I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that Mazatlán is experiencing an economic boom, and that is also the bad news. On the positive side, after a few years of stagnation and recession brought on by the War on Tourism, it is refreshing to see Mazatlán bustling and prosperous. Forsaken locales like the Freeman and the embryonic Marina Mazatlán are now beautified wonders, the formerly listless Plazuela Machado is a cultural and entertainment Mecca (no offense to the Prophet intended!), and even the embar-cadero to Stone Island has become downright attractive. The Malecón is wider and prettier, Ye Olde Towne is becoming illuminated and all my wife’s brothers and sisters have jobs. Things are happening! And while the Golden Zone is leaping and bounding to the north, and the Distrito Historico is enjoying a renaissance, the greatest actual population expansion in town is taking place far from the beach, on the other side of the tracks, literally. Working class housing developments are popping out like beige and pastel mushroom patches on the eastern side of the highway, along with Pemex stations, shopping centers, traffic lights and all the other trappings and trimmings of consumer society. Still, having lived in an area that underwent an economic boom, I learned the hard way that in many ways the

quality of life deteriorates even as the cash registers jingle and progress rules. The streets clog up with late model cars bearing out-of-state plates, all your secret hideaways become overrun with strangers and the phone company adds new digits to your old number. It’s unsettling and bewildering. The promise of money to be made draws all kinds of shady characters: shifty carpetbaggers, fast buck artists, quacks, vice-ridden wandering minstrels, etc. Worse yet, a flood of regulations arises, along with the accompanying gang of lawyers, inspectors and bean counters A few people make a lot of money, but not everybody benefits. If property values double overnight but your income doesn’t, an economic boom is nothing to celebrate, especially if the new building code enforcer decides your humble home needs upgrading, and the assessor is right behind him promoting you into a higher tax bracket. So Mazatlán’s growing popularity is a mixed blessing. To my mind, what tips the scale in favor of the influx is that a lot of lively and enlightened people are flocking to our haven. In recent years, I’ve met quite a few fascinating newcomers who are adding a lot to Mazatlán’s cultural consciousness and raising the level of cosmic cantina conversation to staggering new heights. I’ll drink to that!