We set off on a walking tour of the area north of Mazatlan’s Marina and discovered there isn’t much aside from a series of beach resorts, each protected with a formidable fence and manned guard policing access to each vehicle entrance. We did discover a nice place for lunch and dinner just a quarter mile north of our resort called El Charro. It is very clean and modern with a Mexican rodeo theme. They have staff that speak at least a moderate amount of English, English menus, and accept credit cards.
We walked past a “supermarket” that was more like a hole in the wall convenience store, but there were no prices on anything, and they only took cash.
We did check out another resort because its restaurant La Palapa had decent Yelp reviews. It was a much larger and fancier resort than the one we had booked. It is called the Torres Mazatlán and is part of Vi Resorts. They had a much nicer pool and landscaping, as well as many more residential style units. The restaurant also seemed nice, featuring a steak night and other specials for each day of the week. It was farther from our resort and a bit more expensive than El Charro.
Janet returned to our hotel and headed for the poolside while Ben walked a little further south to check out another store and restaurant that was very close by. The store was very crowded and busy, as well as the restaurant. When Ben took pictures of the menu, he noticed that it looked almost exactly the same as El Charro’s menu. Well, it turns out that both are owned by the same company.
The Oxxo store was quite a contrast to the “Supermarket” we had seen earlier to the north. This place was clean, well lit and there were prices on every item and most importantly, they accepted credit cards. So Ben bought some bottled water, beer and snacks. The beer was under $1.25 US per can in six packs, so about a third of the price at the hotel bar.
When we got back to our resort, Mark and Erin were looking forward to lunch. Mark had gone diving in the morning and encountered schools of yellow tailed jacks right in front of our resort, but visibility was less than 4’ so he only saw them because he ran into a school.
We walked back to El Charro with Mark and Erin and had a much better meal and service than we had last night at our resort’s restaurant.
After lunch, we walked south to the Mazatlán Marina, or at least where it should be on Google Maps, but there was nothing recognizable as a marina- just condos and resorts behind high walls and construction zones.
After we got back the Park Royal Resort, it was pool time. It was interesting to watch flocks of pelicans circling and diving into the water just past the breaking surf for their dinners.
It was also nice that they had a mariachi band on the beach in the late afternoon.
Ben got out his rod and fished for an hour before sunset, during which the tide was still coming in. Aside from one bite that got off, there wasn’t much action. However, knowing where the rocks were made a big difference in not loosing any more tackle in the surf. There was a dense bank of clouds on the horizon which dissipated the sun set.
We headed back to the El Charro for dinner and the same waitstaff were working. They recognized us but advised us that because they only had two working in the kitchen that it would be an hour and 20 minutes before our food could be served. Since we had nothing better to do, we went to their upstairs dining loft which had some comfortable booths including an empty corner booth that was clean and made ourselves comfortable. The waiter took our orders and brought out beer, chips, green sauce, mild salsa, and a big tray of peanuts to keep us busy. It was very pleasant inside where they had mariachi music playing on the speakers and an interesting Mexican Rodeo TV channel on the big screen TV’s. It was fascinating to watch the many different roping and riding styles and competitions. It was also interesting to see TV commercials for horse shampoo and conditioner, and UTV’s. Needless to say, we were thoroughly entertained for that hour and 20 minutes. Our food seemed to come out right away and was both hot (Janet’s Mexican Surf and Turf) and cold (Ben’s shrimp ceviche).
The portions were generous and the food was delicious. We would have to whole heartedly recommend this place for anyone stranded north of the Mazatlan Marina.
We got things back into the suitcases and ready for check out tomorrow when we move to the Royal Villas Resort, which is in the hear of the tourist Golden Zone. There are many more shops and restaurants there, as well as a 13 mile long waterfront walk called the Malecon connecting old and new Mazatlan. That should keep us busy after the eclipse one Monday. We hope to get to the Royal Villas before 10am so we can preview the location of the sun and strategize where we will be best able to observe the eclipse from their property.
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