Feliz Navidad (and excellent food!)

We spent one day at our hotel's sister resort, Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay. Emerald Bay is a newer property that was built a few miles to the north of our hotel. Emerald Bay is a larger resort with better pools than our property, but the drawbacks are the limited beach area and father distance into town (about a 15-20 minute pulmonia trip). Our family had decided that Emerald Bay is a fun place to spend the day, but we prefer staying at our more Mexico-authentic hotel closer to town for our vacation.

The layered infinity pools are gorgeous. Compared to our day visit last year, Emerald Bay was not that crowded. This was a beautiful day, perfect for spending hours by the pool.

Amelia and I enjoyed several hours lounging by the pool devouring our books, but eventually all four of us were in the water at the same time. We played monkey in the middle with John's football, and it was surprisingly really fun!

Above - a perfect light lunch of greens, grapefruit, peanuts, slaw, and shrimp. Plus Pacífico and a side of chips and guac.

 

On Christmas morning, we woke up to this view on our balcony. Enjoying my coffee on the balcony with the sound of ocean waves and the warmth of the ocean breeze was an awesome Christmas treat! 

Around lunch time we took a walk south along the main street and found a beach side restaurant, El Capitán, that had been recommended to us by a pulmonia driver several days earlier. This place was not fancy but the food sure was delicious! And the atmosphere was awesome - the first time we ate "on the beach" during the daytime on this trip. What a unique venue for Christmas lunch!

My plate is shown above. Grilled fish with squid and shrimp, pepper and onions, with a small amount of rice and potato on the side. Definitely the most non-traditional Christmas meal I have ever had. It was delicious!

El Capitán had an old foosball table in the restaurant. After we ate John and I played two games against each other. In the middle of the second game I excused myself to use the restroom, and when I returned I found John playing foosball against one of the waiters. They were having a ball!

We walked back to our hotel along the beach, stopping to let the kids battle a Pokemon gym (naturally).

One more food photo as I wrap up the Mexico posts. We enjoyed dinner at Poncho's Restaurant three (THREE!) time on this trip because we remembered how amazing the meals were last year. This was my favorite entrée from the trip. Grilled fish in white wine sauce, dusted with squid, shrimp, peppers and onions, served alongside rice and steamed vegetables (the nachos in the upper right are Amelia's). This dish was so amazing (!!), and a steal for the Mexican pesos equivalent of about $10 U.S. dollars.

Our family has enjoyed our visits to Mazatlán so much, primarily because of the beautiful location and the friendliness of the people. everyone is so welcoming - from the pulmonia drivers to the staff at the resort to the excursion operators. We love the fact that the guests at our resort are not majority American (we estimate that about 50-60% are Mexican tourists) and that the whole scene is more down-to-earth than in other areas of Mexico. However, I have to admit that a major portion of enjoyment, after the people and atmosphere, comes from the excellent food we enjoy at each meal. We have never had a "bad" meal, and the freshness of the vegetables and seafood is pretty remarkable.