Christmas Eve Day in Mazatlan

Merry Christmas to All

Christmas morning finally dawns bright and sunny. The sun just popped up from behind a big black cloud. It started to rain yesterday afternoon and has been raining off and on since then. “But it NEVER rains in Mazatlan at this time of year.” Oh no?

The first night we were here Bill put some Christmas lights and a wreath on the front of Alfy so we look festive for a few days anyway.

First thing yesterday morning we decided that Willie, poor Willie, need a wash badly. Don’t think I’ve ever seen him quite this dirty.

But first we had to have breakfast so we went across the street to the Torres hotel to their restaurant on the beach. Walking to the restaurant past the pool.

Bill had another of his favorite Mazatlan meals there – Orange French toast with platana.

Unimaginative me – I had oatmeal and a big delicious plate of fresh fruit.

From there we stopped at the laundry and dropped off some of Bill’s shirts – that had to be washed AND IRONED! Iron? What is Iron? Just another four letter word as far as I’m concerned.

Las Jaibas RV is by the green #1

along the Malecon

Then we headed towards the Centro Historico.

Central Market is near the red #4

Heading that way we passed a parking lot we usually stop at especially at night when we go to the Plazuela Machado – they have some fabulous graffiti murals in it. And this year there are new ones. Will get better pictures when we stop there next time.

Driving up one of the narrow colorful streets in old town. Several of the buildings looked newly painted – since we were here in March.

We were going to park in our favorite daytime parking lot – but it was closed until after Christmas. But there was a parking space right out in front of it and we were waved into it by an “attendant” a man with a bucket who wanted to wash the car. Good.

So we left Willie to his bath. The first thing I noticed was the building across the street. What a difference. It had been painted and all the windows and doors were fixed. Two pictures of how it looked in March. [throughout the years I’ve taken many many pictures of this building but could only find these two.

the upstairs windows were destroyed

]And how it looks now. Wow. Need to get the story on this.

As we were walking towards the main plaza I was fiddling with my camera and didn’t realize I’d changed the settings so I got a few different pictures. But kind of like the looks so I’ll share them. Just walking down the street. Finally figured out it was set on "background defocus."

The Cathedral from the plaza.

Walking past all the shoe shiners. There was a cruise ship in town so there were a lot of tourists out and about.

We went in the Central Market to visit with friends who work there. Lots of hugs and “we were wondering where you were.” Bill picking out some good peppers and grapes.

The market was so crowded and I still had on northern clothes – jeans and a heavy shirt – that I got almost claustrophobic and we had to get back outside. Usually I love to go up and down all the aisles. Cooler clothes from now on.

Love this tourist trolley.

Figured out that I needed to reset the camera finally. 

Walking through the church yard we noticed the statues had been recently painted. And they had new punk rock hairdos – spikes to keep the birds off. Just struck me as funny.

Picked up a very clean and happy Willie.

Not ten minutes after we got him it started to RAIN! You’re kidding right? Nope.

So home we went. I finally drug the vacuum out and hopefully got most of the sand cleaned up. And in between showers Bill worked on cleaning Willie inside and setting up some chairs and the BBQ outside.

And of course we had to run to the beach to see the sunset. Not spectacular but nice.

And I’ve been playing with the Windows Snipping Tool with Streets and Trips maps. From where we are parked in Las Jaibas RV to Centro Historico it is a little over 10 miles following the above route. To show the detail of the streets I had to break it up into sections. 

No plans for this Beautiful Christmas Day.