Getting our Bearings in Mazatlan

Now that we’re settled in our apartment, we’re finding our way around the town. We went to a couple of the big stores to do some shopping. One is the Mega store, which has moving sidewalks going up to the second level and down. It’s a huge grocery store along the lines of Save-On-Foods, but with many Mexican specialties. We stocked up on basic foodstuff along with fresh pineapple and mango and papaya for ridiculously cheap. It’s interesting that yogurt is about half the price it is at home, while cottage cheese is twice the price. I think it’s that cottage cheese is a Gringo food and yogurt is a Mexican favorite. We try to eat local foods rather than pay a premium for imports, but cottage cheese is part of our daily breakfast and we don’t want to give it up.

Today we went to Walmart. Finding it was quite a task though since we haven’t yet found a map. We asked four different people for directions and each time ended up driving back and forth from one barrio to another. Finally we made it. It’s a lot less organized than the US stores. Things seem to be shoved together with a different logic than we’re used to. We were looking for a few things to give our courtyard a festive look--like sparkle mini lights, candles, lampshades—but it appears that few of these things are available (either at Walmart or Home Depot). Or maybe they’re already sold out. So we’re asking my sister Jan who is coming to visit on Friday to bring a few sparkly things.
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We also found that it’s no more expensive to get your laundry done at a lavandaria than it is to take it to a US style Laundromat. That’s ok with us. Who wants to spend their afternoon sitting looking at the dryers go around? Especially when there are flowers like this to look at.

Maggie is settled in now and feeling comfortable in her courtyard. She loves going for a long walk along the beach and running in and out of the water after sticks. There are few, if any, sticks on the beach though so we have to bring our own from the garden. I’m trying to teach her to body surf. We saw a little Jack Russell Terrier that loved to go run in and catch a wave on the way back. Maggie managed to do it once when I timed it right tossing the stick in. She looked very surprised to be propelled shoreward. The timing is pretty critical though.
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Tourists along the beach are often very interested in knowing how we managed to bring our dog along. Many of them have dogs at home and are thrilled to visit with her and find out about her journey.