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Mazatlan, Mexico

We landed in Mazatlan and made our way through barrage of locals hawking everything from taxi’s to pottery.  We’d decided to skip the zona dorado, the “Golden Zone” that caters to tourists and headed off on a walk to find the historic district and the oldest cathedral in Mazatlan.

Following signs up the hill we walked for about a mile before coming upon a town square dominated by a gorgeous, neo-Gothic yellow cathedral.

With my long legs and platinum hair, I stood out like, well, an American.  Or a Swede.  Juan, a local restaurant owner, asked where I was from and, surprisingly, we found something in common.  My new best friend Juan gave us the low-down on local Mazatlan, he told us the best prices for a city tour and the best places to go shopping.  We promised we’d be back for lunch and headed out.  Juan’s advice proved to be a goldmine, we found this fabulous local farmer’s market full of stall after stall of vegetables, spices, authentic clothing, smoothies, purses and pottery.  It was fantastic.  Imagine the Mexican version of Pike’s Place in Seattle, but without the inflation aimed at tourists and add in some tricky math to convert prices from pesos to dollars before I started haggling.

As promised, after loading up on treasures we headed back to Juan’s restaurant for lunch.  His restaurant is located underneath a gazebo in the middle of the cathedral square.  We asked for menu’s are were met with one page that was completely incomprehensible, even for Camille who is fluent in Italian.  I couldn’t pick out any foods or meats I recognized.  Instead of running, we opted to stick it out.  This proved to be a very good decision.  We timidly asked if they had chips and salsa, and after hesitating a moment, our adorable waiter told us that yes, he could get that for us.  And then he sent the 11-year old girl who was folding napkins off to the mercado to buy a bag of chips while the chef starting chopping up the best batch of pico I have ever tasted.  Buoyed by some tomato-and-cilantro-y goodness, I asked for something made with beef, this also proved to be a very good decision.  My meal was amazing, absolutely amazing, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to have refried beans again unless there is shredded gouda on the top.  People, the whole experience was fantastic.  Juan’s restaurant is brand new, so new he doesn’t have a name yet.  But if you’re in Mazatlan, you need to go to the historic district and have lunch in the restaurant under the gazebo in the square outside the cathedral.  Do it.  Your tastebuds will thank you.

(Your amazing lunch is down the stairs through the door on the left.)

After we had stuffed ourselves full of Mexican food we wandered off to find some more shopping and stumbled upon the most intriguing boutique full of all sorts of treasures.  Gandarva Bazar (Constitucion no 616, Centro Historico, Mazatlan) had shelves full of scarves and leather bags, silver jewelry and carved sculptures.  There was a garden in the back that was packed with handmade percussion instruments, painted masks and bowls and a wall hung with Mayan calendars in varying sizes.  I think we spent at least an hour-and-a-half in this store, touching everything and adding up pesos in our heads, trying to decide which of the dozens of treasures we would bring home.  I walked away with a beautiful Mayan medallion, a painted mask and a fantastic orange cotton scarf.  A few blocks later I made the executive decision to go back for a gorgeous printed turquoise silk scarf I fell for the moment I walked in but had deemed “too expensive.”

After doing the math again, it occurred to me that 500 pesos was totally worth it for something I loved so much (about US$40).  I’ve already worn it twice.

With bags full of amazing souvenirs and running low on pesos, we decided to head to the beach for a little while before making our way back to our ship.  Taxi’s in Mazatlan are like glorified golf carts, painted in bright colors they look like toy cars.  We negotiated the price and hopped in for a breezy jaunt through the city.

I think I was a beach bum in another life, I could have sat there and watched the waves and the sailors for hours.  But the sun was setting and it was time to go back.

Mazatlan was my favorite city–I loved the local taste we had and I loved their gorgeous beaches and friendly people.

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