If your travels should take you to Mazatlan I recommend staying at Mama Mia's Casa. It's a bed and breakfast owned by expat American Penny Massey. She is warm and friendly and knows the local scene very well and can point out many good places to eat and things to see. Her home is lovely and spacious and the pool area in the backyard provides a nice refuge from the city if you get tired of the beach or all the folks trying to sell you something on every street corner. Which brings me unfortunately to the next part of this review. Unless I wanted to go deep sea fishing for marlin or sail fish I don't think I would return to Mazatlan. I have traveled a lot throughout Mexico and while I'm aware that everyone is just trying to make a buck I've never felt more taken advantage of as far as the prices of things go. All food, items in the shops, drinks, etc. were overpriced and we had to haggle a lot. Also, timeshares are big business in Mazatlan and people will try to hoodwink you into their presentations if they can. After a little road trip to some of the surrounding towns/villages we stayed one night at Playa Bonita (gold zone) upon are return to Mazatlan. We were told that the room was discounted because of their ongoing construction. For the inconvenience we could have access to a breakfast buffett and pool/beach areas at their sister property in the morning. Needless to say a van arrives to pick us up in the morning and once we're at the sister property we find out it is a timeshare condo property. We got a cab back and left immediately and went back to stay at Mama Mia's for another three days.

That is why I began this review with...if your travels find you in Mazatlan. I can't say enough nice things about Mama Mia's Casa, so if your want to check out Mazatlan for yourself, stay with Mrs. Penny Massey. A link to her website can be found off of the website of the local English paper, The Pacific Pearl, at -----.