Hola all of our amigas Y amigos,
Life continues in Mazatlan for the run away Whitakers. Joel, Janice, and Ollie continue to be healthy, happy, and busy.
My first note is on my brother Steve. Steve was always the quiet man in our family. Last year he visited us for 8 days and soon after had us find him an apartment in Mazatlan. He now lives here six months a year. Mazatlan has done quite a change on Steve. This quiet man has come out of his shell and is a volunteer tourist aid. He walks a regular route two or three days a weeks along the Malecon, Olas Altas, and into Centro. He has his Mazatlan Volunteer Tourist Aid Blue shirt on. He approaches tourists that look like they need help finding their way around, advice on good places to see, eat, and how to read a map. A big part of his job is assuring frightened people that Mazatlan is a good place to visit and to relax and enjoy it. Steve approaches people many times a day and thoroughly enjoys it. He also is regularly the high scorer at three times a week bridge games that usually have 7 or 8 tables of players. I have a feeling that within a couple of years, Steve will be known as Mr. Mazatlan.
Another joy was the visit of daughter Joanne and grandson Kenny. Joanne and Kenny live in Spokane, Washington. Joanne has a very responsible position and has to travel part of the time. She wanted this time with us to relax, slow her life down, and get some time with Kenny. Joanne and Kenny got several beach days together. He is 12 and a seventh grader. We are proud of him and his mom who has raised him on her own. Grandpa and Kenny got two boogey boarding outings and he taught grandpa to ride the waves. Joanne attended a fashion show with Janice, a girls night out with Janice and friends, massage, manicure, and other fun things with mom. Nothing on this trip was in a hurry and we could tell that the nine days here were just what the Dr. ordered. Among fun outings for the four of us, was Mexican Fiesta night at The Last Drop, and of course, awesome rib dinners at Fat Fish. On Tuesday March 15 we dropped them at the airport for their flight home. It ended up their flight was cancelled. The airline put them up at The Playa Mazatlan, gave them meal and taxi coupons, and they ended up flying home on the 16th. We are hoping they will return for Christmas.
On St. Patrick's Day we drove to El Quelite with friends Patrick and Sandra. El Quelite is a small village about 25 miles north of Mazatlan. We arrived there around 11:15 and got our lunch reservation at Meson de los Laureanos, a wonderful restaurant that also has a Mexican Cultural show on Thursdays. We explored the town while waiting for lunch time to come. We went to the farm where fighting cocks are raised. There were a lot of beautiful roosters, but not sure if we like what they were being bred for. The farm overlooks a beautiful cemetery that is full of flowers and many festive decorations. We walked down the streets and saw some beautiful cactus and colorful homes. We stopped at their bakery which is reputed to have the best baked goods around. We bought a bagful of rolls, pastries, etc for a sum total of 25 pesos, a little over two dollars. We then returned to our restaurant and enjoyed a couple of cervezas and margaritas while waiting for the show to start. We also enjoyed excellent Mexican meals. The show was to start at 12:30, but a tour group was late so the show didn't start until 1:20. There were Mexican dancers with beautiful costumes. An interesting point was the German influence on the area's dances. Many Germans settled in the area well over 100 years ago and brought good beer and oompa music. The dances had a polka influence. Janice and I were pulled from the crowd twice and danced with the dancers. Patrick and Sandra took pictures. Hopefully, some will make their way to this blog. Also, there were Aztec fire dances and the beautiful Eagle dance in Aztec costume. After the show was over the Aztec dancers played a traditional game where a ball is passed only by way of the hips. They were quite skilled. We enjoyed close to three hours at Meson de los Laureanos. We would recommend this place including getting your picture taken with Lola, their MacCaw.
Life continues busy as Janice is planning a girlfriends tea party on the 30th of March. Janice also has taken more art lessons, this time in water color and is putting out some paintings that show promise for her. She continues to have the monthly wine tasting group and has enjoyed the help of a friend of hers. We are both talking about ideas for when we return to Mazatlan in Sept. how we can get more involved in the community.
We are doing some great things that entertain us, but now it's time we do something that is helpful to this wonderful to us. Ollie has been having problems with itching here. He looses hair and constantly itches and not only does it drive him nuts, it drives us nuts. We've changed his food, had the place fumigated, given him supplements, had him see the vet and still unsure what is going on with him. Other then that, he loves being here with us. Joel continues to work at the library. We are now are starting to think of our return north in May. This trip, if we go straight to Spokane will take about 5 days. This winter has gone fast. When you live in paradise time does not drag.in paradise time does not drag.
We are also working on our plans for our trip to Europe for June and July. We've gotten our flights, and the lodging for Spain for the month of June. We are now working on the second part of our trip. That may take a bit longer as we are finding that Ireland is out of sight price wise. Mostly for food and car rental. B & B's aren't too bad and those are always fun as you get to meet the locals and find out more about their culture that way. Stay tune to this and we'll let you know where we will be heading.
Until next time,
Adios, Joel, Janice, and Ollie
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