MeXscape

Having any type of work done here is a new and interesting experience. Everything is different, from finding someone to do the work, to how the work is done, to how you pay for the work. Nothing has taught us more about the cultural differences between the US and Mexico than trying to get simple jobs around the house done.

Actually, we were the only ones surprised by the party, and it wasn't in our honor, so in the grand scheme of things the surprise only mattered to us.

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.

Mazatlan- the misconceptions

Mazatlan is a small town. From everything I've heard and read I expected a small town with a central downtown area, probably around a square. A few main roads. Some sprawl as things spread out along the coast and of course the newly developed tourist and resort areas north of town.

We knew from the beginning we were going to have to improve our Spanish skills past “que hora es?” and “donde vas?”. We could order in a Mexican restaurant and ask where the bathroom is. Just enough to maybe get your point across as a tourist on a very short trip. Neither of us could really communicate. As many times as we’ve complained about people around here not speaking English: you know, the arrogant “If you’re going to live in MY country then learn to speak MY language!”, we figured there was no way we could respect ourselves if we went to live in Mexico without speaking Spanish.