It was a very interesting day and we ended it with lunch at the La Puntilla Restaurant near the docks where the cruise ships come in. This open air restaurant hosts a breakfast buffet, lunch, and dinner. They offer a seemingly infinite selection of seafood dishes and a green salad loaded with avocado. Kind of pricey, but some think it's worth it for the ocean breeze, passing ships, and the view of Stone Island. After your meal, you can visit the statue of the Virgin of la Puntilla, located just across the parking lot. At the beginning of each hurricane season, fisherman's wives make offerings to her to protect their loved ones at sea and the fishermen pray to her as they pass her on their way out to sea.
Lorenzo and his wife Francis with their little boy Benjamin.
This is the entrance to their humble home in the same neighborhood that Lorenzo and Francis grew up in. They rent the home from Lorenzo's uncle.
In Mazatlán, monuments seem to sprout up everywhere and many of them have a story to tell. Lorenzo told us about a few that we hadn't seen yet.
This one "La Mujer Mazatleca" is for the women of Mazatlán, who are said to be among the most beautiful women in the world.
This is a monument to a famous actor/singer, Pedro Infante Cruz. In his most famous movie he was a motorcyclist. The Mexicans love to have their photo taken with this monument.
This is where Pedro lived.
This is a famous composer in Mazatlan who is still living. We thought it was interesting that a monument has been erected while he is still living. He actually lives just across the street from his monument.
The red house on top of the hill is owned by an American from California. Spectacular view!
The two yellow buildings in the distance is where we live, Las Gavias.
The green area you see is the Military area.
Military area entrance.
Where the fishing boats dock.
These pictures don't do justice to how many boats there were and alot of them were out to sea on this day. They are usually docked many deep. Not surprising though, Mazatlan is the shrimp capital of the world.
More fishing boats.
One, of a couple of tuna factories in Mazatlan, Nair.
Lorenzo told us this is where you buy American cars.
We visited the Archaeological Museum of Mazatlan. It has been open to the public since 1988. It houses a collection of archaeological materials from the South of Sinaloa (the state Mazatlan resides in) as well as an outstanding variety of prehispanic artifacts from different regions of Mexico. The price to view this museum was $2.70 US. It was a very interesting museum - well worth the time.
The entrance to the museum displays some petroglyphs.
We understand just 45 minutes north of Mazatlan, near the fishing village of Barras de Piaxtla an interesting group of petrogrlyphs can be found on the beach: Las Labradas.
These petroglyphs of Tolteca origin are the remains of the most ancient artistic expressions of Mexico´s northwestern territory. Some archaeologists state these may have been created 1,000 or 1,500 years ago. We are planning a trip to this area soon.
A human burial urn is displayed in the picture below representing an ancient ritual that is distinctively Sinaloan. It contains three bodies and represents the return to the uterus of mother earth. The write up below is translated from Spanish so is a little hard to read.
Urn containing three bodies.
The museum also displays a bronze statue of the symbol on the Mexican flag, the eagle and serpent. Throughout history, the flag has changed 4 times, as the design of the coat of arms and the length-width ratios of the flag have been modified. However, the coat of arms has had the same features throughout: an eagle, holding a serpent in its talon, is perched on top of a prickly pear cactus; the cactus is situated on a rock that rises above a lake. The coat of arms is derived from an Aztec legend that their gods told them to build a city where they spot an eagle and a serpent, which is now Mexico City.
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