Mazatlán

Mazatlán is a city located on the Pacific Ocean, just opposite the southernmost tip of Baja California. Mazatlán is a word from the Nahuatl language and means "place of the stag", it is also known as "The Pearl of the Pacific" today. The city was founded in 1820 and in the middle of the 19th century, a large group of German immigrants came to Mazatlán and turned it into a thriving trading and port city. The city's development was mainly based on the import of equipment for the nearby gold and silver mines. From 1859 to 1873 Mazatlán was the capital of Sinaloa. In March 1900, three master brewers of German origin founded the Cervecería del Pacífico, which was bought by Mexican brewing giant Grupo Modelo and thus today part of the multinational company Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Jonathan and I left Durango on a Saturday afternoon to visit the city on the Pacific. There are two roads which connect these two cities. The older one is a very serpentine road that has already claimed many lives. The second one is a recently opened toll route including various tunnels and the Puente Baluarte Bicentenario (Bicentennial Presidium Bridge), which was the highest cable-stayed bridge in the world from 2012 to 2016. As nobody took us with them at our first waiting points, we finally took a taxi to the toll station of the new route. We had to find out that it was taken over by protesting workers. Since the workers collected the toll in cash from each passing vehicle, this did not change anything for most drivers. Only for coaches or trucks, for whom the respective logistics company usually pays the toll electronically in advance, does this confiscation cause a lot of trouble. We were lucky and a truck driver was lucky that by taking us with him they let him pass by without paying anything.

We got to Mazatlán late at night and after being picked up by our host Manuel we were offered either to spend the night partying or getting some sleep. After some sleep (for Jonathan and Manuel less, for me some more) we stood all up early to clean up a small part of Mazatlán's very long beaches. As Manuel is one of the founding organizers of the association "Viva la Ola", who does a beach cleanup at least once per month, we tried our best to collect as many items which shouldn't be on the beach as we could. Amongst these were thousands of cigarette butts, beer crowns, plastic articles and also some more exquisite objects like underwear. After cleaning the beach for just one to two hours on this Sunday morning one of the organizing members gave a little informative and motivating speech about the waste problem humanity faces today.

Mazatlán has a several kilometer long walk along the beach with a few monuments, beautiful views of the city and best swimming opportunities. You also have the opportunity to rent a bicycle or to experience the views riding one of the famous pulmonías. These open-air taxis, which is more like a golf cart, exist only in Mazatlán and are usually modified VW sedan vehicles. There are approx. 400 pulmonías around Mazatlán which take you anywhere you want. Pulmonía literally means pneumonia. The open-air taxis received this name because there was discontent on the part of the union, which scared people by telling them that they would be affected by this disease, due to the fact that they crewed in roofless cars in the middle of winter. Nevertheless, the success of these wagons continued, and people soon made fun of the disease, so these unique wagons adapted to that name.

Another further main attraction of Mazatlán is el clavadista (the diver), who jumps from a viewpoint at 14 meters high down into the cliffy and roaring sea. It is common to hear people complaining that he'll never jump but this is due to the fact that there are other persons who collect money amongst the crowd and they delay the show until they accumulate a sufficient amount. However, the jump is associated with numerous dangers for the clavadista. The difficulty of diving in this place has to do with the shallowness of the place where they fall, which is why observing this activity during the night lighting the waves and the sea with a torch is something impressive. There is also a swimming pool which is exposed to the open sea and depending on tide and waves it is flooded.

The historic centre of Mazatlán attracts people with its beautiful squares and restaurants, the cathedral, the big market Pino Suarez. Especially during the night the streets and the colonial buildings are illuminated by numerous floor lamps, so that these shine in the most attractive light.

One of Mazatlán's landmarks is the lighthouse (el faro). It is located in the southwest of the city on the peninsula El Crestón and is open to the public during the day. Some people use the rise of the hill as a daily exercise running up and down, some people just climb it at a comfortable pace to enjoy the view from its top.

Mazatlán is home to one of the best schools of contemporary art theatre and dance of Mexico and Latin America: Delfos Danza and the Escuela Profesional de Danza de Mazatlán (EPDM). I had the chance to see one of their shows in the Teatro Ángela Peralta which was definitely an extraordinary experience. Thanks to Jonathan's friend Marco, who was one of the actors of the play, I got three tickets for me and Manuel and could see their talent. To get an impression of the variety of ideas they included in just one play I edited the following video for you:

Along the boulevard in Zona Dorada you can find the Castillo Valentino, which looks like a castle and has served as a disco club for many years but recently closed down and just opens for some special occasions like Easter week.

In the north of Mazatlán la Marina, a private yacht club, is located. I visited this place twice in order to ask around if anybody will leave the harbour on boat to cross the Sea of Cortez and sail over to La Paz in the federal state of Baja California Sur. As I hitchhiked the last 1,000 kilometers without any problems throughout Central and Northern Mexico, why shouldn't I try to cross the sea by hitchhiking as well? After talking to some people and leaving my contact details on a clipboard an American couple even offered me to make a radio announcement the next day in the Marina radio station which daily informs all boat owners in the marina about news.

The estuary "El Yugo" is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water which consists of two basins north of the Marina of Mazatlán. One of the basins has a fresh water supply, the other one a free connection to the open sea. Depending on the season, rain and tides of the sea, these two basins get connected and there is an exchange of the two sources of water. Thanks to these different kinds of environment this area is home to a lot of birds as well as crododiles, fish, turtles and other wildlife. I explored the estuary together with Francisco from Mazatlán and we spent some hours observing birds like the purplish-backed jay (Chara Sinaloense) or the Neotropic cormorant. We finished our tour  exploring the beach and the cliffs and finally made our way back to the bus station, unfortunately we also passed sections that were heavily polluted by thrown away plastics and food scraps.

Mazatlán is home to plenty of surfers. Every morning, every evening you can see them surfing not only on one of the main beaches "Olas Altas" but all along the city.

The Isla de la Piedra (Island of the Stone), which actually is a peninsula but the access is way faster by boat or even swimming than via land, was the venue of a surfing event whilst my stay in Mazatlán. I visited the Isla de la Piedra with the international Couchsurfering group Samantha, Michael and Roberto. During the week you can visit the peninsula's lonely beaches. As we came there at the weekend and for the surfing competition it was filled up with people.

Mazatlán offers a variety of delicious and inexpensive seafood. As my host Manuel is the owner of a little fish and seafood shop we had the chance to prepare fresh ceviche. Furhermore I had aguachile (raw shrimp on tostadas with cucumbers and onions) and a lot of fish tacos.

Besides I tried the "suaves de coco", a kind of coconut-flavored marshallow which is produced only in Mazatlán. Another speciality in the region of Mazatlán is the vanilla soft drink ToniCol, which has a very natural taste and is very refreshing.

Apart from the private yacht club La Marina, Mazatlán is also home to a port right next to the lighthouse. This harbour is used by the passenger ferry which runs between Mazatlán and La Paz daily. It is also used by fishermen, commercial boats, fishermen or any other kind of sail- or motorboats. At the Club Náutico, which is part of the port, I got to know to Brian, a former mayor and congressman of the United States, who invited me to become his crew member on his way to La Paz within the next days.

Finally I spent one week in Mazatlán together with Manuel and his little cat which he found in the middle of a large street whilst my stay with him. I really appreciate Manuel's service and love for environment and animals and it was great fun having this little cat around in his house. The only thing I struggled with a few times was the high degree of security measures against burglars that Manuel had installed. Before leaving his house I always had to close round about ten locks and furthermore activate a security alarm, which would ensure that the entire government would be in front of the door within seconds if someone were to enter the house without authorisation. Leaving as well as entering the house again I always had to try several of the keys as well as look up the security codes to deactivate the system before it gave the alert.