Mazatlán (w) is on the Pacific coast of Mexico, in the state of Sinaloa, almost directly due east of Cabo. Here's a map:
This day's adventure was a coach tour of the city, followed by lunch and a tequila tasting. Our guide, Yazmin, told us that Mazatlán's main industries are tourism (of course) and seafood. We drove past an open air seafood market, and she showed us an example:
That's what I call jumbo shrimp.
We drove around the city, with Yazmin pointing out various sights. At one point, we drove up to the highest point in the city and looked down:
We saw Isla El Creston, an offshore island with a lighthouse (although you can't see it in this picture). Notice that the road leading out to the island is laid across a sort of "land bridge" made of piled up rocks, which means that the island isn't technically an island any more:
These offshore rocks are called Piedras Blancas, or White Rocks. The white color comes from (sorry) bird droppings:
Driving along the beach, we stopped to watch cliff divers. These daredevils jump from a platform about 50 feet high, into water which is just a few feet deep. Apparently, they dive just as a wave comes in, which gives them a little extra depth. Here we see a diver getting ready to jump. (In this picture, it looks like he's going to land on the rocks, but trust me, he hit the water.)
...and there he goes!!!
All I can say is, better him than me.
There were a number of street vendors working the crowds. One was selling these wood carvings:
After the tour, we went to a restaurant called El Presidente for our lunch:
...and tequila tasting:
And here we see Terry enjoying her tequila:
Bottoms up!
After the tour, we were driven back to the dock. But we had time to spare before we had to get back on the ship, and Terry and I decided to do a little exploring on our own. On the tour, Yazmin had pointed out a cathedral, the Cathedral Basilica de la Inmaculada Concepción (Immaculate Conception):
I wanted to go back and take a look at this cathedral because Yazmin mentioned an interesting fact. Apparently, this is the only Catholic church in the world with a Star of David in each of its stained glass windows. The story, according to a website I found, is that "during the construction of the church a Jewish family in Mazatlán donated a huge sum for the construction and the grateful people included the Star of David to show their gratitude."
I was fascinated by this story, and I wanted to see the stained glass windows for myself. Sadly, when we got back there, we found the church closed. But I found this picture on the web:
Walking back from the cathedral, we passed a park, and I noticed that at the edge of the park was an informative sign. I had to ask Terry to read it... not because it was in Spanish, but...
The park had a gaudily decorated bandstand:
The park also had a number of decorations left over from Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) (w), a Mexican holiday honoring the memory of loved ones who have died, which had only been a week earlier.
Día de los Muertos decorations are an interesting mixture of whimsy, gaudy colors, and Halloween-like grusomeness. For example, there was this trio of lovelies:
A traditional symbol of Día de los Muertos is the calavera, or skull. There were two of these in the park:
Another traditional decoration is the catrina, a tall female skeleton in a fancy dress and hat:
We caught a taxi back to the dock. It wasn't your usual type of taxi:
The dock was crowded (you might even say infested) with vendors, of course, and I was greatly amused to notice this item:
And that was the end of the day's adventure in Maztlan. On to Puerto Vallarta!