After leaving the island we went into the city and booked a week at San Fernando RV Park.  It is centrally located in the Golden Zone so that we could easily get transportation to wherever we wanted to go.  It was a comfortable week as every time I went into the city from the island it seemed to be a few degrees cooler and less humid.  After one week at San Fernando’s I am positive that is true.  The one really bad drawback to the island was the gnats and noseeums.  I, and many others often avoided sitting outside because of being pestered and bitten.  Steve’s thoughts on the noseeums were rather optimistic though: “At least the noseeums here have the decency not to bite me in the crotch like they do in Kansas.”

San Fernando’s has a nice open air sitting area with many books.

A nice pool

A couple from Switzerland arrived and stayed a couple of days before taking a ferry over to the Baja.  We talked to them quite a bit about their travels as they had shipped their RV from Germany to Argentina.  They, like others we have talked to that RVed to S. America, said their overland RV was overkill and that a motor home like ours would have worked just fine.  This one is a modified former Swiss army vehicle.

To explain why Steve is sitting under the laundry; he is sunbathing just his legs because he had melanoma on his chest 15 years ago. I first thought it was because the laundry smells so good.  I bought softener in the supermarket here and it had a very strong fragrance that was so familiar.  In the middle of the night I woke up and it hit me:  1983…….Germany……Fenjal soap!  I lived in Germany then and there was a soap that could be purchased in drug stores that was deep turquois in a turquois plastic case.  It smelled so good that when I moved back to the U.S. I cleaned out the shelf of the local drug store of all 22 bars.  Then when I moved back to Germany in 1984 the formula for the soap had changed, it was pale turquois, and barely had a fragrance.  Funny thing is I just did a search for Fenjal and saw that Amazon sells it.  One reviewer also said that it wasn’t the same anymore.  Too bad.  Guess I’ll just bathe with the Mexican softener.

We walked and rode parts of the 13 mile long Malecon several times.  It is the longest promenade in the world and because the bay curves you can see for miles along the shore from almost any part.  The malecon is a fun place.  People walk, ride bikes, roller blade, and enjoy the beach right along side of it.

Tall statues have been placed all along the Malecon recently in preparation for Carnaval.

Steve and I took one last trip to the Mercado.  I bought about a quart of pure vanilla and another of honey.  And now that we are leaving,  another sundress that I could have used two months ago.

We see some of the most interesting beverages so I tried the red one.  Delicious and I’m not even sure what flavor it was…..not citrusy or tart.  But there are chunks of fruit in the drink like water melon and oranges.

A couple of last few meals at beachside restaurants and it was Hasta La Vista Mazatlan!