A map of western Mexico, showing the location of Mazatlán.
Mazatlán (w) is on the Pacific coast of Mexico, in the state of Sinaloa, almost directly due east of Cabo. Here's a map:
A map of western Mexico, showing the location of Mazatlán.
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:
She holds up two very large shrimp, each over six inches long from head to tail.
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:
A view looking out over the city, with the ship visible in the distance.
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.)
The diver stands on a wooden platform built on top of a large pillar of rock.
...and there he goes!!!
This picture captures the diver in mid-air, just after jumping from the platform.
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:
Various carvings of animal figures, including a dolphin, a deer, an elephant, a prancing horse, a pelican, a buffalo, and a large number of small turtles.
After the tour, we went to a restaurant called El Presidente for our lunch:
An outdoor patio, with red and green umbrellas, and many trees and bushes, including a large banyan tree.
...and tequila tasting:
Yazmin stands by a table loaded with dozens of tequila bottles.
Bottoms up! Terry drains her glass, holding it with both hands.
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):
A large cathedral, made of beige and yellow stone, with two bell towers.
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:
A stained glass window in shades of yellow, red and green, with a Star of David in a circle at the top.
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...
Terry reads the sign, which is in Braille.
The park had a gaudily decorated bandstand:
A hexagonal bandstand decorated with brightly colored banners.
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:
Three skeletal forms in black shrouds, standing on a platform decorated with many brightly colored flowers.
A traditional symbol of Día de los Muertos is the calavera, or skull. There were two of these in the park:
Two large skull sculptures on pedestals, each vividly decorated. The one on the left is primarily blue, with the eye and nose sockets and teeth outlined in yellow, and white curlicues with orange dots on the forehead. The skull on the right is even fancier, painted red, white, green, yellow and blue, with dozens of small rosettes.
Another traditional decoration is the catrina, a tall female skeleton in a fancy dress and hat:
She's more than twice human height, wearing a black and orange dress and hat decorated with skulls and polka dots.
We caught a taxi back to the dock. It wasn't your usual type of taxi:
It's a golf cart.
The dock was crowded (you might even say infested) with vendors, of course, and I was greatly amused to notice this item:
A T-shirt with the familiar McDonald's golden arches, but it says "Marijuana - Over 1 billion stoned."
And that was the end of the day's adventure in Maztlan. On to Puerto Vallarta!