It's not all about the Tequila....

 Mazatlandian's watch their community grow each winter by leaps and bounds, it is an invasion of Americans and Canadians!  I know that you think that we all just come here to drink up all the Tequila, soak up their sun, eat all the shrimp and act a little crazy....nada, well, not all the time. We don't just  sit idly by and watch the locals serve and entertain us, but many of us  join in to help make this city a better place to live for the locals.   Along with all the eating, drinking and shopping, there are charitable events that are organized, promoted and attended by the "gringos".

Once a year the El Cid golf course echo's with the sound of girls!  Little golf carts all decorated with Boa's, balloons, bras and other girlie attire scoot around the golf course and create all kinds of laughter and fun.    It is the annual Golf for Breast Cancer Awareness Event.  Gaiety and money flows into this worthy cause. Many ex-pats have survived breast cancer and know the importance of early detection, but many nationals don't have the funds for just the simplest of test, the annual mammogram.  The worth event of golf, lunch, silent auction and guest speakers , brings the matter to the table and creates funds for awareness and research.  With much pride the event has driven down the cases of fatale breast cancer by donating funds for early detection testing.

 

 

 

The sound of the motors begin early, big tourist  busses lining up to carry us to seven amazing homes in Mazatlan.  From El Centro to El Cid we are carried away to dream about living in a tropical climate with outside patios and terraces that can be used year round.

 

 Expats from around the world have joined forces here in this busy metropolis to purchase homes in the old part of Mazatlan. The busses creak and grind their way around streets that are so hairpin that cars have a difficult time navigating.  Walls that rise 30 feet above the road and colors that climb upon each other great us and entice and tease us to enter.  IT IS THE ANNUAL HOME TOUR! I have been inside enough of these homes to know that the shabby façade gives way to homes that come straight out of your newsstand decorating magazine.  Walls that were peeling with age and years, wood that tempted the termites, floors grimy with dirt and leaves have given way to paradise.  It can take years of stress and heartache and yelling and learning the meaning of "a Mexican minute", but in the end the beauty resonates, the artistry speaks aloud and we enter another time and place where craftsman carry their work proud. 

 

I am always taken with the spaces outdoors, especially coming from a climate that celebrates  only two months of summer!  Houses often open right into the terraces and lines are merged from living indoors/outdoors. Fountains, pools, plants, outdoor kitchens, lounge chairs, birds chirping, cats lingering and the sun stream through strategically.  All is well in life.  

 

If I were ever to move here, it would be to El Centro for it feeds my soul with each breath, but the homes on the golf course at El Cid are nonetheless spectacular, but they are larger, and newer and more modern.  I can see these home linger on the pages of Architectural Digest or sitting in the hills of Beverly Hills.  Lovely, large, marbled floors, infinity pools, and the ever present maids quarters....there is no way one lady to care for all of this.  The decorating is always immaculate and often has crossed the border from the USA.

 

No matter where your heart lies there is something for everyone.  Yesterday was a special treat for some of the owners were there to give their own stories of love and strife in the ownership of a home in Mazatlan. We are all so thankful to them for opening their home, showing us their amazing art collections and supporting education and health programs.