Mazatlán – A Travel and Historical Guidebook
By Sheila Madsen, April 2019
This beautifully designed bilingual guidebook is unique, there’s not a single book like it. Two words come to mind: Finally. Consolidated. The book marries the past with the present and the stunning photography -black and white and colour – compliment the text just perfectly. All 148 pages are printed on an expensive glossy stock that allow the photography to pop.
Packed into a compact 8″ x 8″ format, this guidebook is bursting with historical facts and takes you into present day. For instance, El Faro /The Lighthouse guided sailors in 1857 by lighting massive bonfires. Today, Mazatlan has a proper lighthouse with electricity and a remodeled path to climb to the top of the cliff [Creston Hill] – 157 meters/515 feet. The author claims that if the wind is right you can hear the barking of the sea lions.
The guidebook is organized into 30 sections that cover such landmarks as The Belmar Hotel, the Machado Square, the Cathedral, Pino Suárez Market, the baseball stadium and a whole section on gastronomy. Remember, Mazatlan is striving and applying for the UNESCO gastronomy designation for 2021.
The history and origins of Mazatlan are sprinkled throughout the pages so you don’t get “fact fatigue”. It’s a page turner, you want to see and learn what’s next. And it’s a fact, it’s factual – checked and re-checked by the entire team [listed below].On the back flap there’s an adorable illustrated map that folds out to a 16″ x 16″ – showing you all the 26 landmarks.
Ideal for tourists passing through, ideal for snowbirds and ideal for full-timers because it’s filled with unexpected insights – all consolidated. Finally!
[The Mazatlán Guia Turistica e Histórica/A Travel and Historical Guidebook is made possible by: author José Eduardo Valdaés in partnership with Maaike Hoekstra [Flavor Teller] ,Laura Medina [Casa del Caracol] and Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa [UAS]. Currently you can buy it in Centro, at the bookshop, Casa del Caracoal, on south side of Constitución # 83, for $350 pesos for soft cover, $500 for hard cover. The shop is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., closed Sundays. ]