Mike in the Wild

I didn't expect to be very busy when I discovered my year-end holiday cruise was stopping in Mazatlán on Christmas Day.  While the cruise line was selling excursions for the day - a city tour, a trip to villages in the nearby Mountains, etc. - I remained incredulous that the tour guides and bus drivers would actually want to spend their Navidad working. Well it turned out that while much of this Mexican port city's population was certainly at home celebrating the holiday, for many of the people it was just another day to wait tables, sell crafts, and drive tourists to the beach.   Nonetheless, I decided to have a very quiet day with a leisurely breakfast on the ship followed by a morning stroll through the oldest part of town.   While so much of the United States was experiencing dangerously cold temperatures and blinding snowstorms, Mazatlán was unbelievably pleasant with clear skies and temperatures in the 70's.  I couldn't give myself a more wonder...