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.

So far, we have been unable to get water. Okay, we've gone to the store and gotten gallon jugs of water, but we can't seem to catch the water truck. There are many goods and services here that are acquired by catching the right truck (or cart) driving down the street. The propane truck cruises down our street several times a day playing the “gas, gas, gas” song over the loudspeaker. If you need your propane tank filled, you just go outside and wave when you hear him. Likewise, the guys pushing the carts yell what they are selling and you go outside to buy. Theoretically, the same is true for water.

We finally made it out of the mountains and back onto fairly flat road. We rejoiced for about 5 minutes, then we were stopped at another road block. We weren't expecting this one. We slowed as we drove over the vibradores. There was a semi truck to our right. An agent crossed in front of us holding what looked like a very large motorized flame thrower. Huh? He revved it up. It began spewing a huge cloud of smoke. The agent fogged the entire semi trailer and axles with something acrid and choking. I immediately rolled up all the windows and turned off the A/C.

We woke up, threw on clothes, brushed our teeth, loaded the dogs, and beat feet out of the Villa Posado. When we opened the garage door, a door on the far side of the garage popped open, so I guess that's how they know you're gone and it's time to come clean the room.

We got up at 7:00 am, got dressed, and loaded the car. That took forever. We were finally on the road at 10:45. If we could just skip the unloading and loading of the car, we could spend 5 more hours each day on the road, enjoy more stops, or get a heck of a lot more sleep.