Mazatlan Diary 2009

2-6 Checked into the Minneapolis Airport Comfort Inn at 6pm after some tough highway driving. There was an accident near exit 1a on 494 2 miles before we were to turn off on. Some anxious moments which prompted Debbie to say, "You're just like your Dad on busy roads!" I replied, "I know." It's genetic. We both get a little frazzled in aggressive traffic situations. We were going to eat at the Outback Steak House, but neither one of us was very hungry. I called Dad from the hotel to update them on the exact itinerary.

2-7 The day is finally here, when we take that four-hour flight to Mexico. Debbie and I are full of exuberance as we head out for a possible once in a lifetime experience. I promised Deb that I would hold her hand during takeoff, as we both of us are not too fond of airplanes. I have two John Updike books I will take along on the trip. One is "Self-Consciousness," his memoirs he wrote in his early 50's and then his latest that he finished months before he died called, "The Widows of Eastwick." I have 2 mp3 players ready for the beach too. We are looking forward to seeing Donnie and Bev later in the day.
Airport terminals have changed quite abit since we last flew to Florida in 2000. There are book stores and coffee shops, and yes, liquor stores too. As we rode into the airport, we encountered Larry, who had been driving the hotel shuttle for many years. Larry was very opinionated and was knocking Obama for being a socialist who is trying to be everything to everybody. He was talking to another conservative man from LA who was also riding with us, mentioning the "spread the wealth mentality" which will surely doom us all in the end. He appeared to be racist when he said that Obama may favor the black people too much. This is a view held by more people than perhaps we want to admit. He sort of had that Tom Eierman charm but was very opinionated about politics. He talked about how the dems were goofing up Gitmo and had "no idea what they were doing." I decided not to interject my opinions into the conversation, because I wanted to guarantee Debbie and I a safe ride to the Northwest terminal.

As we checked into the airport, we had to run our passports through a scanning device. When they ran mine through, our hearts skipped a beat collectively as the computer said there was no match for the passport number. We have come so far only to run into this??? After a couple more tries, it worked. OH BOY.

As we waited for the airplane at the gate, we met Ed and Becky from Minnesota who had been to Mexico at least once before. Ed was quite negative, saying how he hated Northwest because they were arrogant and made them sleep in the airport one night 20 years ago. Ed willingly talked to us, but he remained quite moribund and morbid. Becky was much more pleasant, most of the time with her face buried in her book called "True Colors." A story about three sisters. I told her my book was also about three women, but stopped short of describing how salacious Updike can be. We also called Jeff and Sheila, who just got back after staying with Donnie and Bev for a week. They said they had a great time and even got some dental work done in Mazatlan. A lot cheaper I guess. Jeff said they "saved tons of money." I thought he was joking about the dentist at first.

It was a VERY smooth flight into Mazatlan with almost no turbulence. When they popped open the airplane doors, I kept repeating "instant summer" to Debbie. She just smiled and nodded, taking it all in herself. Temps in the mid 80's and the smiling Mexicans there to meet us. After we got our luggage and headed through customs, we encountered aggressive salesmen trying to sell us a condo and numerous taxi and van drivers in a somewhat chaotic scene outside. We picked a van and loaded our suitcases in back. We bargained with the driver that we would pay 13 American dollars for the trip to Los Arcos Motel in the Golden Zone. We saw a lot of poverty on the streets on the way in, prompting Deb and I flash intermittent nervous smiles at each other and me to mumble "What are we getting ourselves into?" It was a wild 40-minute ride to the hotel. We hugged Bev who was there to meet us at the entrance. She was somewhat flustered that we had taken too long, had taken two hours to get there.

Donnie and Bev were glad to see us there. The first night, we immersed ourselves in the Mexican music and food. It was a warm night, in the mid-70's. There was a beach on the band and we indulged in shrimp at Poncho's that was 5 inches across. It's not called the schrimp capitol of the world for nothing. WOW. Mazatlan in all its glory. It seemed like a land of dreams, complete with Pacifico and Corona.

Saturday night, had a little trouble sleeping because of a disco blaring from across the street until 6am. We survived. Donnie reminded us to close our window the next time.

Ryan surprised us with a call on Sunday at the hotel at about 9am. It was nice to hear his voice. He got a calling card number from Monica. Sunday was a fun day on the beach and we took the first pictures of the trip. Debbie and I took a couple of walks on the beach (me with my "big old shorts" on.) Sitting in the sun and reading Updike for a couple of hours too near the swimming pool....what a life :) Debbie and I had our first encounter with Robert and Henry the Hat Guy. They walk up and down the beach all day and sell hats and sunglasses. We took Robert's picture. He was persistent, but we never ended up buying a hat from him. Bev did buy me a hat in one of the stores, a cowboy hat with the words "Corona" and "Mazatlan" on it. What a change from the midwest which was freezing with temps in the teens.

Last night we ate at Margaritas because Donnie and Bev ate with their friend Doris from Minneapolis. Bev met Doris 20 years ago in Mexico and they have become close friends. Bev describes her as very thoughtful and caring person. At Margaritas a guitar player serenaded Debbie with a love song. Later we joined Donnie at the Playa to watch a band --- very talented band with a female singer---a lot of people dancing and having a good time. We got a table next to the beach. Earlier they had a fireworks display. We caught the grand finale as we walked to the Playa on the beach.

Monday we got cash, many pesos, for the week. We went to the market later in the day. Took a lot of pictures. We rode a polminino, an open air taxi, to the market area. It was a fun ride. Went to Ponchos for lunch. While eating at Ponchos, there were about a dozen salesmen ane saleswomen on the beach selling wood carved sculptures, rugs, mobiles, sunglasses, tattoos, lanterns and you name it. That night after a siesta from 3-5pm we ate at the Saloon, with TV's tuned to American sports games. Also on Monday I did a mass email to relatives to tell them how the trip was going. It was nice to have a computer at the linen shop just a half-block away. Got a chance to do some other business as well.

The market was full of tourists and common folk. I bought a shirt from a rather aggressive saleswoman, but I guess that is all part of the experience. Nice shirt though. We bought some fruit and Bev got me my hat there too. That night we had some drinks at Bob and Margie's room on the 7th floor of Las Flores. Bob talked to us about how he was lucky to be alive after a tree cutting injury in 2001. He told us about how he loved his 30-plus year teaching career but had to give it up because of the injury. Margie was curious about Stephen's autism and wondered about a connection with siezure disorder. We had a good visit with Bob and Margie.

In the morning, we have a ritual of having coffee and rolls with the folks. Conversations range from Turtle Lake news to things to do in Mexico, stories about old friends, etc. On Wednesday, the guys (Donnie, Bob and I) and the gals(Bev, Margie and Deb) did our separate things. Donnie and I kind of wanted to go explore but we didn't push Bob too hard. We ended up sitting at Las Flores and sipping brew for a lot of the afternoon, beautiful day on the beach in the mid-80's. Bev wanted to go to Walmart very badly and the girls did other buying at other arts and crafts shops for the day. Bev came back with some expensive candy, some Bailey's Irish Creme chocolates. Yum Good.

Yesterday, Deb and I attempted to sign up for a tour boat, but it turned out to be kind of a farce because they didn't have enough people, and on days when the cruise ships came in, they didn't have room for us. Not good customer service. We also ran into a couple more people selling shares in condos, and Donnie had a semi run-in with one especially obnoxious one, but learnign to shrug them off. Bev said, "You've got to be blunt with them --- or else they will take you for every inch you've got." Well said Bev.....well said.

2-13-09 Today we plan to call Ryan at the linen store. They have the best deal for international calling over the net and plus we couldn't get our damn phone card to work. He hope he is having a good time with Dale and Monica. It's hard to believe that our entire Mexico fantasy vacation will come to a screeching halt in a day and a half. Must scrunch as much good stuff in as possible. Last night we saw an awesome guy who spray painted pictures selling his art on the street and another guy with marvelous fingerpainting skills, would have bought some fingerpainting pictures but the frames were odd sizes, costing us too much money. Yes Lisa, we had the Lighthouse drink at Ernie Tomatoe's last night, one of the things on your list. I ordered black olives on my pizza and they didn't get it and put whole black olives on the pizza with the pits still in, how strange indeed.

We met Bob and Margie after being turned down for the second time for the booze cruize. Margie was all excited about going parasailing. Debbie and I had talked about it earlier and we decided that it would be best for me not to go because of the risk. Margie's enthusiasm for adventure, though, was getting quite infectious. We ended up encouraging her too that everything would be great. We waited for about an hour because of the high winds then Ceasar came over and gave the thumbs up. He was also mentioning that I should try it.

As Margie headed out there to the beach to put her gear on, Humberto was flapping his arms like a bird and smiling a broad and beautiful smile. She was also hiding her nervousness, somewhat feeling maybe that she was being led to a strange execution, death at the beach. The wind was 15-25 knots perhaps and there was no turning back for Margie. Ceasar continued to cheer her on with his infectious smile. When Margie took off her confidence grew and when she came back in, she was so confident and said she was glad he took the chance. Bob then said he would pay for my ride. I asked Debbie, feeling she would be quite nervous about the idea. She finally said, "Do want you want to do!" after I pressed her further. Maybe I shouldn't have pressed so hard, but I was so curious to find out what the adventure felt like. I took my ultimate cue, my green light and Bob paid Ceasar. I will never regret that ride. It was heaven. I saw half the city of Mazatlan, and it was perfect peace, me and the wind.

Today I will go search for some good art work. Today perhaps I will check email to see if Ryan returned my message. Maybe I will look for that perfect cup of coffee, more pesos to burn before we have to turn our money in, right? Found a small porcelain print of a beach and ocean scene. Paid 70 pesos for it. She wanted 100, no way......got to bargain with these folks. They're used to it and expect it. The print was of of the Pacific Ocean from the shore of Mazatlan with birds and palm trees and a view of Deer Islands with large sail boats docked there.(It now hangs in the McAndrew kitchen in NFDL).

On Saturday we had our final meal in Mexico at our favorite place, Ponchos, with the shrimp 5 inches across. We took some pictures with Bob and Margie along the beach in front of Las Flores. We took pictures of Humberto and his wife and some more of the beautiful coastline. It was so hard to say goodbye; it was like saying goodbye to a lover that you would never see again.....brought me to some tears. Debbie and I both feel that we are so lucky to have this time and it's possible we will never afford to come back again. Stepping into Mazatlan was like stepping into a fantasy world. We feel lucky that we were able to immerse ourselves in a culture far different than our own we have come away with a positive poignance, that we touched first-hand something far greater than ourselves, the diversity that exists in potential human experience.

Jeff 2-2009