Mazatlan

We loaded the bike up ready for an early start towards Mazatlan. As I leaned forward to place my phrasebook on my seat whilst I put my jacket on, Nancy keeled over (to the accompaniment of my yelp!) into the newly undercoated white wall in reception. Slumped against the wall, she looked as careworn as I had a couple of days ago. She seemed to be saying, not another day on the road. As reception staff looked on we struggled to bring her upright as the tiled floor made our feet slide away from us. Finally a young guy came over and helped and Nancy recovered her posture. Sadly her windscreen is broken and the right indicator split. And the reception wall is also scarred but nobody seemed to mind. David set about fixing the damage and dressed in gaffa tape, Nancy was soon wheeled outside Delayed by about an hour, we were ready for off, but not before a lady from across the road at Mariscos Charly (who had been looking at the bike) ran over and placed a card of the Virgen de Guadeloupe into my hand.
And so off we set towards Mazatlan. We stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant where we ate what was on offer: carné asada with beans, lettuce and flour tortillas freshly made. We crossed the Tropic of Cancer again and soon arrived at Hotel Lerma in Mazatlan with secure parking We had approached Mazatlan from the North, the road slightly inland, so it was not until we approached the road of our Hotel that we saw the beach-and it is lovely: 16kms of Malacon. At one end the old town where we stayed and around the bay the posh end As soon as we had unloaded we put on our best bib and tucker and went for a stroll along the promenade, past the street vendors selling jewellery homes decorated for Christmas a Mexican band serenading in a nearby restaurant and sculptures most of them on bronze, to watch the sun set The following day we set of in the sunshine to explore Mazatlan and the harbour. We passed two crazy Mexicans diving for donations with not a lot to spare stopped for some fresh coconut saw some more sculptures (many of naked women) and a motorcycle. We stopped for cerviche for lunch then strolled past the port noticing a rather well laden truck and made our way back into town to visit the Teatro Angela Peralta and just catching the end of a performance. Old Mazatlan is very pretty with narrow streets, restaurants, parks old colonial architecture interesting object d'art and unusual taxis The catedral is striking and the market is a blaze of colour. We hadn't found a supermarket in Mazatlan and realised why when we visited the indoor market On the way back to the hotel David was heartened to see that Mexico is leading the world in managing neuroses: Back at the ranch I prepared soup for supper.