Mezcal

Today we took a colectivo, a type of shared taxi, to one of Oaxaca's suburbs, Malatlan. Although this is a small town, it is literally covered with mezcal distilleries and little shops called expendios. We got dropped off on the highway and went to the first distillery we saw. There we tasted about five different varieties of Mezcal, and bought a small bottle. We decided that we probably should eat something before continuing to imbibe, so we walked into the downtown area and had some empanadas, Sarah had one with pumpkin flowers, and mine was filled with chicken in an orange sauce. The owner of the food stand that we ate at recommended another mezcal distillery about fifteen minutes up the road. We walked over a river and down the highway to arrive at El Rey Zapotec where we got quite an education. Aside from the regional differences, tequila is made from blue agave, whereas mezcal is made from green agave. The plants have to grow for about twelve yars before they are harvested. Then the bottom portion is cooked for four days over hot coals while covered in dirt. Then it is ground up using a horse-drawn cement wheel as it has been done for centuries. The ground up agave is then mixed with water and allowed to ferment. Eventually it is distilled twice, and viola, mezcal!

There are quite a few varieties of mezcal, young and old, aged in different types of barrels, etc. Some of the more interesting varieties we found were pechuga, which entails having a turkey breast in the distiller, tobala, which is made using wild agave instead of farm grown agave, and maracuya, which is passionfruit flavored. There are also a variety of flavored mezcals and cream mezcals such as coffee, cappuccino, mocha, almond, peanut, blackberry, strawberry, and many more (you can see them in the picture). We did end up buying a bottle from El Rey Zapotec, and also continued up the highway to another distillery where we tested their products and picked up a bottle. Needless to say there were many free samples at all the distilleries. (Sarah may have been a little slober.)

Coming home was quite interesting, we basically started walking back towards Oaxaca on the highway and after a couple minutes a colectivo drove by and picked us up. It was a small Nissan Tsuru (think Honda civic) and even though there was only one open seat, the driver beckoned to us to get in. He managed to squeeze two people in the front seat and we continued down the highway quite a ways. At some point the woman in the back seat next to us got out and a young man named Efrain got in. He was also heading to Oaxaca for school, studying computer engineering and also taking a class in English. Turns out he eventually wants to move to the USA and live in San Francisco and work for there, he said he was specifically studying networking and software. Finally we reached Oaxaca and the driver let us out about ten or twelve blocks from where we needed to go, for some reason there was an immense amount of traffic and we were able to walk much faster than he could have driven us. It was an interesting walk too, we picked up a sliced grapefruit that the vendor poured some chili sauce and chili pepper on, quite delicious!

So here we are, planning to go get some dinner and maybe some of the hot chocolate that Oaxaca is famous for, then drink some of that mezcal we bought!

Don't Puke on the Bus!

We are now in Oaxaca. First, let me tell you how we got here. We took a bus from Zihuatanejo to Acapulco, first class all the way. We had a couple hours to kill in Acapulco and the bus station isn't really in any particularly special place, but it was night time and we couldn't hit up the beach, so we wandered around and found a taco place. We had five tacos each (they were very small) and shared a refresco. To our surprise they were running some sort of promotion so our dinner was only 32 pesos, less than $2.50, and quite tasty. We then took the semi-directo overnight bus to Puerto Escondido where we caught a "suburban" which was basically a big 15 person van for the seven hour trek through the mountains to Oaxaca. This was an EXTREMELY windy road. I don't really suffer from motion sickness, but there were times when the repeated warning signs of curva peligrosa and camino sinuoso made me less than thrilled. Not to mention the fact that two locals, who got on the bus halfway up the mountain, and who are somewhat frequent travelers of this route, vomited for about two hours while we were driving. Luckily they came prepared with their own barf bags as the suburban did not provide them. The driver's reaction was exceptional, as he heard them, he would look back, roll down the window, and not even think about slowing down. The local sitting behind me really got a kick out of the suffering of our fellow riders. I gave them what was left in my water bottle when they got off in Miahuatlan. Luckily, we made it to Oaxaca without incident. (Sarah got the coveted front seat next to the driver with fresh air in her face - or she may not have survived!)

Yesterday, we arrived and hunted around for hotels for a little while. We decided on hotel Maria Teresa which seemed to be a good value, however we encountered three minor issues. The first was that the Internet didn't work, the second was quantity of cucarachas living with us, but what was really problematic was the bell that went off every time someone came or left the hotel. This woke us up repeatedly last night. We decided to move elsewhere this morning. After we checked in last night we wandered to the zocalo where there were two separate concerts going on as well as what was called a puppet show, but seemed to be acted by people. Possibly I misunderstood the puppet part. We had dinner which a light dinner, which consisted of guacamole and chapulines. Chapulines are grasshoppers. Yes, we ate a bowl of grasshoppers with peppers and onions. They were quite tasty.

This morning, after we found a new hostel, which so far seems fine, we had a quick breakfast of champurrada (a hot chocolate drink) and a tamale in a bolillo, sort of a tamale torta. We then embarked on a guided tour of some local sights. We went to Monte Alban, a series of pyramids, tombs, and a place where they played ball which was sort of a sunken soccer field with stone bleachers and goals. These were constructed about 2500 to 1900 years ago by Zapotecs. We then went to an Alebrijes woodshop. Alebrijes are a local type of carving with very bright colors painted on them. Some were fairly simple, skulls, small guitars, etc. Some were very intricate, two headed dragons with lizards climbing up their necks, really anything the artist can imagine. After that we went to a church without a roof, basically abandoned during construction because the church in Oaxaca proper was more popular. We had a buffet lunch where we had all seven different types of Oaxacan mole, a mezcal mousse, some more chapulines, and a variety of other local foods. Last we went to alfareria doña rosa where they make pots out of black clay, but it looks so smooth it could almost be polished metal. They also make a variety of different animal shapes, geometric shapes, and other clay trinkets. Here we are, back at our hostel, relaxing after a busy day, ready to drink some mezcal tomorrow!

The Clean Plate Club

Sarah's Thanksgiving dinner used to be on this plate. We had a very unique Thanksgiving dinner- the turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes were delicious; the cranberry sauce was straight from a can (a la Bart, for those Simpsons fans out there) which is how I like it (Sarah expects more for $12 a plate!). The pumpkin pie was definitely different, it tasted like the Mexican chef had probably never actually eaten American pumpkin pie (or made it) in her life. Regardless, it was a delicious meal and we celebrated all the things we are thankful for.

Meanwhile, earlier that day we had decided to take a jaunt over to Ixtapa, a much more touristy, resort area. As soon as we get off the bus, José flags us down and offers us a free bottle of tequila for sitting through a timeshare presentation. Our first instinct is of course to say no and keep walking, however, who can resist a free bottle of tequila? Not to mention the fact that it was well over 90 degrees out, and when I asked if they had air conditioning, I got a resounding, "¡sí!". A nondescript white van came and picked us up to take us to the hotel. The shpiel actually sounded pretty appealing if we weren't a month into our yearlong voyage, and it was air conditioned while we drank a few free piña coladas. After we said no, we took our free bottle of tequila and went to the beach. The beach in Ixtapa is very nice, much better for swimming than playa madera or principal here in Zihuatanejo. We eventually found our way back to the bus, headed home, and got cleaned up for Thanksgiving dinner. However, we managed to pick up a few aguas frescas on the way to mix in the tequila.

Today we decided to go to playa las gatas. We took a very seaworthy-looking lancha (small boat) and headed over. This beach is protected by a large barrier of rocks and coral and has excellent snorkeling. We rented some snorkels and fins and saw many fish, crabs, urchins, tigers sharks, etc. Eventually we caught another lancha back to civilization and had a delicious dinner; I had a seafood soup, Sarah had cecina de res (see the Facebook pictures on what cecina de Res is). Tomorrow we leave Zihuatanejo and head for Oaxaca which may be a lengthy journey as it looks like we have to head south for a while and then cross over the mountains. In the meantime, check Facebook for some more photos.

Happy Thanksgiving from Zihuatanejo!

Here are some fresh chickens, waiting to be purchased from the market here in Zihuatanejo. We arrived very early this morning and managed to wander to the beach in time for sunrise. We walked around in the Centro for a while talking to different people in hotels trying to get a decent room at an affordable price. We settled on a place about a block from the mercado and fifteen minutes from the beach walking. After settling in and take a brief siesta, we started to explore. Zihuatanejo really has four major beaches, two of which are within easy walking distance of our hotel. We went to these two beaches after some delicious tacos and a bottle of a soda I had never heard of before called Yoli. It looks like the other two beaches are nicer, but require either about an hour and half walk out to the freeway and back around, or using a bus. Another option may be to hire a boat to take us out there(and hopefully remember to retrieve us at the end of the day). We will be exploring those beaches on Friday most likely. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and as of yet we have not seen any signs of anything happening in Zihuatanejo in that regard. There doesn't appear to be a large expat community here. However, tomorrow we are going to venture to nearby Ixtapa, which has more of a touristy feel, and perhaps we can find some turkey dinner. If not, we will just eat some of the chickens pictured above. Happy Thanksgiving all!!

We are very thankful to be on our adventure and for all our friends and family who are supporting us throughout. If you want to see more, be sure to check out our Facebook page which has many more photographs.

Musings

All of the posts we've written until now have been descriptive - where we are, what we did, what we ate! But along the way, we have been talking and thinking a lot about Mexico, people here, life in general and other musings. What I write is all my opinion, so Matt may have other views, and of course, I invite you all, my friends, family, readers, to share your thoughts and opinions here, too. I hope to have a chance to write about these and other thoughts along the way.

Poverty, Charity, and Begging

In some ways, the poor we have encountered in Mexico have seemed more poor than those in the states, and in other ways, less. Overall, we have seen very little homelessness here, that is to say: we don't see people sleeping in the streets or carrying their every possession in a shopping cart or even reeking of bodily fluids. It would seem that everyone has some place to call home and tried their best, despite lack of funds, to look their best. But what some of those people call home would certainly be considered sub-par in the states. Our neighbors here in Melaque have 4 walls and a ceiling, but they don't all connect - I can see into the front room through the gap between the wall and ceiling. The house is essentially made of cement bricks and not really finished, nor are their doors. There are several blankets laid on the floor and I'm not sure if it is used as a play/living room or bedroom or both or neither. So, on one hand it's better than sleeping on the streets but certainly not the finest living conditions. While on the train from Chihuahua to Los Mochis, we saw several such "huts" that seemed to be one room made of cement and a sort of adobe, perhaps some aluminum siding, tree branches often for a wall or two - very makeshift. It reminded me of what homes may have looked like on the American frontier 100-200 years ago. Except these houses had TV satellites (which in Mexico can cost as little as $10 a month). So, it's a very confusing question of: are these people poor? There's electricity, there's water (sometimes hot), there's TV! A better question may be, are these people happy? The only interaction we've had with someone who lived in this condition was a man in Creel who walked with us a bit up the highway after our hike. He was of the native Indian tribe, Tarahumara, likely a farmer who after a ten minute conversation asked for a peso which Matt gave. Did he ask for it because he needed or because he thought us "wealthy" tourists could spare it? He seemed happy, proud of his heritage, well-nourished.
Creel over all had the most beggars, mostly children, which raised even more complicated feelings for me. A 5-year old girl or boy, who looks a little dusty (everything is dusty in Creel), looks at you with sad eyes and asked for some money. Then the internal battle begins: most tourist guides in the region discourage travelers from giving money to beggars because it just results in more begging. (why work when nice tourists will give you money for free?). They recommend giving to charities instead. There's also the "teach a man to fish" story, but what could I teach in just a moment as I pass through? Not much, I should think. At the same time, I dont want to be a cold-hearted tourist who turns a blind eye to poor children. Of course, we can't give all our money away, either. Etc etc etc, the battle rages. In every city, there are also many impoverished people selling "hand-made" trinkets of the area, some of which may be hand-made, some may be store bought, either way, they are the type of trinkets we certainly don't need. Once again, I feel I'd like to help out, but should I spend my money on some tchatchki I don't need? Is our money at the hotels and hostels and restaurants and tourists sites enough of a transfusion to local businesses? These are all questions that I ask myself. In the meantime, I have not yet bought anything, except a hat, which I really do need.
Overall, cost of living here is very low and it doesn't take much to get by, but where is the line between getting by and living well?

Books

I just finished reading my first book of the trip, "Les Misérables" by Victor Hugo, translated (to English from French) and abridged. Normally, I wouldn't buy an abridged version, but I got this one from a Barnes and Noble closing sale, it was very inexpensive, and even abridged, is nearly 1,000 pages. It's big, it's heavy, and part of me is very happy that I've finished and is ready to trade it a book-swap for something a little more backpacker friendly. On the other hand, at home, books are among my most prized possessions and the idea of leaving a book behind makes me a little sad. It makes me more sad that this is a B&N edition, which I may not be able to get another of in the future. I'm not sure why I have such an attachment to Physical books, especially since there are very few that I've read twice, but I cannot remember ever giving or throwing away books. Perhaps one day, I will buy another copy of Les Mis, just to have it!

I enjoyed reading the novel which the famous broadway musical is based upon and found interesting the differences is plot and emphasis between the two. For instance, Javert's suicide is a very short, non-dramatic moment - no soliloquy, no huge argument with God. As I bid 'adieu' to this cumbersome book, I'd like to share a quote that caught my attention. Hugo was a huge supporter of public education for all and uses lots of moments to give a moral lesson.

Part 3, Book 7, Chapter 2:
"Humanity is identity. All men are the same clay. No difference, here below at least, in predestination. The same darkness before, the same flesh during, the same ashes after life. But ignorance, mixed with the human composition, blackens it. This incurable ignorance possesses the heart of man, and there becomes Evil."

Matt also finished his first book, "The Innocent Man" by John Grisham. He said it was interesting as it is Grisham's first work of Non-Fiction.

Ex-Patriots in Mexico

There are many Americans, and surprisingly (to me) Canadians living in Mexico, either full-time or for the winter. Most are older, 60+, and there is definitely a stereotype starting to form in my mind. In some ways, it's a little bit like the wild west down here and those types who are attracted to it are a little rough around the edges. A little coarse, load-spoken, independent, and firm in their mind sets. If I met a person like this in the states, they would not be the person I would imagine expatriating becuase they are SO american, but the Canadians are this way, too!
My former image of an ex-pat, based of course on the artists who left the states after WW1 and WW2, was someone cultured and artistic, who left the states because they were disillusioned with the American dream/society - think Ernest Hrmmingway and Gertrude Stein in Paris or Jack Kerouac in Mexico. How amazing were they? But the people we've encountered thus far seem more the type who may have retired to Florida, but Mexico is cheaper and who cares if anyone visits you anyway, and they sure do have some tasty tacos down here! I'm surprised by how few of them speak Spanish with any competency.
While the beautiful landscape and low prices certainly are appealing, I find myself wondering who I would socialize with if I lived here. Locals my age, in the coastal towns, are mostly not college educated and agriculture and tourism are the two biggest industries. Would I have enough to build a long-lasting, meaningful relationship with them? I don't think I'd really fit into this ex-pat community - too young and too liberal! And as for Jews - most Mexican Jews live in Mexico City (no, thanks), while there is a small community in Guadalajara (hours from the coast) and a smaller community of American Jews living in a lake town that's mostly retired folks. As much as the idea of a vacation home in Melaque is very appealing, I don't think I could live here full time.

Those are the things I've been thinking of lately - would love some feedback and other thoughts!

¡Dulceria!

Still here in Melaque. Today we took a walk down the beach to a neighboring small town, Barra de Navidad. Although Barra looked like a cute little town, I think we like Melaque more. Melaque is a bit larger, with about 12,000 residents, and for some reason many of the beachfront buildings in Barra seemed to have recently fallen apart, either due to a tsunami or some sort of strange weather. It is odd that this doesn't seem to be happening in Melaque since it was only a few mile walk down the beach. Anyway, we wandered around Barra for a little bit, had some lunch, then caught the bus back to Melaque. On the way home, we decided we deserved some ice cream after our strenuous walk, which we enjoyed on our balcony overlooking the ocean. Now's the time to come visit us here, we head to Zihuatanejo on Tuesday! The picture is of the local candy shop here in Melaque, around the corner from our bungalow.

Sarah in the Kitchen

After an overnight bus ride to Puerto Vallarta and catching another bus to Melaque we have arrived. If the Chepe is thunder mountain railroad, the bus from Puerto Vallarta to Melaque is like Indiana Jones falling into the jungle cruise in a bus going twice as fast. Luckily we made it here and after scoping out a dozen different hotels, we found one right on the beach! In addition it has a kitchen so we will be eating tostadas and drinking shots of tequila tonight! We are now in Jalisco state, the same state as Tequila, and oddly enouh the supermarkets seem to have hundreds of brands of tequila we have never heard of. We are going to head downstairs to the beach in a little bit, but first, a well deserved siesta.

Raining in Mazatlán

We picked a good day to leave Mazatlán. As we were walking to the mercado this morning it started raining. After picking up some supplies and eating delicious marlin we headed home and the rain was really coming down. Since we last wrote, we saw the Venados game. We left during the seventh inning and the Venados were winning 11-3. Sarah was given a foul ball! A word on taxis in Mexico, the taxi drivers basically make up the prices as they go along, simply saying, "my, that's expensive" in Spanish knocked 20% off the price before we even started to negotiate our fare home. Two days ago we returned to our cabeza taco stand for some more delicious cabeza tacos at a very affordable 45¢ each or so. We saw they were making what appeared to be baked potatos, and asked what they were. Turned out they were delicious potatoes that they grill in aluminum, then blend up the potato meat with some butter or cream, then put in some carne asada, many cheeses, onions, pico de gallo, and some frijoles. Probably the best stuffed baked potato ever. In case you ever come to Mazatlán, it's a little stand on Miguel Aleman street about one kilometer from the malecon. Yeterday we went to a seafood place for an early dinner and had some crab Ceviche and camarones a la diabla. Now we have a few hours to kill until our bus leaves around 11:00 tonight, then we have another bus to catch in Puerto Vallarta which will take us to Melaque. If anyone wants to visit, it's a short ride from the airport in Manzanillo!

More Mazatlán

So, it turns out the Zona Dorada wasn't that exciting. Lots of overpriced hotels and tourists staying there. We were both surprised by the number of Canadians. Apparently a lot of Canadians spend their winters in Mazatlán to escape the cold. Two days ago we went on a long walk around the city. There is a park in Mazatlán which has some jaguars and deer(in cages). Mazatlán is named after its deer. We also discovered the beisbol stadium where the Mazatlán Venados (Deer) play ball. We are going to see them play this afternoon. We escaped the heat for a little bit in the local McDonald's, easily the nicest McDonald's we have ever been to. Yesterday we took it easy on the beach, and I caught a fish! Too bad our hotel room doesn't have a kitchen, otherwise we would have had a fresh dinner, instead I threw it back into the ocean. We just booked our bus tickets for the next leg of our journey, we leave for Melaque on Monday night, going by way of Puerto Vallarta. Hopefully the first bus is on time as we only have a 16 minute window to get to the next bus, otherwise we will be spending some time in Puerto Vallarta. Hopefully we will be able to snag a bungalow on the cheap in Melaque and sit on the beach eating burritos all day. The adventure continues!

Mochis to Mazatlán

Our last day in Los Mochis we took a leisurely walk back to the Parque Sinaloa and played with the iguanas and turtles again. We had a delicious roasted chicken for dinner after visiting the Plazuela 21 de Septiembre. Sunday we took the bus to Mazatlán. It seems that in Sinaloa, the bus-merchants have a different style. Kids will hop in the bus walk down the aisle handing out candy and then walk back up the aisle collecting pesos. We just gave back the candy as we are on very strict diets. After a few brief stops in Culiacan and elsewhere, we arrived in Mazatlán. Seems like the bus line we took didn't go to the central bus station, but luckily there was a small army of taxis and pulmonias waiting to take us to our destination. A pulmonia is a golf cart that has a little more power. We decided to take a taxi to our hotel, Hotel Milan. Turns out the hotel is no longer in business! We wandered around old Mazatlán's downtown for a little while, but the hotels seemed a little overpriced for what we would be getting. We spoke to some friendly Canadians (eh?) who recommended we head to the malecon (boardwalk) and see what we could find there. We found Hotel Belmar, on the beach, with negotiable prices - we ended up paying the same to stay here, across from the beach, as we may have down in the old sector in a much crummier place. 
The Hotel Belmar, according to some locals, once housed some very spectacular guests, such as John Wayne and Frank Sinatra.  The place definitely looks like it used to be a glamourous place, but now it is pretty rundown - definitely needs some TLC, but according to what we've read, Mazatlan is not what it used to be as a vacation destination.  Since the 80s, the "high season" is lower and lower and the bartender (see below) said he didn't know if there would even be one this year.   After getting a small room for a negotiated lower price, we got 'upgraded' because the air conditioner didn't work.  As we were moving our stuff, a cockroach jumped out from under the bed.  EW!  Luckily, no more bug sightings in the newer room.
We walked up and down the boardwalk a bit, had dinner at a seafood place next to our hotel and then found a bar called "The Time Machine." The owner of the bar is from Alabama and he married a mazatleca about 27 years ago. In addition they were playing the steelers game on tv and the beers were ten pesos each. We met a few other interesting expats who all seem to be in love with this city. 
This morning we went to the mercado central in old Mazatlán to get supplies for the day. After re-energizing ourselves with an Agua fresca de nanchi which is a small yellow berry, we got some tamales, some pan dulces, and a piece of pumpkin cooked in honey. We took our supplies to the beach, still largely deserted since it's a Monday during the low season, and ate our supplies over the next several hours. Anyway, here we are, the hotel has wifi in the lobby so check Facebook for pictures. We are about to go back to the mercado to retrieve supplies for a beach side dinner. Tomorrow we might head to the Zona Dorada where the big spenders stay. 

Los Mochis

After our adventure in Creel, we got back on the train with some pan dulces in hand and half a box of hojuelas de maiz (corn flakes). The train is like a real life thunder mountain railroad, turbulence, ups and downs, and the beautiful copper canyon. We arrived in Los Mochis around 8:30 at night and grabbed a colectivo to get to the city. The train station is a bit out of town and we could have taken a taxi, but a colectivo, or shared taxi, is more cost effective and much more authentic. There was also an elderly couple, and another guy in the colectivo with us. We were the last stop and it turned out that the driver had lived in the bay area, good to meet a fellow 49er fan. We are staying at Hotel del Valle, no internet but it has hot water, A/C, and a much more comfortable bed. It feels a bit more safe since there is normally a man watching the front door, locking it at night, etc. Yesterday we wandered around the city, got an agua fresca de piña colada in the morning, and went to the Parque Sinaloa and the Jardin Botanico. This was originally the very large private garden of an American who started the sugar mill here. It has a broad collection of trees and plants from all around the world. Additionally there is a fountain area with a large pool around it and a few small islands. There were literally hundreds of turtles hanging out on the islands along with a few very large iguanas. We took some pictures of the king iguana, and will post them later when we arrive somewhere with wi-fi. Also it is a bird sanctuary and we saw many geese, ducks, and other birds including one that tried to eat my toe. We decided to visit the statue of Don Quijote and on our way we stopped at a Chinese restaurant, one of many in Los Mochis. The food was quite tasty, very similar to American chinese food in the Cantonese style. When we arrived at the statue, we were somewhat underwhelmed and took a few minutes to drink some water in the shade of the VW dealership. We walked around some more, took a quick siesta, and the city was pretty alive at night, not too surprising since it is so hot at night. We had a snack, an "elote en vaso" or corn in a cup. It comes with all sorts of sauces and whatnot that you can have put in it, however we had ours with only cheese, chili sauce and lime. ¡Muy sabroso! To really top it off, the gentleman running the elote stand was wearing a 49er hat, we like this town already!

This morning we made the bus trip to Topolobampo. Topolobampo is a local port on the coast about 20 minutes from Los Mochis. We thought that this bus would take us to a beach, but upon our arrival, we spoke with a few locals and learned that Topolobampo is really a port town, you can get on boats to look at dolphins and go fishing, but no beach. Perhaps that explains all the odd looks at our swimsuits. Luckily there is a beach nearby, El Maviri. We took a taxi there and Sarah determined that El Maviri is currently the #1 contender for the future home of Casa Shapiro, Bed & Breakfast. The beach is pretty secluded, and right now, since it´s the low season, the beach was completely empty when we arrived. We walked through a few restaurants and there was nobody there. We sat down at a table underneath a palapa (thatched roof umbrella) and after an hour or so a waiter came by and started setting things up. We ordered a few beers, played in the water, which was nice and warm, and generally hung out for a while. Around one or two in the afternoon we decided to do some exploring, this is shapiroadventures after all, and wandered farther down the beach. We came across another restaurant and ordered ceviche de pescado and a limonada. We asked if the ceviche was for one person or two and it sounded like an order was only enough for one person, but based on prior experience so far, we got one order for the two of us. Turned out it was more than enough and the ceviche was delicious. The waitress said that the fish was locally caught and it was probably alive a few hours before we ate it. I would tell you the name of the restaurant, but I´m not sure it has one, but its trees are painted yellow and green and there were a few old guys sleeping in the hammocks around the tables. We caught the bus back to Los Mochis, took a quick siesta, and here we are. Looks like we will probably spend another day here tomorrow, hang out in the park, maybe go to some plazas here in the city. I want to see the iguanas and turtles again. Then it´s off to Mazatlan on Sunday.

Trick or treaters in Creel

After our strenuous day of hiking yesterday, we are going to take it easy today. Sarah may have pulled a few muscles yesterday, luckily I practiced walking long distances before we left. Here's some trick or treaters from last night.