The Best Places to Eat in Mazatlan: La Mona

Another great place to grab a bite is at La Mona. It's a little pizzeria--I know, I know, you can get tons of pizza in the States, why would you go to Mazatlan for pizza?!?! Well, actually in the case of La Mona it's more for the atmosphere -- with a huge wall of tequilla above the bar, a mural of a nude (as of this posting in progress) across another wall, and a hip, scene every night, La Mona has atmosphere in spades! Plus the pizza is made with all natural ingredients and they have many interesting salads.

If you're from Denver, you have to introduce yourself to Luis, the manager of La Mona and quite possibly the single biggest Bronco fan I've ever met! Luis told us the most interesting fact we heard in Mazatlan: The big screen and score board at the Mazatlan Stadium -- home of the Vernandos (the baseball team that gave us Barry Bonds and Vinne Castillio) -- came from the old Mile High Stadium!

Another cool aspect of La Mona is the Cinema el la Calle (Cinema in the Streets) program. They shut down a block of the street, set up a huge screen, and serve beer and wine to patrons while they show a film. While we were there we saw Infernal Affairs (The Japanese film the The Departed was based on). I'm not sure if this program runs throughout the year or only once in a while. But, if you're lucky enough to be there while it's going on, check it out! Well worth it!

La Mona is located in the Centro Historico district on Nenos Heroes, between Mariano Escobedo and Constitution.

Best places to eat in Mazatlan: The Blue House

The Blue House is my absolute favorite place to eat in Mazatlan. The Blue House can be sort of difficult to find as you can see, there's no sign outside to let you know that you're in the right place. The Blue House is quite literally a family's house. It's not open every night and there are no set hours, it's all up to the family that runs the restaurant. The menu is written on a chalkboard on the wall--if you go I highly recommend the Pollo de Plaza.

You can see more of the Blue House in action in the movie from a previous post.

If you're in Mazatlan, the Blue House is located in Centro Historico on the corner of Libertad and H. Frias.

Furniture for the Casita!

These are pictures of the furniture we brought down from the states inside the little casa!
The first three are of the Living Room and Kitchen area. The last two are different angles of the bedroom.

The No Tell Motel

We tried as hard as we could to make it all the way to Mazatlan on our second day. But, slow road conditions, numerous cuota stops (the toll booths) along highway 15D made it just out of reach. We made it to Culiacan by 8:30 at night, and Mazatlan is about another 2 hours away. Given that we'd have to unload the truck when we got there, we decided to stop over at what many travelers call the No Tell Motel.

All along the way to Mazatlan, we'd see these compound-like structures—some had fanciful names and themes like a castle called the Ferarri Inn, others were more understated and you almost couldn't tell what it was from the outside. If you've ever spoken with an American who has traveled by car to Mexico, these are what many call the No Tell Motel.

The thing that's really different about these little motels is that you drive in through the gates and they usually consist of small attached car ports or garages that are next to your room. (If our truck wasn't so large, we could have shut the garage door.) They are really secure, so you don't have to worry about your car or belongings. And some of them offer food, too. (The one we chose had a full menu with beers!) But the best part about these little travel oasisis is the cost—we stayed for $25.00 per night!

If you're ever driving through Culiacan, stay at Dix.

Driving to Mexico

There’s something you get from traveling by car that you can’t get from other modes of transport. (And not just a stiff back!)

As soon as we crossed the border in Nogales, AZ, it was obvious that we were no longer in the USA. That sort of shocked me because I thought it would have been a more gradual change. Immediately you notice the shanty town that butts right up to the chain-link fence demarcation of the US. My first thought was, “How bittersweet it must be to live in poverty in the shadow of the United States.” I was so awestruck, I was ashamed to take any photos as it felt too much like exploitation. (The photo here is of a house outside of Santa Ana, I loved the way the sun was setting in the background.)

But as we drove on a few miles, I saw children running through the streets, women hanging up laundry and one house had a trampoline that was host to about six kids while their parents looked on. Yes, it’s a different way of living, and the poverty is greater than I could have imagined, but just looking at these scenes, I could see that my way of life was no better—and maybe no different than theirs.

Heading fo the Border

packed up.jpg
Originally uploaded by Haska.

I snapped this photo early in the morning outside of Nogales. Paris has gotten the rig packed up and we're off!

This is going to be tough

living in a land locked state. therefore… goal #1.

This entry was posted from my page at 43things.com

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Casita

Click to Play

This is a video about our house in Mazatlan, Mexico. It features a lot of the town of Mazatlan, too. The music on this video is by Jorge Drexler off the album, Eco. You can buy it on iTunes.

More photos of the Casita!

When I was in Mazatlan to start the paperwork on the house, I was "all business" about the photos. I wanted to make sure that I was documenting everything for the purpose of bringing all of the photos back to Denver to show Paris how big the house was. I wasn't thinking about showing these photos to my friends and certainly not about putting them on a blog. All they needed to do was tell a very concise story.

But, here they are. The one thing I didn't photograph (though I did take video of it) is the amazing 16' ceilings. They are finished wood and in Mazatlan the name for these beams is vigas.

Alsa, when we return in April, I'll have beautiful pictures to share with everyone!

The Bedroom

These are the doors that lead from the bedroom to the small patio in the back.