Mazatlan

Our second port of call was Mazatlan.  We all stopped and paused for the obligatory tourist picture.  Our activities for the day involved an estuary tour, a "Mexican Limo" ride along the beach to our lunch time destination followed by lounging on the beach.  And the entire tour had free beer: Tecate.  

No we don't have massive hands.  Our free beer was just very little and cute.

This little guy is named Juanito.  While on our tour Juanito hopped onto the boat and sat there for quite sometime getting fed and posing for pictures.  Our guide, Polo, shared with us the story of how Juanito became his friend.  Juanito had come into contact with oil and was unable to fly.  Polo picked him up, took him home, cleaned him up and nursed him back to health.  When Juanito was finally able to leave on his own, he did.  But he would spot Polo on his tours, land on his boat and would wait to be fed.  Polo now keeps some fish for Juanito on-board all his estuary tours.  I thought it was a cute story.  Juanito was pretty cool, I had never observed a pelican up close before. 

Our AMAZING Mexican Limo!  I thought it was awesome, some people didn't think it was very funny that it was called a Mexican Limo.  Some people just have no sense of humor.  Our limo was very full so my sister and I opted to stand on the back.  Our only instructions were to make sure not to lose the beer cooler off the back of the flatbed.  And in return we could help ourselves to as many mini beers as we wanted.  It was a really fun and scenic ride.  At one point we got stuck in the sand so Polo told us all to get off for a beer break while they got the limo unstuck.  I actually had a great time!  These are things you can't do here in the US because of helicopter-parents and safety standards.  It was nice to actually enjoy a beach front ride, standing and drinking a beer in a moving vehicle.  

Giant Margarita next to my tiny Tecate.

During this stop my sister got to hear some locals talk about her thinking she didn't speak Spanish.  I thought it was quite rude and I think she did too.  She kinda just brushed it off.  But the people that were talking were quickly informed that we did indeed speak the language.  Kinda makes me wonder how many times we have been bad-mouthed while we travel and not realized it.  At least I always strive to learn some phrases to use at destinations I travel to.   I hate to be the typical American who assumes/insists everyone cater to English.