Our Mexican Riviera
Sapphire Princess Cruise December 2009
Mazatlan, Mexico
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
When we awoke this morning we were already docked at Mazatlan. Mariner of the Seas soon docked behind us. Actually our afts were facing one another. A little while later Radiance of the Seas joined us. We have three ships in port so it will be quite busy it looks like.
We didn't book any excursions here. We did get off the ship after the tours disembarked. There is a tram that takes you from the ship to the terminal as it is a working port with all the containers and everything.
When we got off the tram we had to make our way through everyone pushing something or other. We had heard someone talking about taking the trolley so we listened to the pitch. It is a three-hour tour of the town and stopping off at the market at old town, the basilica, the Golden Zone and the cliff divers.
While we were waiting for the trolley to leave we looked through the shops and I found our souvenir for Mazaltan and shot glass.
We were finally underway after filling every seat on the trolley. It must have been about 10:30am. Part of the trolley is air-conditioned so that was nice. It wasn't real hot when we boarded but later on it did get a little warm.
Mazatlan is pretty with some beautiful beaches. We have a nice view of the lighthouse. It takes 30-40 minutes to walk up to it but it is a beautiful view from there. We didn't get to go up there as we didn't have that kind of time. We made a couple of stops to buy things along with a stop at a jewelry store where they offer you something cold to drink on the house, a Margarita, Pacifico, or soft drinks and hope you will buy some jewelry to take home.
Here are some of our pictures.
We stopped for the cliff divers who soon lost me 
after standing there for 10 minutes waiting for them to dive. They were waiting till a big enough crowd had gathered so they could collect more money for the dive. When we first arrived there was one guy standing up there looking as if he was going to do the dive then after about 15 minutes another guy came up and switched places with him. He was there for another five minutes or so before he finally jumped.
There is a lot of panhandling here so at every stop we saw mothers with their little babies or children. It is so sad for the little ones as they are crying while their mommas are trying to sell something to you or just get a few pesos.
After the cliff diving we were on our way to the basicila and then to the market. The market was big. On the outskirts of it was all kinds of souvenir stands. As you walked deeper in it was geared toward the locals with fruit stands, meat markets, and other fresh items. I was ready to get back out of there walking amongst all the pig snouts, hooves, intestines. The smell was a bit much!!
Our last stop of the day was at Diamonds International at the Golden Zone for another cold Pacifico for the men and a charm bracelet on the second story for the women. We passed on that and headed to the restaurant where the guide suggested we could get good Margaritas and some lunch.
It seems all the other buses had just left off their riders and they suggested the same place. We had an hour before we were to leave. We stood in line for a while and after clearing some tables no one ever seated us finally some customers who were sitting at a table leaned over and told me to just go sit down as they wouldn't seat you. There was a table for four so we told another couple to go ahead and join us as we were on the same trolley.
It took us some time to get the waiter to take our order. We all ordered drinks and appetizers figuring it wouldn't take long....wrong! This is very much like it is in the Caribbean Islands, just relax...that is all good and fine unless you have a time frame.
Our guide came in about the time we should have been heading to the trolley. He told us we had 20 more minutes. When they brought our food we asked them for the check at the same time so we didn't have to wait on that. It all worked out in the end.
Our trolley tour which was sold as a three-hour tour turned into more like four and a half-hour tour. We could have done without all the stops for shopping but it turned out ok.
Looking back we probably should have just hired a taxi to take us to the Golden Zone for $10 for up to four people that is not a bad deal. Oh well, you live and learn. We still enjoyed the day but Jerry was pretty worn out with all the getting off and on the trolley.