Mazatlan day 1: walking around before Carnival

Hey there,

Decided to walk around while Nico was in class. First goal was breakfast, so I found a place along the beach to head to. I actually got lost at first, but after quick check with Google Maps, found my way again.

This was confirmed visually as I began to see Carnival signs and decor.

What was neat with the theme of La Linterna Mágica, was the incorporation of film in the design of some of the materials.

So I made it to the beach, finally.

And walked along it 'til I found the breakfast place, in the lobby of the Hotel Posada Freeman. The buffet was worth every peso.

The tables were all set and ready to go, for Carnival.

But there were places to eat all along the beach, and I definitely want to try a different one as often as possible.

Walking along, local stagehands were still setting up.

Which just reinforces my own experience from working at the patriot center, in that stagehands make the world go 'round!!

Kept walking along the beach and came across this mermaid statue.

And then I made my way back inland. I was on the hunt for museums near the Plaza Machado, and on my way discovered that while i was in time for carnival, I was a week late for a First Friday artwalk!!

Now I know, for my next visit. Anyway, I finally made it to the Plaza Machado.

Walking through the plaza, I came across this bust of Romana de la Pena de Careaga, in memory of this member of the local rotary club.

Not going to lie, until this, I didn't know Rotary Clubs were International. You learn something new every day, right?

Which holds especially true for the next bit of public art I came across, a statue of Al Jolson.

Al Jolson was a white American jazz singer who performed in blackface, at least this was the only Al Jolson I could immediately find. The only thing is the discrepancy of the instrument in the statue, but I'll try to dig around some more later on.

Glad I kept walking around, because I ended up right at Nico's school, the Professional Dance School of Mazatlan, in the Municipal Arts Center. I actually noticed Nico's roommate, Karen, sitting at a cafe, first. Then I saw students dancing to a band that was promoting their performance at the carnival. Finally I saw Nico standing there.

I got to meet more of his classmates, as well as the founder of a relatively new company he's a part of. What's neat is that the school was started by the Delfos Contemporary Dance Company, with the support of Mazatlan's municipal government, through its Institute of Culture, Tourism, and Art, and the company is the resident one of the Angela Peralta Theater.

The timing was perfect, as they were finished early for the day, so we headed back to his place to get out of the sun and relax before tonight's festivities!!

On a tangential note, I'm not sure how other browsers are, but Google Chrome has a great translate extension. Some of the pages do offer an english version, otherwise, if you don't speak spanish, I apologize if some of the links aren't useful for you.

That's it for now. More to come later. Happy Carnival!!

JR