Mazatlan 2007

Wednesday, January 31 (Ron)

Got ready for another sales presentation, we are outside by about 8:45, met Magdalena, Magda for short, who was outside to greet us. She explained that Mark had promised us too much for attending the presentation. He had told us we'd get 2500 pesos, but Magda said if we got that much part of it would have to come out of Mark's pocket. She asked if we would agree to 2000 pesos. What the heck, we are already down here, besides I can't say no to a pretty girl, so we agreed. She got us a taxi and we're off to La Jolla.

Our resort is near the north end of the Gold Zone, but La Jolla turned out to be even farther north - just north of Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay. We met the rep and had a nice breakfast. The salesperson showed us the mock-up of a suite, none of the suites were actually finished, most of the construction hadn't even started yet. It looked like it would be a very nice resort, but we told her we were definitely not interested, so she didn't give us the high pressure sales pitch. We were given out 2000 pesos and a ride back to Playa Maria

I don't know if we've mentioned it yet, but the conversion rate is about 10.8 pesos to the dollar. Some places will give you 11 pesos for your dollar in order to get your business. So 2000 pesos is just under $200US.

So we are back at the resort, at the door to our suite, and we run into the couple staying in the junior suite next to ours. We start talking, they live on a farm in southwestern Minnesota. Their suite was being cleaned so we invited them in. Nice couple - very talkative. We talked for quite a while.

After they left, Pat and I went down to sit by the pool, read and get some of the wonderful Mazatlan sun. Around 4pm we came back up to get ready for dinner. Before we left home, I had purchased two tickets for a dinner theater at a restaurant called 'Canuck's'. Got down there at 5pm, confirmed our reservation, and when the show started.

We had about an hour to kill so we walked down the malecon for a couple of blocks, until we found a good spot to sit outside, get a couple of Pacificos, and watch the sunset. By shortly after six we had finished our beers and watched the sun sink into the Pacific Ocean.

We walked back to 'Canuck's', found our seats, and ordered drinks. The two other couples assigned to our table arrived and we chatted while waiting for our dinner. The ticket included a shrimp dinner. I knew Pat would enjoy it, and I was planning on eating tortillas or whatever else came with it. Just before dinner the waiters began covering all the tables with plastic table cloths. Then they brought out dinner and dumped it on the table. Shrimp, corn on the cob, small potatoes, everything all mixed together. That's it. Everybody at our table started digging in except for one of the ladies and me. It became obvious that the two of us would go hungry. I excused myself and walked about a block to a small convenience store where I purchased a bag of chips, some bran bars, and a couple of Mexican cookies for desert. The other lady and I ate that while everyone else devoured the shrimp. The waiters cleared off the tables and the show began. It was called "Murder on Maui" and was put on by a bunch of ex-pat gringos so it was all in English. It was very enjoyable and benefited Conrehabit, a Mazatlan environmental group. After the show we caught a taxi back to the resort. We were bushed after our big night on the town, so we went right to bed.

(Pat)

The "Murder on Maui" experience was fun. Our table was close to the stage on the left side so we could see the characters well. It was different having a huge pile of boiled peel-and-eat shrimp, which were cooked just right and good sized, just piled onto the table. With two not eating that left more for us shrimp lovers.

The show included some young hula dancers, some 'wahinis' older women, and the main cast of characters. They set up the skit introducing the characters and their relationships in the plot. 'Ruth', and older gentleman in drag, ended up being murdered. In the second act various clues were shown - the only one I was aware of was the singer (Donnie Wo) now had some lipstick on his cheek. Now it was the audience's turn to pick the murderer as a table vote. We discussed it and ended up choosing the singer as having the motive enough to commit murder. In the finale he confessed and that was the end of the show. Ron and I walked quite a ways along the south end of the malecon, enjoying the lights and big moon, then caught a pulmonia back to the resort. A fun evening. Definitely a large crowd of gringos down here enjoying Mazatlan during the winter months.