Mazatlan Winter Escape

 Mazatlan Winter Escape

We recently spent ten days in Mazatlan staying with our Winter Mexican friends, Dale and Nicole. They were super excited to host us. When we discussed what we wanted to do, we said “Read by the pool, walk the beach and eat tacos.” Well, we did plenty of all that, and quite a bit more. Here are some of the highlights of the trip.

Read by the pool:

Dale and Nicole live in a gated residential community of fourplex condos surrounding a central courtyard which has a pool, exercise area, basketball court and tables for gathering. It’s a really comfortable place and there are no complaints about the weather! Many neighbours are Canadians and Americans also escaping winter. They get together to play cards, dominoes, swim, go for walks, or do other sports activities. They go shopping at Walmart, in addition to local fruit stands and farmer’s markets. They get around with the local transit busses (13 pesos), pulmonias or DeDe (like Uber). They frequent the local taco stands, cafes and listen to live music at the various restaurants and bars. When you’re there for six months, you live normal life. We joined in, tagging along on the shopping trips and spending lots of time relaxing.

the view for our time there

 Walk the Beach:

It’s only a few blocks to the beach and once there, one can walk for miles. The undertow is rather strong so swimming is not recommended. Dave went out to play in the waves the one day, and when he returned to shore, he got quite the scolding, in Spanish, from a nearby hotel staff member. 

look closely - he's out there somewhere

The one day we went to Stone Island for a day at the beach. It was long transit bus ride, followed by a ferry ride to get there. This was a calmer beach, although I did get swallowed up by a big wave and got quite a mouthful of salt water! What a relaxing afternoon of swimming, people watching, listening to local musicians playing the Sinaloan Banda music, and of course, eating shrimp!

We got our first view of the Malecon from the top of a double decker bus.  That gave us the idea that we should walk it. Its the main beach in the tourist district. It was a beautiful day to walk the 4 plus km along the boardwalk, looking at the statuary set up for Carnival. These are called Monigotes, and are giant figures made of paper mache, supported by large structures. The Mazatlan Carnival celebration is one of the biggest in the world with a huge parade along the Malecon. It was on our last Sunday, but we opted to watch on TV rather than brave the crowds.

We also went to the Golden Zone tourist district and spent an enjoyable afternoon walking along that beach, collecting seashells, watching people parasailing, and eating nachos at a restaurant overlooking the beach.

Eat Tacos:

There was no shortage of delicious meals. The guys went fishing on the first day and brought home enough to feed us for several days (some of the fish went into the freezer). Nicole was an excellent cook and we had a variety of Mexican dishes, and lots of fresh fruit. When we ate out, most often we’d have shrimp!  But on Valentine’s Day we went out together with some of Dale & Nicole’s friends to Fat Fish. No, we didn’t have fish. We had the best steak and ribs ever!

getting the groceries home:
with a Pulmonia

catch of the day

Sincronizada Pierna

Bacon-wrapped shrimp

Shrimp burger (just shrimp, no beef).

Shrimp tacos

More shrimp Tacos

Garlic shrimp

Shrimp Aztec Mortar -
Molcajete de Cameron

and there's always room for cake!

Historic District:

The Plaza Machado in the center of the historic district comes alive in the evening with music, dining and market stalls. We had a beautiful warm evening outside, enjoying a delicious meal, and walking around the shops and an art gallery. The next day when we took the double decker bus tour around the city, we again stopped to explore more of the Old Town: the 19th century baroque cathedral, and the crazy labyrinth Marcato where you could find everything from clothing to fresh meat and produce.  It was amazing that the tour bus could even make it through some of the narrow streets!  We had to duck under the branches and wires in a few places!

 Observatorio 1873

The double-decker bus tour took us up to the Observatorio. It was first used by the military as a lookout for the harbour and then in 1873 it became an observatory. It fell into disrepair and more recently it was someone’s vision to restore the old building and create a park accessible by funicular. As a wonderful surprise, besides the views, there was a bird sanctuary and a whale museum. We enjoyed our afternoon of roaming around, trying to figure out where all the pathways led.

beautiful place for a wedding reception

Vineyard Church:

Dale and Nicole attend La Vina church. It is very focused on sharing God’s love with the people of Mazatlan through ministry centers in the various Colonias; the neighbourhoods away from the tourist zones. Dave and I joined in, making sandwiches and then boarding the church bus for a tour of the city, delivering water and sandwiches. It was definitely a sobering experience learning about the challenges that the people face to make ends meet.

One of the recipients of the church's support was now able to support herself with a fruit stand -
with a bit of our help as customers!

A neighbourhood with a view is not always the most coveted.

One of the ministry centres we stopped at.

We definitely had a wonderful time in Mazatlán, enjoying the wonderful warm weather...

... only to return home to –17 degrees and a snow storm. Welcome home.  

Would we become Winter Mexicans?  As tempting as that may seem, I don't think so.  There's still so much more of the world to explore - one trip at a time.