Mazatlan Aquarium

Welcome to the Mazatlán Aquarium!

Not just a place to see fish, but crocodiles, turtles, sting rays, deer and birds as well.

 There are displays of nets and ships and enormous collections of shells, and student projects that show the life cycle of sea turtles 

There's a huge tank where sharks and other fish are hand-fed by a brave diver.

Bonnie & Larry at the Aquarium entrance

Beautiful Sculptures at the entrance!

Shark Tank!

Fishing Schooner

Tanks filled with fish from around the world

Ray

Tortuga!

Gorgeous colors!

Protective coloration!  Where's the eye?

We spent several hours exploring the tanks and displays....

a GREAT place to spend an afternoon with amigos Kathy and Lonnie!

Estero del Yugo - Estuary

Fairly early yesterday morning, we bussed north of Mazatlan, toward Cerritos 

 and spent a couple of hours exploring the Estero del Yugo. 

From the winding, earthen trails we viewed two lagoons - one salt water; the other fresh water.

There were egrets, herons, pelicans, coots, cormorants and a number of other shore birds.

HERON AND ???

EGRET FISHING FOR BREAKFAST

SUNBATHING CORMORANTS

A PAIR O' PELICANS

All was quiet.

As we walked the earthen trails, we came across a variety of cacti, trees and shrubs

There were bird nests tucked into branches and what appeared to be insect nests of some sort

BIRD NEST

SOME SORT OF INSECT NEST?

 Throughout the estuary, firmly established up in trees, we came across earthen nests.

There were tubes leading up from the ground, into each nest, made of the same material as the nest.

There were no outward signs of activity from the inhabitants.

Possibly some kind of ground-dwelling insect group

that devised a way to survive predators by nesting up in the trees?

Quien sabe!

OOPS! HOW'D THIS GET POSTED???

Okay, okay.......

we are here to tell you that the pineapples down here are SWEETER than CANDY!

The "Tah-KILL-ya", in small amounts is also nice!

STRANGE LOOKING CACTUS!

BIG AIR PLANTS HANGING FROM THIS TREE!

We wandered our way around, being careful not to put our toes in the water.

PELIGROSO!  CROCODRILOS!

Trailblazer Larry also saw signs of other creatures - deer tracks and "scat" from small predators.

It was fun to explore the estuary!!1

CARNAVAL!

Mazatlán is famous for "Carnaval"....right behind Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans.

People from near and far have flooded into the city;

"bump-bump" music ......  ummmm, not exactly classical!

SLEEP ???  NO!  PAR - TAY

BIG parade today down the Malecon...

Chaos reigns!  Buses rerouted through the Soriana parking lot.

We made a quick decision to return to our condo and avoid the parade pandemonium.

The photos below were taken a few years back.  

Donut Man !

Why do we walk everyday, you ask?  Discipline?  HAH!

The answer is simple!  The Donut Man!

Imagine being "of a certain age" and getting up WAY before dawn,

to assist family members with the preparation of a MAMMOTH batch of donuts;

 bussing from your home in Juarez, to the Marina area and  

THEN walking along Avenida Sabalo Cerritos for several miles,

carrying these tasty treats on a HUGE tray perched on your shoulder. 

That's The Donut Man's routine - every day except Sunday.....

Initially,  The Donut Man's target clientele may have been

the construction workers at the high rise condo and hotel job sites. 

During the tourist season (NOW), The Donut Man

is swarmed (like ants?) by Gringos along the way......

Does Senor Donut Man charge gringos double for these sweet clouds of heaven?

At 10 pesos (50 cents) per donut, we HOPE so!

This delightful man is getting a little "long in the tooth" (what teeth he still has).

We are grateful for the sweet treats he provides

and wish him many more years of good health!

Scorpion!

Well, look what crossed our paths on this morning's walk!

A Great Tailed Grackle was hoping to figure a way to prepare this little dude for breakfast.

This ferocious little scorpion was having NONE of that nonsense!

Tail UP and all business, all this little Arthropod wanted was to get back to a safe spot where 

it wouldn't stand out.  After the photo shoot, Larry nudged him with the edge of his shoe, toward some brush next to the sidewalk.

SCORE:  Scorpion - 1 / Grackle - 0 

SCORE

New Location!

It's been a busy two weeks....
We negotiated out of the unit we were originally in and moved into the condo complex that was our home base last year - "Portofino".  Different unit; not as well equipped, but it's a step up!
This complex is right next to "CostaVeleros" - the building in which we owned a unit some years ago.  
The "boom-boom" music goes into the wee hours of the morning, but earplugs work.
Besides, it's a good excuse for an afternoon nap!
.
This afternoon, we bussed down to the "Malecon", a beach-front promenade that is getting an major face lift.  We had a good walk, at a Sunday afternoon pace (read: relaxing stroll)

All along the Malecon, there are large, whimsical Carnaval characters on display.  The Malecon is several miles long, so it'll take a second walk to get more photos of figure farther down,,,,,

It was pretty warm, but there was a refreshing breeze coming off the water.
We stopped in at a beach-front Palapa stand for a cold cerveza....

Eyes Wide Open

Feeding Local Felines

NEW Sabalo Centro Bus

At Zaragoza Square.  Waiting for Coffee

CALM Ocean!

The View North from La Ventana

I awaken this morning with a change in my grumpy gringa perspective....

I THINK it has something to do with the Daily Devotional I just read!

YES, it's Saturday morning, just before 7 

and YES, the construction noise outside is starting to ramp up.

The men and women are already reporting for another day of backbreaking work; 

day SIX in their work week; happy to be employed and able to feed their families.

They arrive on bicycles, motor scooters and the local, cheaper Cerritos/Juarez bus,

from the Juarez neighborhood...far from the "Zona Dorada".

And here I am in my jammies, drinking good, hot coffee, 

anticipating a morning of shopping at the Zaragoza Square outdoor market in "Old Town".

The toughest task facing us today is getting to the market on the air conditioned "Sabalo Centro" bus  and negotiating the gringo crowd, all wanting to buy

some of the "KILLER"sweet rolls before they are all sold out. 

"Muy RICO!"

Photos will follow later today!

"Que tenga buen dia!"

Have a good day!