Still resting 2.20.08

The last couple days we’ve spent resting & relaxing & enjoying Mazatlan. Monday we went into town with John & Linda from Seabird

and went to a coffee place that roasts their own beans called El Faro (The lighthouse) Roasting Company. I’ve been out of decaf for a couple days and their coffee is fantastic! And it’s just down the block from the Plaza Murchado which is a small square with historic buildings around it. My favorite building in the area is called the Peralta Theatre which is an old, old building that was used for many things - a bull ring, theatre, and most recently before its demise, an opera house. It is named after Angela Peralta, a famous opera singer who came here and on her night to perform, died of scarlet fever. The theatre went into ruins and was only recently renovated & restored in 1992. It's a beautiful building and I can't wait to see inside it again. Unfortunately, there was some kind of political happening as (we were told in Spanish) congregates from Canada & Mexico were meeting and no one was allowed inside. So we just walked the plaza, stopping for lunch there too. Then we walked to the Cathedral

and down to the big mercado, which is a way cool huge open building that you step into and suddenly there are hundreds of merchants all selling their wares - fruits & veggies, meats, poultry, fish, & any mercantile you wish. We walked by a vendor that was selling cooked yams, & beside them were these orange piles of something. I couldn't resist and asked what they were - they were huge coconut macaroons with a little spice in them. They're the size of your fist. I love macaroons and picked one up - only 5 pesos (50 cents) and it was fantastic....so yummy.

We jumped back on the bus and headed back downtown to a bookstore that sells books in English - I was looking for a 'Lonely Planet' of Mexico so I could do some research on Copper Canyon and the Harry Potter #6 & 7. The only thing they had was HP #7, which we picked up for $10. We were very tired from all the walking so we came back to the boat. Michael had been telling me about a couple he met earlier named Eric & Janet on a boat named Tupo so we dinghied over and chatted with them. They're very nice, I enjoyed meeting them. They finished grad school and took off on the boat and have been cruising for a year and a half. They're cleaning out the boat now, putting it up for sale, and are heading back to Washington, Seattle area, I think at the end of the week. We're hoping to meet up with them before they leave and get to know each other a little better as they were super busy when we went over completing projects. Check out their website... http://www.janetanderic.com/ Michael had told them in the morning we were going to the coffee place and they asked us to pick up a bag for them. We swapped the coffee for a Lonely Planet book on Pacific Mexico, although not the one we were looking for - this one only covers the coast, not inland. But it's a start! I have heard of Lonely Planet books before but everyone keeps RAVING about them so we thought we'd check them out. It looks pretty good - it was funny when we were at the bookstore, the owner kept trying to get us to purchase the AAA books....which we already have but don’t find them useful for what we need them for.

Anyways, we came back to the boat and read/relaxed a little bit. We had been talking to John & Linda on Seabird about this Copper Canyon thing and they had some info from other cruisers and asked me if I had a thumb drive to transfer them to. I have a little one I've been using for transferring all of the photos to and from on the different computers at the internet cafes and took it over to him - turns out it had a virus, which infected both my computer and laptop. I've spent the last couple days updating the anti-virus & spyware software & doing everything I can to kill it. I found a killer of it, finally, although it is all in Spanish and what I've read says it's clean. How embarrassing though - to have a virus! O-well, worse stuff could have happened.

Tuesday we had a couple of friends in town, Judy & Jon Hecox

the previous president/CEO of the company I worked for in California. It was great seeing them both and we enjoyed spending time with them. We have had awful wireless internet connection lately and I had taken the laptop up to the Cruiser’s lounge to call them & send them an e-mail. I sent an e-mail and got a response that they were going to grab a taxi over – I got caught chatting with some other cruisers and when I got to the boat, they were already there!! We spent a couple hours chatting and they headed back. Michael & I ate a late lunch and walked a bit to get some info for me and met up with another cruiser, Ann, who was headed to the carniceria (meat market) called Henderson’s so we walked further to find the market. It closes at 3:40 – exactly – so we walked back to the Marina. Michael’s knee has been doing very good lately but locked up when we were walking so we came back to the boat for some R&R. He has been flying through the Harry Potter books and we just relaxed for the rest of the day.

Today we got up & around, purchased some Tamales from the veggie guy, and met with a Spanish instructor that is starting classes next week. We then took the bus into the ‘Golden Zone’ and walked around a bit and found a place for lunch. We had one of those English/Spanish translation problems there as I have become a lover of super spicy salsa, the hotter the better. Well, the ‘Golden Zone’ is kinda gringo heaven, where they serve lots of hamburgers & French fries & regular “American” food. Anways, I ordered the tacos and asked the waiter for the spicy salsa (Salsa Ranchera) as the Salsa on the table had no spice. As I asked for it, Michael said “Caliente” which means hot, so out they came…with hot spicy salsa….literally! The Salsa was microwaved and was temperature hot, not only spicy hot. Oops!! We laughed as we thought the waiter must have thought we were nuts asking for hot salsa!! We also stopped by Henderson’s again and picked up a whole backpack full of meats. They vacuum pack each piece of meat and deep freeze them, so it’s perfect for us cruisers. We purchased steaks, chicken, pork, & even corned beef! We’re ready for St. Patrick’s day now…

We came back to the boat, relaxed a bit more, chatted with boat neighbors, & watched the bitchin lunar eclipse - did you see it?! We have the first season of ‘Heroes’ on board and have been addicted to it and finished the last episode tonight. We can’t wait to get the further seasons! It’s an addictive show.

I'll write more later...enjoy the rest of the week!

Rene