Some places seem to want to hang on to you and never let you go. Last year it was La Paz and this year it seems that it is Mazatlan. We were all checked out and ready to sail the 90 miles south down the coast to Isla Isabella on Monday, 4th February. We were all provisioned and ready when John came down with a bad cold overnight. He probably caught it on the 12 hour bus ride back from San Carlos the previous Friday where he had taken the car for storage. After a few days Anita caught it so we have spent a couple of weeks recovering.
The port has been closed this week because of the weather so we could not leave anyway. Our time has been spent on the Internet, reading, cooking or sleeping. With taking antibiotics, our afternoon Margaritas were off limits. All of those provisions we had stocked up on had to go somewhere before they went bad. A pressure cooker is a wonderful thing; we made lots of Pot roasts, Meat stews, Veggie stews, Fried Rice dishes and in between a few gourmet meals of Shrimp for some variation.
We did manage to head to the Malecon for Fat Tuesday and saw a good portion of the Mazatlan Carnival procession. The floats were very professional with lots of wonderful costumes. We quite enjoyed the break from hanging out on the boat. The whole of the Malecon was blocked off from the Fisherman’s memorial to the Aquarium. The big parade with fireworks over the bay was on Sunday however Tuesday’s parade was still significant and lasted many hours, even if the weather was a little cool for those people with small costumes. Everyone was having a great time. It was quite a different atmosphere from the Carnival in La Paz, which has a more down-home family feel to it; the Mazatlan one is quite glitzy.
Our ships cat, Pasha has settled in and is always looking for tidbits of food. He has finally become a little more adventuresome and loves to prowl the deck in the cool of the evening. We have become quite used to the busses here in Mazatlan, they pass the Marina frequently so it is easy to get to the grocery stores or even downtown for seven or ten peso a head depending upon which bus you take.