Reviewed January 2006
GET TO KNOW OUR PLAZAS - The Heartbeat of Mexico
Marlene Santana - Dec 14 2003
For a nice English introduction to the public square of Mazatlan see the government site
Venados Baseball
Venados baseball games are half sport and half party. To get the best seats, show up when the ticket office opens at 1:00PM. Seats behind home plate are running 60 pesos. Beer will be served to you while you watch the game. Pacifico is 10 pesos for 325 ml (a mediana). The food is inexpensive, the people are friendly and the game is fun. Just try it once and you'll see it's more fun and for a great price when compared to similar sporting events up north.
Lin Robinson - Dec 12 2003
MORE ON BASEBALL
For more information on the Venados, check out these articles.
The Venados Try for a Pennant Details and history on the Pacific League Foreigners playing for the Venados Lin Robinson -Dec 11 2003
Lin Robinson - Dec 12 2003
Chess Club, Tournaments
If you're a chess player, you have probably found that it's a universal language and excellent goodwill ambassador. There is an active chess scene in Mazatlan, including an annual tournament each December and a new state-level tournament in February. The heart of local chess is in Zaragoza Park–at Zaragoza and Nelson (the inbound Sabalo Centro buses go right by it)–in the central tower. The Carlos Torre Repetto Chess Club turned the park from a wasted drugged-out eyesore into a nice family area–they chess players are up there every night, pushing pawns. Drop by and walk up the stairs to the round second floor, where the local chess buffs will give you a warm greeting. If you don't speak Spanish, just sit down and shove out a white pawn...you've got a game. For more detail on this club and local chess see THIS ARTICLE .
Lin Robinson - Dec 12 2003
Snorkeling
Mazatlan is a fourth class diving location–but there are a couple of sites that are less worseplaces to put on your mask and snorkle. DON'T get roped into the "Stone Island" trip if you are interested primarily in snorkeling. Isla de la Piedra is a cool place with nice bars with hammocks instead of chairs and miles of empty beach to walk and skinny-dip. And you might get a kick out of the knuckleheads on your boat trip, the volleyball, the drinks and feverish MTV "we're having so much fun" atmosphere. But the snorkeling is a joke. Save your money for Tres Islas or spear fishing. If you swim out to the points of Olas Altas Bay, you find rock bottom with lots of fish. The cliffs below the Paseos thrust out into open sea, creating violent, complex, swirling breaks. Olas Altas means "Big Waves", baby. There are enough challenges here to get your ass scrubbed raw, no doubt about it. Not to mention lots of sea urchins. But it's a fun place for advanced swimmers to zoom among rocks.
The best "normal" snorkeling in the area, hands down, is out on the Tres Islas. The islands, especially Bird Island, have beaches, but mostly rocky shores. They are far enough out that the water is much cleaner than in town, extremely so while the spring rains are still sluicing silt out the river and storm sewers. It's almost pointless to get into the merits of such a cool excursion site, but the calm water snorkeling on the land side here is very pretty, and if on the outside can get pretty wild. You can swim around the islands pretty easily, kind of a fun thing in itself, and swim from one island to the other.
Getting there is a lot of the fun. You ride from the Golden Zone beaches to the Islas on a World War II surplus landing craft called a "DUCK" and painted with a huge shark's mouth full of teeth. Take a pic of that home to your blase; buds. Sometimes the DUCK just cruises the beach looking for fares–and it can be pretty weird to look up and see a huge robot land shark heading for you. But they usually just wait for you on the El Cid beach, with hourly departures from 10 AM to like 4 PM, depending on how they are doing it this year. You get in, the shark wallows into the water, switches gears, and putts out to the islands. How cool can you GET?!? Be sure not to miss the last shark back to shore.
For a fuller report on this dive area, check this Pacific Pearl article. Gear is available for rent at El Cid, for sale at Deportes Mictlan Snorkle tours run from El Cid and by Hudson Snorkeling Tours who also take you spearfishing
Betting On Sports Events (Or just watching them on TV)
The Decima Hotel on Avenida del Mar features the Caliente sports betting book. Open at 10 AM, the Caliente offers dozens of televisions featuring races and sporting events from all over the world and the opportunity to put down "off track" bets. You can make book on your college team, the World Series or World Cup, even pick the Superbowl winner in June! Drinks and food are served, but the atmosphere is definitely betting parlor, not corner saloon.
Lin Robinson -Dec 11 2003
Walking the Paseos (Seeing sea, statues, malecons)
There are two 'paseos', walkways constructed along the cliffs over the pounding waves. They have little plazas, benches, narrow paths that lead out to tiny perches over the surf, and some really nice bronze statues. (Most with fine tits). Olas Altas beach is between the two paseos, and a good place to swim or to grab a drink at several view cafes. The Paseo Centenario, south of Olas Altas, is less traveled, and for serious walkers. Just walk south–the sidewalk heads up through a neighborhood before breaking out to stone railed views of waves and islands. At the far end, it descends to the ferry dock–take a right and you can climb a corkscrew footpath to the top of the lighthouse hill–the highest lighthouse in the hemisphere and a cardiac challenge–but also a heart-stopping marine view. North of Olas Altas is the more camera-friendly Paseo Claussen. There are several high promotories to sit on, including one bench on a high tower that is kind of scary, but seats two very comfortably. Sometimes divers do torch dives off this lookout, but Acapulco it ain't quite. You'll see the lovely bronze nude Mazatleca , spirit of Mazatlan rising from the spray, the mermaid showing her son the land, and the dramatic 'Continuity of Life' fountain–a dozen life-sized bronze dolphins leaping in the water while a heroic (and anatomically correct) man and woman trail behind them in a huge conch shell. At the other end, you arrive at the Malecon, where you can catch a bus downtown or out the beach.
Lin Robinson - 10 Apr 2003
Stone Island Isla dela Piedra
Don't take the tour: take the Sabalo Centro bus to the end of the line–the ferry terminal. Walk east around the parking lot full of Japanese cars and look for the sign that says, *Paseo a la Isla dela Piedra/, pay 10 pesos round trip to go across on a launch. The island is mostly vacant–you can walk 20 miles up an empty beach lined with coconut palms. Skinny dip, but nude tanning might get inspected by farmers driving by on tractors. The near end of the beach is a cluster of thatch 'palapa' restaurants. To give you the idea, most of them have hammocks so you can have a beer lying down. The best is probably 'Victor's' down at the end–great fish and a beautiful garden. You can rent inner tubes, take 'banana boat rides', rent horses, play volleyball, para-ski–or just sort of mellow out in that hammock, or walk up the beach and get away from the craziness and just be by yourself on an empty beach. The official tour is on catamarans with a bunch of other idiots, and lunch and a few margaritas are thrown in. You'll come back to this place.
Go For A Beautiful Drive to Durango Along Route 40!! See Drive To Durango On Rt40
Eliot Deutsch March 9, 2005
Golfing information
Below are listed various links for golfing here in Mexico and Mazatlan:
http://www.allaboutmazatlan.com/golfandtennis.htm http://www.go2mexico.com/mexicogolf/crse3.htm http://www.worldgolf.com/travel/mexico/mexican-golf-scene.htm http://www.estrelladelmar.com/Golf_Rates.htm Club Campestre is popular with many locals and reasonably priced. Estrella Del Mar is near the aiport, but the course runs along the ocean. It is quite nice, but pricey unless you get some type of package.
David Shafer March 16, 2005
Websites for "Going To The Movies"
by Jack Moreau
Check out the following websites for what movies are playing in Mazatlan. For Gigante and Soriana or for Gran Plaza and Multi Cinemas downtown in the plaza Las Americas
Movies are in English with Spanish subtitles, exceptions are kids movies some comedies and of course Spanish films.
Special prices on Wednesdays 2 for about 40 pesos or 20 for a single.
The seats are very comfortable at these theaters as well as some of the concession stands have butter dispensers where you help yourself for no extra charge.
Enjoy!
Yoga in Mazatlan
Classes are held in Centro, Golden Zone, and Indigo Studio. More Info here
