Mazatlan, Mexico Vacation. 4.
It was Thursday the 11th of January. Karen's birthday. Our wedding anniversary would be tomorrow. We arose at 5:30 am. Breakfasted in Lucy's restaurant and
took the shuttle to the airport.
Everything went smoothly. We picked up our bags and headed for security. I passed through all the bag surveys, personal surveys and so on with flying
colours and so did Ben. But he must have come up as the number for a "random"
body search, and that's what he got by a man who said "This will make my day" --
whatever that meant! Afterwards we watched the guy for a bit from a distance while about thirty or forty people wearing sweat pants, baseball caps, exercise clothes, and younger than we are passed through, but there were no more "random" body checks. Ben said he thought he was simply "too clean," which raised suspicions. In any event, Ben resented it. I have no idea what he might have meant.
I had a jacket, pants and a big vest and hat. Ben had his hat and tweed jacket
and black pants. Next time I think I'll dress in a baseball cap and sweats and
so can Ben. We'll buy our hats down there! What do you think?
We ate a very fresh fruit salad in the security zone while we waited for ourplane. We left from gate 67 and pre-boarded before most passengers because itis now too hard for us to pull our carry on baggage and race along in the press
of other passengers, all overly eager to get to their prearranged seats. This way we get settled and then they all come in. It is a real benefit. The flight
and hotel were part of a tour package but there wasn't any more "tour" to it than that.
We flew without incident to Mazatlan. We were served a nice and adequate box lunch on board. Just as with pre-boarding, we made a point of being among the last to leave the plane. This worked very well because we were also the last through immigration and the last through customs check of our planeload, and it all went very easily and smoothly. The tropical smell of growing things met our noses, but it was quite windy.
While we were still on the plane the pilot had warned us over the loadspeakers
that there were time-share sellers waiting and that we should proceed on past them and outside, where the buses for our tour association would be waiting. --
and so they were. It was a nice new bus, with freshly starched and pressed headrest covers with embroidery on them with the name of one of the more prominent jewellery stores. There was a narrator and a video programme on the bus about Mazatlan and area in town also discreetly embroidered there.
When we left the bus we made sure to leave a tip for both driver and speaker. There is always a container at the front of such buses saying that tips are welcome, and those who want to give them are encouraged in this way. There is no other pressure. No hands out. No demanding stares. Nothing. Mexicans are almost
all very pleasant people.
As we drove to our hotel from the airport we passed through the countryside by a
rather long way around to get to the city. There were lots of very smallhouses with yards in which there were chickens, or the chickens were out along the sides of the ditches beside the road. There were dogs with proud high-held tails. Some house were neat and prettily painted in fresh bright colours. Some were very poor and neglected looking. There were small flocks of goats. Maybea cow. A couple of horses.
At one point I had a terribly demanding and constant cough. I could hardly catch my breath and it felt as though the blood was going to spurt out through all the pores of my body. I pulled the corner of my thick vest, recently washed, over my nose and breathed through it, and the cough slowly began to settle down. On the way back to the airport on leaving for the plane to Canada
tthe same thing happened again, in the same place, and I discovered that tere is an electricity plant making electricity from oil nearby. I had also seen
some very brown pollution in the sky, that shifted with the winds, when we wereon the ocean. It made me wonder if we shouldn't go to another place in Mexicoto avoid that pollution.
Tonight Ben and I have been discussing whether we should fly again or not, sinceplanes are a great cause of pollution. I think we probably won't because climate change alleviation is so important. The U.N. report just came out today. Please read about it, but don't become discouraged, because this trouble will eventually bind us together as a human race as we work together cooperatively to save
ourselves. Friends -- the outcome of this can only be good for us! We are going
to be forced to learn a lot, and even though it is difficult we must encourage
each other, have courage, and go forward with energy and confidence. :-)))
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