World Canada Ontario Kenora

Chagnon's Mazatlan January 2009

Jan 7 from Kenora to Winnipeg - Jan 8 - Winnipeg to Mazatlan Jan 8, 2009

Hi everyone! Well, we left on our first real winter vacation on Jan 7th, travelling to Winnipeg to Randy at Atomium Hair to do his magic and then north to Warren to stay overnight at Cam's. Ed, Cam, Norm, and I will be travelling together to Mazatlan. January 8th - Our day started at 3:30 am. Got up packed up the Yukon and were on our way to the airport in Winnipeg at 4:15 am. It was still dark outside. Anyway, we arrived at the airport in time and then had to juggle our luggage because somehow we were overweight. The luggage scale I had just bought bit the dust. After maneuvering the luggage to purse, etc. and paying for only 1/2 of the original overweight pounds, we proceeded through customs to sit and wait for the plane. Upon boarding the plane, Skyservice flight 3460, Norm and I proceeded to our assigned seats in Star Class, leaving Ed and Cam to board to their economy seats. Next thing we knew, Ed and Cam were sitting in the seats in front of us. Luckily for them, no one was booked on those seats, so they got to travel in 1st class with us and receive all the FREE food and drinks. We had a stop in Puerto Vallarta where we had to take all our carry on luggage and personal items through the airport to immigration, where they ok'd us and then had us return to the plane to our same seats. Boy, was it hot! Ed and Cam had it lucky again - even though some new people boarded the plane in Puerto Vallarta, nobody was again booked in those two seats in front of us. The next leg of our trip was a hop, skip and a jump (33 minutes air time) to Mazatlan. We thought we would have to split up here because Norm & I were going to a different hotel, but we ended up on the same shuttle. The trip from the airport to the hotel was about 1/2 an hour, passing by the prison, some school zones where they have about 10 speed bumps in a row about 12 feet apart. This really makes you slow down for school zones! We travelled from farm land to slum or low class areas to the city and the Golden Zone. Ed and Cam were dropped off first, so we got to see where they were staying, before we were delivered to our upper scale hotel, with porters, bellhops, welcome committees, etc. The rest of the day, we spent exploring the complex, and getting lost. I had a swim in the pool and even managed to barter with a few of the vendors on the beach. They are not supposed to come close to the hotel, but if you happen to make eye contact or look at their wares, they consider that an invitation to sell you their goods. Here are a few of the pictures we took on that 1st day in the nice warm climate.