So, Will We Have Hot Water??

Hola!

Up early this morning, and while I was showering, I noticed a definite dearth of hot water while taking a shower. Now, both Debby and R had showered yesterday morning, and hadn’t mentioned any problem … I figured maybe they had run us out of hot water – but that was yesterday, right? At any rate, Robert was next into the shower – and when he came out, he mentioned that he had had NO hot water at all! Well, at least that made me feel better, as I wasn’t imaging things! Both he and Debby claimed that the water was H-O-T the prior day! So! What was going on?! I contacted Jose Luis, the landlord, and he explained that it was a small tank, and basically took about 20 minutes to reheat … well, that didn’t sound right to Robert, but as we were heading to breakfast and the aquarium, we figured he should know … so … suffice to say that when we got back around noon – no hot water at all! Surprise!! We again made contact with Jose Luis, and this time he came over to the apartment. He got a tester to make sure that the tank we had was connected to power – and it was – and that’s when he decided to call in the plumber… So … plumber scheduled to arrive at 3 – which Jose Luis explained, being Mexico, could be closer to 4 … which was interesting. So … Jose Luis called back about an hour later to say that he had purchased a new hot water heater and would be back with the plumber “about 3.”

As we needed to pick up our laundry from the lavanderia at 3, we needed to leave Debby in charge for the 15 minutes it took to get there and back. Traffic heavier in the afternoon, but no problems at all. And, our laundry was washed and folded and ready to go! Yay! Now more than enough clean clothes to get us home! Additionally, Jose Luis, with the new in-line hot water heater, was waiting for us on the doorstep, waiting for the plumber! Plumber and his assistant arrived just a few minutes later – about 3:20 pm and they are now in the process of draining the old water heater. Fortunately, there is a large laundry sink in the laundry room (although, unfortunately, no washer … but probably one day!) and Jose Luis has gone to the whatever store to get something or other that is needed. So … the process begins! Let’s keep all fingers and toes crossed so that we will once again have the benefit of hot water at some point in our stay!! And on to the rest of the day!

We spotted Roy’s restaurant on the way home from Pancho’s yesterday, as we were circling back around to see about the lavanderia; they’re on the same street, not far from each other. I googled Roy’s on TripAdvisor, and it gets very nice reviews. Additionally, they are open for breakfast on the weekends, which is always a plus! They have a breakfast buffet for 219 Pesos, which works out to $13.25 per person, which we thought sounded good. Also, they have parking right in front of the restaurant, which is great! We arrived just right after their 8 am opening and were shown to a nice booth. Not the great ocean view of yesterday, but pleasant enough! Tagged with paper bracelets, and then set loose on the buffet! And WOW! It was amazing!

They have fresh fruit and juices in once place, along with several varieties of soup. Another table holds pastries and rolls, along with honey and butters. The best table held an amazing array of hot items: bacon, sausage of two types, potatoes cooked with onions and veggies, a spiced shredded beef, a spiced ground beef, calabacitas con elote and I can’t even remember what else! Oh! They also were making eggs if requested! Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you feel about it!) none of us had any room on our plates after we hit the hot table for anything else! Everything was truly delicious. Seriously, neither R nor I are breakfast people, but if American breakfasts were this flavorful, we’d both be dealing with weight issues!! Oh well! I guess it’s good the way it is!

At Roy's

Yummy breakfast!

Lots and lots of food...

After eating our fill, we decided it was time to make our way to the Gran Acuario Mazatlan, which was about 20 minutes away. We were actually able to find street parking (!) that we didn’t have to pay for, just down the block from the aquarium. Inside quickly; lovely large grounds with a beautiful lagoon and various exhibits – birds, crocodiles, sea lions and penguins, along with the main aquarium.

ANNOUNCEMENT! WE HAVE HOT WATER AGAIN!! Yay!!!! The guys have been working for a little over an hour, and there has been pounding and drilling – but the end result is wonderful! SOOOO glad! I’ve been worrying – for anyone who doesn’t know me well, whenever anything like water, gas or electricity goes off in the house, I automatically go right to the dark side – we will never have X again … Sigh … as Debby says, that doesn’t make sense, because I am normally such a positive person … but as utilities are as magic to me – you touch something and they just happen – that’s the way it goes! So … back to the blog…

The aquarium was in a lovely building, and there were some really interesting exhibits, but as far as being one of the best we’ve ever visited – afraid it didn’t make the cut! We saw some wonderful and plentiful jellyfish, and a beautiful assortment of different colors of seahorses. They had an outdoor lagoon where someone was feeding the birds, and they were wonderful! There were pelicans and seagulls, as well as cormorants and even several magnificent frigate birds! I’m not sure of the status of the birds they were feeding – if they had been injured at one point and couldn’t fly away, or if they were free to fly, but chose not to because of wonderful treatment, but it was fascinating!

In front of aquarium!

Magnificent ...

Beautiful turtles!

Top side of a ray!

Underside of a ray!

Seahorse!

Someone you don't want to run into...

Lots of jellyfish!

Beautiful Ray

Ibis

Pelican in the water!

Humboldt penguins!

They had touch tanks with rays as well as star fish and other sea creatures. They also had a sea lion “show” which we did not attend, as well as a collection of Chilean Humbolt penguins which we had all to ourselves and were fun to watch! All in all, an enjoyable morning spent among the fish and marine life!

Back to the flat around noon, only to find that we had no hot water … so see above.

So … after Jose Luis and the plumbers were finished, about 4:30 pm, Robert went back to work, Debby continued working her way through Rising Sun (I think she has now passed Corrigidor and was approaching the return to the Philippines…) that, as dinner was at 6, we would just stay in until time to leave at 5:30 pm.

Out then and heading to the far northern end of the beach, an entirely new area for us. And WOW, talk about hotels! It was like Las Vegas on steroids, and that is definitely saying something! It was like Hotel Excalibergone crazy! Found Mr. Lionso Restaurant at the very end of the road, and even managed to find a convenient parking spot on the street! Turns out, though, that the restaurant is entirely outside, and the wind had sprung up this afternoon, and it was really chilly right next to the water. We were seated, of course, right next to the duo providing musical entertainment. The place is HUGE, and wide open to the beach/outside. Even Robert went back to the car to get his jacket, it was that cold. We were given a table, chips and salsa (pretty watery) and menus … and that was it! While the place was full of people – it was just after 6 pm – it didn’t seem like there were any waiters anywhere! We waited … and waited … and finally decided that 1) it was freezing; 2) the likelihood of us getting any food or service within the next half-hour to 45 minutes was slim; 3) it just wasn’t worth it! So, we left. It says something that no one even noticed as we picked up, walked entirely through the restaurant and up the ramp to the outside that we were leaving! Decided to head to Roy’s, where we had had such a wonderful breakfast, to see if we could get dinner there.

And the answer? Yes, we could! They were, however, only serving their buffet – which we figured would be fine, if their breakfast was anything to go by! As their buffet didn’t start until 7 pm (Mexican time, 7:20 pm or so…) and it wasn’t that time yet, we were seated and provided with drink menus. Debby had Tecate Light beer, R had a Marguerita, and I had a glass of red wine. Promptly around 7:20 our waiter came by to tell us that the buffet was “ready” – and wow, it was, as we thought, terrific! You can probably tell by the pictures of our plates – again, nobody was going hungry there! We had fish, rib eye steak, spare ribs, wonderful chicken ka-bobs, fabulous mashed potatoes, fried potatoes, various kinds of ceviche and salads, as well as breads and salsas. I won’t tell you that both Robert and Debby went back for seconds, but everything was SO good! Once again, waddled the 2 km back to the apartment by about 8 and we’re definitely now in for the night!!