Road Trip Part I - El Quelite

We decided to take a break from our boat projects (and the heat in Maz) and head North for a few days - why not?

So, we rented a car and hit the road. Our first stop - El Quelite - a pueblito. It is just 20 miles out of town, but took about an hour to get there. Worth it though!

El Quelite is a beautiful small town known for cockfighting (still legal), raising fighting roosters, and a prehistoric game called “The Ulama”. We didn't witness any of those, but enjoyed strolling the colorful cobblestone streets!

We didn't do a lot of research or planning (big surprise), but figured it would all just work out.

• Who knew that there were no hotels?
• Who knew the 2 restaurants stopped serving at 5pm?
• Who knew there wasn't any nightlife?
• Who knew there was another name for El Quelite - Tranquil!
  

But, it all worked out just fine.

A very nice lady, Marta, rented us a beautiful room at her Casa - Familia Osuna Aramburo. Very quiet except for the roosters crowing in the morning. Did we mention that Mexican beds are hard? You kind of get used to them!

We did find a bakery and we stocked up on fresh breads and sweets. Another local treat is Queso Fresco (fresh cheese) that El Quelite is known for, so we added that to our dinner menu.

Just when we were heading back to the Casa for dinner, we discovered that there is a lady (by the square) who opens up at night and serves enchiladas, tacos, etc. right out of her house - and it was all very yummy. Just remember to bring your own cervezas!

We will have to go back to El Quelite to eat at the famous restaurant - Mesón de los Laureanos. Doug really wants to try the specialty - cow tongue - YUCK!

The belly rules the mind...

Well, that's an old Spanish Proverb and certainly true for the Moondance crew!

Since we are now "residents" of Mazatlan (at least through November), we decided to try as many different places as possible and we ask everyone to share their favorites. We don't want to miss a one!

Below is a list of our current hot spots - in no particular order!

El Guamuchilito - two locations on Avenue Insurgentes. Fried Pargo - I selected mine from the crate that was just delivered. It was excellent!

La Tertulia - or as we call it - The Bull Bar. It is just off the Plaza Machado on Dominguez and a great place for drinks and people watching. In is owned by one of Mazatlån's most famous bullfighters, Rene Tirado.

Pizza Moreno - just a block away from the Plaza Machado and the best pizza we have had in Mexico, inexpensive wine, plus an excellent Caesar salad. We are going back for sure!

Topolo - still our favorite for a nice dinner - what a treat! We love everything about it, but especially the table-side salsa. Alejandro and crew will take excellent care of you.

El MontaLayo (corner of Colima and La Marina. The best lamb (borrego) tacos ever - barbecued and served with all of the fixings, plus chips to die for - really. No bar, but the staff will go next door to buy cerveza's if you ask. As you can tell, Doug's loving it!

Puerto Viejo (Old Port) is on the Olas Altas and an excellent place to watch the sunset. Ice cold beer on tap, fresh shrimp, and a very nice staff. Watch out for the Cameron Aguachile though, it is HOT HOT HOT!

Plus, a No-Name Taco stand at the Sunday Juarez Market. Doug loves the carne gorditas.

That's a pretty good list so far and we have only been in Maz for a month.

We will keep exploring and let you know what we find!

PS: Do you have your own list of Maz favorites? If so, let us know and we will check them out!

Enjoying Maz...

We have settled in at the Marina El Cid here in Mazatlan. It will be "home" until the first of November. It is getting hot and humid, but we haven't turned the A/C on - yet.

We celebrated our 28th Wedding Anniversary at one of our favorite restaurants - Topolos. Hard to believe that Doug has stuck around that long. I got lucky for sure!

We have been keeping busy on projects, plus entertaining ourselves. We love to explore and Maz is a wonderful old city - we are just getting started.

It has been lots of fun watching the World Cup matches with the locals - knocked Doug right out of his chair. Now that was funny!

It is interesting living at a resort. Weddings, parties, happy hours, etc. all the time. Plus, there are only a few of us full-timers. Everyone else is usually here for a week and then leave us. Some we miss...

Since we are staying, we decided to get involved. We are "Net Controllers" one day a week for the Mazatlan Cruisers Community. It is kind of fun, plus a great way to connect to other cruisers.

La Paz had wonderful shopping for marine supplies; Maz not so much. We have spent lots of time and taken lots of bus trips in search of parts, but we eventually find something that will work.

Of course, that is part of the adventure. We actually found two new "favorite" restaurants this week and are always looking for more!

An example of one of our adventures - going to the Cinema. It actually took us 5 trips to figure it out before we got to watch a movie. It was worth it though - a wonderfully air conditioned new cinema, excellent popcorn, and a great value. Price - $196 pesos ($15.60 US), which included the movie, two tubs of popcorn, and drinks. Yahoo!

One of our new favorites - going to the pool late at night. It is a great way to cool off before bed, plus it is beautiful and quiet.

Join us!

PS: We have decided to have a new engine installed while in Maz - ouch! Tough decision, but we want to make sure Moondance is ready for the South Pacific next year. We are excepting donations... just kidding!

Maz it is!

Yup, we have made a decision - we will be spending the summer in Mazatlan and we are very happy about it!

Why not? Besides being a beautiful old city, we have access to all of the resort amenities like...

• 2 pools (one has a swim-up bar) and a hot tub
• 3 happy hours
• Cable TV (we haven't had cable TV forever!)
  
• Volleyball, water aerobics, bingo, blackjack, and a lot more fun and games

And tonight is Movie Night on the lawn. We have no idea what is showing, but it comes with free popcorn!

We will be in Maz until the first part of November - come and join us.

PS: Yes, this is Twinkle Toes showing off!

Still in Mazatlan...

And we just might be here for awhile! Discussions are underway on where will be spending our summer vacation - Mazatlan or Puerto Vallerta.

We love Mazatlan for sure! The people, food, shopping, transportation, etc., are all wonderful, plus we love exploring the historic old town.

We have been impressed with the Yanmar mechanics and costs for boat projects. Also, Mazatlan has a "drier" rainy season and fewer thunderstorms. All very important to us!

Stay tune - we will be making a decision soon!

While all of this thinking is going on, we are still finding time to have some fun - of course.

Lot of exploring to be done around here.

We enjoyed the Día de la Musica Fiesta - 6 stages and 20+ bands. All for free! The bands ranged from traditional Mexican to Techno to Golden Oldies with folks from all ages and lots of dancing. Our favorite - the Mariache bands!

We had to check out the Juarez market - Sundays only. Of course, it took us two buses to find it, plus some head scratching, but it was worth it. 12 blocks of everything for sale, plus lots of eats. Doug had a wonderful lunch of carne asada gorditas - yum.

We have also been spending lots of time at the pool and maximizing our funds at the Happy Hours - why not!

Why we love Mexico!

We have only been in Mazatlan 2 days and we got invited to our first Mexican wedding!

We were hanging out at the pool at the El Cid resort (happy hour!) and noticed a bunch of young couples having fun, plus the party preparations on the lawn. So, I put it all together and said "wedding fiesta?".

We were immediately invited to join the evening festivities. Lesson - be careful who you invite - they might actually show up! Yup, this is us at the wedding. Cute couple, huh?

Once we had convinced the water taxi crew and party servers that we really had been invited, we had a wonderful time! Our new friends Malu, Alma, and many more made us feel very welcome and included us in the dancing, limbo, tequila shots, and the wedding events.

We are even invited to Malu's wedding in Torreón next March. We just might be there!

We are really enjoying being in Mazatlan again. We love wandering around the Centro Histórico area, which looks so much like New Orleans with the colonial style buildings. We have been visiting some of our favorite restaurants and cantinas and finding new ones, plus the locals treat us so well. We could live here for sure!

Our current plans... stay a few more days and then start sailing south to Puerta Vallarta. The #1 Yanmar diesal mechanic in Mexico is in Mazatlan and Doug has him trying to solve our engine problems. I hope he can figure it out!

Gavin - the iguana video is for you - they are very strange creatures.

Wish all of you were here to explore and enjoy Mexico with us!

On our way to Mazatlan!

I know, we were supposed to be heading to Puerta Vallarta/Banderas Bay, but... the wind and the current just weren't cooperating and we were going very slow. So, we took a left turn at Isla Cerralvo and are currently motor/sailing across the Sea towards Mazatlan. Not much wind out here and the Sea is a little rolly, but the sun is finally coming out and we are forecasted to have some wind from the south this afternoon so that we can sail. Hope so!

We should be in Mazatlan in the morning and are looking forward to it. We fell in love with the old part of the city last year and we are anxious to do some more exploring, plus eating lots of those huge shrimp. Yum!

Sorry to report, but we haven't got any fish yet. Doug has been dragging the hand lines, but no luck. Maybe today...

We have some good news to report though, we made our first batch of fresh water from salt water. It is rated as "pure" with only 119 Total Desolved Solids (TDS) and tastes just wonderful. It is a miracle!

Our trip so far:

First day out, we motored from La Paz to Playa La Bonanza on Isla Espiritu Santo, which was about 21 miles.

Our second day out, we motor/sailed 114 miles and are about in the middle of the Sea of Cortez - no land in site and very few boats out here. It seems like we only see the big ships at night - during the day nothing. Go figure!

We have 110 more miles to go to reach Mazatlan - so one more overnighter. We are getting pretty good at these, but always look forward to getting back to our normal sleeping schedules.

We plan on spending a couple of days in Mazatlan and then will continue our trek South. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and we will be able to stop at Isla Isabella - the Mexican Galapagos. I really want to see all of the colorful booby birds!

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