So, another month has gone by since the last update …. But I’ve got a valid reason 😊. We finally got to go on vacation after almost three years since COVID started. Back to beautiful Mazatlan for two weeks at one our favourite resorts, the El Cid Marina 😊. And the flights down there and back? Direct flights from Toronto to Mazatlan on Sunwing - which despite the crappy service onboard and horrible weather conditions across the States – ended up being completely smooth and non-turbulent!! … And the weather while we were there? Every day 28 degrees and sunny!! 😊 … And the food? Absolutely amazing!! Apart from a couple of trips into town and one excursion to Rosario we basically just sat back and relaxed. We would get up in the morning around 9am and have coffee out on our balcony. Then go have a large breakfast over at the main restaurant; come back to the room to change into swimsuits; take the water taxi over to the private beach (equipped with waiters, a restaurant, and a bar); lie on the beach for two or three hours; then come back to the room to prepare for supper at one of the specialty al la carte restaurants. The El Cid Marina is connected to three other hotels by a shuttle service and you are allowed to eat, drink, dine, and use their swimming pools. Or you can just take the shuttle to the other hotels and either walk into the Golden Zone or take a ‘Pulmonia’ (taxi) into the old city quarter. Mazatlan is a fair sized city (about 750,000 population) and there are a fair number of historic sites to see in the old quarter. … And the city market is one of the largest I have ever been to! The only problem with the market is that it’s easy to get lost in and you never end up coming out where you want to! You can always try to orient yourself by noting where the ‘Tres Hermanos’ shoe store is … but as they have a franchise on three of the four sides that’s not much help!! We did do one excursion out of town to the little city of Rosario (20,000 population and one of Mexico’s ‘Magical Towns’) about 41 miles south of Mazatlan. Rosario was once the richest town in Northwest Mexico due to the large silver mines that they have there but the mining has now ended and the quarry has been flooded to form a small lake. It also has two other claims to fame; it’s the birth place of a famous singer – Lola Beltran; and it has an amazing church with a stunning altar that is the start point of an annual procession honouring the Virgen Mary that attracts over one hundred thousand people!! The statue of the Virgen Mary is dressed in a different spectacular gown every year and carried in a palanquin up to a shrine up in the hills above the town. The gowns – both for the Virgen and the Holy Infant -are donated by wealthy families seeking a miracle; thousands of hours of needlework have gone into these creations and can be viewed in a small museum on the town square. The excursion included an informative trip through the countryside and back through Mazatlan and we ended up at ‘Playa de Bruja’ (Witches Beach) at a great little restaurant ‘Mr. Lionso’ that serves excellent seafood. We like Mazatlan; the atmosphere is laid-back and casual; the people are very friendly; and you can do as much, or as little as you like 😊. We are already planning to go back next year – although we might take an additional vacation in Huatulco!!
The weather back home was pretty mild while we were gone; a little rain, no snow, and temperatures around plus 6 Celsius. That has changed pretty quickly – over the last week the temperatures have dropped down to minus 15 (windchill minus thirty) and blizzards and heavy snowfalls; highway pile ups; train and airplane cancellations; a real mess!! We have been pretty lucky – we were only affected by the high winds (50 to 80 kilometres gusts) and blowing snow – but we’ve had to delay our usual Christmas gathering by a couple of days so far; with any luck we’ll be able to do that tomorrow (December 27) 😊. We let Doug the Dog open his Xmas stocking this morning, he was pretty excited!!
The war in Ukraine has turned into a bit of a stalemate. The Russians keep attacking Ukraine’s infrastructure resulting in massive loss of hydro and electricity that has caused most of the country to be left in the cold and dark – effectively freezing out the population. But the Ukrainians are refusing to buckle under – with the help of their western allies they are repelling most of the missiles and are continually rebuilding the infrastructure. President Zelensky made a surprise visit to Washington and was able to secure a massive armament and humanitarian aid package from the Americans. The battle for Bakhmut is still underway – both sides not making much progress; it has been described as being much like World War I’s battles in France and Belgium – only a few metres of give and take. Putin has made a visit to Minsk, Belarus – he’s probably trying to get the Belarusians to come in on Russia’s side and invade from the North. That won’t happen, the war is unpopular with the majority of Belarusians and would threaten the current government if they tried to do that. Oh, and as I have said before; have someone kill Putin … that man is insane.
… Not as much cooking going on – with the first two weeks spent in Mazatlan all our meals were at the resorts restaurants; breakfast every day at the Marina and thirteen out of fourteen nights at one of the specialty restaurants. Lots of steaks, shrimp, and chicken dishes – the restaurants were really excellent 
. … And if you’re hungry on the beach or by the pool – just order shrimp cocktails or sandwiches or nachos . On coming home we had the usual; chicken curries; Fresh Pastas with Meat Sauce; two gigantic seven pound lasagnas – one went to Cousin Jeff along with a bottle of tequila for looking after the house – and one for us . Christmas dinner will be the usual – steak, shrimps, and scallops along with veggies and fixings .
We didn’t watch a lot of tv in Mexico – just Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, and some late night shows. On the Netflix front coming home we watched some more Love Boat and a whole raft of Christmas movies . I watched a couple of short series on Netflix - two Polish series; ‘Dead End’, about what happens when 5 people travelling to the Czech Republic mistakenly take a different car with bank robbers money in the trunk; and ‘Glitter’ – a throwback to ‘70’s Poland when hookers were being used by the Polish spy agency to entrap westerners. One Norwegian series – ‘A Storm For Christmas’ – about travellers being stuck in Oslo Airport on Christmas Eve during a storm in which all flights have been grounded. It was actually pretty good – and most of the cast were from ‘Home for Christmas’ – the two season Christmas comedy from two years ago; which I’m also rewatching as it is one of my all time favourite Christmas series .
On the NHL front -Toronto are in still in third place in the Eastern Conference; Seattle Kraken are tied for fifth place in the Western Conference. Toronto usually tanks after Christmas, so let’s see what happens.
On to golf … the Christmas break is on, no more tournaments until January.
NFL news – Week 16 is just wrapping up; Seattle pretty much sucks 
. They have lost four out of their last five games – three of them should have been winnable. So right now they are still half a game out of being in a wild-card spot with only two games to go; New York Jets and L.A. Rams. So they have a slight chance – win both games and have a Washington or Giants loss and they can sneak in. However, unless their defence steps up it’s unlikely that they will get in. In any case, the way Denver is playing should get Seattle a top 5 draft pick that can help them next year. And next year is the big question – keep going with Geno Smith (he’s in free agency) and pay him what he deserves; or pick a top 5 quarterback in the draft. Either way next year should be much better for the team to get into the playoffs and be a contender again.
Have a great and safe week … and a Happy New Year… pray for Ukraine … we will see you in a bit!!