Mazatlan 5: Cliffdiving and El Centro -Photos Work now!

 
THURSDAY CLIFFDIVER 
 


Thursday we had a mellow day, starting with room service. Again with the magical mystery cups.





Everyone insisted that we see the cliff diver. It didn't sound that amazing, but I'm not a lie-by-the-pool kind of traveler, so we headed over. It wasn't a cliff. It was a ruin, wayyyy too close to the beach. The same family dives here. If you dive when the waves are out, you will probably die. There were rocks submerged just below the water. You have to time it just right so the waves are in and the water is deep enough. It made it much scarier than your average cliff diver.







Plus there is an intense proximity. Like someone walking the high wire in the Big Top isn't impressive, but if someone walked across your clothesline you'd be pretty damn impressed. I think we gave him 20 bucks if I remember correctly, then another five or ten as a tip for letting me tape him.

I'm glad he didn't die on my 20 bucks because that would make me responsible. I’d rather be part of a crowd tipping him. Like Shirley Jackson's The Lottery or firing squad, no one person has to carry the burden of culpability.





We ate dinner at Playa Bruja's Mr Lionoso. I didn't realize they had 2 for 1 margaritas. Their ceviche not as good as at El Memin and the lobster was overcooked.





But the giant cheese-stuffed bacon-wrapped shrimp were out of this world.



The atmosphere was charmingly tropical in a Tiki Room sort of way. A panflute player serenaded us with what sounded like early Beegees, and I would swear one song was The Sultans of Swing.

 
  
 

 
 
FRIDAY EL CENTRO
 


We went down to El Centro, the historic area of Mazatlan. First I wanted to try to photograph the cathedral. Traffic was bad, and worsened by a bizarre little marketing parade. This character, seen all over town, appears to be your friendly neighborhood pharmacist.





So by the time we hit the cathedral it was golden hour, which was nice for those photos, but it made the rest of our sight-seeing a race against the sun.







Luckily, once my taxi driver knew what I wanted, he zoomed around on a mission, hitting every old, decrepit building in town. He knew just what to go for, New Orleans style grande dames with crumbling facades and broken windows.











The driver overestimated my Spanish and started giving a very indepth tour. I did catch something about a hospital, that’s about it.

















Then the cabbie said, “I have a friend. He is Cuban. He likes Christmas. I thought, “What does that have to do with anything?" and then we pulled up here. Score. I love this cabbie! He had the exact same streak of weird that I did.











Then we hit the Mercado Municipal, which is famous for upsetting tourists. Count me in! Pigs look very happy, like they get them drunk and slowly sing them to sleep as the gently rock them to death. Cows, however, do not go gently into this good night. A skinned, bloody cow head with protruding eyeballs definitely made me look away. I just could not photograph that. No way. Be grateful.







By now we were a bit peckish and I started checking out the stands. I thought these were gooseberries. What were they? If I don’t know what it is, I have to eat it. I chose the ones not covered with salt, lime and chile. I thought that meant they were unspiced - not intense. I was wrong. What I popped in my mouth was the most sour and salty thing I have ever experienced -- an explosion of tartness. Akkkkkkk!!! I tried to make Bob eat one and he was like, "**** No” It had 2 pits in it. I still don’t know what it is.



In the Mercado we were looking for old CDs and I swear to god, a rat as big as a chihuaha rushed along the edge of the wall. All I said was, “Woah” and the lady asked, “Raton?” She knew. I mean, that was one impressive rat. Later a child freaked out so I looked over and she had spotted the king of roaches. Not as big as the one I saw parading down Bourbon street once, but definitely bigger than downtown LA roaches.











It seemed like a good time to leave, so we took a little golf cart taxi over to Plazuela Machado. Pedro y Lola was the obvious choice. You need a reservation for the patio, but inside the restaurant it is virtually empty. The only thing you miss out on is balloon hats and pan flute music.





The deep fried cheese with apricot sauce was heavenly



We had the Pedro Infante, a pork dish from Pedro's family recipe. It was exquisite, with potatoes and peppers, served in a molcajete that made it appear much more generous than it actually was.



They are known for their banana cream pie, that was rich and caramelized. No matter what I said they would not give up the secret.



I got a little apricot on my shirt. There was a ladies room attendant and when she saw my predicament she totally took over. She grabbed 2 paper towels and started scrubbing the hell out of my shirt as if she were my mother. Within minutes, the stain was gone and my shirt was relatively dry. Now that’s service. I didn’t have my purse, so I ran out and ran back to tip her 500 pesos.

Pedro & Lola. This restaurant honors the memories of Pedro Infante and Lola Beltran. Pedro & Lola is in Old Mazatlan at the corner of Carnaval and Constitucion, and it is the cornerstone of the refurbished Plaza Machado, a destination of and by itself. The Angela Peralta Theater is practically adjacent to the restaurant. Pedro & Lola offers sidewalk tables shaded by trees, open archways into the restaurant, paintings by local artists, live music most evenings, and an interesting menu featuring Mexican and international cuisine. The streets surrounding Plaza Machado are closed to traffic in the evening, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Tables and chairs from Pedro & Loa, and surrounding restaurants, are on the sidewalk, in the street, and occasionally spilling into the Plaza. Don't miss it. Pedro & Loa is open daily from 5:45 pm to 1 am.

Sorry but the pics turned out with the dreaded red X

That's a darn shame Elise ... I always enjoy your adventures and seeing the sights with you.

ET
  I tried from my end to open the photos...With the exception of the one of the red and yellow coconut stuff All I get are the red-x's also.

Fine report. If you can solve the photo puzzle, it will be a masterpiece!

EliseT,

This is odd. I went in to your message to quote it and copied out one of your referenced photos and changed the BBCode tags to img instead of image and it shows up here.

What is even odder is I now see the first three photos that I copied the url and pasted into another tab to view as a separate page. The image tag should also work as is. Anyone else see the first three photos starting with the diver climbing out of the water?

Davydd


EliseT,

This is odd. I went in to your message to quote it and copied out one of your referenced photos and changed the BBCode tags to img instead of image and it shows up here.

Odder still, on edit here, the photos disappeared again.

Great report.Wish I could see the photos.

sorrry. its coming upon mine.

Ill try aquick fix with smallpicsand if not,Illhave touploadallthe picsontoroadfood for the right format

Let me know if the little pics work, because i see them.

thanks

I have blue xs if that's helpful at all--the only one I'm getting are the blue and red and pink coconut puffs or whatever those are.

Nancypalooza


I have blue xs if that's helpful at all--the only one I'm getting are the blue and red and pink coconut puffs or whatever those are.

Ditto!

Bingo!  Whatever you just did worked!

aghhhhhhhh ok Ill spend the rest of the day uploading pics.iwashping toshortcut that.checkitout tomorrow, thanks for your patience.

i uploaded the coconut candy in a different format.  Ill have todo them all that way.

ohhhhhhhhhhhhh good the picsare tiny but it saves so much work.

Beautiful report, sugar.  I want one of those stuffed shrimp too!

Another great tour with the Devine Ms. T. !  I love that the cabbie figured you out and brought you to the Cuban's place.

The pix are about 3.5" here.

Elise-you have the most awesome trips and experiences.Your attention to detail is great, and the food you have eaten, and sites you have seen, are incredible.Would love to travel with you!!!

ann ..where an when an who's paying????

Thaks for fixing the pics, they are great!

Pics are fixed. Sensational. My wife Trudy, who has been there, says you captured the essence of Mazatlan.

Elise-you seem to pick the best places-and maybe our stimulus checks will foot the bill..

1. Stimulus checks - are they really coming? Because I need them to foot the New orleans festival trip.

2. How I picked mazatlan was I got really drunk at a beer-tasting benefit and bid on the week time-share and accidentally won it.

3. Thanks to whoever fixed my language - I usually edit out the cussing and half the non-food pics before posting here, but I did a quickie copy and paste because of the pics. Hope it didn't offend anyone before it was fixed.

Great picture story Elise.... I always love your reports because I never have to read the words  your pics tell the story. I cant wait for you to visit  San Miguel de Allende  ...... Frank C

Excelente!  Great as always.  What a colorful report in all ways.

I really appreciate the architectural photos.


< Thanks for passing up on the cow head photo op >

     My wife and I were in Mazatlan in mid- January and the food is soooo fantastic there, everywhere we ate was good.  We were also at Pedro y Lola for a fantastic meal on the sidewalk.  Be sure to get the Garlic Mushrooms.  Robyn had a shrimp dish flavored with Grand Marnier and orange juice and served on charred orange 1/2s.
     Machado Fish Tacos, right across the plaza from Pedro and Lola, was also so good we ate there twice.  Fish Crepes, Tortilla Soup, Seafood Soup and a Mahi Mahi served house-style were all delicious.
     Another place we liked was Gus y Gus.  Robyn says the Shrimp Scampi was in her top three dishes of her life, not really scampi as we know it, more of a sour cream-chihuahua cheese sauce.  I had Marlin Tacos which were excellent.
      Panchos was another good place, right on the water.  Robyn had Shrimpburger (she's nuts about the shrimpburger,) and I had a Carne Asada steak (long thin skirt steak.  Both were excellent, and nice view of the beach.