MeXscape

The locks on our doors are really quite clever and quaint. They add to the charm of living in an old building in Centro Historico Mazatlan. The door latch is directly controlled by a spring-loaded rod that you pull out to open the door. If you want to leave the door unlocked, there is a lever that you move to hold the rod in the extended position. There is no knob on the outside of the door. You either leave the door unlocked or you use the key to move the rod.

Mazatlan- the misconceptions

If you drive in Mexico, it doesn't take you long to discover your first tope. You'll know you've found one when your car suddenly jumps and lurches, which may be accompanied by a scraping noise. The translation for tope is speed bump, but that is way to narrow a term to describe what a tope really is.

Ok, after spending a little more than a week here, I have to revise one of my earlier statements about life in this city. It is entirely possible to feel uncomfortable or even unsafe in this town. I'll describe the scenario for those of you who haven't been there:

No, they are not golf carts on steroids, they are pulmonias - modified VW Things and the cutest public transportation I have ever seen. They are unique to Mazatlan. Regular taxi drivers started calling them pulmonias, the Spanish word for pneumonia, intimating that the ride in the open air air cars would make you sick. They were trying the squash the competition for fares in its fledgling stage. It didn't work. You see them everywhere. But the name stuck.

Driving in Mexico is like every freak-you-out, what-are-they-thinking, this-will-never-happen-in-real-life simulation you had to sit through in Driver's Ed. Remember sitting in your little faux car with steering wheel, pedals, turn signals, and side-view mirrors driving along with the movie on the screen while crazy pedestrians stepped out in front of you without looking, people opened car doors at random, children chased balls into the street and 50% of drivers ran stop signs? The machine always spat out a score at the end. I always did miserably. Thank God I'm better at it in real life.

We've gotten some interesting weather thanks to tropical storm Emilia. Mazatlan is in a very protected location, so the effects haven't been too bad. We've gotten some much needed rain, and a little flooding. The wind kicked up quite a bit, and the surf turned wild.

Recently, Sweet Tasha gave me the opportunity to investigate the quality of optometrists available here in Mazatlan. I went to Dr. Luis Ramon Ramirez at Galeria Optical located at 1664-A Camaron Sabalo, next door to Supermarket La Isla (GPS: 23 14.876N 106 27.253W) . I chose Dr. Luis primarily because he speaks English. Since this was a medical exam, I felt it pretty important that we understand each other.

I have heard many wonderful things about Mexican ice cream (helados). People have said how creamy, soft, and light it is. I have read forums by people trying madly to recreate it, trying to discover the secret. Some say it must be the brand of water they use; others think there is some secret freezing method. With all of the mystery and fascination, I was not prepared for what I found.

I had no idea how to hang out laundry. I have always had a dryer. When I first saw the clothesline, I thought “How quaint. Won't it be great to have our clothes dried in the fresh outdoor air?” That was day 1.