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Recently, while browsing through the MazInfo e-mail, I was amused to read
a note from an apparently “normal” observer, as King just what kind of
“wackos” are hanging out down here in Mazatlan. It’s an interesting, thought-provoking
question which leads to another interesting, thought-provoking question:
Where do you go to find a place where everyone is “normal”? The nice little
All American town I came from had plenty of weird stuff going on. For
example, quite a few prominent community members were indicted for belonging
to a sordid little sex club that made the national news back in the 80’s.
The mayor owned a construction outfit and was eventually indicted for
favoring his own company while denying permits to his competitors (leaving
some families with half-built houses). Two Little League coaches went
at each other with baseball bats, and one was so badly hurt the other
one went to prison. One of the town cops was arrested and fired for his
hobby of crossing state lines to dress up like a woman, lure men to a
hotel room, and beat the heck out of them (the ACLU sued on his behalf,
he was reinstated and served out his last years as the laughing stock
of the town). And down at the local watering hole, a couple of good old
boys were arguing over whether Winchester made such and such a
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model in this or that
year, and one of them got so mad he went home, came back with such and
such gun and shot the other guy dead in his chair. I could go on but you
get the picture…and all of this is just the tip of the Titanic and it’s
been going on forever. My grand folks had stories about the morphine addict
doctor, the crooked sheriff, the speak-easies, the drunken stolen airplane
crash, the kid who dynamited his house and everyone in it, and their old
buddy Charlie who gave his wife vinegar and baking soda for her ulcer
and she exploded. So, kindly stranger, in answer to your question about
wackos in Mazatlan, I say “Come on in, the water’s no worse here than
in anywhere else.” What most separates Maz from other tourist towns is
that it also has a thriving old town. The beach is great, but so are the
plazas, the art, the theatre, the architecture and the incomparable seawalk.
It has a cultural depth and diversity you can spend years exploring, especially
if you learn to like “banda” music. Sure it attracts the occasional oddball
such as yours truly, but over all it’s not so bad. I just hope the new
policy of jailing white collar crooks doesn’t result in the golf courses
being overrun by fugitive CEO’s and their lawyers. There goes the neighborhood.
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