Life According to Hollie...: Honeymoon, Part Three

There isnt much to say about Mazatlan. We arrived the next morning and were surprised by what we saw. The port is in the middle of a fish cannery and the whole area stunk! It was just nasty and we were unsure what to expect beyond the port.

We decided to give the city a chance. We needed to do some shopping and decided to go to the Golden Zone. This would require a cab ride from the ship. As we rode towards the Golden Zone, we went through some very poor areas of the city, which was heartbreaking to see. You could tell when the affulent part of the city began... you could see the large white mansions on the beach. We spent a few hours shopping and got a lot of nice things.

We ran into three kids who were selling little trinkets on the street. Being the suckers we are for children, we couldnt resist. From the older girl, we bought a handmade doll. From the middle girl (my favorite), I bought a handmade purple bracelet (which is now tied onto the handle of my purse), and Paul bought 5 packets of gum from the 2 year old boy.

Our cabbie for the ride back to the ship pimped out his cart. He had Mexican rap playing LOUDLY from his customized stereo (you can see that he kept his hands on it the whole time we drove... he was very proud of it.) It was quite comical driving through Mazatlan in a throbbing cab.

While we were driving, we saw that the city was enveloped in a very heavy fog. It was almost impossible to see anything near the water. As we went through the "ghetto," I took some pictures because even though Mazatlan was a poor city, it was clear that it was home for many people. The colors of the houses were vivid and there were a lot of activity in the streets.

The port for Royal Carribbean has several shops where people could shop if they did not want to venture out into the city. They had beautiful Mexican tile and Christmas decorations that lent a festive amtsophere.