We had planned our Mazatlan foursome--- Joan, Ralph, Jenny, and Eric--- for seven months and finally November 14 came around. (A wonderful website for planning reference is http://www.maztravel.com/maz/images1.html.)

Although getting up to a cold, cold 4:30 AM in order to catch our ride to the airport wasn't exactly a happy experience, it had to be done because we wanted to be there in plenty of time in case some problem arose. Good thing, too, because while Joan and Ralph sailed through their check-in line at Alaska Airlines, Eric and Jenny ran into an immediate problem at the America West counter. In mid-October, Jenny and Eric got word that they had been switched from their Alaska flight to American West because of some some sort of internal ticketing problem. Jenny had driven out to the airport in early November to exchange their tickets and was told that everything was fine, no reissue was necessary.

However, when they tried to check-in at America West, they were told their tickets were invalid. It was a good thing we had arrived at the airport so early because it took so long to remedy the mess that Eric and Jenny almost missed their flight. As it was, Joan and Ralph had to board their plane not even knowing if the problem had been straightened out and if they would have companions in Mazatlan!

While the flight to Mazatlan wasn't difficult for her, Joan found that getting from the airport to the waiting hotel van was problematic. While bending over to out a cigarette, she stumbled and went down head first, slamming her head on the concrete parking lot and opening a big gash in her forehead. There was quite a bit of bleeding, of course, but one of the van's "crew" members gave Joan a towel to hold to her head and some water to wash off some of the blood and it turned out that the cut wasn't as serious as we had at first imagined. Still, Joan had to wear a band aid every day for two weeks to cover up the wound that ultimately scabbed like a stigmatic comma in the middle of her forehead.

Joan wasn't the only one who had a problem upon arriving in Mazatlan While checking in at the hotel, Ralph discovered his small travel wallet with credit cards and driver's license was missing. That meant Joan, bloody head and all, had to complete the registration using her VISA card. "It must have slipped out of my pocket on the plane while I was wrestling with all those papers and forms," Ralph rationalized, "I'll have to call Alaska to see if they found the wallet when they cleaned the plane." Eric, Jenny, and Joan thought this was wishful thinking but Ralph called the airport anyway. Alas, no answer, Alaska Air was closed.

We found that our ocean front rooms were adjacent to each other, high up on the twenty-first floor--- 2123 for Eric and Jenny and 2124 for Ralph and Joan. Both had huge bedrooms with two king-sized beds, two complete bathrooms, a large living room, and a mini-kitchen. Eric and Jenny also had a small outside balcony connecting their bedroom and living room. (A hint for the future, the "23," "24," and "25" rooms are all ocean front, the best on each floor of the El Moro Tower. The"23" and "25" rooms have the small balconies, while "24" rooms don't.)

Room 2124 had a huge bedroom facing the ocean,

The living room area with two sofas was very comfortable.

Beach view from room.

Wonderful pool for swimming and sunbathing.

Night view from room.

We chatted for a little while, catching up on the days excitement and thinking about dinner and wondering if we'd find something that Eric would be able to order. Minds made up, we went to the lobby and walked down to the La Concha restaurant, the El Moro "palapa" facility that serves as the hotel's main breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and bar, depending on the time of day. The day's special was a bar-b-que spread--- beef, ribs, pork, chicken, sausage, and more--- but we all timidly decided to order from the menu.

 

Just after arrival, Eric and Jenny got their first look at a famous Mazatlan sunset.

Eric and Jenny thought the location right on the beach was sensational!

The next morning Ralph was preparing to call the credit card companies to cancel all his card when he decided to give Alaska another try. A nice lady answered and very quickly informed him that the wallet had been found and could be delivered to the hotel that afternoon. (Who cared about the $20 taxi charge!) That set the tone for the day. The day was most given over to shopping. We took a Pulmonia (open taxi) from El Moro down to the Zona Dorada, the "tourist strip" where all the "let's get the Gringo cash"shops are located. A Pulmonia is a type of taxi that looks like a souped-up golf cart and dozens and dozens cruise the streets 24 hours a day looking for customers. They can carry up to four passengers and the normal fare from the El Moro to the Zona Dorada is 40 pesos, roughly $4 US. Incidentally, the name Pulmonia is derived from the Spanish word for "pneumonia."

Mazatlan's pulmonias are unique--- by law no other place in Mexico can have them.-

A wild and windy ride, are we having fun yet?!

We poked around the Zona Dorado for "must have" souvenirs. Eric was especially interested in finding the "perfect" hat to mark his visit. We also had a "must" stop for lunch and drinks at Mango's, Joan and Ralph's favorite restaurant in the zone. Nachos, quesadillas, Margaritas, and Pacifico beer went down smoothly as we lounged at our table right next to beach. Jenny and Eric marveled at the number of vendors who were walking up and down the shoreline peddling cheap jewelry, mini-parasail kites, wraparound skirts, dishes of fruit salad, wood carvings, hats, handmade lace tablecloths, and lots of other stuff. It didn't take long to learn that making eye contact with one of these entrepreneurial hawkers leads to a extended session of "No, gracias, no gracias, no gracias..." (Or a sale!)

Since our hotel rooms were equipped for casual cooking, we decided to take a Pulmonia to one of local supermarkets--- Gigante. We discovered there isn't too much difference between the Mazatlan version of a supermarket and that which we'd find at home. We stocked up on cereal, bread, butter, jam, peanut butter, orange juice, Oreo cookies, and a few other necessities and headed for the checkout line.

By late afternoon we were back at the El Moro and, after stowing g the groceries, we were back to El Concha and our favorite table in sun enjoying Margaritas and Dos Equis as we made plans for dinner. What a dreary life :--(

Tequila: The National Drink of Mexico Tequila is an alcoholic drink that has become a symbol of Mexican nationality and culture and which has achieved recognition worldwide. It is named after the town of Tequila, located in the state of Jalisco in central Mexico. Tequila is made from a plant called the blue agave, an indigenous plant which looks like a large cactus but is actually a member of the lily family. The blue agave grows only in certain regions in and around the state of Jalisco. Those that grow close to the town of Tequila produce the best quality tequila. Tequila production commences with the harvesting of blue agaves. These large, spiky, turquoise, long-leafed plants are left to grow until they reach about 8 years of age. The leaves of the mature plants are chopped off and their "hearts," which resemble large pineapples, are placed in ovens, slowly cooked for a period of time, and then crushed to extract fermentable sugars from the agave starches. After fermentation of the sugary juices has been completed, two distillations are done and the finished product is then placed in oak barrels for aging. The finished product contains about 40% alcohol. The Mexican government maintains strict control over the production and sale of tequila and imposes numerous regulations on its distillers. The most important regulation requires that all tequila contain at least 51% blue agave juice and be distilled at least twice. The remaining 49% liquid is generally sugar and water added during fermentation. In general, the greater the percentage of blue agave content, the better quality the tequila will be. Tequilas are divided into the following categories, depending on the length of aging: * Blanco - Silver * Joven - Gold - Young * Reposado - Gold - Aged * Añejo - Gold - Old * Reserva de Casa - Premium In general, the longer a tequila has been aged the more expensive it will be. The more expensive brands will have undergone aging of 3 years or more. The youngest blanco (silver) tequilas, may be aged for only 14 - 21 days. Drinking Straight Tequila If you are brave enough or prefer to drink Tequila "straight up," here is how you should do it. 1. Pour some slightly chilled tequila into a shot glass 2. Lick the back of your hand and sprinkle some salt on it 3. Lick the salt off your hand 4. Drink the shot in one single gulp 5. Suck on a wedge of lime Tequila Cocktails Tequila is a base for many popular cocktails, including Margaritas and Tequila Sunrises. Here is a typical recipe for a Mexican Margarita: * 2 parts tequila * 1 part Cointreau liqueur * Fresh lime juice * Ice Mix the tequila, Cointreau and lime juice with ice. Stir or shake, pour into a cocktail glass, and serve.

Finishing our drinks, we watched the sun go down. Sunsets over the water are maybe Mazatlan's #1 attraction. You can sure use up a lot of film or disk space capturing the view!

There are a lot of nice restaurants all over the town and we visited several of them during our time in Mazatlan. In the Zona Dorado, a tourist-oriented strip not too far from the El Cid hotel, our favorites are Mango's and Pancho's. Just three-minute walk from the hotel, we liked Los Arcos (seafood specialties) and La Casa Country, a great steakhouse with a western theme, including line-dancing waiters at 8:00 PM each night! (They also had a special Mexican hat dance event that starred Eric and Jenny one night!)

Days tend to run into each other in Mazatlan. Other than beach, sun, shopping, eating, drinking, reading, napping, beach, sun, shopping, eating, drinking, reading, napping, beach, sun, shopping, drinking, reading, napping, and eating, there isn't a whole lot to do. Eric and Ralph did take a break one day, however, and went across the street from the El Moro to the El Cid Country Club where they played eighteen holes of golf. (The golf was free because we had endured a timeshare presentation , but we had to pay for a caddy and for the cart rental.)

A highlight of the whole holiday was Jenny's decision to go parasailing. Although Joan, Ralph, and Eric said "No way!" Jenny had all the gumption (and tequila) she needed to get on with this adventure. There are dozens of parasailing operations on the beach but we were luck to have probably the most colorful one right there at El Moro. After negotiating the price for a few minutes, Jenny got strapped into the seat, got her "how to land this thing" instructions, and prepared to go aloft.

We watched as the yellow tow boat picked up speed--- the tow lined tightened--- and whoooosh, Jenny was aloft and heading out to sea!

Maybe not as scary as parasailing but nonetheless exciting, Eric's goal was to do some jet skiing. This was easy enough to arrange just by walking a few yards down the beach from El Moro and picking out a likely vehicle. A few instructions and off he went, bursting through the surf and speeding off into the bay with a flume of water jetting up in the air behind him!

We decided that one day we'd rent a car and make the trip to visit the colonial town of Concordia and the village of Copala. These are both very old, having been found in the mid-1500s. We took the advice of the travel office located near the El Cid lobby and rented a car from a local agency, AGA, rather Hertz, Avis, or Budget. The total cost was less than $70, including unlimited mileage and insurance, about half of what the "big" agencies charged. Of course, we didn't get a Rolls Royce for that money, just an older model Dodge Stratus. But, it ran, had air conditioning, and proved to be quite satisfactory for our purposes. (OK, it WAS a bit cramped for long legs after a while but we survived.)

Concordia is a town of furniture makers who sell their wares in small stands on the way into town. Concordia also offers an abundance of locally made pottery in the pre-Columbian motif. There is an old style town square built in front of the Church of St. Sebastian, a great place for photos of the "locals." The church, is over 350 years old, making it the oldest in the state of Sinaloa. This area produces a lot of Mangos which are for sale everywhere along the road. It was our good luck to arrive in Concordia on a celebration day which allowed us to see processions of local school children marching through the streets.

Just outside of Concordia we stopped at a roadside "shop" have looked over a skimpy supply of pottery and watched as a old man worked on a hand carved chair. Concordia is famous for its traditional furniture and some tourists even arrange to have tables, chairs, and even bedsteads shipped back to the USA.

We next drove on to Copala, just 40 miles from Mazatlan. This small ex-mining town is well worth a visit if you want a little taste of what life was like in the past. Once a thriving mining town, Copala was a virtual ghost town until just a few years ago. Today, to attract tourists, the village has been slowly restored and is once again thriving. The impressive Church of San Pedro was built in 1740. We spent some a little time exploring the town, meeting some of the local boys (and burros), and enjoyed lunch at Daniel's, a restaurant known throughout the area for its terrific banana-coconut pies. (The fajitas mixtas, with beef and chicken, were pretty darn good, too.)

Miscellaneous Gallery

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