Off the Beaten Path

Jul 14, 2022
9 min read

Now that we have settled back into our homestead, it is time to take a break from the daily chores to get caught up on our Mexico adventures we neglected to tell while trying to make it home through our sailboat adversities. And if I don’t get it written up before we leave on our next adventure in Wilton, it might not get done. So let’s dive into it shall we? As you may recall, we had over a month anchored in Mazatlán while waiting for Jim’s replacement passport. Here are some of the adventures that kept us occupied.

The Original Suaves Factory of Mazatlan

Mazatlán is famous for its Suaves—basically they are marshmallows rolled in coconut, and so delicious. Since we were digging deep for things to do, we decided to try to find where they make them. It was not easy to find, and we probably walked right past it several times before noticing it. An understated entrance was the problem.

A woman named Maria Clara Garcia started the company over 50 years ago. She started making them out of the kitchen in her house (more like a walk-up apartment), where they still make them today. I don’t think anyone lives there any longer as all the rooms we saw appear to be being used to make these delicious puffs of sugar.

The simple five-ingredient recipe is still used today (sugar, glucose, grenadine, vanilla and toasted, ground coconut.). The top of the stairway landing was a storefront of sorts and the entrance to the “factory”. While we were there, lots of people walked up to purchase bags of suaves.

We did not see where they mixed the ingredients. There was just one room where the activity seemed to be centered. There were long tables surrounding the room where the marshmallow mixture was sitting in wooden frames to dry. Once dried it is stacked in smaller pieces on another table. Employees cut it into even smaller pieces with a rolling pin type cutter, while other employees roll it in the toasted ground coconut to ready it for bagging.

We were delighted at how informal it all was (unlike the US) as we were allowed to walk right in off the street (with Lily in tow in her basket) to see it all happening (food safety smafety!). We bought several bags before we left, intending to bring some home to share with friends and family. Unfortunately, it got way too hot before being able to get to Guaymas, and they melted and seemed to be fermenting in the bag. 🤨 But don’t worry, we ate several bags ourselves before having to throw out the remaining spoiled bags.

The Last Drop in Mazatlán

One day we decided to take the bus to Cerritos (one of our favorites) at the northwestern point of Mazatlán. It was lunchtime so we settled into a little place called “The Last Drop”. Not only did they make an excellent pizza, but they made their own small batch tequila that was quite respectable. The owner was super friendly, and since he spoke fluent English we were able to converse with him quite a bit. He was originally from Venezuela, attended Kibbutz in Israel, and traveled about quite a bit before settling in Mazatlán where he lives with his wife and their two children. While enjoying our tequila (including some flavored tequilas he let us sample) he answered all our questions about how he made it. If you ever find yourself in Cerritos, we highly recommend stopping by for a shot (or two) and a snack.

The Long Hot Walk from Cerritos

After leaving The Last Drop we decided to try to find a way to the other side of the point to check out the rocky beach where we had never been before. We found a path through the dirt and weeds and scrambled down to the beach.

We were amazed at the cool rock formations along the beach.

In Mexico it seems like there is never a dead end. Anytime we find ourselves with an obstacle in our path, we are always able to find a foot worn trail to get from point a to point b. Here our obstacle was a steep rock outcrop blocking our way forward on the beach, but we were able to scramble up the rocks and find a trail that eventually took us back to the beach—with some tropical desert beauty to be found along the way.

We eventually came to some private beaches and beautifully landscaped resorts. Oddly there were hardly any people around on the beach. Could it be that it was just too hot? Or perhaps everyone was sitting somewhere poolside sipping ice-cold margaritas?

While the beach rocks formations were cool, the air temperature was anything but. And while we sipped on our warm bottled water we found ourselves desiring one of those ice-cold margaritas ourselves. Unfortunately, there was no relief in sight, so we searched out a inland path that we hoped would take us to a main road.

We made it to the road that ran in front of the beach resorts and settled into the shade of the median strip to rest and cool down.

After our rest we walked along the road to where we had seen some busses driving by (hoping that they would be air conditioned busses). We were able to enjoy the beautiful landscaping of the resorts in spite of the heat.

We had no idea where we were (exactly), or where the bus was headed, but we flagged down and hopped on the first one we saw. We were all relieved to find it was air conditioned!

Our original plan was to stay on the bus until we came to somewhere we recognized. Then we could get off and get on a bus that headed towards our anchorage. Best made plans….We too quickly got to where we could hop on a “green” bus to our boat, but couldn’t force ourselves to leave the comfort of the artificially cooled air in order to stand in the heat and sun again while awaiting the next green bus. So we decided to stay on to see where our current bus took us—one of our favorite ways to look around and get a feel for an area. It was an interesting ride because it took us through some parts of Mazatlán that we had never been to. As we expected, we eventually made it to the “end of the line” where everyone has to get off the bus. What we didn’t expect was that it would be in the middle of nowhere. This wasn’t too much of a problem, except that we were back in the sun and heat again. The bus driver said that it would be at least 20 minutes or so before another bus came along, so we decided to walk along the road/goat trail the bus had brought us on until another bus came along. The next bus was unfortunately not air conditioned, but even the breeze from the bus windows was better than walking.

We got off the bus in an area we were familiar with—and only a short walk to a brewery! It was our first time at the Cervercería Barraza. It was a great ending to a great day’s adventure. And since it included the longitude and latitude of the brewery, we had to buy a t-shirt!

Another picture I must share is of a beautiful fungus we saw while walking to the brewery.

Los Osuna Tequilaria

Another side trip we wanted to take while waiting here in Mazatlán was to an artisanal tequila distillery. We could have taken a private tour bus, but always looking to do things “on the cheap” and bring Lily along, we decided to try to take a public transportation bus to Los Osuna and back on our own. In our first attempt, it was early afternoon when we reached the bus station. There must have been half a dozen people trying to help us find and get on the correct bus, including other passengers, bus drivers, and a security guard. The problem was that while everyone knew of Los Osuna and where we wanted to go, no one knew exactly which bus would get us there. We eventually got it figured out—we needed to get on the bus to La Noria and ask them to stop at the road to Los Osuna. Great, however the last bus to return back to Mazatlán was at 3:00 p.m. (we did not intend to spend the night), so it was too late to go this day. We decided we would come back tomorrow to take the early bus, so we could return on the 3:00 home.

We got to the station the next morning and waited for our bus to load—we were the only ones to get on at the station. This bus was not air conditioned, but it was early so it was still pleasant.

In about an hour, the bus dropped us off at the road to Osuna. It was about a mile-walk down a dirt road through the agave fields. There were lots of interesting and beautiful things to see along the way.

We were thankful for some cloud cover, but by this time it was getting hot. A couple years ago after hiking a lot of miles on the Appalachian Trail, we made a promise to Lily that once we got off the trail a)she would never have to carry any weight in her pack again—she still wears the pack when we go backpacking, but we leave it empty, and b)that we would carry her anytime she needed us to in order to be a part of our adventures. We noticed this year that once it started getting really hot that it was taking a toll on her. So true to our word she got to hop in and out of her basket when she wanted.

Anytime we find something oddly interesting on the ground, we look up to see where it comes from—this seed pod is truly amazing

We finally arrived at the distillery and took in the beauty of the grounds.

Our tour guide (a volunteer working for tips), who spoke perfect English, said we could look around ourselves or he could take us on a tour. We opted for the tour. One of the first bits of information that our guide shared with us was the name of the giant tree in front, huanacaxtle tree, which he said was named for the seed pod which looked like an ear.

We got lots of details on how they start with the agave and end up with a fine tequila. It was very interesting, however, Jim with his food manufacturing background was much more interested in all the details. But the broad strokes are as follows. After at least seven years of growing, the agave plant is harvested. They remove the leaves (which they compost back into their fields) and chop the core of the plant into small pieces

They put these pieces into a steam oven to cook for at least a day.

Once cooked, they pull out the agave, which is now sweet, with a fork-like tool. Our guide let us taste some out of the cooker and it was indeed sweet. For comparison, Jim took some from the ground where the guys were chopping it to taste—it was very fibrous and hard and not at all sweet. Our guide said it wasn’t harmful raw, but the guys chopping it were really nervous and shaking their heads at Jim, so he went ahead and spit it out for safety’s sake.

We were able to see the mule drawn grinder they used to use on the cooked agave, and an older machine powered one, but the one they use now is more like a big stainless hopper with blades to chop it all up.

I won’t pretend to remember all we were told about how they make their tequila, but they go through several processes of fermenting and barreling and distilling before bottling and labeling right there on sight. But the most interesting part to me was that they play classical music to it while it is fermenting in barrels as certain types of yeasts respond positively to the vibrations.

At the end of the tour, after tipping our fantastic guide, we paid 100 Pesos each to sample the finished product. We ended up getting 3 tickets each to trade for a full shot of the tequila of our choice. A great deal at about $5 each, but a LOT of tequila. What’s worse (better?), is that while we were there a couple came in on a taxi and quickly looked around before having one shot each. They had 4 tickets (shots of tequila) left and gave them to us before leaving. Waste not, want not is what we always say. And good thing we weren’t driving!

We still had a long, hot walk to catch the bus. We saw a new face on the way out.

We followed the cactus fence with the hopes of having a snack and refreshment at the restaurant by the main road, but when we got there we were worried about having enough time. Not wanting to miss the last bus home, we decided against it—but it looked like a nice place.

Look at the thorns on this tree trunk!

Jim and Lily both fell asleep on the unairconditioned bus ride home!

Some Final Pics in Mazatlán

I know this one is getting long, so I’ll end with a few final pictures we took while in Mazatlán. We did have one additional adventure to Durango for a few day, but it was so much more than we expected, that it deserves its own episode that I will be writing shortly.

An Entertaining Bus Ride

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/643bd9_9edc5a692403407d962a442ba450a9a7/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

A Long Walk to Dinner