Saying goodbye to Mazatlan again friday 20 January

Notes from Diane after i left
7 Feb

Tis la Carnival time, and the place is hoppin'...parade is tonight, same time as "some game"!!!! or soon after.   Very colourful and musical...streets and beaches are full of happy people and colourful costumes.   Such fun.   This goes on for a few days....I might have to hide out.    I will take some pictures and send them, yep, yep, good times.   Hear you guys are having great weather....good on ya.  

Sheri, how are the renovations....Kelsey, good luck with your new job, tell me all about it....Brad, enjoy the "superbowl"  and the "beaver tail"?????? in the big City!

Hugs to everyone....miss you all!   Di

the parade Feb 8th

Wow   

the pre parade dinner

then floats and fishy floats

 floats and bright coloured floats

and half naked floats  and horses

Rene from northern Toronto, now lives Stone Island, wanted to remember why he moved to sunny Mexico.....too much fun!

Diane

Mazatlan - day 2 - Saturday - Jan 23 - beaches and beads

Slept like the dead until 5ish and then read my book had a cup of tea took some lovely photos of the full moon on the ocean. I love holidays. The sound of the gentle surf helped me to sleep so well I think.

A return to Mazatlan - Day one - Friday Jan 22

Sleeping the night before a trip where you have to leave early is always awful. I woke up at 1127 pm and thought well I have lots of time to get back to sleep as I did not have to get up till 330  so I fell asleep again.  I had a long dream. I woke up and it was 1128 pm. oh my god.  I went to sleep again and repeated the above procedure one more time waking at 1129pm .  Good grief!
When I woke up the next time it was 345 and i jumped up and got ready to go. I walked to the Varscona, so glad it was not cold out, and waited the 10 minutes for the sky shuttle which I had pre booked two days before. While waiting in the hotel i met a nice lady who was going to Ottawa. she was a consultant and travelled a lot so we chatted about our favourite places. the shuttle was already loaded with people that as I listened to them they seemed to be Inuit ,although when I first got in I thought 'oh a bus full of asian tourists?' t when we got to the airport I checked in got to my gate and grabbed some water and an egg salad sandwich for breakfast. The flight to Vancouver was uneventful. Read my book '15 Dogs.' by Andre Alexis. It is very good. Vancouver Airport is very nice and I did not have a long wait till the next flight . I did pick up some fruit and cheese to smnack on thinking that they would give us something on the plane. Continued to Mazatlan and there I sat next to a couple from Winnipeg. We all took turns napping and reading and watching various things on tv. I watched 'The man from UNCLE' and had a nap for 45 minutes, two separate snacks and some gingerale. Customs was easy and getting my bag (although it seemed to take a long time) was painless. Getting out to the buses was another story. As I exited the customs area there was a lady holding a sign Money Exchange and yes I wanted to do that so I exchanged 500 canadian dollars for 5440 pesos. I then tried to locate the bus that was arranged to take me into town. I asked a gentleman for the prona tours and he said he would show me where to go and took me to another gentleman in the same area behind a little desk who proceeded to tell me about different tours in the area and that he would give me tickets to go on theses tours plus 150 dollars US . I was rather confused and told him so. that was when he told me he would give me the money and free tickets for coming to listen to the talk at the time share hotels for just an hour.
 NO thanks and I departed through the second set of doors to find my bus. when I did they told me the gentlemen inside are called sharks by the regular bus and taxi drivers. so finally onto the right bus to go to Mazatlan. Except that we were delivering people to all kinds of hotels along the beach and so I did not get to my hotel until 5 by which time I was so hungry as I did not have lunch.Diane was there waiting for me since 4 and so we immediately went to supper at the hotel . well right after I checked in and dropped my things into my room and odd and aaawwwwd over the view from my little balcony. supper was soon good. might have been the fact that I was soon hungry. then we went to her apartment which is just a little bit farther away than i thought but not by much. we then came back and went shopping to a few little stores and picked some dolphin earrings for my grand daughter Mary, my daughter Shauna will get the dolphin necklace and earrings for me to lizards. that move. how fun. listened to the band play old tunes from the 70's and then went to the hotel said good night around 8 and fell asleep pretty fast.

6 May Barcelona flamenco and fountains

we got a taxi from Guell park and headed off to our flamenco show and dinner.

He knew exactly where to take us and it did not take long

getting our tickets was easy

there was a pre show with instruction on Flamenco clapping and drumming.
Margie- Dennie was a really good sport and participated in learning the beat of
flamenco.

I did take part in both and the clapping is of course much easier than the drumming

the dinner was very good
the show was very good.
Margie- I enjoyed very much  you first taste of flamenco and all the fancy footwork!

the wine was very good

the evening was very good

we took the metro back to the hotel

We got back to the hotel and she arranged a tour for us of the sagrada familia the next morning , lovely lady, and told us about the fountains just up the street at the park we were at earlier in the day.

we headed off past the traffic circle that was still very busy.

Past the venetian towers and the conference centre.
Now the pools were fountains and there were hundreds of people walking around. There were street vendors with blankets on the ground selling all kinds of little souvenirs. castanets, musical frogs. t hirts. selfie sticks.
we walked on over the little bridge and it was getting very crowded now.

working our way through the crowd we came to the stairs which I almost fell down, dark and crowded is my only excuse although I could also say I was distracted by the fountains.
The big fountain was on with music and lights and hundreds of people taking pictures of either other people the fountains or themselves. I have heard of selfie addicts.
Margie- it was a fantastic show! Half of Barcelona must have been there! A lot of young people.  I got a few souvenirs from  the street vendors.


We enjoyed the fountains very much and there were literally over 50 fountains going besides the large musical one.the crowd was a nice mix of all ages with tourists and locals and probably a few pick pockets for the unwary.

We followed our route from our walk in the morning going up the escalators to each level to see the different fountains lit up with different colours and the night views. I love outdoor escalators! then we wandered back to our hotel and said thanks to the night clerk who had told us to go and see the fountains and had arranged for our tour of the Sagrada Familia the next day.  Sleep came very quickly that night with magic fountains still playing in my minds eye.

6 may morning and afternoon in Barcelona parks, funiculars,castles and Gaudi

Woke up early and went looking for a restaurant. The hotel had a breakfast room which looked very nice but at 18 euros we thought we might be able to do better. the restaurant across the street which advertised breakfast was not open and we were early.  We continued around the block and found a little coffee shop/ restaurant that was open and had some very nice breakfast sandwiches and coffee for 5 euros each. Much better price for breakfast.

Went to find the ho ho bus (Hop on Hop off) and we were too early by 45 minutes so went for a walk through the Venetian Towers and down the lovely Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina lane towards the park. We passed some people lined up outside a large conventions center like building. Maybe it was a comic book convention. There was a large robotic spider like crab machine in the parking lot which we thought might be part of the convention. A Robotics convention? Margie- I think it                                                           was a comic con or anime convention.

We passed lots of pools that when they were turned on might be fountains. We were early. They probably don't get turned on till 10 or eleven maybe. Across  little pedestrian foot bridge and into the park with more turned off fountains and gardens and out door escalators.  Great! I love Barcelona! Outdoor escalators!
Margie- the tile work on the stairs was wonderfully done and very beautiful!

A pause for photos of each other and the stairs we would not have to walk at each level as the escalator phenomenom continued for a few more levels. Then we were at the end of the escalators by a large building which I believe was the art gallery or a museum of some sort. (one of Catalonia's finest museums, the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC). which of course .... was not open.... we were too early. there was however a Great view of Barcelona.

 The park continued and we found our way to the Olympic stadium which we had seen on the HO Ho bus yesterday. If the weather was not clear at least it as not hot or crowded.  there was odd art installations although they also may have been lighting for the evening we were not sure. the stadium itself was impressive but smaller that I would have thought. We picked up a few souvenirs at the gift shop which was open (Finally something was open) and continued on to find the ho ho bus stop.

After wandering through a few more small but interesting gardens named after famous people we found the stop for the ho ho bus.
We hopped on but only stayed on for a few stops as we wanted to go to the fernicular to ride up to the castle Montjuic. We found the vernacular and there was no line so we just went right up  and Margie was not even worried a little as the ride was assmooth as silk

 " Wikipedia says "Barcelona's Montjuïc is a broad shallow hill with a relatively flat top overlooking the harbour, to the southwest of the city centre. The eastern side of the hill is almost a sheer cliff, giving it a commanding view over the city's harbour immediately below. The top of the hill (a height of 184,8 m) was the site of several fortifications, the latest of which (the Castle of Montjuïc) remains today. 

The fortress largely dates from the 17th century, with 18th-century additions. In 1842, the garrison (loyal to the Madrid government) shelled parts of the city. It served as a prison, often holding political prisoners, until the time of General Franco. The castle was also the site of numerous executions. In 1897, an incident popularly known as Els processos de Montjuïc prompted the execution of anarchist  supporters, which then led to a severe repression of the workers' struggle for their rights. On different occasions during the Spanish Civil War both Nationalists and Republicans were executed there, each at the time when the site was held by their opponents. The Catalan nationalist leader Luis Comanys i Jover was also executed there in 1940, having been extradited to the Franco government by the Nazis"

 Of course we did not know all that we we went there. It was just a lovely castle on a hill with an exceptional view of Barcelona.

During the course of my reading about Mountjuic I discovered that things that happened there that affect my life and most people on the planet every day. In June 1792 the French astronomers  Jean Delambre and Pierre Mechain began their attempt to measure the distance between Dunkirk and Barcelona with the fortress on Montjuïc chosen as the reference point in Barcelona. After much ado since France and Spain were technically at war Méchain made his measurements from the  fortress on 16 March 1794.

Using this measurement and the latitudes of the two cities they could calculate the distance between the North Pole and the Equator Equator in units of length and hence produce the first prototype  metre which was defined as being one ten millionth of that distance. The the origin of the Metre.  Who knew? Marvellous what those people of old times accomplished was truly amazing. I love learning things this way.

After the castle we took the vernicular down and just missed the HOHO bus so walked down through the park to what we thought would be the next stop. We did in fact go on an adventure through areas most tourists do not see. they were nice areas though with lots of steps down and then this one hill we had to walk back up which reminded us both of a hill  in our youth we used to call the devil's dip which was so steep who would even think to build on it. Really tuckered us out. 

We ended up back in the garden but a new one this time and then down through some schools, cooking and music I think and then to the plaza Espana where we grabbed some lunch from our little coffee shop restaurant and then caught the HO Ho bus to the Sagrada Familia the church that Gaudi is still building even though he is dead.

Wikipedia says "The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família  (or in english the Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family ) is a large  Roman Catholic Church designed by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi (1852–1926). Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and in November 2010 Pope Benedict XVI consecrated and proclaimed it a minor basilica as distinct from a cathedral which must be the seat of a bishop.

Construction of Sagrada Família commenced in 1882 and Gaudí became involved in 1883 , taking over the project and transforming it with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted his last years to the project, and at the time of his death at age 73 in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete.

Sagrada Família's construction relied on private donations and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War only to resume intermittent progress in the 1950s. Construction passed the midpoint in 2010 with some of the project's greatest challenges remaining and an anticipated completion date of 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death.

The basílica has a long history of dividing the citizens of Barcelona: over the initial possibility it might compete with Barcelona's Cathedral over Gaudí's design itself, over the possibility that work after Gaudí's death disregarded his design, and the 2007 proposal to build an underground tunnel of Spain's  high speed rail link to France which could disturb its stability. Describing Sagrada Família, art critic Rainer Zerbst said, "It is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art" and Paul Goldberger called it, "The most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages."

We thought that it being a church we could just go in but no the tickets were all sold out for that day. how many tickets do they sell a day? We walked around the outside and took a few photos and then decided to go to the Guell park which is Gaudi's park.  while we waited for the ho ho bus I sprinkled Mom and Dad in the park across the street from the Sagrada. A nice park with a great view.

We caught the ho ho and ended up walking a good distance up another hillbefore finding out that quell park was also sold out of tickets until 830 that night and since we had plans already for the eying we decided t just wander around the park that was open.It was very cool and we saw lots of his things that he designed. My Mom would have loved Gaudi for all I know she did knew about him  and did love him. his claim to fame is mosaics. crazy mosaics.

4 of May in Edmonton to the 5 of May in Barcelona!

After a very wet morning wait at the Varscona hotel for the shuttle bus and a quiet ride to the airport I met Margie at the airport around 730 am. There were lots of ambulances lined up outside the door for my gate sowas dropped off at the wrong gate and had to walk back. I asked Margie what was going on. Someone told Margie it was for the Fort MacMurray evacuation.
 They were in the midst of one of the worst forest fires on record and had to evacuate the whole town including of course the hospitals. Terrible situation
 We checked in and had a small breakfast before flying to Toronto. The flight was unexciting which is good. Watched movies and before we knew it we were in TO. After a not too long layover we hopped onto our Lufthansa fight to Amsterdam. Again not too bad. No screaming children and a few more movies. Did not sleep at all really as it was the middle of the day for us.
We arrived in Amsterdam, one of my favourite airports ,around sunny 6 am and walked to our gate which was of course almost on the other side of the airport. Little did we know that this would foreshadow our trip.  Our wait there was not long either and we were in the air again.
Barcelona in the morning is beautiful. We got to our hotel which, by the way, is a lovely hotel by cab and he knew exactly where it was.  Very modern and clean with a rooftop pool The Ofelias Hotel is right by the Plaza De Espana. (thanks Kent from our travel agency in Edmonton for recommending it)

Wikipedia says "One of the city's biggest squares, it is the junction of several major thoroughfares: Gran Via de les Corts Catalans, Avinguda del Parallel, Career de la Creu Coberta and Career de Tarragona, and leads to the Palau Nacional through Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina, which houses one of Catalonia's finest museums, the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC) designed by Josep Amargos. 
The fountain at the centre of the square was (beautiful and very large) designed by Josep Maria Jujol, a collaborator of Antoni Gaudi, while Miquel Blay designed the statues. On the plaza are the Venetian Towers  - they are 47 m (154 ft) tall and lead the way to the MNAC via Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina an avenue commonly used to host trade fairs. Fira de Barcelona,  Parc de Joan Miró - previously known as Parc de l'Escorxador (Abbatoir Park), it is nowadays named after the Catalan painter Joan Miró, whose 22-metre-tall statue Dona i Ocell (Woman and Bird) can be seen in one of its corners.  

and the Arenas de Barcelona, a bullring - It was built in 1900 in the Moorish Revival style and has been converted into a shopping center.

We were staying for a few nights before our cruise to get acclimated and to see Barcelona. We checked out the hotel with its roof top pool and modern decor and then wandered one block over to the old bull fighting arena they converted into a shopping mall and entertainment center with cinemas and restaurants. Took some photos of the traffic circle in the Plaza Espana and the park on the other side away from the plaza and each other and then had lunch. The restaurant we picked was not the best. The waiter was in training and the food was different in a not very tasty way. Now I don't want to sound like a crabby tourist but really we both have had better tasting food. Tourist food.
We moved on and found the Hop on Hop off bus and took a tour of Beautiful Barcelona. We did not get off just enjoyed the wonderful architecture of Antoni Gaudi. the world famous architect of which we knew very little but now know we enjoy and so will learn more about him and his life and work.We were told that he has a cathedral here in Barcelona that we really must see for its uniqueness.

Barcelona is a city on the sea and so we went past many marina's, an aquarium that looked amazing and long stretches of  beaches. We enjoyed the narrow old streets and the pedestrian only street like the Ramblas and saw where we might want to get off at some point.
Our energy was starting to flag. for us it was probably 2 in the morning. We went for dinner and planned our next days activities based on what we saw today then back to the hotel and to sleep and dream the dreams of eager tourists in new lands.

Diane's adventures in Mazatlan after Dennie left

Well first the pictures:  there is a picture of waves crashing on the rocks at Playa Cerritos..it was a terrifically windy day and I was trying to catch the waves as they spewed over the rocks.  It was so windy that they would not let anyone parasail, and the fishermen were coming in early it was so rough on the water.   I had fun in the wind, walking up to the highest mound of rocks and watching the waves and birds that were cruising on the windy currents.   Lots of Pelicans out following the fishing boats.

..then there is a picture of 

hi ya all,
Well how does 28 + above sound to ya!   Good day on the beach...found a few shells.  I gave 11 Pendants to the charity called Sonrisas' which means "smiles".  It is a small group of Mazatlan women who believe education is the best way to make a difference in the lives of young people.  They currently sponser 4 young students who cannot afford to go to university.
The Sonrisas' group receives recommendations from teachers about students who are very talented, or smart, but who have no means to go further in their education.  The group has sponsored poor students who have become Dentists,Teachers, Nurses, Engineers, and Child Care Workers.  
I have found a good way to offer my support by donating all the jewelry I make while I am down here.   I talk to Tish, the "president" (she used to live in Peachland, bc)...and she said she would sell my jewelry at 130.00 Pesos, or about 12 dollars...
I am going to make at least 75 pendants before I leave.  
I have an apt. Secured for next year for Jan. Feb and March.  It is $505.00 Canadian dollars....and is one street over from where I am presently..on the same street as Tish and husband Reg.  The apt. Is run by the Catholic Church...it is very "Spartan"...but  clean, quiet and of course in the neighborhood that I am familiar with.    So all is well.   I told Linda I was returning next year by myself, and she said good, as she and her boyfriend Bruce wanted to buy a motor home and travel...so that works out well for everyone.  I know quite a few people here and have no problem being on my own, I rather prefer that.
I hear there is a warming trend happening and this weekend it will be above zero in Alta.   Hooray for you guys...and of course Kelowna is always balmy!
Kelsey, let me know how your interview went!   I will be thinking of you.
Gail, I will send you pictures of the "man with the cats" that I met...Dennie, you remember the Mayan "temple" and the cats...I want to take pictures for Gail.
Everyone, I am doing well, and really enjoying Mazatlan more and more each day....it is my winter home. 

the Machado Square.  Found out that at the Reco Centre in Centro Historico they show films throughout the week....I was all excited about seeing KevinKline in a 2014 film called "My Old Lady", a comedy, but apparently it is a small theatre and even though I was there half an hour earlier the seats were all sold. Tomorrow I am going a hour before the show starts, this time I hope to see the movie "pride"' another Comedy...wish me luck.

Sunday we are hoping to go on a day cruise with Greg, Colleen, Jeff, Marcy, Linda and I...past Stone Island to another big island with beaches and beach restaurants.  I will let you know how that goes.  Meanwhile Linda reminds me every day how many sleeps til we leave for home.  She is very homesick.  I go "lalalalalalalala" every time she mentions it.  

Hope everyone is keeping warm, being healthy and happy and not having to shovel snow or clean off the cars too much....of course the Kelowna Klan is changing their winter tires to summer ones!!!!!

Love to you all, and see you soon....Hugs from Dayan (Mexican handle)

Hi Again,

Soooo sorry that I keep sending word of my little adventures (ha ha ha)  but at my age I will forget what happened today tomorrow, so I count on everyone to remind me about all that happened to me in Mexico.

1.  There are fireworks just about every night from Valentino's, El Cid, Royal Villas, costa de Oro, etc.....I run  to the third story patio as soon as I hear the "kabooooms"' and watch the colors fill the sky like confetti stardust.   Next year I might not have a balcony to run too, but if I make my way down to the beach around 8:00 I should be able to see all the way down the beach.

2.  There is a fight going on where my air conditioner sits hanging out the top part of my window....I never have the air conditioner on as it looks like it would either fall out the window, or start on fire as the owners have shoved towels all around it...there is a ledge outside that the a/c is teetering on, and and two newly married doves have chosen to make there nest there.  They are pushing twigs through spaces I the towel and other parts of the A/c.....apparently a few gecko's also nest somewhere around the A/c, and there are several noisy battles that carry on at odd times of the early morning.  I have to pick twigs off the double bed that is under the window (not where I sleep).  I should take a picture and send it, okay I just did.

3.  I can find my way around the Piña Jaurez market, to Machado Square, to the Ferry terminal, and Angela Peralta theatre, and more....all by bus and walking.

4.  I continue to make costume jewelry SEE!

That's all for now.   Time for my Spanish lessons, free, on my iPad...you too can make a fool of yourself by practicing on unsuspecting vendors...it seems to work as they usually run from me thinking I must be "loco"! By the way... the phrase they use now is" just for today, almost free".        Okay, Bye for now, I have bored you enough already...hugs "Dayan"    

Here are some pictures from Fiesta Apartments where some Canadian friends stay during the winter months.   Robert and his mother run the place, there are 17 suites, all different, and I do mean different...Robert is a frustrated mosaic artist, brick layer, gardener and more.   We had a pot luck supper in the main court yard And I couldn't resist taking pictures.   Robert is shy and would not appear in front of the camera.....

I won't stay there as it is too expensive for me....they charge an extra 18% hotel tax.  It is a fun place to visit.

Bye for now.

Here is another picture....so cute, eh?

Linda and I are staying at Brian and Debbie's, Gaviotas Gardens, March 24' 25' and we leave noonish to return to Edm on the 26th, with a 5.5 hour lay over on PHX...arriving Edm. on 27th just after midnite...Bruce, Linda's boyfriend is picking us up...so I should be in bed around dawn on the 27th!!!

Anyway,  more adventures yet before I head home....