Mazatlan

 You need to take time and a deep breath; patience goes a long way in determining whether your experience will be an adventure or an ordeal. It’s all in the attitude. Please keep that in mind anytime you travel anywhere especially foreign countries. I’m having a great time and every place is different from the last. One thing has held true and that is the people and food has been outstanding.

Mazatlan is a mix between our old favorites like McDonalds, Burger King, Home Depot Office Depot just to name a few along with the Mexican flair and specialty shops. Beer of course is sold on every street corner. One thing that the Mexican food has over our old fast foods places is it is always fresh and made to order it is never reheated from frozen. I love it.

There is no mistake that this is a beach town with all the water sports you could possibly want from parasailing, kayaking, boogie boards, jet skiing, banana boats, catamarans, fishing, body surfing as well as spending your day in a hammock under a palapa on the beach. Mazatlan has eight different beaches and three small islands you can visit. It also has art galleries, film and theaters, concerts, opera and more. Surely you can find many things to your liking.

I found hotels from $290 pesos ($25US) and up. There again something for every budget. I stayed at a RV park on the beach for $150 pesos ($12US) a night tent camping. Many RVers return each season quite a few have decided to stay full time it sure seems to agree with everyone.

I noticed many new construction site and others undergoing remolding. One thing is for sure the face of Mazatlan is always changing. The mix of new and old is outstanding.

I enjoyed my short stay here. It is differently on my list to return to. 

Boca del Rio, Sinalora

I have been camping on the beach at a little fishing village, Boca del Rio for the last 3 weeks. They have electricity and cell phones but no internet. Sorry I didn’t kept up but…

I spent most of my time, when not in the water (not snorkeling because of the sandy beach) with one family that happens to run one of the restaurants in town which came in handy when it came time to eat. I have learned many new receipts most of which use lime juice, tomato juice, cucumber, chili pepper, onion, tomatoes, and shrimp or potatoes and cheese. Did you know that lime juice cooks your fish so your soup is served cold?

They have tried to teach me the names of many of the local fish, mostly I learned that the fish are bony or the one with the yellow strip can be fillet and there for boneless and both are fried.

Sept 19^th was opening day of their 6 month shrimp season. It was a good day for the fishermen; they only get 100 pesos (less than $10) per kilo (about 2.5lb). They have only had two or three good days several days they didn’t even bother to go out. The water needs to be rough for them to have the best catch. What they make during this season is to carry them throughout the year. I do hope and pray for a long and profitable season. There shrimp are very large we would call them extra-large jumbo prawns as you can see from my photos. They eat some of the heads too, I tried but I’m not getting the hang of it.

 I was planning to take the ferry to La Paz, Baja but it turns out that the ferry would cost me $400 one-way for me and my car. Not worth it.