Dec. 27 – Culiacan to Mazatlan

Left Culiacan by 9:30;  no breakfast!  We had hoped to contact our friend Cynthia’s family in Mazatlan, but we failed because we only had work numbers for Gabino, and Saturday the school was closed.    We had to stop early, anyway, because I was not feeling well.  We struggled, again, to find a cheap place for the night;  this is the biggest vacation week in Mexico, for the Mexican’s, and everything is full and prices jacked up.  This was not the best week to start off here.

We finally we settled on a true flea-bag;  no hot water, beds that were so swayback as to be a joke!.  Excellent security, though.  We appear to be the only gringoes staying at this hotel. Levi and I played pool in the hotel lobby;  we certainly are a curiousity to many folks.  Frank stares and lots of questions.  They had a foozball table that looked like it had been manufactured in the Soviet Union.  The ‘players’ were all gray, looked partly melted, and were attached to the control rods with nails and large, rusty screws.  We laughed and laughed!

I finally went to a farmacia and got a two-week course of anti-biotics to help me kick this cough before it becomes pnuemonia.   Levi got his first Cuban cigar of the trip.  I slept for a few hours, while Levi walked the beach and checked out the scene.  Later, we ate tuna and tortillas in our room, rather than fight the crowds and pay too much for a meal.