Mazatlan!

What a wonderfully beautiful Wednesday morning her in sunny Mazatlan, Mexico! We made the transfer from Phoenix to Mexico without a hitch even though we only had 40 minutes in between flights. US Airways is actually a very nice airlines. Maybe they just seem pretty nice cause all I’ve been riding is crappy American Airlines for so long that anything would be an upgrade!
So we were super scared coming down to land in Mexico because everyone had told us all their “Tales of Mexico” and we watched the news with all the cancelled cruise ship news and Pirates killing American hostages. But we ended up meeting two other people. Edie from Africa and Mickey from…hmm I think she said she was from Europe? Anywhooo, they babied us through all the airport stuff which wasn’t bad at all. There was a super nice guy and a woman named Fabiola who picked us up from the airport and answered all our questions on the ride to the El Cid Resort. We even asked her about the cancelled cruise ship line and she told us that officials were actually meeting that day to discuss starting them up again. That would explain the extra police everywhere. There was even a police checkpoint to get into and out of the city. The coppers had on thick uniforms, probably had armor on and stocking masks over their faces too.
So we asked Fabiola about the Pronotour Company, which handles most the tours in the area, because we had read bad reviews. She whipped out a form and started filling in a free Stone Island Tour, Mexican Fiesta, and Old Town Tour. Then she added a bottle of Tequila and some free dinner to Senior Frogs! Of course we had to sit through a 90-minute speal about El Cid Membership, but it wasn’t bad at all and they were really nice even though we said no at the end.
So when we checked in we told them this was our first time to Mazatlan and they upgraded us for free to a one bedroom, 2 baths, suite with a freakin awesome view! We could see the ocean from one side and the pool area and entire town from the other!
The staffs here have been beyond nice. They almost follow you around waiting for you to need something!
We grocery shopped at the Mega Mart and took an Aurega (little red truck) to the store with Edie and Micky and one of their friends named Dottie. Its so funny cause the grocery store is actually on the second floor and theirs an escalator that takes you AND your cart up and then down when your finished shopping. I wondered how in the world did they keep their carts from rolling down to the bottom of the escalator but when we jumped on we soon found that the wheels where made to slip into groves on the escalator. I felt like someone here did not work smart but worked hard on that escalator idea.
I gotta say I know what it feels like now to be a minority again because when I was looking for vanilla some store worker boy came almost running over when I stuck my hand in my pocket for my iPod and some dud ran up and stood RIGHT next to me like I was gonna pocket the damned vanilla. It was really embarrassing.
The people on the street are pushing time-shares pretty aggressively and the people driving the carts and small vehicles are always honking trying to get your attention.
Today we are scheduled to take a boat out to see the sea lions and them to Stone Island where we will be snorkeling and horseback riding. When we get back we will be watching the Mexican Fiesta.
Oh I forgot, We went to a small dance presentation and won the exact silver earring that I had been looking for and a $100 gift certificate. I found a great deal on a leather purse and we picked up a dress for Mia and a toy for Bubba.
Theres a great restaurant her at the hotel and you can eat out by the beach and while your eating there are Iguanas running in between your feet and you can watch the band on the beach playing. We took a look at a sand vendors silver and I wanted a pair of these silver and mother of pearl earrings but the guy wanted $45 dollars for them so I said no and “tried” to walk away. They guy kept going “ok you give me $35 dollars”. I said no thank you. He says “how much you give me then?” I say$20. NO NONO he says. I walk away and take pictures of the sunset. He says “You give me something over $20” I say-$25. It now belongs to me J
We just got back from our Stone Island tour and It was so much fun. Edie was dancing with her new friend Rudolpho and the captain of the boat was calling it their Honeymoon today. We met so many new friends today and a great couple from Chicago. Everyone was dancing on the boat on the way home and we spent most of the day on the island doing Kayak rides and wagons rides through the town. We saw papaya trees and mango trees, iguanas. When we first got off the boat these three amigos ran up to me and started throwing Iguanas and snakes on me so we took a bunch of pictures. OMG it was gross and funny at the same time. The snake was a baby python. Eeeewwww.
Poor poor Edie, why would you shot so much Tequila?! I was doing great with the margaritas and tequila sunrise. No no no shots please! But I gotta say you we cracking us up dancing with your “honeymoon” man! I sure hope our friends from Chicago hook up with us at least for dinner before we go home. Maybe we can all hit Valentino’s for some dancing?! Wouldn’t THAT be fun?!
And we are fixin to take off to the Mexican fiesta in just a couple minutes!