Well we arrived in Mazatlan after a 30 hour passage (this was fast for us as we had planned on 36 hours). We were tired as we had only had a couple of hours sleep. So, after a good nights sleep we spent about 12 hours the next day washing the last four months worth of grime off the boat, scrubbing the rust spots on the stainless, cleaning out lockers and just general spring cleaning. By 1930 we fell exhausted onto the couch, inside of 30 minutes every muscle in our bodies hurt. The drug of choice for my generation is no longer POT its Advil!!

Linda managed to throw some dinner together by 2100 and then we rolled into bed. The next morning every muscle was screaming, so back to the Advil.

We thought we deserved a day off and told Linh & Teal that we have never done much sight seeing in Mazatlan. They had spent three months here last year and offered to be our guides!! So off we headed into Old Town for lunch, the usual comida economica (cheap lunch for four $7.40). After lunch Teal lead the march, we started at the market and headed for El Faro a couple of miles away. Now think about this, it's after lunch the sun is high in the sky so guess what? Yep, it's the hottest part of the day; it's time for the “Gringo stomp”. That's for idiots like us who don't have enough brains to go and take a siesta during this part of the day. El Faro for those not familiar with Mazatlan is the Worlds highest naturally placed light house it's approximately 500' above sea level. So, after a couple of miles of walking the streets in 88 degree heat it's up the side of a mountain, now at the bottom of the mountain there's an enterprising gentleman who sells ice cold water and pop, about to pass it up Teal tells us we should buy water. 20 minutes later our thighs are burning and we're sweating like pigs in an oven and we have almost drunk the whole liter of water. We’re now a third of the way up the mountain, funny it looked like a small hill from below. After a couple of rest stops we get to the steps, did I mention the last part is 497 steps up to the top; these are concrete steps of various sizes. When we reach the top the view is stunning it overlooks the entire city of Mazatlan.

They don't normally let people into the light house but for some reason they let Teal and I go up into the lighthouse VERY COOL. No, I mean really, they run AC in the top to keep the lens cool!!

Well, we hobbled back down the mountain, by the time we got to the bottom I was feeling like Sir Edmund Hilary (The British chap who climbed Everest). So, off we went again on the Teal tour. So, when Teal said “shall we pop up those 200 steps to see the cannon the Germans left” it was almost a unanimous “NO!” So, off we went along the Malecon for about four miles then turned back into the city to find the oldest church in Mazatlan, imagine our surprise one hour later when we came back to the same spot in the hwy realizing we had seen the church but were no closer to getting home. We continued on along the Malecon for a couple more miles when Teal said “we can take the bus from this corner”, three bodies plopped to the sidewalk and mercifully the bus came by in just a few minutes. Now this was the expensive bus, 8 pesos, fully air conditioned, by the time we got back to the marina we shuffled off like prisoners going to the gas chamber. Five minutes later we climbed on the boat, along with a stiff Vodka Tonic I shared the Advil bottle with Linda who lay on the couch not moving. I hobbled over to the stove heated some leftovers and then we drug our bodies to bed. In reflection we had hiked for about six hours, climbed a 500' mountain and visited most of Old Town on foot. One other thing... I wish we would have bought stock in Advil.

Love to all

The trekkers south of the border