Mazatlan Days (updated daily)
Posted by Dan Wong
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After finally arriving in Mazatlan, I get to start a new story. If you´ve missed any of the first 8 days, please refer to the previous story of us "on the road". The days on the road were great and we´ll all have tons of memories, but now comes a really exciting and fulfilling portion of our trip. Read on...
Day 9
Allan planned a free day for us with the exception of possibly unloading some of the equipment in the buses and going for dinner. Most of the group slept in after the late night, but was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful weather and beach the next morning. We didn't do a whole lot in the morning except relax and enjoy it.
We all met a 2:00pm at the restaurant in the hotel because members of the Mazatlan Rotary Clubs wanted to meet us. Lunch turned out to take a couple of hours (which is the norm I guess). We met a lot of Rotarians and a couple of Rotaract members. Harm's daughter, son-in-law and grandson also joined us for lunch. We had a great time meeting Rotarians and passing the baby around.
From the hotel we took all of our buses to La Puerto (the port) and unloaded the equipment into a warehouse. One of the Rotarians works there and had arranged for storage. The Grande Prairie and Mazatlan group worked together to unload the buses. The entire job took about an hour and a half.
We didn´t do much after that except go out for dinner with Pepesan and Harm´s family at the Guatalajara Restaurant. The food was very good, as it is everywhere in Mexico.
Day 10
Lot´s of official business today. We started the morning with a Rotary meeting at the Hotel Playa. Pepesan led the meeting and gave every member of our team a couple of minutes to say a few words. There were reporters from all 3 newspapers present that took photos and took down names. We´ll be bringing back copies to Grande Prairie with us.
The next stop was to bring one of the buses with a wheel chair lift to the Instalacion de Padres y Compadres. It´s a non-profit organization that cares for severely disabled children by providing various forms of therapy. They have physical therapist and volunteers that help with the therapy. Outside, they have a riding arena similar to PARDS in Grande Prairie.
The experience of visiting this place cannot be expressed in words. The feelings of gratitute from the parents and children made it very emotional. They saw the bus as a opportunity to visit more of the outside world. Some of the children have conditions that make it very difficult to transport them.
Pepesan invited us all to see his home after we delivered the first bus. We stayed for a few drinks including one called ´Tonicol´ which is a unique Mazatlan vanilla flavoured cola (pretty good).
Finally, we were toured around by the wives of some of the Rotary members before going to dinner. We seem to be doing a lot of eating and drinking along with our visits. Oh well, when in Rome ...
Anyway, I´ll have more pictures up very soon.
Day 11
Continuing with the busy schedule here. We began the day today at 8:00am with a Rotary meeting. There were a couple of other Rotarians visiting from Ontario at the meeting. The clubs here are small, but they seem to do a lot for their community and they are very nice people.
Following the meeting we toured a technical school called Cebetis (Escuela Tecnica). The school teaches students between the ages of 15 to 18 how to work in a trade. We toured an industrial shop where they learned how to operate a wood and metal lathe, welding equpment and electical equipment. There was a classroom for computer classes, cooking, food science, chemistry, microbiology, hotel management, tourism and English.
They treated us to a song and dance show and then to lunch. The students are very good at what they do. They have requested a bus for tours to work facilities. Their old bus is no longer operational. We will see how it works out for next year.
The rest of the afternoon was free, so we all just did our own things. Dan, Karen and Rod decided to try parasailing. That was quite an experience. Not nearly as scarey as you might think. Some of the gang went shopping, others stayed on the beach and had drinks. A couple of Rotarians, decided to hang out with Martin (the party animal of the Mazatlan Rotarians) and learned to regret it the next morning.
That night, we went to a restaurant the was owned by one of the Rotarians. The food was really good, as was the company. One of the waiters does a little bit of magic, so he impressed a few of us with some tricks. Evelyne was sitting next to me when he was levitating a $20 bill. She was in the middle of a converstation when she turned to see the trick. All I heard was "holy sh**! Look what he´s doing!"
It was a great night that ended really late. I don´t think we were done eating until 11:00pm and then stayed for some conversation. The long visits don´t seem to bother anyone though.
Day 12
This was the day that we deliver the vehicles. We began our day with a parade on the main strip along the beach. Five buses and an ambulance tend to slow traffic down a bit, but our police escort made things quite manageable for us. There was a school at our turn around point and the kids were all out on the front step to wave at us. We also got great coverage from the press.
Our destination was Acuario Mazatlan, the aquarium. Members of all the recipient groups were present along with the mayor and other dignitaries. After a short presentation inside the auditorium at the aquarium, be headed outside to present our vehicles to the groups. The 60 passenger bus with a wheelchair lift and one of the smaller buses went to the aquarium. They will use it to transport kids from the schools to the aquarium. The ambulance along with stretcher and wheelchairs went to La Noria medical clinic, who currently doesn't have an ambulance. The 48 passenger bus will be distributed by the city of Mazatlan. Counting the one we delivered a couple of days ago, we have only the propane bus left, which we will deliver the next day.
During the ceremony we found out that our buses were used late last year, after the hurricane hit Mazatlan, to transport people away from the damaged areas and to carry aid to those who needed it.
After the official presentation, they had a picnic lunch put together for us. We sat outside in their picnic area where they served up a wonder feast. The rest of the morning was fairly relaxed, and some of us even had a chance to see some of the aquarium.
Once the official work at the aquarium was finished, Pepesan took us to view the land that was donated by the city for the Rotary Clubs to build a special park for the disabled. The concept is not very common and the cost for putting up such a project is quite expensive. They have applied for some special grants and are looking for corporate sponsors as well. Pepesan believes that they can do a lot of the construction themselves and save a lot of money. Since he is in the construction business, I have no doubt that he can pull it off.
Went back to our hotel at about 2:30pm. All in all, it was a very good day, but extremely full and many of us enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and evening off.
Day 13
Headed out for city hall today at 9am. Today Jean-Marc was to present the city secretary of Mazatlan with a proposal to become sister cities with Grande Prairie. We were told that the mayor was very receptive because of the continued help that we had given them in providing the buses, fire trucks and ambulances. They will send a letter back with Jean-Marc to bring back to our city. It was a very positive meeting and Jean-Marc did a great job at doing most of his presentation in Spanish.
After we were finished at city hall, we took the bus to a park erected by Pepesan´s Rotary Club. We had one final vehicle to present to the food bank. The food bank will use the propane bus to transport food and to help run some of their other programs.
Later that evening, we went to the Playa Hotel for Fiesta night. The night included dinner and live entertainment. There was Mexican dances, comedians, singing and a magician.
Day 14 - last day
Began the last day in Mazatlan with a tour of the Pacifico brewary. The plant was huge, but they tell us it is the smallest one in Mexico. They brew Pacifico, Corona, Modelo and Estrella at that plant.
Our next stop was to the Port to pick up some school supplies for a school that were visiting next. Pepesan had mentioned that this particular school was extremely poor, but I don´t think that anyone was prepared for what we saw.
The school was located in an area that was settled by ´squatters´. They build their homes on unpopulated city land over night in hopes that the city will eventually allow them to stay. Originally, the homes are made out of pallets and cardboard. The squatter are able to build them quickly and for almost no cost. They eventually put up simple brick and mortar houses in place of the temporary structures.
We pulled in to the school and delivered pencils, pens and other supplies for the children. We also left them some soccer balls and basketballs. Roxy, the bunny that we travelled with (donated by Miguel) was left with the kindergarten class.
We were very moved by the children and the condition of their school. Their school is contructed from old pallets and the roof is made of cardboard. The outhouse was above ground and was essentially made out of 3 pallets put together.
It is an elementary school (K to 6) and all the teachers and the Principal are volunteers. They have applied for government funding to one day pay their staff and improve their facility. For now, the city has taken the first step and donated the land that they have occupied.
The school was definitely the worst that any of us had ever seen.
The final celebration that night was hosted by the City of Mazatlan. We were their honored guests and they presented each of us with a plaque in honor of our visit with the vehicles. They also presented Jean-Marc with the letter to propose that our two cities become sister cities. The event was well covered by the press.
The last morning would include a farewell breakfast, that I was unable to attend because I had to leave early. I´m sure the good-byes were pretty tearful as we had all enjoyed the company of our Mazatlan friends. It was a wonderful experience!
Allan planned a free day for us with the exception of possibly unloading some of the equipment in the buses and going for dinner. Most of the group slept in after the late night, but was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful weather and beach the next morning. We didn't do a whole lot in the morning except relax and enjoy it.
We all met a 2:00pm at the restaurant in the hotel because members of the Mazatlan Rotary Clubs wanted to meet us. Lunch turned out to take a couple of hours (which is the norm I guess). We met a lot of Rotarians and a couple of Rotaract members. Harm's daughter, son-in-law and grandson also joined us for lunch. We had a great time meeting Rotarians and passing the baby around.
From the hotel we took all of our buses to La Puerto (the port) and unloaded the equipment into a warehouse. One of the Rotarians works there and had arranged for storage. The Grande Prairie and Mazatlan group worked together to unload the buses. The entire job took about an hour and a half.
We didn´t do much after that except go out for dinner with Pepesan and Harm´s family at the Guatalajara Restaurant. The food was very good, as it is everywhere in Mexico.
Day 10
Lot´s of official business today. We started the morning with a Rotary meeting at the Hotel Playa. Pepesan led the meeting and gave every member of our team a couple of minutes to say a few words. There were reporters from all 3 newspapers present that took photos and took down names. We´ll be bringing back copies to Grande Prairie with us.
The next stop was to bring one of the buses with a wheel chair lift to the Instalacion de Padres y Compadres. It´s a non-profit organization that cares for severely disabled children by providing various forms of therapy. They have physical therapist and volunteers that help with the therapy. Outside, they have a riding arena similar to PARDS in Grande Prairie.
The experience of visiting this place cannot be expressed in words. The feelings of gratitute from the parents and children made it very emotional. They saw the bus as a opportunity to visit more of the outside world. Some of the children have conditions that make it very difficult to transport them.
Pepesan invited us all to see his home after we delivered the first bus. We stayed for a few drinks including one called ´Tonicol´ which is a unique Mazatlan vanilla flavoured cola (pretty good).
Finally, we were toured around by the wives of some of the Rotary members before going to dinner. We seem to be doing a lot of eating and drinking along with our visits. Oh well, when in Rome ...
Anyway, I´ll have more pictures up very soon.
Day 11
Continuing with the busy schedule here. We began the day today at 8:00am with a Rotary meeting. There were a couple of other Rotarians visiting from Ontario at the meeting. The clubs here are small, but they seem to do a lot for their community and they are very nice people.
Following the meeting we toured a technical school called Cebetis (Escuela Tecnica). The school teaches students between the ages of 15 to 18 how to work in a trade. We toured an industrial shop where they learned how to operate a wood and metal lathe, welding equpment and electical equipment. There was a classroom for computer classes, cooking, food science, chemistry, microbiology, hotel management, tourism and English.
They treated us to a song and dance show and then to lunch. The students are very good at what they do. They have requested a bus for tours to work facilities. Their old bus is no longer operational. We will see how it works out for next year.
The rest of the afternoon was free, so we all just did our own things. Dan, Karen and Rod decided to try parasailing. That was quite an experience. Not nearly as scarey as you might think. Some of the gang went shopping, others stayed on the beach and had drinks. A couple of Rotarians, decided to hang out with Martin (the party animal of the Mazatlan Rotarians) and learned to regret it the next morning.
That night, we went to a restaurant the was owned by one of the Rotarians. The food was really good, as was the company. One of the waiters does a little bit of magic, so he impressed a few of us with some tricks. Evelyne was sitting next to me when he was levitating a $20 bill. She was in the middle of a converstation when she turned to see the trick. All I heard was "holy sh**! Look what he´s doing!"
It was a great night that ended really late. I don´t think we were done eating until 11:00pm and then stayed for some conversation. The long visits don´t seem to bother anyone though.
Day 12
This was the day that we deliver the vehicles. We began our day with a parade on the main strip along the beach. Five buses and an ambulance tend to slow traffic down a bit, but our police escort made things quite manageable for us. There was a school at our turn around point and the kids were all out on the front step to wave at us. We also got great coverage from the press.
Our destination was Acuario Mazatlan, the aquarium. Members of all the recipient groups were present along with the mayor and other dignitaries. After a short presentation inside the auditorium at the aquarium, be headed outside to present our vehicles to the groups. The 60 passenger bus with a wheelchair lift and one of the smaller buses went to the aquarium. They will use it to transport kids from the schools to the aquarium. The ambulance along with stretcher and wheelchairs went to La Noria medical clinic, who currently doesn't have an ambulance. The 48 passenger bus will be distributed by the city of Mazatlan. Counting the one we delivered a couple of days ago, we have only the propane bus left, which we will deliver the next day.
During the ceremony we found out that our buses were used late last year, after the hurricane hit Mazatlan, to transport people away from the damaged areas and to carry aid to those who needed it.
After the official presentation, they had a picnic lunch put together for us. We sat outside in their picnic area where they served up a wonder feast. The rest of the morning was fairly relaxed, and some of us even had a chance to see some of the aquarium.
Once the official work at the aquarium was finished, Pepesan took us to view the land that was donated by the city for the Rotary Clubs to build a special park for the disabled. The concept is not very common and the cost for putting up such a project is quite expensive. They have applied for some special grants and are looking for corporate sponsors as well. Pepesan believes that they can do a lot of the construction themselves and save a lot of money. Since he is in the construction business, I have no doubt that he can pull it off.
Went back to our hotel at about 2:30pm. All in all, it was a very good day, but extremely full and many of us enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and evening off.
Day 13
Headed out for city hall today at 9am. Today Jean-Marc was to present the city secretary of Mazatlan with a proposal to become sister cities with Grande Prairie. We were told that the mayor was very receptive because of the continued help that we had given them in providing the buses, fire trucks and ambulances. They will send a letter back with Jean-Marc to bring back to our city. It was a very positive meeting and Jean-Marc did a great job at doing most of his presentation in Spanish.
After we were finished at city hall, we took the bus to a park erected by Pepesan´s Rotary Club. We had one final vehicle to present to the food bank. The food bank will use the propane bus to transport food and to help run some of their other programs.
Later that evening, we went to the Playa Hotel for Fiesta night. The night included dinner and live entertainment. There was Mexican dances, comedians, singing and a magician.
Day 14 - last day
Began the last day in Mazatlan with a tour of the Pacifico brewary. The plant was huge, but they tell us it is the smallest one in Mexico. They brew Pacifico, Corona, Modelo and Estrella at that plant.
Our next stop was to the Port to pick up some school supplies for a school that were visiting next. Pepesan had mentioned that this particular school was extremely poor, but I don´t think that anyone was prepared for what we saw.
The school was located in an area that was settled by ´squatters´. They build their homes on unpopulated city land over night in hopes that the city will eventually allow them to stay. Originally, the homes are made out of pallets and cardboard. The squatter are able to build them quickly and for almost no cost. They eventually put up simple brick and mortar houses in place of the temporary structures.
We pulled in to the school and delivered pencils, pens and other supplies for the children. We also left them some soccer balls and basketballs. Roxy, the bunny that we travelled with (donated by Miguel) was left with the kindergarten class.
We were very moved by the children and the condition of their school. Their school is contructed from old pallets and the roof is made of cardboard. The outhouse was above ground and was essentially made out of 3 pallets put together.
It is an elementary school (K to 6) and all the teachers and the Principal are volunteers. They have applied for government funding to one day pay their staff and improve their facility. For now, the city has taken the first step and donated the land that they have occupied.
The school was definitely the worst that any of us had ever seen.
The final celebration that night was hosted by the City of Mazatlan. We were their honored guests and they presented each of us with a plaque in honor of our visit with the vehicles. They also presented Jean-Marc with the letter to propose that our two cities become sister cities. The event was well covered by the press.
The last morning would include a farewell breakfast, that I was unable to attend because I had to leave early. I´m sure the good-byes were pretty tearful as we had all enjoyed the company of our Mazatlan friends. It was a wonderful experience!