CARNIVAL!

Today starts the beginning of Carnival, Mazatlan's Mardi Gras.  There are king and queen crownings, parades, parties, fireworks - all of that sort of thing.  We are looking forward to being in the thick of it, although we will have to stay up late.  Most of the exciting events begin at 8 pm - and we are almost always in bed by 9:30.  I am almost ashamed to admit that.  I hope to get some good pictures.

The night before last we went to eat at a restaurant near here called El Fish Market.  (I had EXCELLENT seared ahi.)  We met this amazing woman named Ruby.  She is an American, probably in her 70s, and she has lived down here for a while now.  When she was still in the US, she became very sick.  The doctors told her it was MS and there was nothing she could do.  She did not think it was MS, because she does not think black people get MS.  So she came down here and then somehow got better.  Now she volunteers at an orphanage, sings in restaurants, and generally lives her life in a really wonderful way.  She has a great outlook on life.  She has a small pension from working 20 years for IBM, has a little house here to live in, and says she would not change anything for the world.  She has an incredibly loving spirit, and I felt really good just being around her.

Here are some pictures that Mike took with his camera, which is better than mine.

                                                   This is a cliff diver.  He does this for tips. 

                                           Sunset over the Sea - between Cabo and Mazatlan

Here are some of the 14 bonito that followed our boat for an entire day.

We could have caught the bonito, but we watched them for so long they became like pets so there was no way we were going to eat them. 

We went on a tour of the Pacifico Brewery (cervezeria) yesterday.  It was a lot of fun, and we discovered we do miss the process of brewing our own beer, which we did for a couple years before we sold the house.  There really isn't enough room to do it in the galley on board, although I have heard of people doing it.  They must have bigger boats.  They let you have lots of free beer - but the tour was at 11 am and finished by 12, which is too early for me.  I just had one. 

Today we are going to take the dinghy out and do some fishing.  Hopefully there will be some good fish pictures to post!  Not to mention dinner!