Mazatlan

So we are about a week and half behind with updating this thing but that`s ok. After we left El Chuzo, we went to Durango. Durango was a nice smallish city with lots of students where we ate lunch at a vegetarian restaurant called Samadhi. There was not that much for us to do though so we were fine leaving after a day. Then we got to Mazatlan!

The drive to Mazatlan is beautiful. There are only 2 routes in Mexico over the Sierra Madre Oriental which run all the way down from California. We took one of them to get to Mazatlan. It`s a 7 hour 2 lane bus ride that takes you through beautiful forests and valleys and starting with scenery similar to Tahoe and ending with tropical rainforest.

Our first day in Mazatlan we tried to find a hostel we had seen on the internet. We took a boat to an isolated beach (Isla de la Piedras) and walked all along trying to find the hostel. For those of you who have never been to Mazatlan, it is hot and humid. We were sweating profusely as we wandered with our big backpacks along this beach. We were also supposed to call Birthright Israel so we could have our interview and after a mad search for a phone, we found that the number didn`t work. So now we were sweaty, tired, and had no hostel or interview. We walked about half a mile to another phone which also didn`t work and then a third. We finally called the operator and found out you have to dial a different number than it says on the phone for 1-800 numbers in the US so we finally got through after our interview slots were over. We talked to birthright for 2 minutes before realizing the phone was charging us 15 pesos ($1.50) per minute rather than the posted 5 pesos ($.50). So we basically had to tell birthright that we were sorry and we couldn`t do the interview. We`re scheduled for next weekend in Chicago so hopefully it will work out.

So it turns out the hostel shut down 10 months ago. We ended up staying in a cabana right on the beach for $10. Unfortunately the $10 didn`t include screens and we got eaten by mosquitoes. We ate a big dinner and ended up watching the moon and ocean until it got late. The next day we jumped in the ocean again and then took off for a hotel in the historic center. Air conditioning! Yes! We went to a flute concert and walked around the tourist zone. After only seeing 1 or 2 travellers the whole time we have been in Mexico it was kind of strange to see all the gringos, mostly old people with big hats and cameras. The beach was pretty nice after being in the desert for 3 weeks so we stayed in Mazatlan for 4 nights before heading down the coast.