Mazatlán is a city with much to do, whether you're here during the slow summer months, or the faster-paced autumn and winter months. There are plenty of city guides and online travel sites that describe all there is in Maz and the surrounding area, but here are some of the excursions we made this past summer as we waited out hurricane season (and survived that engine rebuild):
Would you like to see pre-Spanish-contact artifacts from Mazatlán and the Sinaloa region, dated between 750 A.D. and 1200 A.D.? Then you'd enjoy visiting Maz's Museum of Archaeology down in the old city center, that has a very exciting collection of pottery artifacts, like these. The gentleman over on the upper right, with the labret and the teeth filed down into points, depicts a hunchback; hunchbacks reputedly brought good luck to tribal leaders, so had some influence in the community. The pointy teeth — I don't know; must have been a tough-guy thing. Considering the holes and grooves on the other figurines, I'm guessing they wore earrings, necklaces and whatnot back in the day.
You might also consider negotiating a tour around the sights of Maz with a pulmonia driver. Many of them are well experienced with showing people around the high points of the town,
and most of them speak English much better than you speak Spanish. For around 800 pesos, plus or minus, they'll be happy to spend 6 hours or so with a party of four. We had occasion to do exactly this in October, the kind of tour we otherwise would have never thought of, when the parents of a very good cruising friend arrived in town on a cruise ship with just a half day to spare before cruising on. It was a delightful day and I'd recommend it to anyone. (George, thank you so much for originally suggesting this to us!)
We regularly shop for groceries at the old Central Market. Most tourists only walk through the downstairs stalls, shopping or just gawking at the pork and meat products. As fun as that is, you could always extend your visit and walk upstairs for lunch at one of the restaurants there. We aim for the upstairs restaurant that's situated on the corner of Juarez and Ocampo, the market's more-or-less northwest corner. I'd recommend an appetizer, the coctel camarones en caldo, which is about 6 ounces of Maz's shrimp in a cool tomato-based broth. A full meal of clean eating for 40 pesos – that's 3 bucks, US.
If you have buddies who have cars (thanks again, George and Jackie!), or are willing to take a van tour out of town, you might want to visit the old 16th-century Spanish Colonial mining town of Copala. I'm talking, Sierra Madre foothills, cooler temperatures than Maz, narrow cobblestorne streets, at least one excellent restaurant featuring a killer coconut cream pie, and a fortresslike stone church that dates from about 1595, give or take.
Maz's Angela Peralta Theater has just started a new season of events. By the time you read this we will have seen a Taiko drum performance there. Given the quality of everything else we've seen at the Peralta, I'm sure the Taiko drums will have been awesome.
Maz is city that has a lot to choose from. Your time here will be well spent, whether you're here for a half day, a week, or longer. Come see!
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