Copala & Concordia

Lynn’s much younger nephew Gerry(only 2 or 3 years younger) has come down to check out Trailer parks, with a Friend. After spending a few days in Mazatlan they were ready do to some touring. So we decided to head to the towns of Copala and Concordia. To reach there we had to head towards the Sierra Madre Mountains. The trip was advertized as $55.00US per person we bargained it down to $55.00 Canadian. We stopped at 3 additional stops. First one was a handmade brick factory. Here they had clay, dirt, cow dung and water mix it all up real well and then place it in the frames where they let them set up for 7 days then they pile them all up, leaving a space in the middle and then light a fire in the space .This process is very labour intense. There are only 11 of these factories left in the area; most bricks are now made in factories.

Then it was off to the small town of Malpica where the homes are all brightly painted they use the paint color as house numbers. Here there are a couple of handmade tile makers.

In Mazatlan there are numerous shops that sell woven blankets, clothing, pottery, colonial wood furniture and red stained carving; most of these are manufactured in the outlying areas from Mazatlan. These skills keep the people in the region employed.

From there we stopped in the industrial area where they build red-stained furniture, carvings, sewing, paintings and clay pottery items. This area is a good 40 miles outside of Mazatlan there are numerous work buildings along the road. It is amazing that the finish on the items they build do not have any dust on them.

We have now made it to the town of Concordia where they have a Petroglyph in the municipal hall court yard.

The Church there is the oldest in the area. The building was started in the early 1500’s.

The tour group also arranged for us to visit a local bakery in town. Here we were treated to ½ of a sweet bread freshly made and still warm. The bakery is run out of a small home with a wood burning oven to cook the pastries. It was just the thing to hold us over till we reached Copala

Copala is a town with very narrow cobble stone roads and numerous old silver mines.

The mines are all now closed so the town relays on us the tourist for it's income. The tour included a Mexican lunch and 2 free beer for each of us plus water or pop. We all had a great day.

THE CIRCUS

We brought out the little kids in us and attended the Circus. First problem was buying tickets there were 3 levels of seats we wanted the middle range but ended up with 4 tickets for two in the cheap seats. Good news we did get the correct change back, go figure. Then the usher tried to tell us were to go, out of a 40 word commentary we got right, front and up we think. Oh well we were not in the center but off to the side, just meant we did not get a lot of frontal views of the show. Now this was just a one ring circus so you could see most of the show from any angle.

We were entertained by 20 tigers, the metal netting that was used to contain them was held up in the center just like the big tent. Some of the Tigers appeared to be in a bad mood and were growling and swiping with their paws at each other and the ring master.

Debbie had turned off her flash while the Tiger show was on only to find a Mexican usher in front of the camera saying No! No! (we were not sure if that meant no pictures or no flash).

We had horses, giraffes, 1 and 2 hump camels and even a buffalo. The buffalo was the only animal that ended up with a rider on it, and it was not a good looking lady.

The clown skits were entertaining and not to hard to follow even though everything was in Spanish. There were two showing of acrobats; the first lady was in the lights so much you could only make out her shadow.

The second group was two men and two ladies. The older man stayed on one side and did all the catching of the other 3. We were quite impressed at how close the younger mans’ head came to the lighting fixtures when he pumped back and forth before tumbling over to be caught. It looked like he had inches to spare with out hitting his head.

Did we enjoy the Circus YES, would recommend other to attend YES!

Happy Valentine's to all our Family and Friends hope all your sweet hearts rmemebered you. Please all have some chocolate for us, and if any of you got flowers please send us a picture.

Well January was not as busy as December; we were still busy with ballgames as previous mentioned. This is Shaperio our beer vendor. Each Vendor has their own section so you have the same vendor each game.

We also had company Christa, Scott and the Boys came for a week. It was great to see family and get a grandkid fix, but then it made us miss the rest of the family just a little bit more. Oh well, we will get to see them all in April when we get back.

First thing the boys wanted to so was to go swimming in the pool here at El Cid Marina and order a drink. Devon who never drinks juice had a virgin pina colata

Now down here we have Four modes of Transportation; Bus, Regular Taxi, Pulmonia (small

open air cart similar to a golf cart)

or if there are more than 5 people you take a small open ended Truck with benches.

We never thought we see the day that Christa would place her Children in some of these questionable vehicles. Let’s just say that the boys had a blast. They were singing away to the loud music which was being played in the truck. . The ride in the Pulmonia was not quite exciting, but they both enjoyed the wind blowing through there hair.

We took the boys to the Aquarium here which is very small and not updated as the one in Vancouver which Devon and Zachary are both familiar with. But they did enjoy the Sea Lion show and the Bird show.

Christa and Scott took the day off from parenthood and went Zip Lining across the Mexican outback. We took the boat out for the 1st time since arriving in Mazatlan over to Venados Island better know as Deer Island to us English speaking people. Here Christa and the family swam, snorkelled, found sea shells and went for a walk part way up to the top of the island. There we all had lunch and enjoyed the peacefulness’ of the island as there were not many visitors that day. We also attended a Mexican Fiesta where we had a Mexican buffet and lots of entertainment. Even the boys got to go up and be on stage.

Visited the main Church, here in down town Mazatlan which is full of figurines

and parts of the market. We kept them so busy that they all had to head back home for a holiday.

Just a little out of place but worth putting in.

Christmas in Mexico Posadas

The Mexicans’ have lots of celebrations at Christmas. One of the many celebrations is the nine Posadas which represent the Pilgrimage of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem during the 9 months that Mary was pregnant. The 1st is held on the 16th of Dec and continue until the 25th of Dec.

Most neighbourhoods get together and decide which homes will not let Mary and Joseph stay and which one will be the final resting place for baby Jesus to be born. This home is now the party home. The pilgrims start the Posada celebration with Joseph and Mary with their burrow leading the way.

If no one has costumes they will be carrying a nativity scene. All the neighbours join the procession as it makes it way to the chosen home. Here the children/adults in the procession break open a Piñata, share drinks and food and good company is enjoyed. Some parties are fancier and some are plain. But they all celebrate the welcoming of Christ.

We were fortunate to have attended one where homemade donuts were served along with

Hot chocolate and lots of children. The party home had about 15 people inside, while the outside group was about 70.The outside group are singing a song requesting to come in. The small group inside is replying back with who and why should we let you stay.The noise level inside was louder then the group outside.

Watching the Piñata being pulled up and down and the children trying to break it open was Hilarous plus the fact that from up above we were throwing down the occasional handful of candy. So the children thought they had started to break the Pinata

Just down from the home was a pool hall that looked like it was out of a wild, wild, west movie. It did not look out of place as the roads in the neighbourhood were dirt and there are very few street lights.