Mexico – Conclusion

(By Jim)

So should I do something trite and end this series with quotes from the lyrics of James Taylor's song Mexico? Nah. But I did think about it, and I've got Jimmy Buffett's version on my MP3 player right now.

The rest of the trip was uneventful as we steamed the 1,100 miles back up to San Diego. We already talked about the cruise part of the trip, so no more really needs to be said of that. No one had to be medevac-ed off the ship (unlike this week). I spent a lot of time reading on the sofa or on our balcony, having a cigar and a drink on the deck, or just watching TV.

As the guide José said, Mexico is a country of contrasts. You have million-dollar homes just south of Puerto Vallarta, the envy of any US city, not far from tin-roof shacks with dirt floors. You have your time-share salesmen, your folks hustling to put an iguana on your neck for pictures and tips (sometimes uninvited – fortunately, Barbara isn't squeamish about reptiles.) But then get out of the tourist zones, into the central market, or a couple of blocks off of the main drag and you'll see things change.

If you're only coming for the climate and don't care about connecting with where you are, then take the cruise. But if you want to do things differently than you do them at home, then skip the ship and instead look into flying in and renting an apartment for a week. Preferably in the Centro, with the cultural attractions, but even in the tourist zones, as long as you go outside these areas to the market to see what local people eat and how they live.

We're going back sometime, and hopefully sooner than later. I'd like to give Cabo another try, because I don't think we had figured out the get the hell away from the tourist areas strategy completely there. Maybe next time we'd stay in San Jose del Cabo. Or go further up Baja California to Loreto or La Paz, and do some sea kayaking in the Sea of Cortez. But before that we'll go back to Mazatlán or Puerto Vallarta, rent a place in downtown, and see what new things we can find when we have an entire week to explore.

Mexico is still there, peeking around the corner, smiling at you. All you have to do is go around the corner and find it.

Puerto Vallarta

(By Jim)

Puerto Vallarta
Our port day in Puerto Vallarta was the longest time we would spend in one port, from 8 AM to 10 PM. We figured that we'd take a tour, then head back into downtown where we could explore on our own.

The ship docked on time, and from our balcony we could see the friendly glow of the Wal-Mart across the street. If I were spending multiple weeks onboard in a back-to-back-to-back itinerary, then reprovisioning at Del Wally Mundo would be more important. As it is, though, it was just a reminder that sometimes you can't get away from home for long, even if you are 1,100 miles southeast of San Diego.

But, there was another scene I didn't expect. What's this little critter? (A three week old baby burro).

Barbara got to hold the burrito, but we didn't get a pic as they were only letting the ship's photographer take pictures (and $5 US wouldn't talk). The picture they took was awful.

At 10 AM, we boarded buses for our tour into the city, then out to the Tequila hacienda for lunch and a demonstration. Our first stop was a strip mall in the hotel zone where we could shop for silver and jewelry, I'm sure with a good bonus for our guide and driver. There was, however, a liquor store at the end of the strip. The owner, a Canadian, was passionate about tequila and willing to talk your ear off about it. A nice guy, he gave me a couple of samples, and I bought a couple of miniatures to bring home. Barbara wandered off to shop while I talked tequila.

After this, we went into town. Our guide José led us around the Centro/Downtown area.

We toured the Malecon, the sculptures along the seafront, the Cathedral,



and then a walk down some narrow streets to meet our bus.

He also pointed out big fat iguanas lounging in the trees near the bridge over the river.
We were driven over to the "Tile Factory", which struck me as more of a tile store with a little activity going on upstairs painting the tiles. Barbara bought us a picture frame there.

Following this was the main attraction, the part that made me put up with a bus tour. Tequila! We were driven out to the countryside, where there was a small estate producing tequila, and only selling it at their estate. (Except now I've found that they have an importer to the US online.) They first served us lunch, chicken and beef tacos and taquitos.
After lunch, we went through a demonstration of the distillery, where they pressure cook and roast the agave, mash, ferment, and distill the spirits. I didn't see much aging going on, but they probably had a warehouse somewhere else and who wants to see a warehouse. We then sampled their tequilas, from blanco to reposado to añejo. My pronouncement was that they were decent, but pretty ordinary examples of the types.

After we got back around 3 in the afternoon, we knew the lay of the land and snagged a cab to head back downtown. Take us to the Malecon, the sculpture of Los Delfins (The Dolphins). We knocked around town, did some shopping for silver.
Then we stopped at a couple of places to have extremely expensive beers ($3 US?!?! An outrage!) We walked the Malecon, and took pictures of the statues. Barbara's favorite is "Neptune and Neriad".
I was fond of "In Search Of Reason." I could imagine the little figures going "Have you found it yet?"
We had planned to have dinner in town, and so as the sun was setting we decided to wander off the main drag, see if we could find anything that piqued our interest. A couple of blocks uphill, my nose said "This place smells good!" We walked around a little longer, and couldn't find anywere else that smelled better, so we headed back to Melissa's, on Calle Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez. If you visit PV, I assure you that this is excellent food and a bargain. Beers were cold and cheap, a margarita suitable for floating several rubber duckies was 40 pesos, and the food was fresh and excellent. How cheap? Here's the tab. Garlic mahi-mahi, garlic shrimp, a smoked marlin taco, two beers and a margarita for 245 pesos, or about $22 US.


This was the best meal we had out on the town in any of our ports. And we were the only people in there. I hope they stay in business.

Traffic was heavy as we cabbed it back to the ship. The driver pulled some tricks trying to dodge the crowds, and we talked about how I would do that when trying to get around traffic getting onto 395 in the city. We walked back from the gate to the ship, for the last time on Mexican soil before the end of the trip, and got some good pictures of the other ship in port and our ship.

Mazatlán - Warning, Long Post

By Jim

Mazatlán’s nickname is the “Pacific Pearl”, and this is also the name of their English language newspaper. We had heard more about Mazatlán than the other ports we visited, thanks to tour guides online like Mazatlán Frank and King David tours and comments on the cruise critic webpage and guide books. This was surprising as Mazatlán is the least-touristy of the destinations in my opinion. There is other industry there (For one, the Pacífico Brewery), and the port is the largest commercial port between Los Angeles and the Panama Canal, and Mexico’s largest commercial port.

We laid out our gameplan for Mazatlán the night before. Barbara didn’t want to climb up the hill to the lighthouse, so I would get out as soon as we tied up and take advantage of the morning cool to do that. Then I’d come back to the ship, pick up Barbara, and we’d head to the Mazatlan Aquarium. After that, we’d either head to the Golden Zone (tourist hotels, beaches) or to the old city (cathedral, market, beach, cliff divers).

I awoke as we were pulling into the harbor. The view off our balcony was of the lighthouse and hill.

Water taxis and tour boats

Tanker in port, note the "No Smoking" signs

Golden Princess in port ahead of us

Once we had tied up, I headed down and took the little tram from the ship to the cruise ship terminal. There were more hawkers for timeshares, inside there were little shops, and on the other side were taxis and vans all wanting to take me somewhere. I passed them all, walked outside, and caught a pulmonia outside the terminal area.

A pulmonia is a taxi unique to Mazatlán. It is an open-air cab with a surrey top (think a white VW Thing with a cloth top) and may or may not have doors, hence the name which literally means pneumonia. Negotiate the rate before you get in.

The driver dropped me at the foot of the hill. The Mazatlán lighthouse is the second-highest natural lighthouse in the world, after the Gibraltar There was a dirt road for half of the walk up, a fairly easy walk. Much more difficult was the second half of stairs. The total walk was only two-thirds of a mile, but up 515 feet as well, just shy of the height of the Washington Monument. It took the wind out of me for sure. On the way I ran into a couple of tourists who said “It isn’t much farther, and it’s worth it.” It certainly was. The view was spectacular. If you do make the hike, the lighthouse keeper sells bottled water and sodas. I wouldn’t want to carry it up. Also, do it in the morning.

Cruise ships from the walk up

The city - it was hazy that morning

The lighthouse itself

The walk back to the port was nice. I met several dogs and cats, walked by the sportfishing marina, the place where the water taxis run to Stone Island, and back to the port. From leaving the ship to back, it took about two hours. I took a quick shower to wash the red dirt from the road off my legs, then was ready to head out again.

Our next stop was the Mazatlán Aquarium (Acuario Mazatlán). It was small compared to the National Aquarium in Baltimore, but very nicely set up. We got there in time to wander the exhibits and see the fish-feeding show with a diver feeding the fish, then picking up the nurse shark and scratching its belly.

Barbara had another goal in mind, though. She found out that after the Sea Lion show, you could get a kiss from a sea lion.

They were cute. Ely’s nose was soft and her breath smelled of herring.

After the Aquarium, we headed back to the cathedral in the city center. It has a beautifully painted altar area.

Next up was the central market. If you’ve been to an Asian market in a large city, you would be comfortable. If you think all meat comes on Styrofoam from a Safeway, you’ll see some things you’ve never seen before. One of our dinner table-mates fell into the latter category, and was a little freaked out. I wish I had taken some pictures there-it was very interesting.

We had lunch above the market at one of the many small restaurants there. It had more people eating there, that’s why I picked it. Barbara had enchiladas, I had shrimp in spicy sauce. Hers were better than mine, but mine weren’t bad. And lunch was around $12 dollars, even with two Cokes each.

After lunch, we headed back through town, walking down to the ocean and to where the cliff divers do there thing. I was told it wasn’t as impressive as the ones in Acapulco, but I haven’t been there, so I was impressed.

By then, we had been walking in the hot afternoon sun for a long time, and it was time to refresh. We passed by El Shrimp Bucket and I remembered that one of our guides recommended a place just a few blocks past, where the beer was cheaper and colder and the food better. El Marismeño on Olas Altas. Beers were 2 for 20 pesos, less than $1 each. Barbara got some guacamole and chips to snack on (40 pesos), and I got shrimp ceviche. For 70 pesos, I expected a small portion, but I got something that looked like it could feed a family of four as an appetizer, or two as an entrée. It was the best ceviche I’ve ever had. The shrimp were fresh, marinated with lime juice, red onion, cilantro, tomatoes, and Serrano chiles. Fantastic stuff.

After 3 or 4 beers, ceviche, and a cigar, we hopped in a pulmonia to take us back to the ship.

The skyline was beautiful as we departed.

I'm ready to go back. I'm ready to buy a little townhouse in the Centro for $80,000, and run a shrimp boat. They will call me Shrimper Jim.

Next: Puerto Vallarta!

Mexican Riviera Cruise - Cabo San Lucas

(By Jim)
We didn't have much planned for our day in Cabo. None of the ship's tours appealed, so we decided to walk around, see what we could see, and then head back to the ship. It was beautiful as we came around the rock formations at the mouth of the harbor.

We tendered into the port, and then started walking around the marina. We kept getting approached by touts wanting to take us fishing, glass bottom boat rides, sell us a timeshare. Finally, one of the time-share guys pointed us in a way to get out of the marina area and into town. Unfortunately, the part of town we found wasn't much.

After some harsh words between us, we found a bench to sit on and a pharmacy where I got two cold Coca-Colas.

Cokes in Mexico taste like Cokes used to in this country, because they use sugar, not high fructose corn syrup. [Skip the next part if you’re not interested in economics. You won’t miss anything, really.] Why is this? Cost. One of the side effects of US agricultural policy are sugar import quotas and tariffs to support the US sugar industry, concentrated in south Florida with sugar cane, and in the Midwest with sugar beets. So, sugar is more expensive here. On the other hand, we subsidize corn farmers and so their products are cheaper. Now, it will be interesting to see what happens to the price of high fructose corn syrup when we start using more corn for biofuel production.[All Done!]

Anyway, we decided to cut up some of the side streets, which brought us to a sporting goods shop, Minerva Baja Tackle, one of the premier outfitters in town. Cabo is known for big game fishing, and I spent some time browsing their large boat tackle before buying a hat for my father. Afterwards, we popped into a cigar store and café where we chatted with some American ex-pats who were getting their residency permits that day. They told us that the value of the yachts in Cabo had passed Monte Carlo, and it was the most valuable yacht basin around. I'm not surprised. I saw a bunch of boats that I knew were at least $500,000, and God only knows how much more. I decided to pass on Cuban cigars; I had my Montecristos with me and didn't need any more.

We popped into the jewelry store that the ship was promoting, got a free trinket, and then headed back to the marina. On the way, there was a stand set up by the local zoo; where for a donation of $20 you could get your picture taken holding a baby lion or tiger. Barbara got hers taken with the tiger. They weren't getting a lot of business, so they let her play with the tiger for a while, and even put it on her head!

After that, it was time to find the one thing I did want to look up. Barbara had been told about a tequila store and bar called Tequila Treasures run by a guy named Geovanni. We entered right about the same time he was opening, with the Village People on the stereo singing "In the Navy". The tequila selection was impressive. I had tried a lot of them, but there were at least 2 dozen more I hadn't seen before. I tried four while Barbara had a couple of beers. My favorites of these were the Ancestra tequilas, both the reposado and the añejo.

After that, it was time to head back to the boat. We wobbled back, and chilled out on the balcony of our cabin. I got some great pictures of the sunset and the rocks from there.

I wish we had known more about Cabo. What we saw didn’t make much of an impression on us and we didn't like it much. That was probably because we didn't get away from the port area. Next time I'll know better what to do, like planning a sport fishing excursion before we come, or wearing our bathing suits out and taking a panga out to go snorkeling. Or take a taxi to just drive us around the town and the neighborhood. Anything to get away from the port area.

Fortunately, this planning problem wasn't duplicated in Mazatlan. To be continued…