monday Walks
Monday Morning Blog Club
Through My Lens Monday
Our World Tuesday
Wanderful Wednesday #wanderfulwednesday

Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global

Weekly Postcard Friday

Feet Do Travel Friday

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