Zipline accommodates thrill-seekers
Adrenaline-seeking tourists visiting Mazatlán are invited to get a high-flying bird’s-eye view of the Pacific Ocean-fronting city. The Farolesa zipline sends people from a lofty city peak to an iconic lighthouse over ocean water back to terra firma, a journey of 1,265 metres that has them reaching a height of 165 metres. Twin cables enable a tandem experience.
Those wanting to give the zipline a shot must first hike up the hill, a trek that includes 336 steps and is popular with fitness-minded locals.
“It was good as long as you take a few rests and don’t talk a lot,” said Roberto Rivera of upscale Mazatlán hotel El Cid after completing the trek.
The summit includes a glass-floored extension enabling the daredevil crowd to peer directly down at ground far below. Those wanting to give the zipline a shot are provided with helmets and carefully harnessed in by the likes of Albero “Beto” Mendoza, who cheerfully reassures those who are uneasy about heights.
Karla Padilla of Sinaloa’s tourism board has done the zipline and said she was initially somewhat nervous but labelled the descent “a thrill.”
Meanwhile, Michel Roitberg, who helps promote Mazatlán as a tourist destination and recently co-lead a fam trip there, said there’s a practical reason for taking the zipline, rather than hiking back down after a possibly huffing-and-puffing trip up.
“I think that was the business strategy here,” he suggested. “You bring tourists here, and then charge them for the easy way down. And as a way down, this is pretty fun.”
Mazatlan attraction showcases buccaneer lifestyles
Pirates of the Pacific! Michel Roitberg narrowly cheated the hangman during his recent visit to Mazatlán. Roitberg, who helps promote the Pacific Ocean-fronting city to North American tourists, helped lead a Mazatlán fam, with the itinerary including a visit to the Pirate Mansion included on it. The Pirate Mansion recalls the era when pirates sailed the coasts of both sides of the Americas, pillaging en route.
Visitors to the attraction – found in Mazatlan’s historic quarter – will enter a secret passage that leads them into a world of cutlasses, Jolly Rogers, plunder, skeletons and other reminders of those who Long John Silver – literature’s most famous pirate – dubbed “gentlemen of fortune.”
“Good luck. You’ll need it,” a Pirate Mansion employee – who like other staff members is wearing clothes that would have enabled him to blend right in on famed buccaneer Blackbeard’s vessel the Queen Anne’s Revenge – tells visitors as they begin their journey.
Karla Padilla of the Sinaloa Tourism Board says Mazatlán is a suitable home for the Pirate Mansion, with the city seeing its fair share of privateers and other seafaring sorts over the centuries.
“We have a very rich maritime history here,” she says. “We’re very proud to say it.”
A replica of famed ocean explorer Sir Francis Drake can be seen in the Pirate Mansion, which has nine themed rooms and offers tours in both English and Spanish.
Meanwhile, Roitberg had a noose placed around his neck by a pirate while standing on a gallows, with those gallows a reminder that pirates themselves often faced a violent end. A Pirate Mansion guide called “the Captain” tells visitors that famed and feared Blackbeard himself suffered a bloody death in a battle, with his severed head then serving as a trophy.
Roitberg didn’t meet a ghastly end during his Pirate Mansion visit, stepping down from the gallows hale and hearty.
“I’m back,” he reassured fellow group members. “You can’t kill me.”
