Sunday, February 22 -- Malacon & other pastimes

Well, we DID wake up this morning, despite the odds.  Just a tad bit later than average, but not a problem.  The mission for the day was to trek down to the southern end of the Malacon and take in what's usually a family day, everyone out for a walk in the beautiful weather.  This Malacon is reputed to be the longest in Mexico, and we can believe it!  The northern end is fairly commercial, but the southern end -- beside the heart of the old city -- seems more family-friendly.

Our breakfast conversation highlighted a common division-of-interests ... Linda and Claudette enjoy the sun, and I avoid it as best I can.  Ultimately I decided to take a beach walk right after breakfast and leave the sun-and-surf of the concrete Malacon to my friends.  They'll stop again at F.I.S.H. for good tacos, and I'll enjoy a light lunch at the internet cafe, which will give me some free Wi-Fi time for my phone or Kindle (in the room we can only activate one device, and obviously it's the laptop).

So here are a couple of photos of our Pacific exposure:  the little straw umbrellas provide some shade (of course, the shade moves as the day progresses, so there's a little dancing involved in staying shady), and the chaise lounges make it easy to relax.

The surf pounds in with or without a big storm to fuel it, big breakers roaring all day long.  The tideline is public space, so one can meander as far up or down the coast as feet will permit.










Linda and Claudette took themselves down to the far southern end of the Malacon to do some people-watching on a pleasant Sunday.  Using the tried-and-true method of looking for a place that's busy, they ordered up a big fruit plate and enjoyed the passing parade.  On top of that, one of their fellow diners was either the literal or figurative "mayor" of the neighborhood, as many people just arriving stopped at his table to exchange greetings and pay respects.  Fun to watch!

 In addition to the permanent scenery, there were remnants of the Carneval celebrations which ended last Tuesday.  The fantasy figures in giant sizes could surely tell very interesting tales.

 Having taken in enough sea, sun and local color, they repaired up to F.I.S.H. for lunch, revisiting a number of interesting streets and squares we'd seen last year.  After enough tacos and fries, they hiked rather farther than  expected to catch the bus home.

 












Now being low on pool time, they promptly repaired to the water's edge, where Linda finally won a bingo prize -- a free margarita!  (Claudette had scored a bingo earlier, but was disqualified on a technicality -- no way to treat a valued guest!)  Meanwhile, I was stitching away after my own morning walk, and finally have achieved a significant milestone.  The big sailing ship above this area is my next challenge. 


 

We'd planned a light dinner of seared cheese & a nice red sauce ... but the sauce was so good we tucked into the remaining corn chips to finish up every drop of it!