5C's Que Pasa

We stopped and offered assistance if needed. Turns out they are here due to my blog. First thing I heard was "Are you Contessa?"

It was a very high tide this morning.

Once the horses had passed Colin got his raking done. He hasn't done it for a few days so today was the day. You can see the tide is coming up to the end of our log, the end of our personal beach.

We delayed the start of our day by 90 minutes waiting for Colin's Spanish tutor. He never showed so we had our morning fruit and finally got into our beach walk.

One of the campers had a dog who had a tumour removed and the stitches needed to come out.

Rather than subject the dog to a ride in the panga and a pulmonia just to have stitches removed, I did it.

This was taken last Saturday, the 25th of January. The sun set on the left of El Faro about halfway up the mountain.

A little later the same evening.

You see that on Sunday, the 26th, the sun is setting more to the right in the photo.

A second shot on Sunday.

A final photo from Sunday with great cloud reflections.

Yesterday, Monday the 30th you can see the sun setting more on top of the lighhouse.

This was taken on December 13, 2013. The sun was setting much more to the left of the lighthouse.

Cheryl and Peggy both turned 60 on the same day, the 27th. An excellent reason for a great party. Here the girls are dancing the first dance. Someone went to all the trouble to smooth out the sand and write Happy Birthday in it.

My favorite band, Los Cryps was hired to play for us.

We danced and we partied and danced and danced. I think I only sat out 2 songs all night.

This is the same band that we have been dancing to in town at the Plazuela Machado. I like to call them my boy band.

The party started at 6:30 PM and we all brought an appetizer to share and our drinks and chairs.

We danced the night away. The band had been hired for two hours but I did a collection and we were able to retain them for a third hour.

They are a wonderful group of musicians mostly performing on weekends.

Cheryl and Peggy blowing out their 60 candle!

The original idea was a campfire with the band playing in behind. Most of us danced but many enjoyed the music from the comfort of the fire. It actually was a perfect evening temperature wise with almost no wind.

The band asked for a photo with those of us who stayed to the end of the fiesta.

What a wonderful change from last season.....seats in the orchestra and two levels up were full and the top tier had a good many seats full.

The concert was outstanding, featuring not only wonderful soloists but a fabulous 80 member choir and a talented selection of musicians.

The music spoke to the audience.

Standing ovation after standing ovation.

After the concert we were able to give Gordon Campbell our congratulations along with dozens of others. It seems that Gordoen has even grandeur plans for next season including an 11 year old diva who has already performed at Carnegie Hall. Be still my beating heart!

I haven't been to a symphony yet where I haven't met a blog reader. Hola to Hannelore and Peter from Kamloops. Of course Lynne who RVed here from Chicago and Hugh who flew here from Vancouver, B.C were with us also.

After the symphony we went across to show Lynne and Hugh the Jonathon Boutique Hotel.

It has a unique roof top bar that was not open Sunday afternoon but has some interesting views in the evening.

Teatro Angela Peralta from the roof of the Jonathon Hotel.

From there we walked through the Plazuela Machado to the museum. The Museo Casa Machado was created to preserve the historical memory of Mazatlan.

Just to make things easier and clearer I took the above from http://www.mazatlantoday.net/museo_casa_machado_mazatlan.html

How the building looked way back then.

A recreation of the dining room looking through to the sitting room.

Definitely a high end nursery for the era.

The museum also has a lovely outdoor patio overlooking the Plazuela Machado. Just below this patios is the Casa Canobbio restaurant, which opened just a few years ago. It has become one of our favorites in the Plazuela.

I took this photo from a photo in the museum. This is Angela Peralta for whom the theatre was named.

The Plazuela Machado from the upper balcony of Casa Machado.

Just enjoying some of the Mazatlan scenery on the way home.

Stone Island and it's great beach.

The read arrow shows where we are living on the Isla. What is most interesting is that all of the homes in the foreground here on the mazatlan side of the channel were under water, right from the Isla to the hill on the left. Jorge remembers swimming in the ocean and playing on the sand. So in less that 50 years, man has pushed back the ocean to make more land.

El Faro, the lighthouse. To the left is the channel into the Port of Mazatlan.

The highest natural lighthouse in the world.

The channel doesn't look very wide but it is wide enough.

Again with the Isla in the background and the Baja Ferry loading just to Hugh's right. I just read that Baja Ferries will be suspending the Mazatlan to La Paz route on February 4/14. There is no date of when the service will resume.

It really is a beautiful place to visit. So much to see in every direction you look.

There are three forts in the city. This gun was used to repel the French during the first battle in 1864. The people of Mazatlan won that battle but did surrender later in 1864 and it took four attempts before the city was back in Mexican hands.

This is the very first Catholic Cathedral in Mazatlan.

It is 150 years older than the one in Centro, the one that is visited by tourists.

This is the original door. There are still 2 services held per day and we met a fellow who had just been married inside last week.

You never know what you are going to see on a street in Mazatlan. Hopefully that pig in not dinner tonight.

In case you want to know, this is the very best place to watch the fireworks during Carnivale. According to Jorge, this is where the locals bring their chairs to watch. Many also sell food and it becomes a huge fiesta. The road up is closed during certain events to prevent hundreds of vehicles from clogging the street. Jorge suggested we walk up the hill with our chairs to join them but as there are no banos I shall decline his offer. After the tour we had an early dinner at El Fish Market, the place with the blue awning on the left, 1/3 up in the shot. Great views!

Yet another panoramic view of Mazatlan. That is the Golden Zone on the far left at the top of the bay.

The owner of Tres Amigos RV Park joined us on the panga back to the Isla.

I always have so much fun with the Isla locals on the panga.

It was a great day in Mazatlan but it's always good to get back to the Isla.