Category Archives: Day Trips from Mazatlán

Deer Dances on March 21st This Year

Deer Dances in Las Labradas on the Spring EquinoxThe spring equinox deer dances at UNESCO World Heritage site Las Labradas will be held on Thursday 21 March, 2013. Normally dances start at noon.

You do not want to miss this exciting event! View photos, movie clips and a report about this event. The link-through also provides directions. Please contact Silvia Michel at SECTUR, 981-8883. She tells me that for 70 pesos the women in the village of Chicayota, at the entrance to Las Labradas, will serve you fresh tortillas hot off the comal, frijoles guisados en leña, goat cheese, ballusa, fish and other main dishes. Please support these terrific women who work so hard to support their local economy! Silvia tells me that this year there will not be a SECTUR bus, but that individual tour companies will have day trips to the event.

Mezcaltitán: 3 Hours South of Mazatlán

island Aztlan

Mezcaltitán is a small manmade island town that is the ancestral home of the Mexican people. Archeological evidence shows it may be the legendary island of Aztlán, from where the Aztecs (the Mexica) departed in 1091 AD on their long journey to settle Tenochtitlán in the Valley of Mexico.

Called the “Mexican Venice,” Mezcaltitán did remind us of Italy. Perhaps more of Isola dei Pescatori on Lago Maggiore than of Venezia, but definitely worth the visit. It’s streets often flood in September; its houses, streets and electric transformers are built and located accordingly. The island is very pedestrian-friendly as there are no cars, only a very few four-wheelers. It is a gorgeous Pueblo Mágico: beautiful old homes and buildings, a charming church and plaza, an informative history museum, handicrafts, excellent seafood, friendly people, serene views and wildlife all around.

Below are some of the photos we took during our day on Mezcaltitán; click on any photo to enlarge it or view a slideshow.

Arriving by boat to Mezcaltitán
The island’s official greeters
Charming church steeple
Note the high curbs due to flooding
Town plaza
View of steeple through the history museum’s arches
The history museum on the town square
This lady makes barcinas of dried shrimp
Watermelon, anyone?
Pull up a wheelbarrow and sit down and join us…
Transformers are high up away from potential flooding.
Entrance to the restaurant where we ate.
Kid with roller blades on the dock
Note the street name

We very much enjoyed our visit and would highly encourage you to make the trip. You could wake up early in Mazatlán and make this a day trip, with a nice lunch and walk around Mezcaltitán. Or, you could spend the night and the following morning go out on a nearby birding adventure. Either way, very nice day trip or weekend getaway from our gorgeous home of Mazatlán.

Feast Days are June 28-29, Feasts of Saints Peter and Paul. While we were not there during the festival, I would love to attend. We’re told that it opens the shrimping season. There is a boat regatta with competing teams carrying statues of Saints Peter or Paul, and locals dress up in feathered headdresses and jaguar robes.

Directions from Mazatlán:
Drive 136 miles (219 km) south on Highway 15 toward Tepic. Exit four miles south of Chilapa at a signed turnoff for Mezcaltitán by a gas station. The road is initially paved but changes to gravel, finally arriving at embarcadero La Ticha after 28 miles (45 km).

Mexcaltitán is also accessible via a short boat ride from the dock in La Batanza, 25 miles (32 km) northwest of Santiago de Ixcuintla. Santiago Ixcuintla can be reached from Highway 15; exit at the Santiago Ixcuintla turnoff 38 miles (60 km) north of Tepic. About five miles (8 km) after the turnoff, you reach Santiago.Go through town on the main street, 20 de Noviembre, which runs by the central plaza and becomes the main westbound road out of town. Continue another five miles (8 km) to the signed Mexcaltitán turnoff, where you head right. About 15 miles (24 km) after the turnoff you reach the embarcadero for Mexcaltitán.

UNBELIEVABLE Bird Watching in Singayta

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After Christmas this year we decided to head south of Mazatlán a few hours by car, to check out an area we had yet to visit — the small coastal towns of Nayarit, south of Teacapán and north of Puerto Vallarta.

SLIDESHOW OF SOME OF MY FAVORITE PHOTOS FROM OUR MORNING TOUR:

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One of the highlights of the trip was a tour by lancha or small boat to Singayta, a bird sanctuary that is home to over 350 species. We were told that 80% of the migratory birds of the Pacific coast visit this area. We are spoiled by the daily opportunity to see loads of water birds right here in Mazatlán, so we wondered whether it would be worth waking up at 6:30 in the morning on our holiday. It was.

SLIDESHOW OF ROSEATE SPOONBILLS:

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Our guide told us that the roseate spoonbills were nesting, and that we would have opportunity to see their nests and their babies. That’s what convinced us to take the trip. And we did see many, many roseate spoonbills.

SLIDESHOW OF PARENTS FEEDING THEIR YOUNG:

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We especially enjoyed watching those spoonbills feed their young (slideshow above). The babies were larger than we expected, already a couple of months old, though many of them hadn’t yet gotten their pink color. Our guide said the height of the spoonbill nesting season is October through December.

SLIDESHOW OF VARIOUS BIRDS WE SAW:

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As we boated up the river we saw so many birds of so many types. Our guide told us what all of them were, but I am no birder and it was hard to keep track. We saw eagles, storks, cranes, ibises, herons, nightjars, rails, egrets, cormorants, northern potoos and Jesus birds, among many others.

SLIDESHOW OF SOME EAGLES:

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Our guide was keen to make sure we saw the variety of eagles that we encountered. I suppose it was much easier for us to notice the larger birds, so was glad he pointed out so much.

SLIDESHOW OF THE GORGEOUS SCENERY:

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The area is gorgeous — full of mangrove swamps, estuaries, rivers and other wetlands, along the lines of Agua Verde or Teacapán, much as Mazatlán used to be. We saw a great variety of trees, flowers, lilies and other plant life.

SLIDESHOW OF THE FLOCKS OF BIRDS ON THE ISLANDS:

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As we approached the actual bird sanctuary, we were amazed at what we saw in the distance. Floating islands of green that were COMPLETELY FILLED with large nests and more birds than I’ve ever seen in my life! We felt like we were in a Hitchcock movie! I can also assure you that the smell won’t be bottled for perfume anytime soon! As we approached the nesting area our guide cut the motor and paddled us closer.

SLIDESHOW OF THE NESTS:

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In the slideshow above you can see some of the mature birds as well as their young, and you can get an idea just how many nests each little floating island contained. What a pleasure! Many of the parents were busy feeding their kids, as you can see, and many of the young birds are a different color than their parents (I assume they grow into their colors).

SLIDESHOW OF SOME CAYMAN:

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We also saw a lot of turtles and cayman. Many of the cayman were out sunning, and several of them seemed to want to pose for my camera.

Singayta is a 90 minute boat ride north of San Blas, Nayarit. San Blas is three and a half hours south of Mazatlán, just this side of Tepic on the coast. We took the lancha that leaves from the far side of the river from San Blas — over the bridge from town. The boat and driver/guide cost us 700 pesos, and we could have taken eight passengers for that price. Our guide was very knowledgable about the birds as well as the flora and fauna of the area, as well as very attentive to our needs and desires. The area can alternatively be reached overland via driving and hiking.

We definitely encourage you to make the trip! Not a far drive at all from Mazatlán, and this would make for a terrific overnight or weekend.

Could You Cook Your Holiday Dinner Here?

foodWe recently had the very good pleasure of traveling to our friend’s hometown, San Ignacio, Sinaloa. It’s just over an hour from Mazatlán. On the way we stopped for one of the best breakfasts I’ve had in a long, long time. The meal was at Cuata’s, just south of San Ignacio. I had stewed ribs with nopales, and Greg had carne asada/grilled beef. It was accompanied by the most marvelous queso fresco — panela cheese, and the mooooooosssst glorious homemade blue corn tortillas ever!

Now, surely this wonderful meal, made with items from a stew pot, griddle, and grill, came out of a well stocked and well staffed kitchen. Indeed it did, though it was a kitchen that many chefs might find challenging to work in. More power to the cook! Cuata’s kitchen, without gas, electricity or running fresh water, was a Christmas reminder to me that sometimes simple is best!

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To keep Cuata company as she cooks, there are several pet pericos.

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Heartiest of heartfelt holiday wishes to all our readers. I am grateful for good friends, beloved family, open-air awesome restaurants like Cuata’s, the good health to be able to enjoy food like she serves, and the ability to share a bit of our lives with you. Thank you for being here with us!

Zip Lining in Mazatlán / Tirolesa

2 Danny outWe had a terrific time driving up to La Noria for a day trip. The adrenaline highlight was zip lining at Huana Coa. We are fortunate here in Mazatlán to have a couple of great options for zip lining, and this is one of them.

Have you ever zip lined? Remember what it feels like? If you haven’t, do you wonder what it’s like? Here’s video that I took while riding the line they call “Shotgun.” Surrounded by trees, it almost felt like I was carving my own tunnel. So very much fun!

La Noria is about a 45 minute drive up into the Sierras. It is gorgeous up there: trees and mountains as far as the eye can see.

5 nice view

Huana Coa was built six years ago. They have nine lines and twelve platforms, plus rappelling in addition to the zip lining. There is also four-wheeling and horseback riding up here, plus of course the gorgeous town of La Noria and the tequila distillery, Vinata Los Osuna, which I’ll write about separately later.

The video below is what Greg took on an earlier line, a wide open one. It’ll give you an idea of the contrast among the nine lines here at Huana Coa.

equipment

Their equipment is state of the art, mostly German-made Petzl. All equipment was very well maintained. Huana Coa uses two lines one above the other and double pulleys, so even should one fail or turn sideways, which is highly unlikely, you still have backup. There was not a second that I wondered about safety. The staff had us tied to a line every moment we were there, tying us off to a stationary line before unhooking our harness from the zip line.

Below are two videos of our son, one of him leaving a platform, and one of him coming in. This is a terrific family activity. He had a blast. Though of course, he’s 17, so he’s too cool to show too much enthusiasm when he’s with his parents.

Just in case you start thinking this is a young person activity, or one for thin people only, I’ll show some video of me coming in, whooping and hollering the whole way because it was just so much fun. They told us they’ve had 80+ year olds on the zip lines who fully enjoyed themselves. The lines themselves are fairly easy. Getting to the lines, however, requires an uphill climb, and there are stairs to several of the platforms. It does, therefore, require mobility.

safety demoJohnathan, one of the staff, gave us safety instructions before we headed out, and again once we arrived at the first platform. All the staff were bilingual and amazingly helpful and fun loving.

8 chanclaStaff members took time to help all of us suit up and get comfortable with our harnesses. They were so kind that they even taped on a woman’s flip flops so she wouldn’t lose them while she was zip lining!

secure platformAll of the platforms were very well made, and while we were on them we were always securely tethered. Staff hook you up for each line, ask if you are ready to go, and then push you off when you are ready. It was soooooo, oh so much fun!

carrying waterI was quite taken with how the crew transported water for us from one station to another. Fairly effective, wouldn’t you say?

familyIf you have family, family visits, or you just need some fun, adrenaline-raising activity, I definitely recommend zip lining!

As we went through the course today, the staff kept telling us they had a surprise for us at the end. Danny knew, because he has learned how to rappel. He saw the little gizmo on our belts, and guessed that at the end we would be rappelling. What they did was have us jump out, off the final platform, and then free fall (with a gentle pre-ground slowing) to the ground. It was very, very cool. Here’s video of Greg doing his dismount.