Back in Mazatlan

We washed down the boat and had a relaxing morning.  In the afternoon went into town for Dawn to do a little souvenir/birthday shopping.  Her granddaughter Maggie’s  16^th birthday was coming up and she found  her a beautiful silver dolphin pendant with blue opal .  Off to Fat Fish for supper, their speciality,  2 huge plates of ribs with salad, baked potato, garlic toast etc only $160 pesos, less than $15.00 for the two meals.  And 2 for 1 strawberry margaritas as well.  The place is packed…mostly Canadians…we know a good deal when we see one…Tony Romas stand aside!

Sunday found us at the Juarez Market, a 12 square block street market where you can find fresh produce, tools, household goods, clothes, food and just about anything you can imagine. 

  In the afternoon Dawn’s sister Cathy and company who were vacationing at the El Cid Resort close by, came down to the marina to see the boat, and to look at pictures of our trip to Isabella.  Then we all took a camioneta (little red truck with seats in the back) to Playa Bruja.  Had an excellent supper, good music and dancing and a free sample of their own Coffee Tequila. 

A laid back day for Dawn & Frank’s last day here.  Walked over to the Isla and checked out some of the real estate…most of it abandonded then stopped at the palapa for a juice.  Went out for supper with Merry & BJ from Willow to La Traymoya right at the top of our dock.  The following morning, Dawn & Frank caught a taxi to the airport, and by afternoon the wind really howled and the temperature dropped, but nothing like what they would experience on their return to Calgary.

We spend the next two weeks doing boat chores…installed a battery charger switch and scraped off some of the peeling paint on the side decks.  By the time we got the new paint on, we realized it was all for naught….the dew rolled in about 5pm that evening, and before we could get it covered with plastic, we could already see the paint washing off.  This is the second time in the six years that we have been here that we have tried to do a paint touch up…without much success.  Will have to try some other kind of paint next time. 

We’ve had a couple of swap meets since we have been here, and we’ve been quite successful in lightening our load.  Sold off some extra scuba equipment and tanks that we had on board for Shannon, and a Android tablet that Don could not get to run our navigation program.  Had hoped to find a new anchor, but so far no luck. 

We have been successful though in finding new glasses for both Don and I, and I made a quick trip to a Dermatologist to cure a case of exzema that seems to have appeared on my head.  So easy to see a doctor here, went in to the office one afternoon, doctor met us at the door, unfortunately she was just on her way to the hospital.  She gave me an appointment for first thing the following morning, and not only diagnosed the problem, gave me the prescription and had the special shampoo on hand for me to take with me.  Problem solved….quick and easy !

In between our chores and shopping etc, we have biked to Bruja Beach several times for Sunday morning brunch, celebrated a birthday for Rita on s/v Overheaded, had dinner on Willow with John & Barb some other Calgarians who live in the Mission district.  Stewart & Sallyanne, also from Calgary (Edgemont) invited us over to their boat in El Cid Marina where we enjoyed a dip in the pool and a delicious dinner on board their beautiful s/v Jekamanzi

We have also attended two cooking classes this year held by an association called Sonrisa.  The cost of the classes are all put towards offering scholarships and schooling for some the families that Sonrisa sponsors. 

Roasting tomatoes on a Comal

Chocolate tamales !

Roasting peppers on open flame

Chili in Nogada Sauce