Mazatlan, Sinaloa Mexico

At the top of El Faro

Today is our fourth day anchored in Old Harbor in Mazatlan.  We plan to be here until Sunday night.

View from El Faro

A view of Notre Isle through Rick's fingers. (the picture didn't quite work out the way I wanted)

The Mazatlan Harbor Entrance

The day after we got here we put on our running shoes and walked/jogged up the mountain that leads to El Faro (the lighthouse), which is right behind our anchorage. It’s about a 35-45 minute climb in the hot sun. It’s pretty steep and Rick, Harley and I were a little out of breath. But the effort is worth it once you reach the top. The views are amazing! We saw a lot of other people huffing and puffing up the mountain but there were others that were running up and down with ease. One young man in particular really impressed us with how many times he ran up and down the mountain. He ran up and down at least 5 times in Rick and our first round. This inspired Rick so he decided to run down the mountain. I was not that inspired and walked and sometimes jogged. Once we got to the bottom we were both complaining of sore knees and calves.  But that did not stop us from walking further into town. We walked over to where the Cruise ships and Ferryboats are docked and had a cold drink at a fish restaurant on the water nearby.  We soon walked back to the boat.

Our Lady of Guadalupe statue just around the corner from the Ferry Terminal 

Later that afternoon we took a bus into town to meet our friends Cyndi and Marcus for an early dinner. Marcus gave us directions on which bus to take and where to get off of the bus, but none of that happened as easily as he described. First of all the bus was going so fast you could not even begin to read a street signs and if the bus slowed down enough for you to actually read a sign, the sign was all rubbed off and unreadable.  We realized along the way that we were way beyond where we needed to be, so we got off the bus and crossed the street to get on another bus going back the other way. Just as I was getting off our original bus, a motorcycle that was speeding by between the sidewalk and the bus almost lambasted me.  If I’d stepped off a second later I would have been smooshed. Fortunately Rick grabbed me just in time! After my close call, we crossed the street and ended up getting on another bus going the opposite direction. We finally ended up close to where we were supposed to be and got off the bus. We walked a block from there over to the Machado Plaza where we met Cyndi and Marcus and then walked together to the restaurant. The restaurant they had wanted to take us to was closed. They serve Pappas Rellenas (stuffed potato’s), which are supposed to be the bomb. I’m actually glad it did not work out, because one, potatoes are not on my list of things to eat and two; the place where we ended up eating, El Tunel, was really good! Their food was very fresh and simple and the prices were very low which we like. When we were in Puerto Vallarta area, the prices were pretty high compared to all of the other places we had been eating. Even to buy food for provisioning was high.

 

Inside the church in El Centro

Church in El Centro

Plaza Machado

Where we ate dinner with Cyndi and Marcus

Vegetable Tostada

Angela Peralta Theater - Located just off Plaza Machado in Centro Historico - Hosts important theatre and musical performances.

The Plaza

Getting a ride home (back to the boat) in the Pulmania

The streets along the Plaza Machado

We walked around the plaza after dinner for a while before parting ways. Rick and I did not take the bus back, but we did try out one of the Pulmania’s. A Pulmania is a taxi that looks like a cross between a golf cart and a Volkswagen Thing. The doors are missing and the roof is just a fiberglass awning/canopy. You almost feel like you are riding in a carriage. The price is negotiated at the start of the trip after you tell the driver where you want to go.

We made it home safely…back to the boat. After we got onboard we had to hoist the dinghy up and out of the water by the halyard and leave it hanging out of harms way. Apparently there have been a lot of dinghy motor robberies of cruisers in Mazatlan, amongst other things. The thieves are very bold and seem to stop at nothing to get what they want. Our friends on SV Enchanter got their dinghy motor, two SUP boards & two bicycles stolen from their boat when they were anchored at Stone Island, which is also in Mazatlan. The thieves came on board around 1:30 in the morning (while our friends were sleeping), grabbed what they could on deck and cut the lock that was holding the motor to the side rail.  We have heard of lots of thefts here so we are trying to be as careful as possible with our belongings. We hope that Harley will also alert us if anyone climbs on board!

Day three here, we got up and took the dinghy to the dinghy dock, locked it up and walked to and along the Malecon into Old Town. We came to a crossroads and had to choose between walking over the Machado Plaza (a few blocks away) or continue walking on the Malecon as far as it would take us. I wanted to do both but chose the Malecon. I’m not sure if it was a good choice or not. We ended up walking a total of 17 or so miles; me wearing flip-flops and Rick in his boat shoes. The Malecon alone is a 13-mile walk from start to finish. But we walked a couple miles to the Malecon and then we walked a couple miles past the Malecon. We took a Pulmania from that point to Marina Mazatlan, and then walked to Marina Fonatur where Cyndi and Marcus are docked. We stayed for a few hours visiting with them in their cockpit and didn’t leave until 5:45p.m. We did not walk back to the boat for obvious reasons; we took a Pulmania back to the boat. We attempted to take a bus but that didn’t go too well.  Out of the group of people we were standing with waiting to get on the bus we were the only ones the driver would not let on. He actually shut the doors right as we were about to get on and then drove off! Rick and I assumed he did not want Harley on the bus and didn’t want to deal with it so avoided it all together by driving away.

Took a break at the end of  the 13 mile walk along the Malecon

Stopped to watch the fisherman feed their leftover catch to the birds

Stopped for Mahi Mahi taco's at Dock 9 at Mazatlan Marina

One of the lovely bronze sculptures along the Malecon

A spiral staircase that takes you to a slide which plummets you down into a pool of seawater

After getting back to the boat in the dark, the winds had piped up and so we let a little more rode out just to be safe. We heard the winds were supposed to get up to 30kts, but they only got up to 20kts. I’m glad the winds died down; otherwise we would have been awake all night with worry. And, after our long day of walking, we really needed the rest.

Today, day four, we woke up feeling tired and very sore, our legs especially! We have not gone for any walk into town yet. We are just getting some things done on the boat for our trip up north. Rick had to fix the Tiller Pilot, which he did and now he’s working on taking the staysail boom off and rigging up something else so we will have more room on our deck. I managed to take Harley to shore by dinghy earlier this morning but then came right back after she did what she needed to do. This was my first dinghy ride without Rick. I did fine except for when it was time to come back to the boat, I could not get the motor started. I wasn’t pulling it hard enough or something. I started to panic for a moment but fortunately there was a nice man on the dock doing some maintenance work that I asked, “Por favor, puede ayudarme?” (Please, can you help me?). I guess I asked him correctly because he jumped into the dinghy and started the motor for me in one pull.  He also untied the dinghy and pointed me in the right direction. 

Later today we hope to go to the Machado Plaza and then to the Mercado in El Centro.  

Stay tuned…