January 5th, 2006.

Mazatlan – my grandfather falls. pigeon assault. Sheila and the tour. Church. Shoeshine square. Yesterday – “I’m NOT your HUSBAND!!!” Last night – a little too much experimentation with Jack Daniels perhaps. Possibly finished “Allergy”, though.

Yeah – those are the notes I have to deal with. We docked in Mazatlan at 7am and took the tender (little Life boat thingie) to town just after breakfast. We met up with our tourguide, Sheila, and wandered the city, exploring and seeing the opera house, the nice end of town, the not-so-nice end of town… lots of sculptures and public works… they’re big into dolphins and pervasive, if not very deep, symbolism. We went into a bakery, who’s owner’s house is attached and filled with historical artefacts. She’s got lots of tales to tell, but we’re distracted by light, flakey bread things with cinnamon an ever-present tang.

I was curious about the name of this arch, and was disappointed to find out that it was called "Los Arcos". Sigh. And yet a rabbit is NOT "Los Rabbito". I learned a LOT on my trip to Mexico. — I was curious about the name of this arch, and was disappointed to find out that it was called “Los Arcos”. Sigh. And yet a rabbit is NOT “Los Rabbito”. I learned a LOT on my trip to Mexico.

We stopped at her favourite restaraunt and listened to a man play guitar and play flute as we sat and ate chips and salsa. Incredible salsa – very fresh. Hot chips freshly baked. Very nice. All in the shadow of a Christmas tree decorated exclusively with Coca Cola advertisements.

We went to the town square of Mazatlan, looked at the cathedral there. Beautiful – I usually feel sort of wrong about taking photographs in and around churches, but there’s something about the Mexican-Catholic affinity for neon and Christmas lights that make me feel less sacriligeous in my activitities.

Many many pigeons – unafraid of the rampant gargoyle population, clustered in shoeshine square around the nativity displays and the Live donkeys and pigs and goats.

Sunset over Land's End as we depart Cabo San Lucas. — Sunset over Land’s End as we depart Cabo San Lucas.

My grandfather strides through them and I JUST miss the shot – his grin is obscured by a pigeon flying right in front of his face and I curse myself for being just a little too fast or just a little too slow.

I’m always amazed by how much my grandfather can walk – uneven cobbles of Mexican streets – Sheila is from Washington State, but has Lived here for 25 years and leads us around the town for about 4 hours. My grandfather has no problem keeping up, though at one moment when we’re all looking the wrong way, he misses a step and falls to the ground. Terrified we rush over – old people break so easily with their brittle frames – but he’s picking himself up and smiling. “Are you ok?” “I’m here”. It’s an answer we get used to over the next couple of days.

Dawn in Mazatlan, Mexico. One of the nice things about crossing a bunch of timezones going west in winter, is that you can be conscious for sunrise AND sunset. Absolutely beautiful - every morning has started hazy and diffuse, and slowly the city unrolls around you. It's like a snowday every day - looking outside to see if there's land. Have I said that before? Bah - I think it everytime I look at one of these pictures. — Dawn in Mazatlan, Mexico. One of the nice things about crossing a bunch of timezones going west in winter, is that you can be conscious for sunrise AND sunset. Absolutely beautiful – every morning has started hazy and diffuse, and slowly the city unrolls around you. It’s like a snowday every day – looking outside to see if there’s land. Have I said that before? Bah – I think it everytime I look at one of these pictures.

A diver in Mazatlan - in a moment he leaps off the top there, narrowly avoiding the rocks and landing in 5 feet of water or so. Then his kids come around and ask for money. That's probably a bit of a rough job, and he crosses himself before the dive. I wonder how he got started - if one day his father took him to the top of this town and said "Ok son, today you become a man" and while the kid's eagerly looking around for nubile young women, his dad shoves him off the cliff. Hrm. Somedays it IS good to be a suburban American. — A diver in Mazatlan – in a moment he leaps off the top there, narrowly avoiding the rocks and landing in 5 feet of water or so. Then his kids come around and ask for money. That’s probably a bit of a rough job, and he crosses himself before the dive. I wonder how he got started – if one day his father took him to the top of this town and said “Ok son, today you become a man” and while the kid’s eagerly looking around for nubile young women, his dad shoves him off the cliff. Hrm. Somedays it IS good to be a suburban American.

Getting back to the boat, I hang out with Scott and Denni back at their stateroom and, well, you know – there wasn’t anything to mix with the Jack Daniels… so I drank a little more of that than I perhaps otherwise would’ve. Scott solos enthusiastically, showing off the new guitar he bought in Mazatlan. It’s an Ovation knock-off of some sort, but plays well despite the old strings. I meet Mick and Caroline from Australia who are showing off pictures from back home.

Somewhere in there, having finished my song “Drift” – I’ve been working on a new one called “Allergy”. Not QUITE sure, but I think it’s just about done.