more mazatlan pics

I will be writing more about my trip, but in the mean time I've had some requests for pictures...

Crashing through the white water to get out to the break at Olas Altos...

Most of the time you don't want to be surfing the white water.

Gross. These jelly fish showed up in the afternoon almost every day. Miraculously I did not get stung.

Part of the historic district of Mazatlan, as seen from Olas Altos.

This is sort of what it looks like while paddling out to the surf break. But scarier. I almost drowned just trying to get out to the break.

This isn't even the big gun. Imagine me trying to get this thing out through the break.

"Hey, I think there's someone with a hat who might want to buy another hat!"

P discovered my kryptonite. I am a total neat freak but for some reason I always ended up a sandy mess. No matter how often I rinsed my feet or shook out my clothes I ended up covered in sand. The nickname for the Mazaloans is "pata salada", sandy feet. So I guess I must have some Mazaloan blood in me somewhere...

I LOVE mangos!!!! These awesome mangos were carved out by the mango man at Playa Bruia and they're covered in chili sauce. SO GOOD.

Mangos post consumption. Those cookies are from the Playa Bruia restaurant. They were presented to P and I with a flourish which implied they were tasty. They actually tasted like sand and sugar. I'm imagining the mango pit on the left saying to the mango pit to the right "hm, I wonder where these cookies came from." Kind of like my room service art.

Best happy hour is on top of the best western. Beautiful balcony, amazing view, but the elevator doesn't go up there so it's not overly crowded.

Cotton candy, yum!!!! And some idiotic german kids. The girl in the pic above kept striking poses on the beach. Did she think she looked cool?

My birthday dinner was here. The inside of this restaurant is a huge courtyard. Very beautiful. The food was fucking great.

Mexican divorce? This guy is burying his wife in the sand.

My mom was asking about my pink hat. I got it at REI and it's for children 4 - 7 years old. I have a really small head.

Stone Island

The first day in Mazatlan P and I went to Stone Island to watch a surfing comp. We were accompanied by Willy, a local Mazatloan. Since it's late in the season, and beach conditions were not conducive to swimming, there were few tourists. We only saw some from the shore, on a booze cruise boat.

Beach at Stone Island. It was the calmest beach, but not exactly conducive to wading and swimming.

None of the restaurants were open so Willy found a guy with a cooler and bought beer. We had pacificos, which have more alcohol in them there than in the US. They also taste better.

As we were walking to a restaurant to have some ceviche I hesitated by the side of the road and asked Willy "Is it legal for us to walk down the road drinking beer?"

He gave me a quizzical look, then said "Franki, everything is legal in Mexico".

Isla de Chivos

On Wednesday, my birthday, P and I went to Stone Island for my second day of surfing. I managed to get up on the board and ride a wave in which was awesome. As I was exiting the water a woman stopped me and congratulated me on my ride. And an older Mexican grandmother gave me a nod and a huge smile. Pretty cool.

epic surfing - olas altos

Note to self: surfing during hurricane conditions is challenging

More updates on my vacation to follow. Here's a vid of the surfing conditions at Olas Altos:

And here's surfing conditions at Playa Bruia: