We took in the Archaeology Museum first, as it closes for several hours mid-day. It had a small admission, with a senior discount ... for Mexican citizens ONLY. Oh well! The exhibits were nicely laid out and educational; an English translation was kindly provided for each wall poster. Though the entire exhibit took just four small rooms, we learned a great deal about the indigenous peoples and their culture in Sinaloa. (Details in the Archeology Education post; kiosk to the right shows the history of a local railroad.)
We then strolled back across the street to take in the art museum, where the interior plaza hosted a MONSTROUS tree ...
and a comfortable white cat.
The museum proper was two large, long rooms with a special retrospective exhibition of the works of Antonio Lopez Saenz. A multi-talented artist, it was interesting to see how his style developed over time and also how he branched into other media such as ceramics in additional to painting and drawing. Something unusual to us, a good number of the "oil paintings" were, in fact, digital reproductions (clearly labeled as such once we figured it out) of his original works.
Having soaked up archaeology and art, we returned to ETKNICA (Sixto Osuna No. 50), the wonderful handcraft shop we'd enjoyed earlier in our stay. Martha and Alicia were favorably impressed with the work there, and Martha actually knew one of the jewelry artists -- small world!Linda, Claudette and I, retail junkies that we are, found ourselves counting up what had apparently been sold and which items were newly out from our last visit ... truly, it's an illness. We were relieved to see that the feline-in-residence DID, in fact, move occasionally!
Though we'd walked a good deal, we still wanted to get to the bakery for Molika (the restaurant that was recommended by the owner of Puerto Vallarta's El Arrayan). It was not too far away, and we bought tiny tarts for dessert the next night and some beautiful loaves of bread for Martha.
The next goal was F.I.S.H. ... but now, things were in the frantic final stages of preparation for Carnaval and traffic was diverted into the old city and off of the Malacon. We despaired of finding a bus, and the open-air taxis could only take four. So we split 3 and 2, ensuring that each group had a competent Spanish speaker.
The party apparently is confined to the southern end of town, as we did emerge onto the seaside roadway about halfway up its length, and enjoyed the outsized statues installed for the celebrations
as well as another peek at the hotel where the drug lord was busted.
The restaurant is well into the Golden Zone, and seemed to be well beyond our driver's comfort zone, but we got there with the second cab right behind us. Our resort contact joined us for a short beer just before he linked up with his dad, who had come to visit. A fine meal was enjoyed by all, and Martha (who has a well-educated palate!) pronounced the food to be excellent.
Originally we'd thought Martha and Alicia would enjoy a short stroll from the restaurant back to their hotel, but as we came in it was clear that the distance was much too far. So we all hopped on the bus northbound, and repaired to our respective domiciles for a well-earned rest...... and, no surprise, TOWEL ORIGAMI!
Plus, we finally saw the "covered pool" actually being COVERED ... there's clearly some system to label the huge rolls of bubble wrap which swaddle the warm side of the pool through the cool evenings.
And another lovely sunset. We're not certain any one of them could be proclaimed THE BEST ... but this one certainly was a contender!
Antonio López Sáenz
Antonio López Sáenz
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