My New Years was awesome. Not even remotely wintry- quite the opposite in fact!
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| Not a bad place to spend the last days of winter vacation |
On a whim, Alex and Maribel decided that on the way back from Culiacan we were going to spend a few days in Mazatlan to conclude the winter holidays. I was ecstatic, even more so than my little five year old sister! I've been wanting to go to Mazatlan ever since I saw the photos last year of my district's outbound in Mexico, who was lucky enough to live there. It's gorgeous, with a huge beach, excellent surfing and a boardwalk that stretches on forever. Although Tepic is lovely with beautiful weather and tropical surroundings, for me it's so exciting to wake up and be able to look over the ocean with your toes buried in sand. (I did this every morning, to the bemusement of my family.) Coming from land-locked Alberta, anything about the ocean and beach, especially tropical, makes me very excited!
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| Panorama shot of the Malecon |
For the following days, we went every day to Panama for breakfast, which was in walking distance of the Ramada. (At least we got a bit of exercise in before filling ourselves up with chilaquiles and omelettes!) Then the day basically consisted of walking along the Malecon (boardwalk), lazing around the pool or sun tanning on the beach, and discovering various restaurants around the hotel. It was the perfect relaxing vacation. In the mornings I went running along the Malecon, and had a fantastic time watching the sunrise over the ocean. The sunsets were absolutely stunning- the pictures don't even do them justice.
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| Panama Desayuno 1 : El plato francesa |
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| Desayuno 2: Banana oatmeal :) |
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| One enormous pineapple-strawberry-mango smoothie |
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| Desayuno 3: El omelette Suisse (accompanied by chilaquiles and ham) |
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Check out the Calgary Flames bag- my hockey team represented even
in a dinky little tourist shop in Mexico! |
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| Souvenir stalls with Club Valentino in the background (also in basically all of my photos) |
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| Such as this one :) |
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| A pensive Lalo |
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| Ale and I thinking very hard about what we're going to eat afterwards |
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| A very creative use for coconuts! |
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| Mmmmm.... que hermosa! |
Going off on a bit of a tangent- It was a bit strange seeing all these tourists walking around. Mazatlan is very popular, especially with Americans and Canadians, whereas in Tepic it is very rare to see extranjeros. I didn't feel like a foreigner or a tourist though, even though I definitely looked the part! I was with a Mexican family and speaking in Spanish all the time, and I got a lot of very confused looks from people as they tried to figure out how I could possibly be related to a Mexican family. I may have felt a bit smug there, as I felt like the term "gringo" didn't really apply to me anymore. I knew what was up with taco stands, how to haggle prices, and have great conversations with the locals. Which I have to say felt pretty cool!
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| Quesadillas and a type of taco called a vampiro |
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| Pool time! |
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| Relaxing by the pool |
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| Vanessa starting a sand throwing war |
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| Ta-da, I present... Mazatlan! |
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| We gave Lalo a lovely makeover into a merman |
I was expecting New Years to be a pretty tranquil affair, because of my young siblings. However, it was actually pretty lively, and definitely memorable! For sure the most unique New Years I have ever had, and probably ever will have. We went to a seafood restaurant for the last meal of 2013. I had shrimp breaded with toasted coconut in a pineapple sauce.... it was heavenly. I was so stuffed but I ate every last bite because there was no way I was letting any of it go to waste.
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| Oysters, fresh and scrumptious! |
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| This child is too adorable |
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| One fantastic last meal of 2013- coconut pineapple shrimp. |
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| The cabs of Mazatlan, called Pulmonias |
I went out for a bit to get some photos of the last sunset of the year. Later on I joined my parents at a bar just down the beach to watch the fireworks at midnight. One a side note, it's the first time I've been carded in Mexico, and I have to say it felt pretty dang good whipping out my Alberta Driver's License and saying BAM, I'm legal!
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| Beach shot of the hotel |
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| Last sunset of 2013! |
I walked into the bar and before I could even sit down at the table, a random Mexican boy grabbed my hand and drew me into his group of very enthusiastic dancing friends. (They may have been a tad inebriated, but that didn't stop them from rocking the dance floor!) For almost two hours, I had a blast dancing with a mix of Mexicans and Canadians. While dancing, I realized something. I was able to converse fluently (in both Spanish and English), and I felt an affinity with both groups. Which felt AWESOME. Kind of like a confirmation that I'm now comfortable with two cultures, despite them being incredibly different. (I must admit I got a little overly excited talking to a native Saskatchewan teenager about various outdoorsy adventures- there's such a lack of hippies here I feel a bit deprived! I also enjoyed hearing other with that special Canadian accent and way of saying things. While the majority of the world speaks at least a little english, it's so weird hearing people speak english with my type of accent!)
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| The scene of my New Years- Joe's Oyster Bar (Check out those gravity defying shells) |
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| My new dancing companions (the woman on the right was awesome- Canadian, a mother of three teenagers, and with more energy for dancing than most of us combined!) |
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| My fellow Mexican partiers |
Nobody at the bar really knew each other as we were all hotel guests but with different families, friends, etc., but that didn't matter! I knew absolutely no one else, but I've learned that as long as you're keen to dance and ready to have a good time it makes no difference- you get included in the excitement no matter what! It was such a carefree, crazy experience. I had more fun with these total strangers than I did at the clubs back in Tepic. Maybe it was because we were on vacations at the beach, maybe because it was New Years, who knows! Either way, I absolutely will never forget this New Years.
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Welcome to 2014- beach resort style
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In conclusion, it was a great trip. Mazatlan is an absolutely beautiful, exciting place and I'm in love! I will definitely be back- I'm already envisioning returning for New Years with my friends in university. (Maybe the next time I'll be able to check out the clubs and bars- they've got quite a reputation!) It was an awesome conclusion for winter vacations.
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| Family photo on the way home |
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| Check out the awesome view. And look at the tower... |
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| ...I got to see some crazy locals jumping off of it! |
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| Adios, Mazatlan! |
Thanks for reading!
Cheers,
Wendy
