Mazatlan, February 2009

Although we love Puerto Vallarta, I convinced Doug to take our annual Mexico trip in Mazatlan this year. We started planning last summer and made arrangements to stay at the Mayan Palace through our timeshare. As usual, we wanted to stay for several days in the heart of Old Town to get a feel for the town before we moved to our condo. I started looking online, and also through Frommer’s and we settled on La Siesta Hotel, which has an ocean view right on the main street of Old Town. We got it booked and started planning. We flew into town on Wednesday, February 11th (our anniversary). The airport is about 45 minutes from town so our taxi ride gave us a chance to see the town. Our driver didn’t speak much English, and we don’t speak much Spanish so we weren’t able to communicate too much. We were able to communicate where we were going so that was no problem. We got to the hotel about 5pm. We liked it right away. It was right across from the ocean, had a restaurant next door (the Shrimp Bucket) and had a nice courtyard inside. There was even an espresso stand in the lobby which our plush timeshare doesn’t have. Our room was nice, on the 2nd floor with a balcony so we had a great view of the ocean, the boardwalk and the action below. Once we got checked in we walked across to the boardwalk and started walking north along the boardwalk (malecon). Mazatlan’s boardwalk is 12 miles long, with some statues and different things to see along the way. There is one place where there are cliff divers during the day and another where all the fishing boats come in. You can buy fresh fish and take it across the street to one of the restaurants and they will cook it for you. Just north of our hotel on the right is a hill called Ice Box Hill with houses on the top with beautiful views of the ocean. As we walked it started getting dark so we had a good view of the sunset. We ate dinner at the Shrimp Bucket that evening. The next day we had arranged another timeshare tour of the Mayan Palace to look at our options of upgrading to another week or a bigger unit. They sent someone to pick us up at our hotel and take us to the Mayan which was across town about 15 miles north. Once we got there they gave us a tour of the area, and we had a buffet breakfast. After breakfast they talked to us about the options. For now it was not a good option for us, so we declined and took our incentive which was $200 in cash, and a city tour which we booked for Monday. They gave us a taxi ride back to our hotel. We spent some time just relaxing at the hotel before we took a walk around our hotel. A few blocks behind it is the Plaza Machado where there is a park in the middle of the square, and several restaurants, shops, and the Teatro Angela Peralta theatre. There is a cathedral a few blocks north of the Plaza Machado and we walked around that and over to the City Market which has all the local crafts and vegetables and meat. That evening we had dinner at one of the restaurants in Plaza Machado. Friday and Saturday we walked each morning along the boardwalk up to where the fishing boats come in. One morning we had breakfast at the restaurant next door to the hotel which was not very good. The other morning we had a wonderful breakfast at in Machado Square. Both days we headed over to the Golden Zone after resting during the day and relaxing by the pool at the hotel. Doug had work to do and the hotel had wireless so he was able to do it right there. To get to the Golden Zone we took a pulmonia. Although there are taxis in Mazatlan, most people rely on the pulmonias which is an open vehicle that looks like a golf cart. We found that some are privately owned so you have to be careful when you stop one. We rode in one that had no speedometer, no mirrors, etc. Most are very safe, although the drivers do tend to dart in and out of traffic a lot. The Golden Zone is where there are most of the bigger hotels, lots of restaurants and a lot of the shops. We stopped at Joe’s Oyster Bar for drinks one of the evenings which is right on the beach. On Saturday evening we went to a Mexican Fiesta which was at the Playa Mazatlan in the Golden Zone. That is always fun with all you can eat buffet and lots of fun entertainment. On Sunday it was time to leave old town and move to the Mayan Palace. We arranged a ride on a Pulmonia and got over there about 1pm. We were able to get checked in. The Mayan bought the Sea Garden hotels several years ago and there used to be just the Sea Garden option for our timeshare, however the year before they had built the new building on the property so we stayed there. We didn’t look inside the Sea Garden units but we were told that they were smaller, all of them 2 bedroom but a lot older without all the comforts of the new building. Our room was one bedroom, but it was roomy and nice, with a sofa bed in the living room if we wanted to bring someone else with us. It was only a little further from the pools, and it had an ocean view. I was anxious to go down to the pool so we stayed around the hotel the rest of the day and ate dinner at the restaurant that evening. In the morning on Monday we had planned our City Tour so our driver picked us up at the hotel. After picking up others he headed into the Golden Zone then took us to several other spots along the way. We were not impressed with the tour at all, or our guide. Afterward we offered to stay in the Golden Zone so he let us leave the bus there. As we got off the bus we talked to a couple of gals that were on the bus with us and they were also expressing what they thought about the tour. They told us if we really wanted to get an authentic tour we could go to the Vineyard Church and volunteer to help make sandwiches and then plan to go with them on a tour to deliver them. They showed us where the church was so we went to find out more about it. We made arrangements to do that on Thursday. Next to the church is a taco place that has wonderful, cheap tacos. We sat and visited with the gals we met on the tour, had a great lunch with them then headed back to our hotel for the afternoon. That evening we came back to the Golden Zone and had dinner at Panama Bakery and Restaurant which is right on the main boulevard. Tuesday we went on a tour that took us to Concordia and Copala. On the way we stopped at the village of Malpica at a tile factory and watched them making the tiles, then went over to a house which had bakery in the back. We brought a tile home from there that we bought for $2.00, and we were able to have a piece of hot bread. In Concordia there are several furniture stores. Then in Copala we had lunch at Daniel’s which was really good and included with our tour. They are famous for their banana coconut pie which we couldn’t pass up. Wednesday we stayed at the hotel most of the day and just relaxed, rested by the pool, etc. Doug was doing some work so it gave him time to catch up on things. Then Thursday we got up early, had breakfast at the hotel, then headed down to the Vineyard Church to volunteer our help. We made sandwiches along with a few others, and filled water bottles with purified water. Afterward we got on a bus and our driver gave us a tour of the area on our way to the city dump. We went through several residential areas but as we got farther away from the beach area we saw how some of the Mexican’s really live. Even the police officers which are among the higher paying people, live in little, tiny houses. The neighborhoods rising up had small two bedroom houses and it is normal to move in and as you can then add on, usually up with another floor. Our destination was to go to the city dump and give sandwiches, fruit and water to the people that make their living to support their families by salvaging what they can from the dump. They are not searching for food however, but anything else they can sell. The city dump trucks come in anytime day or night so there are always people (mostly men) salvaging things. They know that the Vineyard bus will be there on Thursdays so when they saw us they came over. We each took the bags and handed it to them and said “Jesus loves you” in Spanish to them. They were so grateful to have this little bit of food and you could see that they really appreciated it. It was a moving experience. After we left the dump site we drove through the village where most of the workers lived in little shanties made with cardboard sides, tarps, etc. It was sad to see. We drove by the school that was breaking for lunch and there was a line of kids waiting for our bus to come. We got out and gave them each lunch also. We stopped by a house where a little boy with cerebral palsy was not able to come out with the other kids. His mom brought him out and we gave them lunch also. Of all the things we did on our trip, this by far was the most rewarding and we vowed to do it again. That evening we had dinner at the hotel. On Friday we went on a Tequila Tour. The tour company picked us up at the hotel and we stopped at the little town of La Noria first. There we went into a leather factory where we watched them making belts, shoes and purses. From there we headed to the distillery and watched them making the tequila. After we left the distillery (with a bottle of tequila to bring home) we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. Once we got back to the hotel we spent the rest of the afternoon resting, swimming, etc. The next morning we went to Valentino’s restaurant for breakfast. It is at the north end of the boardwalk, right on the edge of the Golden Zone. There is such a pretty view of the town from there, but they are no longer open for dinner which is a shame. The location is great, the food and the atmosphere were too. We sat outside on the balcony and looking down at the rocks we saw several mariachi singers that were being filmed for some kind of event. After breakfast we went back to the hotel to rest and relax on our last day in town. That evening we headed back to the Golden Zone and went to Carnaval (Mardi Gras) had started on Thursday and we were curious to see all the festivities. When our taxi was about 1 mile from the entrance gates we chose to get out because it was just so crowded. We walked the rest of the way and made it to the gates. There were so many people, and a lot were acting crazy, but it was fun to see. There was a long line to get inside the gates so we decided to head back to our hotel. On Sunday we got up and had to start getting ready to leave. Another trip comes to an end. Darn- I don’t want to go home!

If you would like to see more pictures from this trip click below.