Day Four Mazatlan - Thursday the 22 January -(although it seems more like july) zoos Aquariums beaches and A sprinkle here a sprinkle there - not talking about the weather

Woke up a 530 for real so might be back to my old self with my impossibly early mornings according to Diane and Linda. Made some tea and caught up with journal, filled out 3 postcards (am falling behind in that department) got dressed and had breakfast which consisted of a peanut butter and jam sandwich. Yummy. 

Went for a walk to the neighbourhood church just a few blocks away and said some hail Mary's for Shauna and Bill and Linda who are all ill. there is a statue at the back of the church with ribbons on it  so will get a ribbon for Shauna and Bill when I next get the chance.

on the way back stopped in at the little store and picked up some flan in little bowls. souvenirs come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and little bowls are good and useful. The flan was very tasty and will have to get some more. The sidewalks in Mazatlan are a challenge and it is sometimes easier to walk in the street than navigate the levels of concrete what with driveways, rain gutters, sloping roads and sometimes just repairs to all of these. Walking anywhere is an adventure.

Passed so many flowering trees and bushes and plants that walking in the street is a good idea as one is not looking at the sidewalks anyway. Diane told me this isn't even the flowery season which is more in march. I am not sure where they could put more flowers but I would like to see it. all the cars here are very clean. Diane had mentioned it before and I noticed that they were indeed all very clean. there is not that much dust  in town and so they don't get dirty after they do get washed I guess.

Diane got up around 8 and we watered the plants inside and out and I sprinkled a bit of mom and dad around the plants. We made bracelets till noon waiting for the internet guy who did not show up again.  I am making bracelets for my family and girlfriends back home and Diane is making brackets and necklaces to either sell or donate to a charity down here.took a few breaks to get photos of birds in the tree.

We spotted an iguana in our tree so got lots of shots of him. Quite large ,about 3 feet long I think with his tail. how he could fit on that little branch I do not know. Strong trees I quess. but how very exotic, finding an iguana in our tree, how tropical! and he was very pretty with his red coloured spines on his back and green patches on his face. what a handsome devil.

We left after lunch to seek out the aquaria and zoo. caught the bus for 7 pesos and got off too early.  I had looked up on the map where it was and it seemed to be at the end of a lagoon of some sort. we saw the lagoon but we were not sure where exactly we were going, so Diane thought 'lets catch a pulmonia and get right there' so for 50 pesos, about 5 dollars we got a ride right to the aquaria about 6 blocks away.  Turn left at the purple bat boy statue on the male con, another three short blocks and you are there.

A beautiful big front so I was hoping for big things. we first got our tickets at a booth not attached to the entry or the aquaria or the zoo. Kind of confusing. 

Then we went to see the sealion show which was good but made me a little sad to see the seals doing such non seal things. I did get a kiss from one of them right on the cheek though so I am as much of the problem as the next person sitting next to me. (although Diane was sitting next to me and she did not get a kiss from the the seal so she is not part of the problem) at the end of the show these birds came (one was white...a crane? ) and the handler fed them fish which is why they came. beautiful.

The zoo was next. A very cute little zoo made up mostly of rescued animals. it is layed out nicely with shady walks and clean cages for the variety of animals. 
there were one eyed ostriches and deer, small ones like on Vancouver island. The next cage we saw was for alligators. I thought "boy those are pretty big to be in that enclosure". then I realized that there was an even bigger one right beside me by the fence.. kind of startled me really.

There was a beautiful tiger who was watching something moving behind us with great interest, the deer maybe or the small children running to catch up with their parents? we wondered where he came from.  maybe another zoo who had to get rid of some young tigers or one of those drug cartel people who had a zoo but was busted and so they confiscated all of his animals? a mystery.

Two little silver ? foxes and an albino racoon who looked interested in what was going on outside his rather small cage. 
There were ground hogs, in a very small wire cage.  Don't they know that ground hogs like to live in the earth? we continued on.

There were lots of birds in large enclosures. Toucans which are much larger than I thought, Parrots of every size and colour, Turkeys which I found out were brought to the continent from Mexico and then to the Americas with the pilgrims. No relation to the American wild turkey whatsoever. 
and peacocks of course, 

A wonderful barn owl who posed so prettily for me. I think he had a hurt leg. I love barn owls but they make the scariest sound. If I heard a barn owl  at night walking alone I would have a heart attack. really.









Lots of lizards 
and snakes 

and frogs. Some black ones that where actually quite pretty

and small  alligators too a whole pile of them in one terrarium. one little fellow came ver to say hi and see what we were doing.

We chatted and looked and commented and by and by we came to  an open air refreshment restaurant so took a break. I piked up some chips and a drink and Dinane got a drink. she is very good about not munching out all the time like me and it shows she is still slim and trim.

After our small refreshment break, we headed to the Aqaurium, The Acuario, it was great. So many kinds of fish I had never seen or only seen in travel or nature shows or in books. 

Diane and I had several good laughs in the aquaria. 
blue lobsters that I don't think I have ever seen even in nature shows




mudskippers that were so cute.... so cute...... so cute

this one little fish who looked so cute head on I just had to grab a photo of him. whazz up Nemo? even his little fin was wonky. that was Nemo wasn't it?

The lights in the aquarium were original too. Jelly fish lights.... very fun. The layout of the aquarium is very nice and flowing and it never seemed crowded. maybe it wasn't as it was the middle of the week.

and one fish that we called linda as she was feeling sorry for herself and was pouty about us going out. Understandable to a degree as she wanted to come with us but she did not even want to hear about anything that we did as it would make her sad. Big baby. Be happy for us and have a good time sharing our experiences. I am sure she will get over it given time and since she and Diane are going to be down there for another 2 months I think that she will do all the things that we did plus more.

there were lion fish which I guess live in these waters and are very pretty but very deadly. I did manage to get a nice shot even if I do say so myself. There were lots of fish that I did try to get a photo of but they were so fast that all I got were blurs, pretty blurs but not really identifiable or printable.

Porcupine fish, puffer fish manta rays and even sea turtles with damaged fins. It seems that when sea turtles come to shore to lay their eggs a police man stands guard until the turtle is finished laying and he then advises the aquarium who comes out and collects the eggs , brings the back to the aquarium until they are just ready to hatch and then they return them to the exact spot where they were layer and protected into the water. would n't that be fun? but the turtles at the aquarium all had damaged fins. maybe they were there for rehabilitation until they could go back to the ocean.

What a lovely aquarium.
There are lovely statues all over Mazatlan and on the way to the aquarium there is a very nice posiedon with a trident, a jazz musician and outside the aquarium proper a lovely boy and fish fountain.

We walked back to the malecon and the purple bat boy statue 9 There are some fifteen statues all in the theme of carnival spread out along the male con). the Malecon is a lovely wide walkway beside the ocean with access to the beach, with shops and vendors, restaurants and life guardstations.at intervals along the beach which is more than a few miles long. took a few photos of the bat boy and the seal statues there and then went down onto the beach. I am still very white but not as bad as I was day one.

There are flags posted every couple of hundred yards to warn one of dangers lurking in the sea. Jelly fish was on the list and we did see a few of these little ones with blue tentacles laying on the sand. only about the size of a big toe maybe not even that big. did not touch them though as who knows how potent their little stinger still are.
the beach itself is very long and beautiful but not as shallow as the beach we were on yesterday by the mazatlan inn..with a lovely small surf crashing in.

About a 300 yards down the beach we came up and  accidentallyfound the tourist bureau which had very little information for us  but the young man was very friendly and as helpful as he could be.   

We went back down to the beach and came upon some cool rock formations with small  flock of small shore birds staying ahead of the waves. these were the first rocks I have seen on the beach in Mazatlan. kind of poked around the rocks looking for shells for Diane. 

There were of course birds flying around overhead. Pelicans, of which I finally got an OK shot. Identifiable as pelicans anyway. Still want to get a better picture. These are brown pelicans down here. I am not sure what we have in Canada. I have seen them in Alberta and Manitoba and am not sure what kind they are either.

We came to the end of that stretch of beach so came up to the main road and walked to the end of the malecon with its statue 'family'. Lots of statues with places to sit too which is nice for us old folks who occasionally like to have a place to rest. of course we didn't this time as we wanted to get get going. 

a little down the road we passed a large buzzard  airing his wings and drying himself out perched atop one of the spires of this dance nightclub. very fun. continued down the road and Diane told me about this other road that we could take home which would bring us to many shops and restaurants along the beach instead of our regular busy road way. We decided to go our regular way.

We crossed one  road with an interesting walk signal. it started out with the little light person walking and the closer the time came to the end of the signal, the faster the little man walked and then ran. too cute! trying to film while walking was maybe not such a great idea but at least you get the idea. this was the first  pedestrian  walk sign that I had seen. mostly we just tried to figure out when it appeared safe to cross and went.

we walked all the way home and stopped in to visit with Wayne, our next door neighbour, who pours a stiff drink.. He is staying where Diane and Linda stayed last year which is where they met him. It is more of an apartment type of complex but with communal areas to hang out in. and large suites. they have a beautiful yard with lots of flowers. lovely.

Luckily, since Wayne not only pours a stiff drink but a Large stiff drink, we just live around the corner so a nice supper and early to bed after uploading and downloading onto facebook.