Going beyond the resort in Mazatlán

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/03/2019 (2409 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This trip to Mexico was our first-ever sun destination holiday that wasn’t at an all-inclusive property. We also didn’t want to book a home or condo for only one week, and we were determined to find a room located on the beach with a kitchenette.

Easier said than done.

My search took me to Mazatlán, where my wife and I took our first trip together 25 years ago. The reviews on Las Flores Beach Resort, rated as four stars in Mexico but only three in Canada, were varied. However, we liked what we saw online from a location perspective. It was near the downtown boardwalk area, and seemed to have a big wide beach on its doorstep to the ocean.

Even as we were checking in at Las Flores, we were meeting people, including other Manitobans, who had been coming back to stay there over multiple years, often for months at a time.

We contacted friends who had purchased a home near the trendy arts district, who would help show us a Mazatlán we had not experienced in our earlier visit.

Knowing we were going to dine out often, it seemed silly to buy groceries for a one-week stay. However, we made many of our breakfasts, and even had a couple of lunches in our little mini-suite.

No one should miss the experience of dining out in Mazatlán. There is every kind of restaurant you could want. Regardless of where we ate, the service was excellent and the price was right. For our evening meals, I don’t think we ever paid more than $30 per person, including beverages.

Transportation is also inexpensive. For less than $10, we could go to restaurants and entertainment venues in most areas of the city. And you could choose the unique open-air golf cart-type taxis without having to go through a lot of the haggling you often find in other areas.

Plaza Machado is a large square in the heart of the Centro district of Mazatlán. On weekends, it is packed with both locals and tourists choosing to dine in the restaurants bordering the edge of the plaza — which are interspersed by a few interesting shops, all equally full. Street entertainment pops up every 15 minutes or so, and the plaza keeps getting more crowded as the evening wears on.

When we returned on a weeknight for another meal, the quiet was almost a shock to the system. While it was still busy, a more relaxed atmosphere motivated us to stretch out our time at an outdoor patio restaurant, enjoying our meal in a decidedly more subdued manner.

Mazatlán sells itself as the shrimp capital of the world, so it is not surprising that in most restaurants, different presentations of these ­delicacies are featured.

Just off the plaza, along an even quieter street, we found Hector’s Bistro, located in a historic building from the 1890s, one of many in the area. The menu was not like that of the other restaurants in the city. Hector Peniche, the chef and owner, may be one of the most outgoing chefs you will meet. He stops to talk with most of his customers.

We were glad he talked with us because, while our meals were exceptional, his story was equally interesting.

Raised in this Mazatlán area, he started travelling early. While working in the hospitality industry in South America, he discovered his passion for cooking and decided to become a chef. Back in Mexico, he worked in a Four Seasons property and was later transferred to London, England.

He honed his skills at the Four Seasons and other fine-dining restaurants in England, met and married his British wife, and decided to return home to start a business. He and a partner restored their location, and Peniche has never looked back.

While Peniche’s building is interesting, Mazatlán, with help from the federal government, has restored many of the colourful colonial-style buildings built in the 1800s.

Mazatlán has an excellent symphony, a vibrant arts community and various types of bands producing great music.

We discovered that by accident when friends suggest we go to the blues night at the La Bohemia Bar. The music was hot and, as it turned out, our friends knew the musicians. Sometimes you can go far away and still find home.

Keyboard player Rob Lamonica is from California. His musician buddy, “Nacho,” is Mexican. Every summer, including this one, you can find them entertaining regularly at the Wigwam in Clear Lake, Man.

For us, the move away from the all-inclusive option was a good one. It motivated us to find what the real Mazatlán was like, and we loved it.

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pradinukr@shaw.ca