A Hand Holder

Yesterday morning I got to looking at MP. She just had this look that said I'm either tired of Mazatlan, tired of Jeff or tired of doing nothing, or maybe all three. Considering I've been fishing 6 hours a day, sleeping a couple hours in the afternoon and then playing music at night I can understand her look. Theres only one thing to do, take one for the team....go shopping. What I call a 'hand holder'. So we jump the #1 bus with 1200 peso and head for old town to tour the art galleries. As we walk through Revolution Plaza the most pleasent music hits my ears. Its a couple guys playing pan flutes, they're Yaris from Ecuador and the only way to describe the music is that it sounded like the rain forest. Real south american Indian music, I bought a CD of course. We wander the Plaza Machado, its the cultural center of Mazatlan and although I don't know Europe I kind of figure this is how it might be. The first gallery is Nidart on Libertad st. The first thing that catches my eye is this old radio that somehow resembles something I vaguely remember from my youth. Whats even more interesting that on top of it are these little guitars for sale. I guess I'm just on a guitar theme lately. MP's looking at these cool little coconut faces when I spot the Galleries Keystone piece. Its this purpley, skeltony, feathery, Angel.

The Angel I figure I better print big because he's so cool. I didn't ask what he cost but I got the feeling that something like this is mucho peso.....

We're off to another gallery and lucky for me its right next door to a wonderful little restraunt where I can sit while MP shops and have a....you got it, Pacifico. One thing all of us know that in Mexico you take your safety in your own hands. I mean you have uncovered manholes, balconies with no rails, curbs that can be anywhere from 3 inches to 3 feet so I was surprised to find this sign in the banos. Pretty darn nice of this guy to help you not crack your melon open while you're taking a leak.

So MP being the way she is we collect stuff for our friends, gifts. She buys things that she's never seen before and buys things she knows someone will like. Although dickering for a price is standard here today we just pay and smile and laugh. At one stop the women working the counter tells me all about the man from Alaska she met yesterday, he must have impressed her as she looked to make sure his number was still on the cell phone. Oh, and he was a fisherman...they're everywhere. We move on and have a nice lunch of soup and a cobb salad. Besides gifts we buy a couple pairs of shorts that everyone noticed when we dressed up for brunch today. We went to the pharmacy and what a deal, I got a 500 day supply of my blood pressure medicine for 10 bucks. You know you're settling into middle age when you're excited about getting a deal on meds.

On MP's pedometer we're up to 15000 steps. Its hot and sunny but I'm finally comfortable with none of that claustrophobic feeling some people get around the mercado. We walk back to catch the bus and buy a couple shrimpa tamales, my favorite. We're home a bit foot weary and flat broke so when I told our friends I had to sing for my drinks I wasn't kidding.....what do you want to hear?????