#this is about Mazatlan

[now-a-witch]

Maybe Gringos should just shut up and accept that if they are traveling, they will have the full cultural experience instead of just wanting a cheap beach with everything catered to their boring lifestyle *shrug*

[octuscle]

Total and life-changing solar eclipse

Michael was more than pissed off. He had been planning this April 8, 2024 for over two years. Almost all his friends from astronomy class had gone to Mazatlan, Austin or Niagara Falls. Despite all the logistical challenges, Michael wanted to see the solar eclipse at the Epi Center in Nazas. He was on the road for over 36 hours. And now his luggage with all his equipment had not arrived. And he was three and a half hours late. All he had was his special sunglasses. No telescope. No binoculars. All lost somewhere between Dublin and Mexico City… The sky was already darkening. The excursion he had signed up for was long gone somewhere in the mountains. Here, right in front of the airfield, it was full of amateurs. Idiots who didn't understand the significance of this eclipse from the Saros cycle. They probably thought it was a miracle. Michael checked Google Maps. He didn't have time to drive to the hotel first. There was no cab. But according to the satellite image, there was a large parking lot or something similar not far away. Good north-south orientation. Michael should have a good view. And hopefully it was emptier and quieter there…

He cursed the fact that he had to watch the eclipse with the naked eye. He cursed the fact that his sun cream with the sun protection factor was God knows where. His red hair shone in the sun. And he could feel himself getting sunburnt. He probably stank of sweat. The last shower had been during the stopover in Chicago. Maybe he should have flown to Toronto after all. But now he was here. And totality was getting closer and closer.

Michael had been fascinated by astronomy ever since he could read. And he had taught himself at the age of four. Michael was the epitome of a nerd. Unathletic. No friends. Assistant in the computer science department at Dublin University. And now he was standing here alone in the sweltering heat in this parking lot. His head on his back. Above him, a spectacle that rarely existed in this form. His anger evaporated. His fascination with the play of sun and moon prevailed. He no longer felt the heat. In fact, it was starting to get cooler. Cooler and cooler. And it was also slowly getting noticeably darker. Until it was as if someone had switched off the light. Michael stared open-mouthed at the sky. He was overwhelmed. The Black Sun was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. All his exertions were forgotten. The thousands of euros he had spent on the plane tickets: all a trifle for this spectacle in the sky. He put his head back even further in fascination. And he fell backwards onto the ground.

Maldita sea, Miguel thought. He must have fainted a few seconds after falling to the ground. He held the back of his head. That could be a nasty bump on the head… His sunglasses had fallen off his face… He looked at the sun with a wink. Yes, you could still see the shadow of the moon in front of the sun. And? What was so special about it? It got dark every evening. Today it was also noon. Miserable astronomy crap… Even his kunkels had all gone out to a hill outside the village… He didn't care.

His ball had rolled a few meters further. Miguel took it and practiced shooting baskets. By the time his buddies got back before that nerd thing, he was in shape. And then he would beat the losers. Like every time. Miguel was simply the basketball star of his village. And he was happy when all the strangers had finally left and things were quiet again.

[writingquestionsanswered]

How to avoid info dumping at the end of a story (with a huge world change) for a large cast of supporting characters in order to let readers know how these characters are getting on with their lives?

My first, second, third, etc. drafts of this climax and resolution chapter keep getting messier the more I try to make this information more organic and less boring. I can't seem to break out of telling this information to the reader when I know that showing works better.

There is an epilogue chapter which is dedicated to showing the lives of my two protagonists a few years after the story's resolution so I'm not worried about how that plays out.

Thank you for your time, and for this blog. I recently discovered it, and have sent it to my other writing friends.

Story Clunky with Supporting Characters' Resolutions

It sounds like you're trying to do way too much with your ending. :)

I like to think of story endings in three stages:

-- taking stock as the "dust settles" from the climax -- settling into the post-climax situation/world -- "sometime later" epilogue, if any at all

Taking Stock as the Dust Settles

Regardless of whether your story's climax is the final round of a cheer competition, a last-ditch effort to prevail upon a love interest not to leave, a courtroom battle with an innocent life on the line, or an epic showdown between good and evil, from the first second the climax is won or lost, a period of "dust settling" begins. This period can play out over minutes, hours, even a full day or two immediately following the climax. During this time, the protagonist/s and any main characters directly involved in the climax take stock of the impact of their win or loss by tending to any casualties, examining the consequences, and determining next steps. In story structure, this period is known as "falling action" because things are ramping down toward the ending.

Settling Into the Post-Climax World

Now we skip ahead to when the dust has settled. The casualties have already been tended to. The consequences have been examined and addressed. Next steps have been determined and taken. This is days later, possibly weeks, maybe even months. The protagonist/s have settled into their new, post-climax situation or world. If they won a cheer competition and the result of that was being accepted to a college dream team, they're packing up the car, ready to drive to their new college life. If they won a major court trial and the consequence was being able to retire with a clear conscience, they are cleaning out their office and daydreaming about sipping tropical drinks on a beach somewhere. If they overthrew an oppressive usurper and the consequence was being able to assume their rightful place on the throne, they are flanked by hopeful courtiers as they make their way into the castle for their coronation.

Sometime Later/Ever After Epilogue

Some stories skip ahead several months, a year, even a few years to show where things finally end up. The cheerleader may be performing during a college homecoming game. The lawyer may be drinking a mojito on a beach in Mazatlan. The queen may be watching a joust at the Queen's Tourney while the citizens of her happy, thriving kingdom enjoy the festival.

Where do main characters fit into all this? It's easier to address the main characters during the "dust settling" stage, because they were part of the climax. They're already there, already participating.

However, depending on what your protagonist/s "settling in" and "sometime later" stage looks like, the main characters who were involved in the climax may not even be present. They may be off doing their own thing by that point, and it may be tempting to leave the protagonist to go show what each of those characters are doing, but that's how you end up with an overblown, clunky ending.

If your characters are a part of the protagonist's "settling in" and "sometime later" stages, you can find a way to have them participate in the scene that is mainly highlighting what the protagonist is doing. For example, let's say the usurped heir has a bestie who is a knight-in-training, as the now queen is walking into the castle for her coronation, she might look at the flanks of hopeful courtiers and see her best friend in their shiny new Queen's Guard armor, and she might think about how she's excited to hug them during the knighting ceremony later that day. With just a few sentences, we've let the reader know that the knight-in-training has been inducted into the Queen's Guard and is going to be knighted. Then, if you choose to do an epilogue where the beloved queen is watching a joust during the Queen's Tourney, you could have her watching her bestie compete and win, illustrating that they're now a successful knight. And let's say there was a blooming relationship between this knight and another character... when the knight wins, they jump off their horse and embrace the loved one. Now the reader knows they're together and having their own little HEA. Again, just a few sentences, no big deal.

In other words, the point isn't to do a five paragraph dive into what each character's life is like now. You just find the most important element or two, then find a succinct way to illustrate it--showing, telling, both... whatever works. If a character wouldn't be present during either of these two stages, the narrator or protagonist can tell the reader (briefly) where they ended up. Or, maybe the protagonist gets a text message that hints at a few things, or maybe another character asks about them and the protagonist fills them in.

I think a really great example of this is in the movie version of The Mockingjay [spoilers for The Mockingjay, the movie in particular.] After the climax and the "dust settling" stage, Peeta reads a letter (from Annie, I think?) that updates him and Katniss on how she and some of the other characters are doing. We get one line about Gale, an important character and one of the most important people in Katniss's life, when we are told about his military appointment. But, that's all we need. We don't need to see him actually performing that role, or know where he's living or who he's loving or what he does in his spare time. We just need one point of reference that roots him in the space of the "ever after." Gale has been promoted to a captain in district two to help keep order and security. Boom. Done. End of story.

And there are many supporting characters whose endings we don't get to hear about. It's okay for us to wonder where this character or that character ended up.

So... be honest about who needs to be rooted in the "ever after" in some way. Who will the readers care about the most besides the protagonist/s? Rank the characters from one to whatever, and address only the top three to five. Find a way to work the characters naturally into the protagonist's "settling in" or "sometime later/ever after" epilogue so the reader can get a glimpse of them there. Or, if they are in another place at that time, find a way to have the protagonist/s learn of where the characters ended up so the reader can learn along with them.

It's going to make for a much less clunky, much smoother ending. :)

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[muxas-world]

Colonization never really stop it only takes on new faces because who you come to a country to live and you do not adapt to its customs and way of living? worse if you only come to visit and learn? The point of tourism is to get to know new cultures but instead you want to come and have your life be the same as in the United States and that we locals have to adapt (in Mexico the gringos began to complain about the noise that the sellers make in the streets that are why they don't buy local and in Mazatlan together with the help of businessmen they want to ban the bands of cultural expressions that have been part of our country for decades just because that bothers them but if we Mexicans go to the USA and want to speak a litle of Spanish we get crucified)

[crazylittlejester]

The chain as things that happend at my highschool part 2 because my friend saw me writing the last one and she said that I missed a lot of great things :

Wind geting kick out of class for holding an orange NERF gun because the teacher belived that it was real and dangerous

Warriors dressing as a woman for a theater work and looking so good that the most homophobic guy asked for his number thinking he was a girl from other class

Twilight and Sky running to the museum bathroom because there was no water at school

Four messing with the teacher because she said teams of boys and girls and Four was helping both (To me Four is bigender)

The teacher saying that Sky and Four were the example of a good student while they were setting Twilight's hair on fire

Legend standing at the microphone on a government event and screaming shit about the principal

Sky and Four starting a protest because Legend was suspended 3 days

Wind insulting in a Mazatlan accent spanish because they asked him if his grandmother was a fish (Mazatlan is a beach from Mexico)

IM CRYING THESE ARE AMAZING. THE WARS ONE SPECIFICALLY HAD ME LAUGHING OUT LOUD. I’m kinda obsessed with ur high school lore

[chamiryokuroi]

My post about Mazatlan made it to the racist side of tumblr yikes time to block everyone

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 24 February 1915, during the Mexican Revolution, Amelio Robles Ávila, a transgender officer in the Liberation Army of the South, led by Emiliano Zapata, intervened in close combat in Salto de Valadez and Mazatlan, Guerrero. His unit battled against a column directed by colonel Zenón Cerrato, beginning the fight at 12 noon and ended in victory at 6:30 PM. Robles Ávila recounted that when he first joined the fighting: "it was nothing but madness, but later I learned what a revolutionary stands for and I defended the Plan of Ayala". The Plan of Ayala was a revolutionary 15 point programme authored by Zapata, which called for the overthrow of the government and for the radical redistribution of wealth, land and property. While Zapata's peasant army originally allied with Venustiano Carranza, the relationship soured after Carranza took power and failed to implement promised improvements. According to Robles Ávila, "Carranza was just a mystifier of the revolution and I fought against Carranza." This battle was just one of at least 70 he took part in over the course of the revolution, and years after the fighting ended he became the first recognised transgender Mexican army veteran. Learn more about Robles Ávila on our Stories web app including timeline and sources: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/tag/8681/amelio-robles-%C3%A1vila To access this hyperlink, click our link in bio then click this photo https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2217487768436361/?type=3

[watercolourferns]

Wanna fight gentrification? Take Mazatlán as an example!

Gringos were crying about how noisy Mexican can be, specifically CDMX and Mazatlan. What did the Mazatlecos did when threatened to have the bandas banned from the beach?

THEY ARE HAVING MASSIVE BANDA CONCERTS ALL OVER THE CITY.

Gentrification only benefits the people who push for it, not the rest of us.

FIGHT IT.

We welcome tourist and immigrants, we always have. We LOVE to share out culture and our love for our country and we LOVE when foreigners love Mexico.

WHAT WE DON'T WELCOME IS COLONIZERS. WE ALREADY KICKED A BUNCH OF THEM OUT 500 YEARS AGO, WE KICKED ANOTHER BUNCH OUT (some of which were US soldiers, that's where gringo comes from) 178 YEARS AGO, WE WILL DO IT AGAIN IF NECESSARY.

If you come to Mexico, YOU RESPECT MEXICO. Period.

[lady-swanbell]

It's about my friend, Xena (...) we've been planning a trip together. You see, her mother's taking a luxury cruise and her ship will be docked in Mazatlan for a week, she invited us down to join her.

[hausofmamadas]

NUGGETS OF BENJAMAYO | aka just gif dump of my madness about 1 measly scene

✴︎

For Narcoctober's Day of Visuals - Oct 6th 5th (posted on the 6th cause I generally suck and my life is a mess) leftover from Day 1's fic

Okayokayokay so I made so many extra gifs for my Benjamayo fanfic that were theoretically set aside days ago for the Narcoctober Day of Visuals (I know that much like “fetch” Benjamayo is not a thing but much like the legendary Toaster Strudel heiress, Gretchen Weiners, I am very much trying to make it happen) and legit thought the prompt was Oct 6, not Oct 5 but I already have an amnesty day post technically I haven’t gone to sleep yet …? So technically yesterday is still today regardless of the date...? and I can’t not share these bc LET ME DO TELL YOU, I'VE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS INTERACTION FOR LITERAL YEARS NOW so without furtherado

The scene in question: Benjamin schmoozing at Dina’s wedding, shaking babies and kissing hands, spots Mayo and decides, fuck it- he’s in a good mood! Little social butterfly, precioso is feelin’ himself. It’s a wedding, love is in the air! Why not take a moment to go flirt chat with Mazatlan’s very own Camarón King of actual sex Not Giving A Fuck About Anything Pretty Much Ever, Ismael El Mayo Zambada and this is how it starts off. First, Mayo asks the waiter?/waitress? if the shrimp in the shrimp cocktail is fresh but manages to pose it in the most sexy way, it’s actually borderline disturbing just how fucking hot this man is asking about fucking shrimp of all fucking things then again, passion in one’s professional pursuits is pretty hot …? But like no, I really don’t think that’s what’s happening here

Then Mín, little pep in his step, La Reina del Baile, glowing even more than the bride herself, strolls up and basically is like, “Bish, that’s a spiffy new hat. You buy that with the money you made movin’ shit through my plaza? cause there’s more where that came from if you’re interested in a sugar daddy🤭”

At which point Mayo is lowkey like🫣 oh god, what do I say now. Is he trying to strong arm me, what’s the angle. I really don’t wanna start shit rn, I’m so full of shrimp, like ngl I don’t even think I could run away without making myself sick and he tries to keep things simpatico but like the extra mile he goes??? This sly mf is smiling at M��n in a way that resembles a little too closely how he smiled at the waiter/waitress. And sure, maybe we can chalk that up to just Mayo a ho. He a May-ho sry, I just– you know I set myself up to spike that ball and I couldn’t not no matter how bad it was sksksksks and Mín rolls with it, he does one of those blind-and-miss-it thousand yard stares which I will devote an entire gif set post to later bc he does it more than once throughout the show and it’s actually devastating and shoots his shot, “pero imagínate que no tuvieras qué”

So anyway, this establishes what? Mayo a May-ho, right. And Mín is lowkey liiiiiiiiiiiiving for this shit bc he thinks he’s got an in. And do you know what tf this savvy, spritely little Drug Lord Dilf-Nymph of Tijuana does????????? something Miguel would never dream of doing in a million years, not just bc he’s homophobic asf and deeply insecure about his entire general essence as a human being, but he doesn’t have a fucking f r a c t i o n of the affable, boyish charm that Mín does HE FUCKING FLIRTS RIGHT BACK. TAKE ONE GOOD GOTDAMN LOOK AT THE GIFS BELOW AND TELL ME HES NOT FLIRTING. YOU DONT FULL-BODY SCAN SOMEONE UP AND DOWN LIKE THEYRE THE FUCKING THANKSGIVING TURKEY AND YOU HAVENT EATEN IN DAYS UNLESS YOU’RE SEXING THEM IN YOUR MINDDKSSKSJWB I MEAMaaaan–

BUT DSKWJWJWIEIWJWJSB THE BEST FUCKING PART ABOUT THIS ENTIRE THING?????????? MAYO IS SO DOWN FOR IT. THE SHIT-EATING GRIN HE GETS ON HIS FACE LIKE MANS IS SO GODDAMN FLATTERED, MANS IS SO ABOUT IT, HES LITERALLY THAT GIRL DAFFYDUCK GIF, ALL BATTING HIS EYELASHES AND UNDRESSING SEDUCTIVELY, OKAY LIKE

WHERE IS THE LIE Spoiler alert: IT’S NOWHERE, THERE IS ONLY TRUTH OKAY and then Mayo does this real cute thing all appealing to the control freak in Mín, saying he likes to be his own boss, “no más que tú sabes” and all that AND THEN, AAAAAAND THEEEEEENNNNNNN FOLKS HE JUST. KEEPS. ON. MF. GRINNING. AS IF HE COULD GRAB MIN BY THE TINY LAPELS OF HIS TINY SUIT AND PLANT A BIG WET ONE RIGHT THERE ON HIM, RIGHT ON THE DANCEFLOOR IN FROMT OF ALL THOSE PEOPLELWKWJW W

and then he has to scramble for something else to say bc he knows good goddamn well that they've been making eyes at each other for far, far too long, so he's like "ohshitohshitohshit ohhhhh look there's Azul, the closest boner killer within reach besides Rayo hey, you know where home is!!!!!" AND THEN MIN, FUCJINGAKSJFNLKQJWELKJN DOES THIS WAY-TOO-INTIMATE HEAD NOD AND SMIRK, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR COMING TO MY PARTY ERM IMEAN DINA'S WEDDING, IF YOU'RE EVER IN TOWN GIRL CALL ME

NO BUT EVERYONE LITERALLY SHUT UP AND SITDOWN ALL FIVE OF YOU BCTTHENNNNSI;RAJQPO23IJRPOQJIWEFOH THE WAY MAYO SAYS CLARO, AND IT'S THE EXACT WAY I WOULD IMAGINE LIKE HOW HE'D GOODBYE LOVE PAT A ONE NIGHT STAND ON THE SHOULDER AS HE'S OPENING HIS FRONT DOOR FOR THEM TO LEAVE ???????? IDK IDKIDKIDKDA;WOJEF;AOIJ AND THEN THE LITTLE PRIVATE LOOK OF LIKE "idk what the fuck that was but I'm- y'know i really didn't hate it......"

it just- i mean i'm sure we're all in agreement that i'm insane but like what other conclusions am i supposed to draw in the face of this raw, objective evidence

☇

taglist: @narcosfandomdiscord, @narcolini, @ashlingnarcos, @drabbles-mc

[fuckkbrunch]

Should've saved the duck quesadilla to post with this one, but I didn't! Not much pre planning involved in these posts, not gonna lie.

I have my suspicions that the chorizo I bought at my local grocery store wasn't real chorizo. It didn't have the same crazy fat content that true chorizo does, but this still turned out decent.

Just Monterey jack with onion, green pepper and chorizo, sautéed until everything is nice and browned. Makes an okay quesadilla, if not a little bit boring. It's the pico that really makes this.

I was waiting until summer to make this, so that the tomatoes would be nice. My partner had just sharpened my knife, so this was really satisfying.

Pretty straightforward ingredient list.

Just showing off a little with my itty bitty jalapeno dice.

TMI story time: once when I was working as a $10/hr line cook, I was rushing through prepping a jalapeno sauce we made at this fish and chip joint. I didn't have gloves on because I was 22 and dumb as hell. Felt my period start, so I went to use the bathroom and put a tampon in.

I guess I didn't wash my hands after handling the peppers, because over the next ten minutes my junk starts tingling, then burning. So fucking dumb. Jalapeno pussy is no joke. Finished my shift though.

Anyway. Yum. So fresh. I love raw red onion so much. I also made some guacamole for the side, but he didn't specify that part, just the pico. It was still good two days later when I made some steak tacos, I was surprised.

Decent summer dinner. Served with tequila and Squirt, my favourite cheap Mexican drink, which was not specified by Tony. I just lived off of tequila and Squirt when we went to Mazatlan a few years back, and happened across it in a Latino market last week.

| Chorizo Quesadilla & Pico de Gallo |

Taste is a 3 out of 5. On the good side of average.

Difficulty is a 1.5 out of 5. Especially easy if you've got knife skills.

Time was about 35 minutes. Snappy.

Even though it's pretty average, I enjoyed this one much more than the duck quesadilla. But the duck one had goat cheese in it, so I was bound to hate it.

[neyxmessi]

Some people are saying miami won’t be able to beat fc dallas, but dallas weren’t even that dominant vs mazatlan (one of the worst teams in liga mx…) I think I have too much confidence

I gots to be honest… I don’t know anything about the mls or any of the other teams’ standings, so I’ll take your word on this one!!

[imperium-wealth-management]

South America,

I want you to know I tried everything about sending people to Mazatlan and Aztec to carry whatever tradition that was left.

I will not be visiting ever due to racism and hatred demonstrated by your kind as well.

I'm not going to thank you ever. Don't ever ask anything.

[aroundtheworldin214days]

January 10, 2023 - Day 14

Mazatlan, Mexico - There were two very large cruise ships at the dock so the area around the dock was just full of tourists. We walked away from the congestion and hired a small open vehicle to take us around the town. It is very much like the last two ports but more touristy. Beautiful weather, beautiful beaches and brave guys diving off cliffs to make a buck. The place was settled by Germans so they started a brewery which is still here making Pacifico beer. There is also a sizable fishing industry so there are lots restaurants specializing in fish and shrimp. There are about half a million residents who host 2 million visitors each year.

[brotherbeastus]

TODAY 8 APRIL 2024: SOLAR ECLIPSE Across North America from Mazatlan to Maine and Moncton

Here in Vancouver, Canada we had a similar solar eclipse in 2017, and it was spectacular. We were just outside the path of totality which ran through Oregon about an 8 hour drive to our south.

Some advice:

Experience it; it’s worth it.

You don’t have to be in the line of totality to see a spectacular eclipse. You may see a partial eclipse from farther away that’s still quite worth the effort.

Take a whole hour or more if possible to see the whole thing. There is more to it than just the 4 minute eclipse itself. There is a big buildup before and breakdown after. See that too if you can.

Bring a jacket. The temperature can drop significantly for about an hour.

Salad colanders and other objects with lots of holes in them make really trippy shadows during the eclipse. Bring one along.

Do not look at the eclipse without the proper eclipse sunglasses 🕶️ or you will likely lose eyesight.

Nature gets very quiet during the eclipse hour, and that makes it feel quite eerie.

For more info. see your local weather news.

BROTHER BEASTUS 𖤐 𖤐 𖤐 8 APR 2024

Total eclipse of the Sun, July 1860, illustrated by astronomer Warren de la Rue.

[empahla]

Weekday getaways with a side of anxiety - an off-the-cuff joint.

The good thing about me and friendships is that I'm a very slow learner. You can stomp on me repeatedly, it seems. I need to do a better job of putting boundaries on everything. #friendship #grief #growth #mentalhealth

I haven’t had a vacation I’ve not had a real vacation since before 2019. In fact, my last real vacation was my aborted attempt at a solo trip to Mazatlan. It didn’t end particularly well. There was a weekend up to Salmon Arm with my friendly acquaintances in the summer of 2022, although my memories of that one are tainted by my discovery that I was being excluded from a Mexico vacation a second…