Category Archives: To Do in Mazatlán

Sunrise at El Faro/The Lighthouse

By now you know that we love to hike up the lighthouse. We do it at least a couple of times a week, and we so enjoy watching the changes in the flora, the fauna and the view depending on the time of year.

This time of year the days are getting shorter, so the sun is rising later and later. The time hasn’t yet “fallen back,” so we often begin our hike when it’s still fairly dark and get to watch the sun rise over the harbor.

I hope you enjoy this little slideshow. If you’re curious about the lighthouse hike, just “search” on this blog for the other articles which tell you more about it. Thanks for being here, and viva Mazatlán!

Update on Bicycling in Mazatlán

In June I wrote a post updating everyone in English about the planning for ciclovías/bike paths in town and the CicloNoches/night bike tours in this gorgeous port of ours.

I’m very happy to report that since that post, the city has joined so many other cities in Mexico and abroad, and has begun closing the southbound lanes of Avenida del Mar on Sunday mornings. Today was the second such Sunday.

Last week, opening week, we were joined by Governor Malova and Mayor Higuera, as can be seen in the video above.

The road is closed from Insurgentes to Monos Bichis, the Fishermen’s Monument. It gets closed about 8 am (though they’ve announced it’s from 6 am), and stays closed until about 10:30 or 11 am (though, again, it’s announced to stay closed till noon). Southbound traffic is routed to one lane, as is northbound traffic, both using the inland side of the Avenue. Thus, drivers are able to continue using the Avenida, and the bikers, skaters and skateboarders are safe in the oceanside lanes.

This is a wonderful chance to get out with the whole family, or with your friends and neighbors. Please take advantage of it! We definitely want to show the city how important this privilege is to us by having a good turnout. Hopefully this practice will continue long enough for citizens to learn about it and develop the habit of Sunday morning cycling, though we weren’t that lucky last time.

Something wonderful this morning was that police were loaning out, free of charge, 80 beautiful bicycles for people to use! Those wanting to borrow a bicycle were asked to leave their credenciál or identification card, in order to ensure they’d return the bike.

Regarding CicloNoches, they are now scheduled for the first Thursday of every month. September 6 will be the third such event. Meet in front of the Aquarium at 7:30 pm, for an 8:00 pm start. The plan this time is to ride down to the Escudo/the shield down in Olas Altas and back. It is a wonderful feeling pedaling the Avenida del Mar in the dark, looking out at the lights around the bay.

As in prior events, the road will not be closed for this event, but we should have a police escort and a wonderful turnout. We will be guided by a leader, and will be asked to stay only in the rightmost lane of the Avenida. You can see the rules here in the photo at the left. This is a group event, so participants are asked not to pass each other and not to go out into the left-hand lane, in order to protect everyone’s safety and enjoyment, and ensure that drivers can get by smoothly.

 

Primera CicloNoche Mazatlán/First Mazatlán Bicycle Night

180 bicyclists showed up this evening at 8:00 pm for the very first CicloNoche Mazatlán!

We pedaled only about seven kilometers, but oh was it gorgeous!

The event was organized by SEMARNAT—Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (Brenda Garcia) and CiclosUrbanos, who have been coordinating Cycle Nights in Culiacán since 2009.

Starting at the Aquarium, we pedaled south on Avenida del Mar to Belisario Dominguez, then turned up the road, around the block, and back down to Avenida del Mar. We were escorted by Mazatlán’s finest tránsitos, and we were instructed to stay in the right lane so that traffic could pass us easily.

Our route started with the sunset, and ended with the starlight. Along the way we were cheered on and joined by ever-more cyclists.

You’ll remember that a couple of years ago a group of active citizens organized a couple of months’ worth of Sunday morning closures of Avenida del Mar for bicycle riding.

The “United for Health” group was led by the very kind and energetic Dr. Angel Eduardo Olivera Sandoval, a local homeopath. Sunday morning street closures to traffic, so that families can walk and ride bikes, are common throughout Mexico and most of Latin America.

Here in Mazatlán we had good crowds turn out, but unfortunately the municipal government didn’t seem to support continuation of the activity.

Nor have we thus far seen positive outcomes from citizen-led efforts to build bike lanes here in our port, despite having extensive ciclovías planning for some time now.

The event this evening was held in conjunction with the International and National Congresses of Environmental Science, which has had events at the Mazatlán International Center and the Aquarium.

We were told that the first CicloNoche Culiacán only had 90 bicyclists show up (compared to the 180 who showed up here tonight), so there is obviously a passion for it here in Mazatlán. These days in Culiacán about 1600 people show up for the once-a-month CicloNoches.

It is our sincere hope that this terrific activity can take hold and gain a place in the hearts of Mazatlecos.

Bicycling promotes a cleaner environment, healthier bodies, enjoyment of the outdoors, time together with friends and family. It’s good for locals and out-of-town visitors.

Thank you to CiclosUrbanos, SEMARNAT, and all the organizers of bicycling events and programs in Mazatlán past, present and future!

Lets all turn out and show our support for bicycling! For our health and the health of our city!

 

Opening of the Hotel Jonathon

We’ve been watching it being built. Have gone in a couple of times to check out the progress. Was supposed to have opened in time for Carnavál last February.

But, hey, the Jonathan Hotelis now open, it’s been open for five days, and it’s beautiful!

Facing the Angela Peralta Theater, it has a view of our city that we haven’t yet been privy to; unless of course you own a 3-story home right in front of the opera house!

On this Thursday evening during graduation and end-of-the-school-year season, it was quite the exciting place to be!

The Hotel Jonathan, built with Korean-San Diego money from what I hear, is really gorgeous.

Very modern, though they kept the historic façade per Centro Histórico regulations.

We went at sunset this evening, and had a drink up on the rooftop bar as we waited for Danny to finish his painting classes at the Municipal Center for the Arts.

The setting is gorgeous, although you see the reality of our fair city right next door.

The food was good but not outstanding. That may of course improve as staff get accustomed to their roles. We ordered barbecued shrimp and crab-stuffed mushrooms. Danny later had clam chowder.

All our dishes were fine, just not remarkable. Presentation was nice.

The Jonathan Hotel would seem to be a beautiful addition to our local boutique hotel scene: well located, old-world yet modern, romantic yet sleek. The restaurant is on the ground floor and is gorgeous, with some nice Asian ink-brush paintings and floor-to-ceiling-windows onto the central courtyard.

A great place to wait for our kids to finish their classes. A great place for before or after the theater. A wonderful place to hear the Plazuela music without the crowds. Tonight the rooftop bar was ours and ours alone.

Let’s hope this venture endures! Good luck and god speed!

Update in July: The Hotel seems to have liked our photos. Check out the header on their web page. Would have been courteous to acknowledge this post and request use, but, glad it’s of use….

A Hike on a Foggy Morning/El Faro Dentro de la Niebla

I’ve told you before about the wonderful lighthouse we have here in Mazatlán. We hike it once or twice a week, and we so enjoy the families, young couples, exercise groups, and elderly people, too, who make the climb up one of the ways they stay healthy. It’s a gorgeous view, and a terrific group of young Mazatlecos has been working hard to keep the area clean and maintained. I’ve heard the lighthouse is owned by API, the port authority. If so, Mis Estimados Señores del API, sure would be a wonderful community service for you to invest a bit of money in making this a better tourist attraction and community gathering area….. It’s so beautiful, it wouldn’t cost much… Just an idea 🙂

Anyway, yesterday morning was pretty foggy here. As we made our way down the malecón toward the faro there were lots of oyster divers and panga fishermen out, despite the foggy conditions. We are so spoiled here with clear, sunny weather, that seeing a bit of fog once in a while seems so absolutely gorgeous!

We wondered as we approached the lighthouse hill if we would be able to see anything as we made our climb. It sure did seem to be heavy fog.

The harbor had more boats than usual, it seemed. We guessed that perhaps people had brought their boats out in preparation for Semana Santa.

As we started our climb it seemed we weren’t going to be able to see much of anything. It was pretty cool, sort of like walking in a spook house. In the photo at left, we SHOULD be seeing, or are used to seeing, all of Isla de la Piedra/Stone Island. Not today!

The cacti and vegetation, which are so gorgeous this time of year, were shrouded in veils of fog, making for a very mysterious feeling. There were way more hikers, bikers and runners on the trail than is normal, however. Again, we guessed that people are getting in a holiday mood.

As we reached the top of the lighthouse hill the fog had moved a bit. We couldn’t see much of anything of the city, but the teeny-top of the hill on Stone Island that I showed you above, much more of it was now visible. Kind of a nice change of pace to have changing scenery, when we’re spoiled with consistently perfect views…

Despite the fact that the view from the top was still foggy, the weather at the top was very clear and bright. I took a shot up, through a tree. You can see there was no fog whatsoever up high.

And one of the lighthouse’s many resident iguanas was more than happy to sun himself, more than ready for the R&R and hopefully increased sales that Semana Santa will bring for our local economy.