So, here I am! Flight down was good. I got my aisle seat and there was a gal from Vancouver in the window seat. The seat between us was empty, which made for lots of room for our assorted junk. She was heading down for a few weeks of visiting friends who rent a two bedroom, furnished apartment year round for the princely sum of $400/month. Ocean view, downtown, AC. Doesnt sound too bad. ´They come down a few times a year and stay for a couple of months. When they{re not using the apartment, they rent it out to friends only. Guess I should have made friends.
Little hiccup at the Maz airport. An older couple seemed to have some sort of passport problem, and that held the line up for almost an hour. By the time we got through immigration, all the luggage was available for pick up, so not a big advantage for all my efforts to fit everything into carry on.
Something new at the airport. After getting through immigration and collecting luggage, we had to go through metal detectors and have luggage x-rayed. Then there is still the red/light / green light.
I opted for a collectiva instead of a taxi. Waited another half hour for the driver to gather up enough people to head into town. When we finally got going there were two Albertans who now live in Maz full time, but had gone home to do the tax thing, one Mexican, five lovely little spring breakers, myself, and somehow we found room to the driver. Got a nice tour out of it. This driver decided to start at the furthest part of Maz and work his way back downtown. I ended being second to last to get dropped off.
The hotel Aquamarina is decent enough for the price. I´m across the street from the Malecon, which I learned is the biggest in Latin America at 15kms, and I{m directly over the pool. Nice big room. Clean, and the AC, plumbing, TV all work. Bed is the usual rock hard Mexican bed. Fairly decent restaurent and a small bar that doesn´t seem to get much use.
One the down side: The pool is very small and doesn{t get used much. I{ve pretty well got a jungle out my window, so not much of a view. On the other hand, some shading isn{t a bad thing. The only big dissapointment is the balcony. There is one, I suppose, but when you open the patio windows there is a whole 16 INCHES of balconey. Not sure why they bothered.
Had supper at the hotel Wed night, then off to the supermarket to stock up one some things.
Yesterday I headed off to find the aquarium. Started walking down the Malecon, in the wrong direction of course. Oh well, I went for a nice walk. Had lunch in a decent restaurent, then flagged down a pulmonia. That{s when I found out the aquarium is only about fifteen minute walk from my hotel, if only I had headed in the right direction.
But, what a jem!! Beautiful park with tons of shade. Two very nicely done aquarium buildings, and a large aviary that one can walk through, once one figures out how the doors work. I spent about half an hour in there and got attacked by a big white pelican, a large, noisy parrot (there were about fifty of them in there, so I suppose I was lucky they didn{t gang up on me, and some small, very agressive ducks. Saw a lovely parrot show. Don{t know if the birds or the ladies handling them were more attractive. I took pictures of both! They also have seal lion shows, and a show with some of the larger fish. Might have to go back there. Oh, and there{s an area with crocodiles and sea turtles, but they wouldn{t let me in there.
It was late afternoon by the time I got back to the hotel. Had a couple of well deserved marguertitas in the lobby, then spent the rest of my evening in the room. Had a goodly quantity of tequila, but never ventured out for dinner.
Woke up before dawn today. Made some coffee and took it across the street to the Malecon. Just sat and watched the people walking, running, jogging, biking, skating, etc. Everyone seemed to be moving except me.
When I[m done on the computer I think I{ll try the hotel´s breakfast buffet, then head to El Centro. Probably hit the market and the cathedral today. Should really try to get hold of my friend the cab driver, too.
I think Maz is starting to grow on me. Very different atmosphere than <PV, not nearly as touristy. LOTS of Americans and Canadians living here for at least part of the year. Cost of living is quite a bit less than PV from what I can see.
Now to go see about that buffet. Talk to you all later.
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