Our night’s stay in Navajoa was great, but we were ready to hit the road and keep moving on our journey. We had a hearty breakfast to start the day, eating once again by the pool at the hotel.
The drive itself was uneventful, but gorgeous. Mexico’s landscape is so different than anything we’re used to. There are rolling hills and mountains, giant cacti growing wild, and palm trees dotting the sides of the roads. For the most part, the colors are browns and dark greens, but then every so often, there’s vibrant pops of color with the most gorgeous bright flowers. It’s such a beautiful contrast!
It is also interesting to see the contrasts in the different states. We’ve traveled through two so far – Sonora and Sinaloa. Sonora was mostly industrial with a lot of factories (including a sweet Tacate canning factory – no we did not stop for a brewery tour…).
Almost immediately when we crossed into Sinaloa, though, the landscape changed over to one of farming. It very much reminded us of the Midwest and driving through Nebraska and Iowa.
After an easy drive, we arrived in the beach town of Mazatlan. We booked a delightful Air BnB right on the marina. It was gorgeous and the perfect size for two humans and a pup. After settling in, we were relaxing on the patio trying to decide where to go for dinner, when our amazing hostess walked up. She was lovely to chat with. She and her husband had a tiny chihuahua that made Bosco look like a giant! They gave us some dinner recommendations and showed us how we could walk along the marina to get to the places. With Bosco in tow, we headed out.
Based on our host’s good review, we grabbed a perfect little patio table at a restaurant called Curricanes. We felt that we had to try the appetizer that was their namesake, and we now have a new favorite dish! Curricanes is a sushi-like appetizer with a strip of tuna wrapped around crab and avocado with a ponzu sauce. It was delicious!! For the entrees, Nikk had a beautiful shrimp burrito and I had smothered shrimp tacos. Being pescatarian in Mexico is amazing and both were terrific! A couple of Pacifico’s and the gorgeous view of the boats on the marina rounded out another wonderful dinner. We walked back to our apartment, sat with our feet in the pool while we watched the sunset, and turned in for the night to prepare for another day of driving!
