A Truly Incredible Day!

Hola!

 

We were up early – surprise!  As at least one of us (me…) was very excited.  Unfortunately, as it was so early, I couldn’t really tell what kind of sky it was.  Sunday morning we had awoken to something called “shallow FOG” for Heaven’s sake, and that we did NOT want to happen!  However, as it got lighter, we saw that there was no fog – shallow or otherwise – and there was a goodly amount of blue mixed in with wispy clouds. Possibly good viewing weather???  But you know how sometimes time can literally CRAWL?  Well, that was yesterday morning as we were waiting for 9:51 am and the first “bite” of the moon starting on its journey across the sun.  It took FOREVER!  I was too excited to read, so spent some of the time playing computer games, just to have something to DO … UGH!!!  

 

The great thing, though, was that we had a view of the sun from both of our bedrooms!  We didn’t even have to go outside!  And we had actually planned to go across the street from where we’ve been parking our cars, but even that wasn’t necessary!  We just had to go behind our car and there was plenty of room to set up the telescope!  

 

But first things first … we had brought eclipse glasses with us, but we also had our welding glass from our first eclipse in Hawaii – and to be honest, the welding glass was absolutely the best thing!  It showed the colors much truer and clearer than the glasses did!  And, even better, we had three pieces of glass, so that we didn’t even have to share!

 

As Debby had never witnessed even a partial eclipse before, she had asked us what to expect – but how, really, does one describe a true phenomenon of nature?  You really can’t!  I know that she was excited once she could see the moon starting to progress across the sun – it was, in her words, like seeing the Apple logo being cut out – right in front of her eyes!  We watched as the clock ticked toward totality – 11:07 am (which apparently was the time Debby was actually born, so she found it easy to remember!) and a few minutes to 11 we moved outside.  

 

The fun thing then was that a few local kids came out (all equipped with their own eclipse glasses) to see what we were doing.  And of course we let them look through the telescope, as the hour was approaching totality – and then, just like that – as we were watching the skies get darker all around us and feeling it get colder – the streetlights were going on – suddenly and very silently, TOTALITY!  And then there were cheers from all over the neighborhood!  Incredible!!

 

We could literally see the red prominences on the sun without glasses – even me, who needs her glasses to find her glasses! – they were that red and bright.  It was amazing!  And Debby, who was witnessing her first totality, started to cry!  And being Debby, she kept apologizing!  But why apologize?!  That’s how the eclipse strikes many people!  (In fact, we heard a bit later from some California friends who had gone to Dallas to see it, that Lisa was crying too, so I believe the effect is universal!).  At any rate, way too quickly, totality was over, and the sun started shining through yet again … but the eclipse was on its way across North American from its very first stop here in Mazatlan, and, most importantly, we had seen it in its entirety!  And … as the next total eclipse goes through Spain in August of 2026, we three are planning exactly the best place to see it!  Yep … it’s catchy!!

 

Afterwards, we just had to go back into the apartment, but we were all still pretty much worked up at that point.  R had to look at the photos he took – including last night’s gem of the diamond ring that was the blog, and Debby wanted to email all of her relatives – which takes awhile, as she has quite a few!  

 

About noon, I was definitely feeling hungry, as I really hadn’t had any breakfast, and for some reason was craving a hamburger … you know how you sometimes get cravings … so R remembered a hamburger place at Galerias Mazatlan, where we had had our pizza on Sunday night.  So, in less than five minutes, there we were!  We went to Mike and Mickey’s and had great hamburgers – although the menu was entirely in Spanish, but Robert managed admirably!  With fries, actually … and Debby and I topped lunch off with small Dairy Queen ice cream cones, although mine was dipped in chocolate.

At Mike and Mickey's for hamburgers!

 

Then, back to the apartment, and we all took nice long naps!  Whew!  What an adventure!  

 

Oh!  When we had gone to Pancho’s the other morning for breakfast, we had made a reservation for 3 for dinner on our last evening – last night.  But after seeing Bob, Katy, Hil and Janet, Hil had texted and asked if they could join us.  We said we’d try.  So, tried calling on Sunday night, but couldn’t get through, but we were able to get through yesterday morning, and Robert managed brilliantly to tell them we wanted to be a party of 7 as opposed to 3 – and they said OK!  A good sign! 

 

Ubered out of here yesterday afternoon and got to Pancho’s about 5 pm for the 5:30 reservation.  (I did want to make sure they could accommodate us.). And, of course, first of all they couldn’t find the original reservation … which they did, finally … and then, again, of course, there was no record of 7.  But R explained that he had called and gotten the OK!  At which point, the gal picked up menus and led us to a prime spot, again right next to the beach, which, while crowded, would accommodate all 7 of us!  Snugly! 

 

Fortunately, Zappalas et. al were staying just down the street from Pancho’s, so I texted Hil that we were there and drinking and where to find us, as we dove into the chips and delicious salsa.  As the beach was right next to us, there was a mariachi band out there playing music and people were dancing – you couldn’t hear yourself think let along talk, but as we were all crowded in together, we managed pretty well, and eventually, they finished and went away. 

 

We also had some great entertainment – two gals who were twirling fire circles – just amazing, and interesting to watch!! 

Food (at least mine!) was excellent, and Debby got to have her shrimp – three ways!  I had surf and turf – steak and shrimp combination, and R had their garlic shrimp.  Can you tell that they do a lot of shrimp here?  How Debby had room for dessert, I have no idea, but she and Katy shared a flan, and add to that various margaritas, glasses of wine and sangria, I think we were all pretty satisfied with the evening’s meal.  I do guarantee that no one went home hungry!   

Mariachi on the beach!

People gathering to watch the sunset

Deb and her sangria!

R and his Margarita!

Hil, Janet & Katy

...with drinks!

Parasailing past the restaurant!

R's garlic shrimp

My surf and shrimp

Debby's shrimp 2-2-2

Magical sunset!

Perfect ending to an amazing day!

But then a little entertainment doesn't hurt!

 

Considering I can't get dinner out of the oven without burning my finger ... 

Finally, we meandered out along the corridor of shops to the street, and they stayed with us until our Uber driver showed up to get us back to the apartment!  (At which point, I had my last Magnum Classic … certainly wasn’t going to leave that behind!)

All in all, a truly incredible day, and one which I know we will all remember forever!  I mean, isn’t that the kind of travel day you look for???

 

Up this morning about 5 and getting ready to head home.  Thanks to a Volaris plane change, our plane doesn’t leave until 5:30, but we have to vacate the apartment by 11, which we will.  Then we’ll have lunch somewhere and head to the airport.  Another long travel day, but that’s fine too!

 

More later!

m

xxx