Night on the Town in Mazatlan

After a couple weeks of lazy, relaxing beach life here on the Isla de la Piedra, I was ready for some city life and cultural enrichment.  Contessa had just the tonic—attending the monthly free ArtWalk in the Centro Historico, followed by dinner at the Plazuela Machado.  Perfecto!

Colin and Contessa’s next door neighbors, John and Val, came along too and we enjoyed the sunset on our 5 minute panga boat taxi ride over to the city.

Somehow, the 5 of us also managed to squeeze into one pulmonia taxi to head over to the Centro Historico.  The men sat in front with the driver, while us girls got the backseat.

 

At our first stop for ArtWalk, who should we see there other than our blogger friend Maria from the Isla!  She was out soaking up a bit of culture herself for the evening!

The first stop was to see the work of artist Susan Carnes, a terrific mural and oil painter with an equally magnificent historic home just a couple blocks from the beach. Her artwork adorns the walls of the living room and her husband made the stained glass panels above the windows.

Many homes in Centro Historico have open-air courtyards in their homes and this one featured an enormous palm over 2 stories high!

 

The artist had a wonderful 20 foot mural in the courtyard, and another large mural in a bedroom upstairs.

The staircase focused on a religious theme, so much a part of the culture of Mexico.

Our next stop was the home of artists David and Nan Robb.  Their courtyard featured a mosaic tile waterfall flowing into their gorgeous swimming pool.  Wow!

Looking back from the archway at the rear of the home revealed a long breezeway that flowed from the front door, through the courtyard, and all the way to the rear.

The artist chatted with John, Colin, and Contessa from his kitchen.

This home’s guest bedroom and living room were less colorful, but still exquisitely designed.

 

Loved the 4 sombreros hanging on one of the walls!

Strolling around Centro Historico at night was quite different than the daytime.  The bright, vivid building colors are the main attraction during daylight, while at night, the lighting, textures, and building interiors take prominence.

We then made our way down to the Look gallery.  They had plenty to look at (and some good prices too), but we deferred our shopping to another day.

The white cat at Look was entertainment all to itself.  First it tried to climb a tree in the front courtyard…

but soon bored with that, it decided to study the parakeets’ bird cage on more time to see if there was any possible conceivable entry to be found!

We stopped a few more galleries on our way to the Plazuela.  Their rooms were not interesting, but some of the art was—loved this large bird wall mural..

and this colorful tapestry quilt…

Anyone want a couple of gigantic nude gods arching their stairway?  It’s for sale!

The final artwork of interest was this large mixed media piece.  From a distance, it looked three dimensional, but you could not tell just why.  Up close, it was simply a collection of old computer motherboards glued together and spray painted with metallic paint.  Hmm…. now there’s a way to do some electronics recycling!

We finally made our way to the Plazuela Machado, the main cultural hub of all “seen and be seen” activity in Mazatlan on a Friday night.  The crowd was about 60% Mexican 40% Gringo listening to a Fab Four cover band singing English/American 60’s tunes in the central bandstand.  They were fantastic!

The Plazuela Machado was still decorated from Christmas and New Year’s, and with the perfect low-70’s temperatures and ambiance, it was an absolutely magical place to spend the evening!

For our pulmonia ride back to the Embarcadero, as the “5th wheel” of the bunch, I got to ride up front with the driver, while the gals sat on their guys laps.  I’m afraid by then, the margaritas affected my photo skills and one of John’s eyes went missing!

The nighttime panga ride was my first.  Quite amazing that the boat captain could navigate the harbor in darkness, but he got us back home to the Isla safe and sound!