We couldn't bear the idea of two full years without any travel, so just 102 weeks after returning from Philippines, we flew to sunny Mazatlan to dip our toes back into the travel waters. The relatively short flight time to be masked, combined with Mexico not requiring a Covid entry test, and a very affordable package deal, convinced us to risk Omicron and its accompanying inconveniences and expenses. There are more measures being taken against Covid in Mazatlan than at home as our temperature was taken before entering the grocery store and we were sprayed with disinfectant whenever entering our hotel. |
We watched a beautiful sunset from the transfer bus, arriving at our hotel after dark. We quickly found some local tacos and cerveza to eat on the Malecon near the iconic letters and our centrally located hotel. We appreciated our unexpected west facing ocean view room and patio overlooking the Malecon. After morning coffee and breakfast from a roving local cart, we walked north to the Gold Zone to check out beaches. We walked the coast along Playa Gaviotas, Playa Camaron, and Playa Sabalo, all the way to the marina... and then back again on the streets, bringing the day's walk to 21.6 kilometres! After enjoying a spectacular sunset, we were settling in for the night when our view room provided a Saturday night surprise... Sunday morning we walked south along the malecon, enjoying its art installations and sea views over Playa Norte. Before reaching the historic Old Town center, we found another Mazatlan sign and more delicious street food. Mazatlan being famous for shrimp, we walked through the seafood market, later enjoying some ceviche with tortilla chips and in a sandwich. We explored the Old Town, checking out its cathedral... Plazuela Machada... ...and the Pino Suarez Market. After another 20 km of walking today, we'd earned some ice cream before watching the sunset from our balcony. It's amazing how quickly we established the routine of picking up daily groceries from Soriana, including yoghurt and a donut, before heading to McDonald's for coffee (twice a day). After two days with lots of walking, we spent much of the morning relaxing at the pool. Cheap cold beer was immediately part of the daily routine, too. In the afternoon, we headed back to Gaviotas Beach where we watched the surfers, the oyster catch, and listened to many musicians. Tuesday the 8th was another relaxing day with time spent at the pool. These two days combined for 21.9 kilometres of walking. The next day was another long walk, as we retraced our steps southbound on the Malecon, then continued to follow it as far as possible, before taking coastal roads all the way to the Lighthouse Natural Park, where we hiked the hill to El Faro. After 19.4 km, including a hike, we gratefully caught the cheap local bus back to our hotel. The morning fishermen and subsequent begging seabirds were out in full force, while some surfers managed to catch waves at Los Pinos. We continued through Loma Linda and had perfect timing for watching a diver plunge from El Clavadista before continuing to Olas Altas. We stumbled upon Abbey Road in Olas Altas, Mazatlan! We hugged the coastline past Playa Sur and many statues and lookouts. After the long walk to get there, we then hiked up to the city's lighthouse. Having completed our "sightseeing", the following day, our last full day of the vacation, was about appreciating some cervezas by the pool, at the beach, and while toasting one last magnificent sunset in Mexico. We still managed to walk another 9.74 kilometres. We spent another half day enjoying the sunshine before making the journey back to Canada and its ridiculously ineffective and inconsistent Covid restrictions and testing protocols. We did manage to see the sunset from the plane. We were retested at YVR and told to quarantine while awaiting our results. We received our negative results (again) about 24 hours later. In total, we walked almost exactly 100 kilometres and drank five different brands of Mexican beer, making this a well balanced getaway. It was good to enjoy some 25 degree sunshine and get some sand between our toes, but we still cannot wait to explore new countries unfettered by Covid restrictions and the threat of mandatory quarantines.
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