I am back in Mazatlan. Winter has arrived and Leavenworth had its first snowfall. I admit that it does look kind of pretty, but I haven’t seen snow like that in 8 years.

I took the Wenatchee Valley Shuttle to Sea-Tac and had a layover at LAX. When I arrived in Mazatlan this was the view at sunset just a block and a half from my house.

Of course the price one pays for leaving snow behind is sweltering temperatures in the 90s along with high humidity. But it’s been a week and a half now and I am acclimatizing nicely.

The area I’m staying in this winter is called Los Pintos and is close to the Centro Historico. Everything is within walking distance as opposed to last year where buses were the norm.

Zaragoza Park is about a ten minute walk. Saturday mornings an organic market is popular and on Thursday evenings dancing and music prevail. I stopped by the park this afternoon and met these little guys. Unfortunately the iguana was camera shy and hid in the shadows.

I’ve seen two excellent movies at El Recreo this past week. This coming Tuesday evening I plan on attending an art and music event there. Last weekend I met some friends atop the Freeman Hotel for drinks at sunset. And I’ve also found a new card group here in Centro. Our Red Hat group had its first luncheon last week and it was nice to see so many return this winter.

But what convinced me to move here two and a half years ago was the ocean. And I certainly am enjoying my long walks along the malecon.