Josh & Kristi leave.....

Yesterday, Sunday, February 25, Josh and Kristi had to leave. We were sad to see them go but all vacations must come to an end. :( We had a wonderful time with Josh and Kristi and they seemed to have had a relaxing/enjoyable time here in Mazatlan.



Here are a few photos of our last evening out together. We had dinner at the Plazuela Machado. This is the center of Mazatlan's cultural activities. The plazuela has retained it's 19th century "tropical classic" architecture and is a great place to enjoy sidewalk cafés, restaurants, music on every corner and an artisans' bazaar on Saturdays. We also spent sometime at a very old bullfighters bar located in this area too. That is where these photos were taken.

Happy Hour at Torres with friends/what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico!!

Way too many margaritas - just couldn't steady that camera. :)

Josh and Kristi enjoying the beach

Out to dinner with Josh & Kristi

More Carnaval statues

Be sure to double click on the image to enlarge. These are just incredible statues!! You will see Josh and Kristi in the third photo. Enjoy!!

We enjoyed the Carnaval floats - just incredible!

The parade came right down the street we live on so we had a great view. We had a little trouble with the lighting but think you can get an idea of how large the floats were. The 5th photo has the Carnaval Queen. Be sure to double click the image to enlarge the photo.

Our first guests of the season arrive.....

Josh and Kristi arrived here in Mazatlan on Sunday, February 18th. The day they arrived our street was closed due to the Carnaval parade. They had to walk a few blocks into our place but didn't seem to mind. We enjoyed the first night with them at the Carnaval parade.

Coranation of the Carnaval Queen

Here are a few pictures of the coranation of the Mazatlan Carnavel Queeen, Lucia Aikens. It was quite a coranation with lots and lots of entertainment. There was even a famous Venezuelan singer Ricardo Montaner that the Mexican audience just went crazy over. He was a great entertainer and singer.

Well here is where we ended up for dinner......

Last evening was very blustery here in Mazatlan. We went to the restaurant for dinner we told you about yesterday but it was closed due to high winds. We were disappointed but ended up going on out to Torres Mazatlan for our anniversary dinner. It was very, very nice and was good to see some of our old friends. Greg and I both had Filet Mignon and it was delicious. The food is always wonderful at Torres. Here is a picture of us and of our new Mexican Fire Opal rings too. We had a great 10th anniversary here in Maz.

Our 10th Wedding Anniversary

Today, Valentine's Day, is our 10th wedding anniversary. For those of you who don't know, we were married here in Mazatlan at our timeshare, Torres Mazatlan. This is a picture of the restaurant we will be going to tonight for dinner at sunset. It is the same restaurant we went to after we were married on the beach at Torres 10 years ago. It is a very quite little restaurant in a cove on the beach. Very romantic setting.
As a 10th anniversary gift for each other, we got matching Mexican Fire Opal rings. Very beautiful and felt it was quite fitting for our 10th.
We will have more pictures to share after dinner this evening.

More Carnaval paper statues

As we promised, here are a few more pictures of the gigantic paper statues that are lining the malecon announcing the arrival of Carnaval. They are fantasy figures tied to the theme of Carnaval, The Enchancements of the Old Port. They are Lumina/enchantment of love and beauty, Merlin the Magician, La bruja Malefica/The Wicked Witch and Hada/Fairy. They are very impressive statues - just incredible. They also light up at night. On Thursday, February 15 - 20, carnaval begins and we have heard it takes over the whole city and is described as huge, enormous, gigantic. Josh and Kristi arrived on Sunday, which is the day of the first parade. It comes right by our place and the street is closed that day so we are trying to find out how we are going to get them here.

Visit to Copala

Copala, a little town founded in 1565, is about 40 miles from Mazatlan in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains. Its cobblestone roads, colonial style homes, flower patios make you feel that you have just stepped back into time. For years Copala was a virtual ghost town.

Here is a little more info on the town. http://copala.com/

Also, here are some photos of the town and the 240 year old church.

Mazatlan Carnaval

This event is gearing up here in Mazatlan and starts on February 15th. Carnaval here is unlike any carnaval you have ever heard or been to. In fact, it is the 3rd largest Mardi Gras in the world, next to New Orleans and Rio. We understand it is big, huge, enormous!! It takes over the whole city and schools and banks are closed. We have heard it is just a huge party day and night for a week. Lots of events go along with it such as the coronation of the carnaval queen, parades, fireworks etc. So it should be quite a time here in Maz. Here is a link to some information on carnaval. Be sure to turn your volume down if you open the official site. http://www.pacificpearl.com/carnaval.htm

This picture is of one of the many enormous paper statues that have been erected in the Machado (old town) and along the malecon. They announce the arrival of carnaval. They tie in with the theme of carnaval this year, "The Enchantments of the Old Port". This picture is of the Fairy statue in the Machado. Greg and I will be taking more photos of the other statues along the malecon, which is where we live, tonight. So please take a look at our blog in the next few days for that posting.