I picked Mazatlán because it was the cheapest airfare. I was considering Puerto Vallarta, or Cancun, but my cheapness won out. I too Alaska Airlines, on the same kind of plane that had that big crash off the coast near LA back in 2000 or thereabouts. I figured they were probably doing more maintenance now since they had a bit of a PR problem to overcome. The plane ran like a dream, but there were several delays. I can't really recommend Alaska airlines. This is my way of getting back at them for making me WAIT... don't they know I am IMPATIENT!!!! INSTANT GRATIFICATION ISN'T FAST ENOUGH!!
The flight itself was okay. Across the aisle from me was a group of women about my age, drinking heavily. HEAVILY. Getting into the 'festive' spirit, right away. I thought to myself... ah, as a last resort, I can always try to find this group. ONE of them will be drunk enough to where I look good... More about that later...
My first impression of Mazatlán was as we were coming in for a landing. It wasn't JUNGLE! It was kind of dry actually. Palm trees, yeah, but lots of brown grassland and such, not a lot of trees really. I guess I was expecting something more 'lush.' It was the dry season, I have to tell you, but I was still surprised.
The airport was nothing special, rather small though. Not any bigger than the Missoula Montana airport, all in all. I was surprised, but what the hey! I got my bag off the conveyor and headed for the customs line. I was first, and thought... great! They had me push a button to see if they would inspect my bags, and... I WON!!! Jesus! The customs girl wasn't too interested. Most international smugglers dress a hell of a lot better than I do. She gave my crap a short once-over and waved me through.
I went through the door, and wasn't quite sure what to do. I knew how to get a ride into town, thanks to my tour book, but I didn't have a hotel reservation and it was 'Carnaval' week in Mazatlán. I found a little kiosk and bought a 50 peso phone card (5$ US) and tried calling a few hotels. I had trouble even getting an answer, and after I finally did, nobody spoke English... This was an OMEN, friends. I decided to just take the 'colectivo' into town. These are small busses that give you a decent price to your hotel room from the airport. I had a few hotels in mind, but I thought I would just get in the general area of the hotels, and try to improvise.
The drunk tourist women were loud and obnoxious right off the bat. This was just the first of many times I would be ashamed to be an American tourist. I was wedged in the back row of the 'colectivo' between a couple of senior citizens. Leg room was ... well, inadequate is a major understatement. But what the hell, off we went. The actual city of Mazatlán is about 15 km/10 miles from the airport. The local tourist board or Chamber of Commerce should do something about that ride into town, honestly. You go past some pretty depressing 'colonias,' as they call their slums. What's worse than that, though, is the smell of (I found out later) several animal feed plants where they convert FISH HEADS into meal for livestock. A FRESH fish-head is bad enough, but you can imagine the smell of rotting ones, eh?
As you get closer to the town itself, things slowly got better. We drove the back way up to the tourist zone, which is on the far side of town away from the airport. The 'back way' was still through a busy part of town, though. I don't know that they NEED it, but Mexicans seem to be without zoning regulations. There is no such thing as a residential area (except those for tourists only). There's an upside to this, since you can probably find a shop that sells empanadas or water on the same block no matter where you are. On the other hand... makes for a kinda noisy life everywhere.
SO OK... I follow this old couple to this hotel I had read about in the Lonely Planet... Hotel Belmar... 'fading glory' they said, not to mention cheap prices... WELL... the glory was pretty faded alright. Though in their defense I have to say I probably got the last (and least well repaired) room they have left. They aren't heavy into maintenance in Maz. If it breaks, well, maybe we fix it, maybe we don't... It turned out that every trip to the bathroom was a trip through a wading pool (the water was dripping from the bathroom upstairs, no less). THEN, the next day, they double their prices because it's CARNIVAL!!! So I am OUTTA there, and off to the Hotel Central, which lived up to it's name... BOY was it Central, I was soon to find out.
So this is Thursday now, and I am slowly getting used to the ambiance. Back in California, where I come from, neighborhoods that are kinda falling apart with graffiti on them are scary, the territory of the Mexican gangs. But here, that's just home, and safe as can be. I walked around all times of day and night and never felt afraid, EXCEPT.... LET ME WARN YA! NEVER take your eyes off the sidewalk in Mazatlán, NEVER. They have the most uneven sidewalks I have ever seen. If you can go for 30 paces and not trip with your eyes closed, they make you President of Mexico.
So it's STILL Thursday, and it's the first night of Carnival. I wander around, looking for the action, and there isn't much, really. I wander into a bar near Plaza Machado (my favorite plaza) and there's this bunch of Mexican teenagers doing DOORS songs. They weren't very polished but it was fun. The crowd thinned and I decided to go back to the hotel and get some rest. Good move, it turned out.
Next day was the REAL start of Carnival, I found out.
What we have here is the 'Infantil' parade, the contest for the Child Queen of the Carnival.
Little girls dressed up like they are going to the prom, makeup, and probably pantyhose
though I didn't ask. There was, of course, an adult queen too. But I didn't see the parade.
When the parade was done, they all went into that green building on the left, which is actually
the 'Mother Theresa of Calcutta' school. They had some ceremonies inside there, but since I
had not YET taken my 3 full weeks of Spanish study, I didn't understand what was going on.