Day 29 - Mazatlan


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North America » Mexico
January 19th 2011
Published: January 20th 2011
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Puerto Vallarta to Mazatlan


Awoke this morning to the sound of cell phone alarms which went off at the correct times. I went outside to the balcony to see whether we had arrived in port at Mazatlan. All I could see was fog. It was about 7AM and we were supposed to join our tour group at 8.15AM on shore.

A short time later we heard an announcement from the Ship Captain. “As you might have noticed it is extremely foggy and we are unable to head into port. This happened yesterday and the Ships were unable to dock until 10AM once the fog had lifted.” Kerry decides to head back to sleep, the kids had not awoken, and I was sent to do the laundry.

At about 7.30AM I noticed it was starting to clear up and the ship was moving again. The wash cycle had about 15 minutes to go, and the captain was on the PA announcing again. “The skies have lifted and we are moving to port. If you are booked on a tour from 8.00AM to 8.30AM please immediately disembark as soon as dock”. Great ! I reckon we had 20 minutes to get everyone up, breakfast, showers etc. Kerry went upstairs to grab some take away breakkie for us all, and went and got the laundry. The ship made good progress and we did too, and by 8.15AM we were off the ship.

It was a sunny day once the fog lifted and about 27 degrees. We were having excellent warm weather in the Mexican winter. We boarded he waiting bus, and the first couple of rows were reserved for disabled passengers, but since we did not have any Kerry & Elise moved down to the front and Luke & I got the next row.

Our first stop was alongside the highway where this family was making bricks by hand. They would mix up some mud and place in in a wheel barrow, and then out it in a mould of 4 bricks on the ground (all by hand). Then leave this to dry in the sun, and then move into a man made kiln dried by burning logs. They even had their kids helping out (aged about 4-5).

We then left and headed up into the mountains where we stopped at a furniture factory where they were handcrafting mahogany. Some of the pieces were so good and they do all of this by hand. They also hand some pottery with hand painted dishes and bowls. We bought a few things from here as souvenirs.

Next stop was a town called Concordia. This town had cobbles streets, and we had a look at the church and the town hall area. The church was built in the 1500‘s and I always get amazed at the detail of the architecture of these old buildings.

Next we headed further up the mountains to a tiny village called Copala that was so untouched by modern civilisation it’s not funny. Some beautiful old buildings, another church. We saw this artist making masks out of leather, and then we had lunch as this restaurant which served up a really nice traditional Mexican lunch which included a Mexican beer (we had a choice of Corona or Pacifico and I went for the latter). All of the drinks were in glass bottles including Sprite and Coca-Cola.

Best of all however was desert. The tour guide Maria had told us this was going to be special and it was delicious. It was a Banana Cream Pie. We have to find a recipe but the owner told us it was famous only in this village and Boston.

It took about 1.5 hours to drive back to Mazatlan and I had a snooze on the bus. When we got there we went to the Golden Zone near the beach for some shopping for about 3 minutes. Kerry & Elise got some more bracelets charms from Diamond International which was organised by the ship. Elise used her developing negotiations skills to cut 50% off the price a bracelet. Luke bought a couple of necklaces and Kerry got her treasured Mexican blanket she had been looking for so we can have our own Mexican lunches under the Bali Hut once we get home.

The bus hen drove around the Malecon area which is a beautiful beachfront area back to the Sapphire Princess. We were back on board around 4.30PM, and soon enough we were setting sail into another stunning sunset.

We did not have a reservation for dinner so could not get in until 7.45PM at the Savoy. Kids had dinner at the Horizons Buffet, and I sat on a bar stool at the rear of the ship drinking a Bud Light watching the hip sail away from Mazatlan whilst reading another chapter of my book “Sacked Coach” which is an autobiography by former St Kilda AFL coach Stan Alves.

Kerry & I had our dinner together. I had onion soup, followed by Scallops in lemon sauce. Kerry had a creamy entree and lamb shanks. We shared a bottle of French Rose. The food has been really good but I don’t think my choices was so good and even the Blackberry Sorbet did not go. Back to the drawing board !

We the tried to catch the Carlos Oscar show. He was doing a show in the Explorers Lounge and it started at 8.30PM. We missed the first 15 minutes and it was standing room only. He was just as funny as before with new material. I think he said his website was carlososcar.com and I might order a DVD since he is so good.

Back to the room by about 9.30PM, and trying to update the travel blogs but Internet is not very good and keeps dropping out. Decided to just post text with no maps or photo’s and I will try and add these later when we get back to LA on the weekend.

Australian Open tennis is on TV live and I’ve just seen the Aussie teenage star Tomic win his match.

Luke has returned to the cabin with some prizes he won playing jackpot (in the teen centre !) but he headed straight back out again. Oh well he we get back at some stage, and we’ll see him in the morning.

Tomorrow is our final port of call in Mexico and we have another shore excursion booked so let’s hope the weather remains kind to us. Chou !!



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18th August 2013
Hand made leather masks

Leather Face Mask
Saw a mask in Google images, hope to learn more about your work. Thank you.

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