We arrived in Mazatlán a little over a week ago and have been enjoying staying on our boat at El Cid Marina Beach resort where we have access to the fun pool (with waterslide and cave) and can explore the marina area of Mazatlán. After going into the El Centro area last week, we decided it would be worth it to splurge on a hotel room in that area so we could wake up early and do the hike up to the highest lighthouse in North America which also has a glass viewing platform out over the water. (see http://www.faromazatlan.com/)

So after an amazing dinner at El Presidio last night, we had a good night’s sleep on land and left our hotel around 8 AM to walk to El Faro. Our hotel is in the Olas Altas area so it’s about a 20 minute walk to the entrance of the El Faro park. We paid a 20 peso (about 5 dollar) entrance fee per person to get access to the Mirador de Cristal (I think you can go up to the lighthouse without buying the ticket for the viewing platform and it seemed like some people went up there for early morning exercise).

The walk up first involves some sloped paved trails and then begins a steeper section with 336 steps (well, if you see my photo it seems there may really be 337 or the label of 336 is just not on the final step). There are numerous resting places along the way but with the humidity and warming air, it can get pretty warm so it’s good to do it early in the morning. You might be tempted to try it near sunset but you’d want to go as close to sunset as possible – that time of day when the winds seem to start to come in – but with enough time to get up there before the sun sets.

There were amazing views of the colorful hills of Mazatlán as well as all of the big and small rocks that crop up in the sea along the coast. Plus we could see into the main commercial harbor. Our marina is north of downtown, far from this commercial harbor but it is possible to anchor here. It was a good workout and also just beautiful views. There were also lots of cats – there are little bowls of kibble and water put out along the path for them. So far today our phones tell us we’ve done 27 flights of stairs and over 16,000 steps and we still haven’t gone out for dinner!

Enjoy a selection of photos we took today as we walked toward El Cerro Crestón (atop which is El Faro) and up the path, enjoyed the glass viewing platform, and walked back down.