20 October, 2021

Carpe Olivera
Carpa Olivera

Two cruise ships in port today, and there was one yesterday too! I did two short Mazatlán Tourist Aide Volunteer shifts, but almost everyone was on a tour bus. Yesterday’s most popular question was ‘is this the way to the beach?’. Another volunteer had told them to turn at the Kodak store (my go-to landmark for them), so they were going in exactly the right direction!

A moment ago I went to wash one of my glad containers and noticed that the water was brown. Has a smell, but not the typical ‘dirt’ smell I usually get when there’s a problem down the line. My property manager said she’s had several calls about it too, so I looked online. Here’s the answer if you’re getting greyish-brown water with a funky smell … https://www.noroeste.com.mx/mazatlan/reportan-que-ya-hay-agua-en-mazatlan-pero-sale-sucia-ND1511917 . Evidently with the road work on Gabriel Leyva almost done, they’ve connected all the water pipes that had been re-routed, and this is the result.

I’ll say that I walked to Juárez the other day and traffic on Gabriel Leyva was back to normal, and the street, and nice new sidewalks, were almost done. It was nice not having to circumvent big mud puddles – BUT … if you walk that way, be VERY wary and look for open utility accesses in the sidewalk. They haven’t put covers on them and every couple of feet there’s a 3 to 4 foot hole in the sidewalk. And the holes don’t always line up, so really – be VERY careful.

Speaking of the walk the other day … I think perhaps I was a tad ambitious. I didn’t mean to be – really, I planned on taking a cab/pulmonia. I started here in Centro, made my way to Juárez, then I did a zag and a zig and took a long way to Home Depot. I was really ready to go home after picking up a few things there, but being so close to Soriana (old Mega), I thought I’d see if they had tahini. No – but I found some hot paprika! Woo! Anyway, came out of Soriana and asked a pulmonia driver how much to my apartment. He quoted me double what I normally pay – which immediately causes me to forget any aches and pains and brings out my indignant side. I walked down to Valentino’s and caught the Sabalo-Centro bus (now $11.50 pesos). 22,000+ steps for the day, which also included leg cramps and a big blister on my right heel 🙂

Walking Map
Red = Walked; Blue = Bus
[edit: see my edit in the post about the trip to Concordia/Copala – unfortunately I can no longer recommend this tour guide.] Tomorrow I’m doing a trip to Concordia and Copala with Christian Blancarte at Mazatlán Travel Club (https://www.facebook.com/groups/2010652582596130). I haven’t been in eleven years so I thought I’d treat myself and see what’s new! Should be a fun day – but I’ll have to wear my sandals so my blister doesn’t slow me down. The bigger trip doesn’t start until a week from Saturday (Puerto Vallarta for a week, a week in México City, and a week in Acapulco) and tomorrow’s trip will ease the travel urge a little.

In closing shoutout to Gaspasa. I really am impressed with them. No hot water for the shower today – not a big problem, tinaco water is warm enough. Call Gaspasa and 30 minutes later I have a new cylinder. Price has gone up again, but even with the tip it still works out to be about $50 usd for 5 months of gas. And they haul it up the 35 steps to my apartment.

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