Topic: Life in Mazatlan

Sunday, December 14, 2008 - 03:28 PM

The night after the scorpion, we heard Tasha in the garage voicing her "I found something" bark. We both glanced at each other, then in tandem jumped up and bolted for the garage. Before investigating, we called the dogs to us. I had visions of Tasha earning a painful scorpion sting which hurt my heart. We locked the dogs safely in the bedroom and went to see what got Tasha going.

Sunday, November 23, 2008 - 02:30 PM

Okay, I'm exaggerating a little. Well, more like a lot. But that's what went though my head when I first laid eyes on the sleek, black scorpion in the garage last night. I had never seen one before, except in pictures, and seeing one in real life, even if it was from a prudently safe distance, was enough to induce an immediate fear reaction and conjure up images of H. R. Giger. That thing was creepy.

Sunday, October 19, 2008 - 12:50 PM

A Mazatlan sunrise is like no other I have ever experienced. Our position here, nestled in between the ocean and the mountains, does some strange and amazing things with time and light. I don't particularly like to be up early enough to see the sunrise – it's not really my style – but, whenever I am, I never regret it.

Sunday, September 28, 2008 - 11:40 AM

The other night, Chuck and I were on the way home when I remembered we needed ice. Buying ice is a necessity this time of year. I am a person who likes my drinks cold, which means many cubes per drink. I own three ice trays – that's the limit my freezer can hold. With the indoor temperature at 90°F, my poor little freezer cannot make ice quickly enough to keep up with my need, so we buy it.

Friday, September 26, 2008 - 04:28 PM

We've reached that time of year. The temperature is up. Humidity is at it's worst. It is still. There is not a puff of a breeze to be found anywhere. The rain has pretty much stopped, so there are no sudden storms to bring relief.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008 - 03:02 AM

I know I complain, so I thought I should mention some of the things I love about all the rain. The field across from the house is in full bloom, which means it is covered with thousands of butterflies in glorious shades of red, orange, yellow, and white. The temperatures have been low enough for cozy socks and soup. And I certainly have had the time to get some pleasure reading done. But the very best thing about the rain has been the sunsets. I took this picture just a few minutes ago from our terrace:

Sunday, August 24, 2008 - 05:56 PM

It's been so long since we have talked! It's been a pretty rainy week here. It's been cloudy most of the time, and with the rain cooled air, I actually hunted out a pair of flannel pants, socks, and a robe. It got down to a chilly 78°F in the house. Okay, I also have the flu and was running a fever, but when normal room temperature is 86°F, 78 really is kinda cold.

Friday, August 15, 2008 - 08:21 PM

Around 3:00 this morning, one heck of a thunderstorm blew through. The Spanish word for thunderstorm is one of the best words ever - tormenta. I think that sums it up pretty well. The wind was relentless and oh, the lighting. Not to mention the copious amounts of water that left us with some mop up to do this morning. What a gift the storm was!

Thursday, July 31, 2008 - 04:36 PM

When we woke up at 7:30 yesterday morning, we noticed it was really dark for that time of day. It was just starting to rain. It's very unusual for it to rain during the day here. Mazatlan usually abides by the rulebook for Paradise and restricts the rain to the night time hours. No big deal. On the rare occasions it does rain during the day here, absent a hurricane, it is always a gentle rain shower. Did I say always? I guess I should add – until today.

Saturday, July 26, 2008 - 10:51 PM

I am sitting here at my desk gazing out at the sun glinting off the deep topaz Pacific, creating diamonds in my vision. The ocean stretches to fill my view, meeting a sky so bright and blue it could have been delivered by Tiffany's. The recent rains have turned the three islands into verdant hills that bisect my view. Up close, the waves gently crash on the shore, creating an impossibly white foam that contrasts with the deep golden sand. A fresh ocean breeze sends the palm fronds to swaying and tickles the hair on my neck. It's another perfect day here in paradise, and I'm sick of it.

Thursday, July 10, 2008 - 05:55 PM

When we woke up this morning, our house had been utterly invaded by great, winged waspy things. Gross. I don't know where they came from, or even what they are, but I do know they were everywhere: hallways, kitchen, dining room, living room, office, even the garage. The only place they hadn't infiltrated was our bedroom, thank god. I'm not sure I could have ever recovered from waking up with giant bugs in my bed.

Sunday, June 29, 2008 - 06:51 PM

Summer is on its way. The temperature is up. The humidity is definitely up. Comments about the weather are starting to change from observations to complaints. But really, its not too bad...yet. And the warmth is far preferable to the butt puckering cold we suffered through in the winter. I think it's still quite pleasant, and anyone who has been here for any amount of time has developed some very good coping mechanisms.

Monday, June 16, 2008 - 05:31 PM

In Mazatlan, the loudspeaker is the single most common form of mass communication. It is the cheapest, easiest, most effective way to get your message directly to your target audience. Every gas and water truck is equipped with loudspeakers that play a repeating sales message to let you know they are in your area with goods to sell. But the use of loudspeakers goes way beyond the direct vendor-buyer relationship.

Thursday, May 29, 2008 - 04:24 PM

One of the best things about living in Mazatlan and a tropical climate is the incredible biodiversity around and even in our home. It's something I am simply not used to. In our suburban, planned neighborhood in Fort Worth, which was completely transformed and landscaped by its inhabitants, the biggest wildlife sighting was what bugs were eating my roses. Here, we have daily interaction with animals I never imagined I would be sharing space with.

Saturday, May 24, 2008 - 11:35 PM

One of the wonderful harbingers of Spring in Mazatlan is parade time. That doesn't mean there aren't parades all year round – there are. But spring brings extra clusters and fits of random paradeness, especially with the closing of the school year and elections for king and queen of each school.

Monday, April 28, 2008 - 01:19 PM

There are many things strange and wondrous in Mazatlan, completely different from the cultural norms in the US. One of the big differences is the attitude toward noise. Noise is a very real fact to be dealt with here. I've gotten pretty zen about it, and usually find myself enjoying it. I've come to see it as the daily, exuberant celebration of life, and a wonderful part of living in this vibrant city. Not so this morning.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - 04:13 PM

Shortly after we moved here, I decided to get a maid. Wait, that's not true. I decided to get a maid before we ever moved here. It was one of the many benefits of moving to Mexico. I am a wretched house keeper. Everyone who knows me will tell you so. Shortly after we moved here, I hired a maid. And boy, was I delighted.

Friday, February 22, 2008 - 08:51 PM

Saturday night we returned home around 10PM. We were feeling pretty good after an evening out with friends, but it wasn't to last. We parked the truck and Jennifer got out and went to open the front door. Only the lock wouldn't turn. We kept messing with it for a while, but finally had to admit that it was broken and we had a big problem. Like many houses here, all of the windows have iron bars over them so breaking window wouldn't get us in the house. We do have other exterior doors, but they are bolted from the inside and not at ground level. I've got lots of tools I could have used to remove the lock, but they are behind two doors in a locked tool box. Since the door in question is about 2” thick and solid wood my shoulder certainly wasn't going to convince it to give.

Friday, February 22, 2008 - 08:49 PM

Words for the day:
Lock: Chapa
Key: Llave
Locksmith: Cerrajero

Chuck and I got a surprise, intensive vocabulary course Saturday night. After many years of vigilant service, the lock on our front door finally surrendered to the salt air. The internals were rusted. We couldn't get into the house. We were facing quite the predicament. After our robbery, every possible entry and exit point to the house had been fortified. All of Chuck's tools and anything else that would have been helpful was in a locked toolbox behind two stout metal doors. The keys to the doors and toolbox were in the house.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008 - 06:56 PM

We did move to the tropics, right? So why are we freezing? It has been cold here. And, since we don't have heat, cold outside means cold inside. We struggle to maintain 15 degrees (60 Fahrenheit) in the house. Brrr!

This is our first winter here, so we have nothing to compare it to. The locals keep assuring us this is highly unusual. All I know is it's cold. Every time there is a whisper about a store that has some space heaters, it's mobbed. Street vendors are selling knit caps and scarves. The beaches are empty. Local crops are in danger. People have died. The other morning, we woke up to 2 degrees: an all time record for Mazatlan on any date in history.

Sunday, January 06, 2008 - 08:30 PM

My life has been powerfully and irrevocably changed by a shift in geography. A small change, really, only 9 degrees of latitude, but a significant 9 degrees. I do and accept things that I never could have imagined before. I call it "The Mexico Effect". We have been here for 6 months now, and I figured it might be nice to share some of the ways – both inconsequential and monumental – my life has been transformed.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007 - 05:34 PM

Every day in Mazatlan brings some sort of pleasant surprise. Today it was a peppy serenade from a wandering group with a big drum and a saxophone. I was sitting at my desk working when the lively music started directly below my window. I went to look and saw a small band of Mestizos standing out in the street.

Friday, August 10, 2007 - 07:13 PM

Yesterday started out the same as any other day. Chuck woke up about a quarter to eight, slid out of bed, and took the dogs with him out of the bedroom for their morning potty break. I stretched and yawned, and remained there in bed, enjoying the comfort of the mattress and the coolness of the bedroom, steeling myself to get up, turn off the air conditioner, and face the heat of the day. After a few minutes, Chuck came back into the bedroom, and with four little words, dramatically changed the course of my day: “Babe, we've been robbed.”

Thursday, August 02, 2007 - 04:16 PM

Subtitled: Living on the Hill

The angle of repose is the incline at which various materials can maintain a state of rest. The angle of repose differs from material to material; you can stack square blocks to form a steeper incline than if you attempted a similar action with marbles. However, there is a point where the angle of the incline becomes so precipitous that eventually all materials will succumb to the forces of gravity; their angle of repose has been compromised. I believe that there is something akin to an angle of repose within the living and social communities of this planet that wholly govern both individual and group limits and their appropriate responses to the impending forces of psychic gravity when these limits are exceeded. Many things in ones life are governed by the angle of repose, both physical and emotional and we all respond in different ways to the inevitable tipping point.

Thursday, July 26, 2007 - 06:35 AM

Traveling the streets of Mazatlan can be exciting, frightening, enlightening, appalling, loads of fun and at times incredibly exasperating, all during a single outing. The safest mode of transportation in town is the omni-present city bus and the riskiest obviously being the ubiquitous motor scooter. The buses are numerous, cheap and cover this small city with a practiced efficiency that makes them the preferred mode of transportation for most of the locals. The bus system can place you where you need to be or get you within an easy walk; Mazatlan is not all that big. The copious quantities of motor scooters that ply the city streets move amongst their four wheeled cousins like gnats about a sweating face; always moving, always positioning and sometimes getting swatted. Given some of the astonishing maneuvers I have seen executed by Mexican women driving SUV’s, riding a scooter around town with shorts and sandals is an act that most certainly tempts the fickled finger of fate.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007 - 04:04 PM

Chuck and I were having a lovely brunch on the terrace, enjoying the breeze and watching the sun glint off the ocean. Pretty much an idyllic morning here in Paradise. Suddenly, Reku jumped up and back pedalled so quickly he almost tripped over his own feet. I looked at Chuck, puzzled, wondering if he knew what was bothering Reku. He thought perhaps something had bitten him. But Reku wasn't looking at himself. He was staring intently behind me. I followed his gaze, and there, right behind my chair, was a bat. And Tasha was trying to make friends with it.

Monday, June 25, 2007 - 12:37 AM

This Sunday morning saw Jennifer and I having a lazy morning. The weather was beautiful and clear. We had been out rather late last night so it was nice to take things easy. Sundays are very quiet days here, with most shops closed and few people on the street. All of a sudden the tranquility was rudely interrupted by a sound that is very unusual here, but somewhat familiar. Even though it had been a while since we've heard it, it only took a second to place it because it was a regular, daily sound in Fort Worth. Sirens! Lots of them and very nearby.

Sunday, June 24, 2007 - 07:36 PM

Sunsets are pretty sacred for Chuck and me. We drop everything we are doing, grab a cold Pacifico, and go onto the upstairs terrace and enjoy a cool ocean breeze and the show. And the show is usually quite spectacular. Sometimes the sky is a riot of blues, greens, purples, oranges, yellows, reds and pinks, with the sun a fiery magenta disk in the middle. Other times, the sky is tranquil, and the yellow sun simply drops behind the sea.

Monday, June 18, 2007 - 12:49 PM

Summer has descended on Mazatlan like a fat, sweaty wrestler smothering his opponent with the sheer audacity of his presence. The heat and humidity seem to be in constant competition for the high number of the day and it’s still only June. The resorts are almost empty and the cruise ships are rare, even the time share and condo sales people have only themselves to converse with. Soon the spectacular tropical thunderstorms will light up the night sky with their piercing bright tendrils of lightning randomly stabbing the landscape. We have already had our first rain that flooded a few streets and flushed scattered pieces of trash and debris to who knows where. The deciduous jungle is starting to leaf out in anticipation of the coming monsoon, the vines are adding inches per day and the mangos are ripening nicely. The flowering shrubs and trees are starting to put out colorful displays that will never be seen by the seasonal residents. The perspiring Pulmonia drivers are vainly searching the streets for small herds of souvenir laden tourists and some restaurants are closed for the summer.

Monday, May 28, 2007 - 03:56 AM

One of the things you have to deal with in moving to Mexico is money. On the surface this is not too difficult. Mexico uses Pesos; the US uses Dollars. A fraction of a peso is a centavo. One hundred centavos make a peso. That's pretty simple. It gets even easier. The current exchange rate very roughly works out to 10 pesos make a dollar. Right now it is probably somewhere between 11 and 12 pesos to a dollar, but 10 is very easy and I'm not hurting myself. About now you are thinking about skipping to the next post. I would be. I mean this is easy stuff why bother writing about this anyway? I'm going to ask that you keep reading, but at the same time, I'm going to tell you it gets even easier.

Saturday, May 26, 2007 - 09:41 PM

We just moved in. We are the only foreigners on our street. Our neighbors keep their distance and watch us a lot. We know we are living in a fish bowl. We would like to introduce ourselves, but when we walk down the street, people go inside and watch out the windows. What are we to do?

Friday, May 18, 2007 - 12:10 PM

Here's a quick pic of last night's sunset as seen from our upstairs terrace. Enjoy.

Saturday, January 20, 2007 - 02:10 PM

Last month, the perpetually churning cogs of nature’s celestial time clock flipped the switch that propelled us into winter. It was as though the weather gods were timing their moves to correlate closely with the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. As the lunatic fringe that lives above 60 degrees north were experiencing over 20 hours of night, we here in Mazatlan were dragged, kicking and screaming, into the first days of this frigid season. As if somewhat precisely cued, on December 20th the sky became overcast and the daytime temperatures plunged into the mid seventies. Sporadic showers of 71 degree rain hounded the natives and drove the sun seekers to cover; winter was upon us.

Saturday, September 16, 2006 - 10:20 PM

10:00 AM. Hurricane Lane, now a cat 3, is a few miles off the coast of Mazatlan and the leading edge is pounding us with 100 mph plus winds. The wind gusts buffet my little RV like the breath of the devil him self. The heavy winds and rain began in earnest at about 3:00 am and are building to their eventual crescendo, hopefully, some time latter today.