La Mision

I had no intention of paddling today. Zero, zip, nada. My back has been a bit stiff and I promised myself that it would get a rest day. But as Cali and I were walking the beach this early morning, the sun was blazing, the ocean was glassy and the spirits of the sea were calling out to me in a siren song I couldn’t resist.

I did another cruise on the board out and around Isla Cardon. A medium sized manta ray spooked me zipping by underneath the board, his funky lobes filtering plankton into his mouth. The majority of the birds must already be out foraging today leaving just a few lazy pelicans roosting on the outer rocks. I paddled towards the corner where restaurants begin and followed close to shore watching them set up for the day. The quad renter was towing his train of ATVs down the beach to set up at the main beach while others were moving around purposefully getting ready for the day’s business. Things seemed more involved and there appeared to be a few more of those giant bananas that tow people around behind a boat. I found out later it was because the cruise ships were in port and they are hoping for a big day of turning a profit.

I dried off in front of the RV and made up a tasty fruit salad for breakfast. Fruit is amazingly low priced here. I combined melon, pineapple, watermelon and banana then topped it with a drizzle of honey, a sprinkle of cinnamon and a pinch of chia seeds. Good fuel to get me going into Mazatlan Centro.

I walked down to the ferry and we bounced our way across the harbor to Mazatlan. I walked out to the street and a fleet of pulmonias were coming my way. I got a ride from a crotchety old dude with a whistle horn that he applied liberally to cars, buses and girls on the sidewalk. We squeezed between vehicles and got to the malecon on the south side of town where the divers leap off of a mini cliff before shaking down tourists for a tip.

La Paz ferry is in town too

Mall cops in training

We arrived at the circle that brings you to the main section of malecon following along the ocean until you reach Valentino’s. Quite a few whimsical Carnival statues are already up and adorning the wide walkway announcing the upcoming celebration of Fat Tuesday. It was a beautiful sunny day and the ocean was a shimmering blue.

Soon, I was hopping out of the pulmonia at La Mision to attend the noon AA meeting. It’s all the way to the back on the left next to the guys remodeling the building next door, banging away with hammers and cranking ranchero music their radio. I’m not sure if it was a stag meeting but there was about a dozen guys and we settled in for a good meeting.

I had toted along my older camera that would no longer focus since I’d dropped it somewhere along the road. There is a camera repair guy down by the central market so I hailed a pulmonia to take me over there. When I walked up the stairs to his shop, he had just closed twenty minutes ago. I guess his new hours are 9am to 1pm. Maybe tomorrow. I walked over to the central market and went upstairs to the food stalls. The waitresses were standing outside trying to tout you into their stalls, especially the ones without any customers. I walked towards the back where one restaurant had all of its seats filled (never eat in the empty ones, look for the locals). When I peeked in, a guy at a long table by himself said in perfect English to come in because they have great food. I joined him at his table and ordered up a bowl of pozole while talking to the gentleman. He lived thirty years in the U.S., that’s why his English was excellent. Turns out he’s in a rehab community here in Mazatlan and they go out each day selling things, kind of like Alpha Project with their newspapers only their thing is peddling candy. We talked a while then he headed off to the beach to finish selling his wares, but only after getting me to buy a couple of bags of jelly beans. Best of luck, my friend.

The jalapeños in my pozole were speaking to me and it was time to get home and relax. I hailed a pulmonia and the guy gave me a price that was double the normal fare. I told him to beat it. He said how much and I told him the standard fare. Okay. I got in and he apologized saying he thought I was from the cruise ship. Everybody’s trying to make a buck off of the unsuspecting cruzeros. I got to the ferry dock and back across to Stone Island. It seemed to take forever to walk the half mile up the beach to the campground but I made it home then took Cali out to the beach and went for a swim. Pretty lazy the rest of the afternoon. Went and paid for a couple of more days and had a sporadic phone call with PJ where the call kept getting dropped. I ventured out for a walk around sunset then it was pretty much a done day for me.