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Published: November 19th 2014
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We didn't do much more than move hotels on Saturday....On Sunday we made up for our laziness: Flea Market (Lynn), Seahawks game (Bill), swimming (Lynn), and hike to the Faro (lighthouse) (both of us).
The tianguis, or flea market on Sundays takes over a web of streets in the Juarez district, a 15 minute bus ride away from our hotel...it was great fun to stroll past vendor after vendor, looking for something to catch my eye...I ended up with a shirt for Bill, and a top for me, and some drinking glasses to replace the styrofoam cups they use in the this hotel...I asked a vendor about the bus back, and she was very helpful, sending her daughter with me to help me ID the correct bus...There were only 4 other gringoes in the whole market, I think....too bad since it's a great experience and completely safe!
It was very hot, so I changed and walked to beach for a swim as soon as I got back (the Seahawks were losing anyway..) The waves were smaller so I had no trouble getting past the beakers and just floating around for a half hour or so...
When the football
Quinceañera...15th birthday...
Love the little guy in the front! They were taking photos in the plaza. game was over, we took a cab to the base of the Faro, and hiked up the top...about 20 minutes one way. Along the path we saw lines of ants, vistas of Mazatlan, and cave cats.... We were intrigued by the ants, whose lines followed the path for over a mile... I wrote to Ant Blog and found out all this:
"
First, the ants in your pictures appear to be the so-called yellow crazy ant,Anoplolepis_gracilipes. This ant originated in tropical Asia, but is now distributed (inadvertently, by humans) around the world in tropical regions. Second, I would note that their diet consists primarily of liquids, especially honeydew. So, while it appears that the ants are carrying nothing, many of them in fact have a crop (social stomach) full of liquid food, gathered from aphids or similar insects among the vegetation near where you saw the trails. Finally, this is one of the species of world-wide “tramp ants”, which lives in supercolonies with a population of millions of workers and tens of thousands of queens distributed in numerous nests over an entire geographic area, which explains the extent of the trails you saw."
Monday we returned for lazy day
Our hotel
It was built as pharmaceutical products storage by a German at the turn of the century. Later it became an archive, a political party headquarters, and an arts center. It became a hotel about 8 years ago. The owner's grandfather was a competing pharmacist who bought the building when the German got homesick... at Stone Island....this time bringing internet devices and books...It was a holiday, so the beach was a bit more populated, but not crowded.
Tuesday, our last full day here, we people-watched as the cruise passengers hit town, did some shopping, and visited the Museo Arqueologico. I also spoke with one of the volunteer tourist aides and pointed out that one of their handouts had an apostrophe before nearly every final s. (it drove me crazy to read it...!) In the afternoon, we returned to the big beach for beers, fish, reading, swimming, and sunset-watching. On the walk home at dusk, we came across an exhibit of models of famous buildings done by education students to show geometry in architecture. The students had fun speaking with us in English...
We take the ferry to La Paz tomorrow afternoon...a fact when mentioned to gringos here elicits generally negative comments. They don't know how low our bar for ferry rides is... See the entry from Lake Nicaragua!
https://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Rio-San-Juan-Region/El-Castillo/blog-55601.html We have really enjoyed Mazatlan, and may return sometime soon. It has a great combo of beaches, swimming, good places to eat, and culture. La Paz next!
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Tell Bill that, unfortunately, the girls
are not as beautiful elsewhere than in Sinola. Thanks for bringing back all those memories. We did almost all those things as well. Espec the beach across the bay. The eating and drinking palapas.