mazatlan!

i am so happy to be at the beach again.  already today i've gone swimming and running and that's more than i've done in a long time.  i ran in san miguel but with the altitude i never felt like i accomplished anything.  except severe pain.

i've sat in a bar drinking margaritas and had beer with some mexicans on the side of the road, already way more social activity than all of mexico city.  i was sitting on the boardwalk by the beach listening to some music from a bar, deciding which to go into, and a guy walks up and hands me a corona.  and he let me talk in my pidgeon spanish.  another guy sitting a few feet away kept a look out at my back because these giant roaches kept crawling over the wall when the waves broke and splashed, every time i heard a whistle i knew to stand up and someone would run over and kick them back into the ocean.  friendly people here.

he also told me that cops have been cracking down on people drinking by the beach, but i didn't pay much attention to that.  i'm a tourist, they're not gonna do anything but pour out my beer.  but then moments later i saw the police pickup truck drive by, 2 large men standing in the back, black helmets, black face masks, head to toe black riot gear, cradling giant machine guns.  made the kauai cops look like barney fife.  that did give me a little pause, i waited until they were a block away before i picked up my beer again.  

i've only been here a few hours but i like this place already.  i don't think i'm gonna stay here longer than a week but its a nice transition to other beaches.  there's lots to do, booze cruises, trips to the little islands for snorkeling, and apparently this is a great place for bird watchers.  not my thing but having forest is cool.  the swimming wasn't great, super murky sandy scary water, but i'll still do it. and the only place to rent a surf board is several miles away but the waves aren't great so i'm not real sad.  plenty of time for surf in the next few months.

i'm staying in the historic section and i'm glad of that.  there's enough down here that i don't have to deal with the 20something crowd unless i want to go north.  i will, but i'll be happy down here at 1am when its quiet.  this is a really pretty town (by the water), i saw some ugly bits on the trip from the airport but i don't really need to go there.  50 feet from my hotel is a store with $1 modelos and pacificos...why leave?

i'm sitting on my balcony right now, 3rd floor, and directly in front of me is a 2 lane road, then the boardwalk (or malecón), then the ocean.  lots of activity going on right now, skateboarders, rollerbladers, dogwalkers, joggers, and people just hanging out.  the sound of the ocean pretty much drowns out the noise.  the hotel itself is pretty bizarre, open air inside and old style rooms.  my closet is painted plywood and i broke the doorknobs to both the front and back when i got here.  no screens.  the bathroom is not a place where i'd like my toothbrush to live.  i have to take my computer and anything else to the front desk every time i leave and they give me receipts.  and i'm a bit worried about giant bugs.  but its got a certain charm, i guess.  and the balcony really helps.

so my goal for this week is to hike up to the lighthouse.  its the second highest lighthouse in the world, and it looks like a long ass walk.  

view from the bar