Well Helllloooooo Everyone! Yep. It’s been a bit. 2020 threw most everyone for a bit of loop, and that includes me. We are officially entering post-pandemic activities now that 2021 is already halfway done (wait…WHAT?) and I figured it’s probably time I start writing again.
Both Chris and I are fully vaccinated – for multiple reasons. We want to help those who legitimately can’t be vaccinated due to health issues, those who can but are hesitant, and those who are but are also still vulnerable. Plus, if it helps us ALL get back to some sort of normalcy, I’m in. The added benefit of being able to see friends and family safely is gigantic too (my God I MISSED hugs!!!).
This also has allowed us to start traveling again. In April, we were halfinated (thanks Tim R. – that one never gets old) and we decided to spend our anniversary in Mazatlan. After not traveling for 15 months, I felt like a total amateur. I couldn’t remember what I was supposed to do! Luckily it came back pretty quickly (I didn’t spend much time looking like a dumbass…). Omgosh. Mazatlan. I loved the vibe. Laid back, WARM & sunny, fantastic food and as always, wonderful people every where we went.
If you’re curious, safety precautions were EVERYHWERE. Masks were required in the hotel, stores and restaurants. Almost every place had these sanitation mats you had to step on and every single place had hand sanitizer at the entrance. Some places even did temperature checks. And all that was after we arrived. Each airport and flight required masks and offered hand sanitizer. All in all, we felt perfectly safe.
On this particular trip our good friends Karen and Tim S were able to join us. (QUICK PAUSE: I just stopped typing to look out my office window in time to see a bald eagle being chased off by three crows – eagles are just so beautiful!). Ok, I’m back. At the hotel we quickly discovered we were the only foreigners around and most of the staff spoke either limited or no English. Personally I thought this was GREAT! I love the immersion aspects. The hotel was under renovations and the one working elevator didn’t always run. Being on the 6th floor, the stairs made for great exercise!
When we weren’t walking somewhere, we took a tuk-tuk or pulmonia (I think that’s correct….). Think golf carts but fancier. Some were decked out in lights and crazy sound systems! It was just nice to hop in one and go where ever we needed or wanted to go. We walked the malacon which was nice but surprisingly, there wasn’t much activity. Maybe because it was the end of April? But it’s a 5 mile one-way walk and I think we did just under 23K steps on our fitbits. Found a gorgeous church but unfortunately it was closed to the public due to covid.
The hotel “beach” area wasn’t that great but the views were amazing. We found a couple restaurants we loved – one was across the street from the hotel. Nice steak place. The other one we went to on our anniversary was Paco’s – the food, service and views were simply amazing. We enjoyed it so much we went back dragging Karen and Tim with us. Oh – amazing bbq at Fatty Fish which was just down the road from our hotel. Ridiculous amount of food!
The four of us decided we needed to do a little exploring one day and hopped in a cab for a 40-minute drive to El Quelite in Sinaloa. Wow – beautiful little town in the middle of nowhere! While there we decided to eat at El Mason De Los Laureanos. Oh My God. This place is a MUST. The food, décor, chickens running around (we named one Chris – that’s a story for another time) EVERYTHING about this restaurant was incredible. I’m kinda drooling thinking about it…..ok back to reality. Once we were finished we decided to wander the town a bit. Unfortunately due to a political rally – most of the town closed early. So, we found our taxi and tried to get out of town. I say tried – we made it but not until after we drove through a political parade route which included federalies. It was pretty entertaining and a little crazy. But hey, that’s what you get when you travel.
Our next adventure for the week with our little quad was a booze cruise/snorkeling excursion. once at the little island we could swim, snorkel, eat, kayak or wander. Admittedly, we were disappointed in the snorkeling. Very murky so couldn’t see anything. We did grab a kayak and paddled around and we did a bunch of swimming. If you know us, you know we love the water!
All in all, Mazatlán was beautiful and a great place to visit. Would I live there? Probably not. Visit again? Absolutely. As I said in the beginning, we loved the vibe and the locals. Oh and by the way, I’m FINALLY Finishing this particular story in Sept.
Next up – Playa del Carmen for my 50th!
I alwaysenjoy these “adventures with the Wackers.” Keep traveling – and keep writing!