 |
| There's a small lighthouse on top of the mountain behind us. Although the lighthouse itself is fairly small because of where it sits it is the second tallest lighthouse in the world (Gibraltar is the highest) |
One of the things we don’t do when traveling is set expectations. This keeps us from being disappointed. We frequently find ourselves to be pleasantly surprised. Mazatlán turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.
According to Eric, our new best friend from Mazatlán, there are over 700,000 residents in this city which boasts of having one of the largest ports on the Northern side of the Panama Canal. Eric was our Pulmonia (open air taxi) driver, who toured us around the very clean and orderly city. A few other things we learned from Eric was that the lighthouse is the second highest lighthouse in the world (Gibraltar is the highest) and that the local baseball team has won the Mexican League Championship eight times. I guess that makes them kinda like the New York Yankees of the league. On the notorious side, Mazatlán is where the drug lord El Chapo was from and where he was hiding when he was arrested. By all appearances the city seemed safe and quite vibrant with a nice mix of locals, tourists and seasonal residents mainly from the US and Canada.
One of the most interesting features of the city was the beachfront promenade which stretched 4-5 miles along really nice sand beaches. We also had an opportunity to watch the cliff divers as they dove from 50 feet high into less than ten feet of water. The downtown had a lively market, large Catholic Church and a block long shrimp market where the “shrimp ladies” sell fresh shrimp to local residents.
 |
| Along the promenade in Mazatlan |
 |
| One of the many "shrimp ladies" |
 |
| Me practicing my cliff diving...…..of course it's not me! |
 |
| Beth taking off with Eric's Plumonia |
 |
| Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in "Old Town" |
 |
| Interior of the church......much brighter than the large churches of Europe |
 |
| Town square in front of the church |
Speaking of shrimp, Eric told us that Mazatlán has the largest shrimp fishing fleet in the world. I’ll take his word on that fact. That makes for a nice economic example of supply and demand. The supply is more than adequate to meet the demand, so the price for a meal of these “fruits from the sea” is very good. When it was time to eat we told Eric we wanted somewhere that wasn’t touristy, and inexpensive. His eyes lit up and he said “I know just what you’re looking for”! He drove us through town until the road ended at a beachfront restaurant called Mr. Lionso. It seemed to have a nice mix of locals and visitors. Eric told us his favorite were Coconut Shrimp and Bacon and Cheese wrapped shrimp (probably not real popular with my Adventist friends). We ordered both types, and threw in an order of crab empanadas for good measure. For less than $30 total we feasted until we could eat no more and packed the remaining shrimp and one empanada up for Eric.
 |
| Bacon wrapped shrimp, crab empanadas, coconut shrimp at Mr. Lionso's |
 |
| Me and my buddy Eric! |
We’re now back on the ship. It’s a few hours until we pull away and head for Puerto Vallarta. As we leave we’ll be taking great memories with us from our day in Mazatlán.......and full bellies as well.
