Mazatlan traffic

I forgot to post one picture from yesterday morning. As we were driving down the Malecón I remembered reading about the lobster seller. He has a white pick up truck and parks along where the fishermen come in. They sell him any lobsters they’ve caught and he in turn sells them to customers. Here he is with both hands full of lobsters.

Yesterday late afternoon/early evening we went to visit the glass blower at the restaurant in Cerritos. Bill wanted to ask him if he – the glass blower – could make him some tools for working with the leather masks etc. He said of course he could but it would have to wait until after Carnaval. Bill bought me the cutest glass flying pig. Will try to get a decent picture of it. I collect pig things. Especially flying pig things.
From there we headed towards a part of the beach where it is a great sunset picture taking area.
It’s also where the vendors come to fish before going home. Bill has made friends with several of the vendors. So he talks and I take pictures. [notice the white shirts the vendors are wearing – that lets the license people know they have their licenses with them.]

There is a huge RIU hotel there so there are always lots of vendors and it turns out bands. Here are a couple pictures of one band leaving the hotel to pack up in their van and go home. The guy in front of the little white tent has the tuba – the rest of the band follows a ways behind.

Cross the small sand spit back to the parking area.

Loading up the van.

The sun is finally starting to go down.

My goodness another band just arrived. Going towards the hotel. Again the tuba going the other way.

And the generator and speakers. Before the sun finished setting we could hear them playing. 

The sun continued going down.

One of the vendors leaving the beach showed me some little yarn dolls he was selling. About 12 inches high. 100 pesos for the pair. Not quite US$8. I said no – didn’t need them. Then I thought about it and Bill caught him before he got in his car. Here they are – cute aren’t they? Haven't seen any like them around here before. 

After the sun set we headed back towards the campground. The wind had picked up and it was getting kind of cool. Then we talked about eating. Cook? Go out? No brainer – go out. Stopped at Jennie and put on my new long pants and a heavier blouse and off we went to the Plazuela Machado.
I’ve mentioned a couple of times about the increase in people here for the Carnaval. Many, many of the tourists are from inland and they drove here. Traffic here is always crazy. I get exhausted when ever we drive across town and I’m just the passenger. Bill cannot take his eyes off the road for a second. People on your right turn left. And of course cars or taxis on your left cut to the right to the curb side. The little pulmonias in front of you suddenly slow down or stop when the driver sees gringos walking. He toots his whistle hoping for passengers.
The blinking left light on the car in front of you means (1) you can pass him on the left as it is clean (2) he is going to turn left – eventually (3) he already turned left and forgot to turn off his blinker. A red light means stop look around and if no one is coming go through it. This is a favorite of the busses.
Cars park in the street so the driver can run into a store or buy some food from a street side cart. But it is okay because they always turn on their hazard lights – ummm???
Busses stop where ever there is someone standing on the side of the road who might want to get on. And stop where ever there is someone inside who wants to get off there.
Always an adventure. Very few bikes and not many scooters have lights – they are just suddenly there in front of you or cutting you off passing on the right. Funny thing is we haven’t seen any accidents.
We discovered that the street we usually take to go into Centro had already been blocked off for Carnaval so we ended up driving down a one way street that for the duration is now a two way street. However not every one was aware of the fact as the Pumonia in front of us found out when a car coming from the right almost hit him. Stop fast! Parked in our favorite parking lot and the owner told us she would be closed for the week because all the streets around the Plazuela would be filled with vendors and closed for traffic.
Then walked to our preferred restaurant for dinner. Bill enjoying the quiet evening.  

There wasn’t any wind there so the evening was quite comfortable to eat outside. The restaurant next to us had a musician playing and the music school had a brass ensemble practicing. Kind of a disconcerting stereo effect. 
Home by 9:00. I’ve been wondering the last couple of days why it smelled like cigarette smoke in here. Finally figured it out. The used books we’d picked up a few days ago reek. The owner of the store smokes like a chimney and the books hold the odor. Ick.
Have to post - Bill has again cooked breakfast and it is ready. I'm getting real spoiled between him cooking breakfast and going out to dinner. Soon I'll forget how to cook. 
Have to go pick up the laundry then later today to the Plazuela to see what is going on.