THURSDAY JANUARY 15, 2015

Because of a lack of interest,[ very few followers] I have decided to switch my daily doin's to Facebook.  Please 'friend' me there if you would like to continue reading my daily sad news. not.
Should enough folks send comments against this idea I may reconsider but experience has shown that is not about to happen.

This shows a very narrow and steep street going up the hill that the many communications towers set on just outside Old Town. You may be able to make them out in the top right of the picture. 

This is a picture of a very busy one way street with a couple of large trees taking up valuable parking space. It appears that this tree in front has had more than one automobile incident.

This is a Restaurant, just walk right in and order up whatever is on the menu, I have yet to go in here but it is on my schedule.

WEDNESDAY...........

....................This turned out to be one of those days when heavy cloud cover is appreciated. The temperature was very comfortable, telling me that if it were not for the clouds it would have been way too warm. After a really nice Mexican breakfast thanks to Natalia I left to do some walking and reading. At lunch time I bought a fruit cup and fed the birds some watermelon pieces that were included. I though birds would eat any kind of seeds but soon discovered Mazatlan pigeons to be so spoiled that they actually tossed aside any they didn't like. I attempted to get a picture of one of the birds who walked on a stub foot, it had no toes on it. Before I could set the camera he had been spooked by a passerby and flew away. I had lunch about 2PM at Macaws, another place I have frequented in past visits, and had a small sandwich. I then walked home via the Malicon and became reacquainted with waves crashing on the rocky beaches south of the area Natalia lives in.

This pic shows the Malicon looking North from the Old Town beach.

Some of the décor on buildings in the beach area.

A picture much like the one I posted yesterday with Old Town off to the left.

TUESDAY. . . . . . .

. . . . . .I arrived at the dentists office early only to find that they were not yet in. It surprised me to find that the office was not opening until 10AM. I strolled around for about thirty minutes and when I returned I found Gloria and Roberto happy to see me again. They are a husband and wife team and appear to work together very well. She does the interpreting; I am happy that one of them does. Going to the dentist is tough enough and when you add communications problems to that it can't be all good. As it turned out he replaced last years filling free of charge. The tooth has a crack in it and he feels there is a possibility this filling will also give out. If so he wants to put a crown on it. I hope it doesn't come to that. He cleaned my teeth, charged me 350 Pesos and sent me on my way. I told them to expect me again next year. I walked back to the house and started my laundry. After that was in the dryer I left for a walk on the beach [Malicon]. The ramshackle fish market that was always there in the past has been removed and new walkway construction is taking place. I will post pictures of that in a few days.

The location of the camera is a little bit different but this is two different pictures of the same section of beach at Old Town.

MONDAY. . . . .

. . . . . . It was cooler today but still t-shirt as far as I am concerned. I saw a lady clerking one of the booths outside the Central Market who was wearing a jacket. She gave me the impression she was happy to have it on. For lunch today I had pieces of Cantalope sprinkled with chili powder, not too bad. Later on I stopped by a little family owned shop and had a Tostada. They are served with a soup spoon. It would be easier with a fork but the locals don't mind.

The photos are original pictures taken at the time when the Malicon was being built. What you see is the sidewalk, the actual highway is the dirt portion to the left of that. Of course it is all paved now but it did take a while to get it all built.

I can not guess what year this work was being done. The photography reminds me of classic 30's work that Senior Citizens would find in their old family albums. These photos were hanging in one of the restaurants I use occasionally.

SUNDAY. . . . .

. . . . ... . . .I left the house near noon again today. Natalia and I had taken the Christmas tree down and  put all of the stuff away for next year. I walked to the Central Market again and bought another billfold, the one I had purchased yesterday was just no large enough to hold all of my stuff. For lunch I bought a jelly filled baked good for seven Pesos and a large coconut drink for fifteen. I then wandered around until I found a nice shady spot with a park bench and continued reading the book I had brought along. By 4PM I was still feeling bloated from the coconut drink and felt the need for some protein so bought a too large piece of Pizza. By the time I had finished that I really felt stuffed. When I got back to the house Natalia told me that Coconut drink is loaded with sugar.  I will not be consuming any more of that!

 

SATURDAY.............

..............After breakfast Natalia and I decided to not take the Christmas tree down today. We agreed that tomorrow or some time in the weeks ahead we would get a 'round tuit'. She had weekend running around to do but I still left before she did. And even at that is was almost noon. I bought myself a pair of what I call lounging pants at the market today. I was surprised to find 100% cotton with legs long enough for me to fit into and still look good. I don't care for that 'high water' look I usually have to settle with. No the real test will be what size they are after the first laundry. Only cost me 69 Pesos so no big loss. I returned to the house about 4:30 and Natalia was gone.. . .  .I spent some time on my chess moves before deciding that was taking too much out of me so I tried napping. After that didn't do any good I decided to make my 'report' for the day.

I still have trouble getting used to seeing armed militia guarding some locations with long rifles. Especially on quiet streets such as this.

A picture of a portion of the Malicon, a wide street and as wide a sidewalk covering the distance from Old Town [almost] all of the way to the Gold Zone. A length of five miles, give or take. The ocean waves are breaking nearby over the entire distance.

FRIDAY. . . . ..

. . . . . . . Natalia had left by the time I got up this morning but I found some oatmeal on the stove just waiting for some hungry guy to dip into. I was hungry and that was really good oatmeal!  .  .  .I left the house about 10AM with my book under my arm and strolled up the hill to the Dentists office. The doctor [Roberto] and his pretty wife [Gloria] were happy to see me again. Roberto is doing very well with his English, I wish I could do as well with his language. I made an appointment for a cleaning and a checkup for next Tuesday and told him the last filling he gave me last year fell out before I got home. The sad part of that story is that it had also fallen out once before I had left MZT and he had redone it.......Just one of those things......I stopped by one of my old haunts from the past for lunch and was in there for two hours enjoying the sea breeze and reading my book.

This taken in the main square in town. Parents always like to bring their toddlers to feed the birds and introduce them to the quieter things in life.

This is a very narrow one way street with a very high bank on the North side. On top of the bank [all bricked in of course] are many houses serviced by the sidewalk shown here.

That sidewalk shows many years of abuse. I'm sure many ankles could be harmed if the owners were not watching where they were walking.

THURSDAY. . . . .

. . . . . . . .I was up late this morning and felt rested. Natalia was having a breakfast of home made juice  and offered me  a glassful. It was celery, green apple and pineapple. A most healthy meal and it lasted me for three hours until I ordered lunch in Old Town. I found the location of the Library, it has moved about six blocks since last year. After renewing my card I checked out a book and began strolling around town. I had lunch at Costanza's, a place owned by Ruth, a friend of Natalia. Every body is a friend of Natalia. She should run for Mayor.   The first picture is of Her Christmas Tree. I am in charge of helping her take it down come Saturday. She said she spent eight hours putting this together.

The next pic is of her living room, the artwork on the wall is her own work. it was done with black sticky tape. The birds on the wires were cut out of white sticky tape and painted red.

 

She wants to find a way to hang the bike on hooks out back on the Patio.

 

I turned to the left after the last pic and snapped one of the kitchen and looking out on the patio,

 

the armless figure is of plaster that adds to the decor of the Patio.

 

These two are pictures taken from the kitchen door looking out.

 

 

While at the Library I was going through the many boxes of free books with the cats keeping an eye on me. The owner of the business told me the cats are free too. Then she corrected herself and said, "Not really". The library is the American Library. it was put together many years ago by some of the tourists who were visiting the area, it is small enough to be housed in an area about 24X24 feet. I am sure it is almost a non profit although my fee for my two months is 250 pesos. Each peso equals about 7.8 cents. You do the math. I told the volunteer when I renewed that I had gotten a email reminder last week and flew all the way down here just to renew. He told me a lot of people do that each winter.

WEDNESDAY . . . . . .

. . . . .It has been a long day and  I am pooped. Natalia has not yet arrived home from work so I have yet to say hello to her, other than a short conversation on the phone. The bowl of soup she left for me this afternoon was really good. I'm happy to be here and the weather is peachy keen. I'm mad at myself for loosing my pocket knife to the security people at PDX. I will look around while I'm here and try to find a replacement with a less than two inch blade so that won't happen again.

TUESDAY. . . . .

. . . . . .I had my last pro time check of the winter this morning. My next appointment will be the middle of March. Took ChiChi over to Caren's this afternoon, along with all of his stuff and a dozen cans of dog food and half a sack of dry. I doubt that it is as much as he will need though. I might end up picking up a skinny dog by the time I return. Not really, Caren feeds him better than I do! Time to get to bed, 3Am will be here pretty quick!