I have been in
Mazatlan since last Monday staying at El Cid
Resorts. It's always a pleasure to be here to see
what's new with the 4 properties (Granada,
Castilla Beach, El Moro and Marina resorts) and to
fall in love with the destination all over again.
I LOVE my job, so let me share with you my top 10
favourite things about El Cid Resorts and
Mazatlan!
1. WEATHER - Of course
the weather in Mazatlan is always pleasant, but it
was SO nice to be able to walk around in shorts and
a t-shirt while most of Canada is still in a deep
freeze.
2. FOOD - One of my
favourite things about Mazatlan is the food. I
always look forward enjoying traditional dishes such
as Tortilla Soup, local lobster and grilled fresh
fish. Two new dishes that I loved were Chile de
Queso (chile and cheese) soup and Chilaquiles Verdes
(baked tortillas, local cheese, chiles, onions and
spices).
3. SHRIMP - Of course
Mazalan is know as the "shrimp capital of the
world", so I always enjoy the variety of great
shrimp dishes. Last time, my favourite was "coconut
Shrimp", but this time I think the "Shrimp
Enchiladas" ended up on the top of my list!
4. CULTURE - Each time
I visit Mazatlan, I take one of the tours out to a
local village to see how the locals live. This time
I visited Puerta de Canoas (using Pronatours), wh
ere
we (me and the other Canadians on the tour) saw how
they train beautiful parade horses, toured a local
cheese factory, and visited and tasted in a small
candy shop. The highlight for me was making and
cooking my own tortillas and making my own salsa,
then enjoying a fantastic lunch in an open air
restaurant.
5. LOCATION - Mazatlan
is one of the closest "sun" destinations for those
of us in western Canada with direct flight of only
about 4 hours. I love being able to get up in the
morning and enjoy some sun and a beautiful sunset in
Mazatlan the same day.
6.
DRINKS - I'm not a big drinker, but I always love
the Horchata (sweetened rice milk) and Mexican hot
chocolate (rich chocolate with a hint of cinnamon).
I must say that during this visit, I totally enjoyed
the Mexican coffee (coffee with vanilla ice cream,
Kahula and tequila) and I'll admit that I did try
more than one shot of the local Blue Agave (tequila)
a local blue agave farm/distillery.
7. SUN, BEACH AND
POOLS - Ahh, well, isn't this why most of us come
here? One of the largest pools in Latin American
weaves through the Castilla Beach resort. My
favorite quiet pool is the one at the El Cid
Granada. If I'm looking to swim in the ocean, I use
the Castilla-El Moro beach area in the center of the
Hotel/Golden Zone, but if I just want to relax on a
quiet beach, I head to the Maria El Cid beach.
8. HISTORIC MAZATLAN -
I enjoyed another city tour of Mazatlan on this
trip. Over 10 years ago, the whole downtown area was
declared a national historic landmark. Since that
time, the area (Centro Historico) has been renovated
and is comprised of beautiful open-air squares and
restaurants. It was great to see the progress of
this on-going renovation of the colonial downtown
area, even since my last visit.
9. GOLF - I'm not a
golfer, but I had a chance to tour the entire
27-hole El Cid golf course with our golf manager.
Each of the 3 9-hole sections was beautiful and the
whole course was recently upgraded. I talked to a
number of golfers who were totally enjoying the
UNLIMITED golf rounds as part of the El Cid Elite
package.
10. ENTERTAINMENT - I
enjoyed the variety of El Cid evening shows each
night that features talented professionals and
colourful shows of every genre. For other
entertainment, there is always Senor Frogs, one of
the largest discos in Mazatlan, right on the El Cid
property, and an almost limitless list of other
places to party the night away!
