Getting at this late again today – just lazy. It’s kind of a lazy day today
out – cool and overcast. Love it!
Started off the morning by going to the big mall here to the TelCel customer
center. Sometimes I wonder if the Banda Ancha is a blessing or a curse. Banda
Ancha is Mexico’s
TelCen answer to an aircard. Internet via a cell tower connection. The problem
is the system doesn’t have all the bugs worked out yet and everyone you talk to
at a store gives you a different story on how the time you buy works. On
January 9th while in San Blas we had to renew our time/GBs. [We have
had previous problems with this outlet but it is the only one in town] Told the
lady we wanted 3GBs of use – she charged us 500 Pesos. Finally gave me a
receipt after I demanded one. We were told “?” however many GBs you buy are
only good for 30 days whether they are used or not. At the end of 30 days you
have to buy more. We can check on how many megabits or gigabits we use – but
not how many we have left. Well last nite I plugged in the stick and was told
“You have to recharge your service” – in Spanish of course. WHAT?!?! We’ve only
used 403 megabits of our 3gigabites and it is only January 25th.
What’s up? This morning just for the heck of it I plugged the stick in and pop
I was on line. No problem. Into the customer service we went. A wonderful
helpful man straightened it out for us – I think – we have lots of GBS left and
our service should be active until February 26th – one month from
today. Somehow what we bought in San Blas was never activated but our payment
did show on their computer. But how have I been on line since Jan 9th
as I was told then (1/9/13) we had to recharge the stick and wasn’t able get on
line until we did. Don’t know – just accept that all is okay now.
Yesterday morning we decided that we wanted some fresh baked goods from the
wonderful little bakery in Malpica so we piled into Willie and took off. It is
about 25 miles away. To get there we have to go on highway 40 the road to Durango. There is
supposed to be a new Toll Road
to Durango
that will cut driving distance and time way down. It is supposed to open in a
couple of months. Since we left here in December there has been a lot of
construction going on on that road. Here is a brand new bridge that wasn’t even
started when we left a couple of months ago.
In the future driving to Mazatlan
via Texas will be dramatically improved due to
the long awaited Maxipista from Durango to Mazatlan.
It is estimated it will cut the driving time
from Durango to Mazatlan by at least 2 to 3 hours. More
importantly perhaps than the time, it will turn a two lane road with a
harrowing series of switchback turns into a safe modern highway. The series of
incredible bridges withe mind numbing vistas will combine with more than 60
tunnels to create what must be one of the grandest journeys in the world.
As we drove into Malpica we noticed that some of the homes have been
repainted recently –
Notice the “mother-in-law” paint jobs. I’ve explained it before Only the
part that the mother in law sees when she comes to visit gets the plaster and
paint. The fronts are painted not the sides.
This little abarrotes – store- has
a new video game out front.
Going into the bakery through the living room. The door in the back leads to
the bakery.
Buying some baked goods. The baker’s daughter sold them to us.
Her mother
was busy fixing lunch. They have owned this bakery for 38 years. They supply
Malpica and the nearby town of Concordia (and
us) with baked goods every day except Saturday when they don’t bake.
The dough is made the afternoon before so it has time to proof. The wood is
put in the big oven and the fire started around 8 – 9:00 at night. By 4:00 or
5:00 in the morning the wood has burned down to coals and the hot coals are
pushed to the sides of the oven and the pans of dough are put in the middle.
The trays of baked goods take from 30 to 40 minutes to bake. We usually try to
get there around 10:00 to get our croissants hot from the oven. In previous
blogs I’ve posted pictures of the oven inside and out. [search Malpica] The product is out of
this world. Every time we go there Bill says he is going to build us an oven
outside at home.
When we were here in December the inside of the little church was being
repainted. So we went to check on how the job turned out. Looks pretty good. It
was repainted chartreuse and lavender. The ceiling were also repainted – bright
white.
A very happy looking church. The outside is two tones of orange.
We’ve been watching this house being built it is now finished and being
lived in. It has white tile flooring on the porch
When we got home I took a picture of my new blouses. They are hand made –
the material is hand woven. They are so comfortable and cool to wear.
Spent the heat of the day just lazing around – I’m working on another
necklace that is really easy but time consuming. And I finished reading "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Rielly - Not sure what I expected but was kind of disappointed in it.
Towards evening we took a ride to the northern end of the Mazatlan beaches just for something to do.
Watched the surfers for a while. Lots of them there and some good sized waves coming in.
Then we stopped by an area where I like to take sunset pictures. A couple of
the beach vendors (we met them before in December and they were fishing then
too) were fishing but with no luck.
At my prodding Bill asked them about their
jobs. Yes, their license costs about US$100 per year. And if they have anyone
working for them that person needs a license too i.e. wife, son etc. They can
work the beaches the whole length of Mazatlan
but most have specific areas they work all the time. They must carry their license as
there are officials that come around to check them. He showed us the license.
About 3” x 5” laminated with all his information and a picture of him on it.
These particular vendors all were wearing white shirts. He told us that then
the official knows they have their license and doesn’t bother them. He said he
makes a pretty good living at it.
This picture shows a group of vendors walking across the sand bridge leaving
the front of the hotel and heading back to their vehicle to pack up for the
night.
Just the sunset.
From there some how??? we ended up at the Plazuela Machado. It has been
decorated for Carnaval. Luckily it was pretty warm out as we were both in shorts.
Bill and our friend Pilar – the waiter at Beach Burger hamming it up for my
picture – I didn’t even realize they were in the picture until I down loaded
it.
We had dinner – Thursday through Sunday nights the street is closed and the tables are in the
street. Several people had set up tables selling everything from jewelry to
bookmarks. From the music school on the corner a class was practicing and their music drifted over the sound of talking and laughter.
Just as we were getting ready to leave a band started playing in the Kiosko.
Us old folks leave there about 9:00 just as the evening really starts to rock. Mazatlan is such a neat city.
We had dinner – Thursday through Sunday nights the street is closed and the tables are in the
street. Several people had set up tables selling everything from jewelry to
bookmarks. From the music school on the corner a class was practicing and their music drifted over the sound of talking and laughter. 
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