A night out at the Plazuela Machado

Boy is it crowded back here in the back of the RV park – people coming and going and visiting back and forth. 

The regulars that stay in the front of the RV park joke with us that our “privacy” is gone. But only for a while. I think they leave tomorrow or the next day.

Some will be taking the ferry to Baja and some will continue on to Arizona.

We went to talk to our friend the beach vendor again last evening. Bill asked him what he did in summer when the tourist season isn’t in full swing. Turns out he works in a cannery here in Mazatlan for the summer months. He says it’s a good job and really cool inside which is good for the summer.

I watched another vendor getting ready to leave. First he had to drag his three wheel display cart back from the hotel, across the sand to the street where he had his truck parked.

Then he had to unload the cart and take everything to the truck.

More stuff still on the cart.

The truck only half loaded. Bill was joking with him that he’d soon need a bigger truck to carry all his stuff. (The cart remained up against a fence on the beach.)

These guys really work for their money – they have to load up and unload and drag everything through the sand every day.

From there we drove down the Malecón past the setting sun on our way towards the Centro Historico – first time there since Carnaval began and ended.

Almost everything from Carnaval is cleaned up. All the stages, viewing platforms, booths and portable toilets are gone. No garbage or even scraps of paper remain. Our favorite parking lot was reopened. And much to our surprise the husband of the owner was working again. He’d had a heart attack a couple of weeks ago – he’s 53! – but he got stents and was out and about already. Hope he takes care of himself now.

In the Plazuela Machado several of the restaurants had decorations on their tables for Valentines Day. This one had heart balloons

And this one pretty flowers.

I know they're hard to see but you get the idea. I need to either learn how to use a camera or get one that takes good pictures in the dark. 

Our favorite restaurant didn’t have any decorations. When Bill asked the waiter why not the waiter, taping his elbow, said the owners were too cheap. [Here if you see someone tap his bent elbow with his other hand he is indicating that someone is a cheapskate.] This is the restaurant where the waiter had to go to another establishment to get Bill’s coffee one night. And last night their credit card wasn’t working….But we really enjoy the people who work there and the owners are really nice.

These two young men sat at a table behind us and played their guitars and sang during most of our meal. Quite enjoyable. They study in the music school on the other end of the plaza.

And here is our friend, Pilar, the waiter showing off his talents as a guitar player and singer. I don’t know what he was singing but Bill about fell off his chair laughing. Pilar says that after a couple of beers he sings much better. 

We left about 7:30 to head home and the plaza was just beginning to get busy. Night life here is really “night life.”

Today we are going up to La Noria again so Bill and Roberto and Sergio can work on leather masks. Or not. We’ll see what happens. They may still be working on their saddle orders.