Meeting Lopus Diarakato

When we first arrived at the marina, before PK left, we noticed this very nice walkway that was decorated with all of these unusual and interesting cacti. It turns out that they were the work of an artist named Lopus Diarakato who was exhibiting them at the marina. We all met him and signed his guestbook that very first day.

Later in the week, after PK had departed, we got a chance to get to know Lopus a little better. We shared drinks on the walkway and had him over for dinner on the boat. Later again we shared a tequilla or two in the hotel bar :-) His eyes lit up when we told him that we had visited Altata, since it was just around the corner from his native home of Navolato. He told us that he was retired as a professor at the Universidad Autonoma de Sinoloa here in Mazatlan, and that he had taken this special unique art form as his own.

He told us about the way he thinks of and touches the nopales, never using gloves, carving them with a knife and giving each one a distinctive and unique character. He is a special person and it was a joy to get to know him during our time in Mazatlan.