I am about a week into exploring Mazatlán, Mexico, and its revelations have been relentless—tricked-out open air taxis, beachside bandas singing their hearts out, fresh fried fish dished at cantinas overlooking the Malecon, stunning statues of celebrities and sea goddesses, and even brave coatimundi begging for Cheetos on Isla Los Venados.
Then a fresh surprise hits, tucked in a shop amid the cobblestone streets of Old Mazatlan’s murals, terrace restaurants and chic boutiques: a book edited by a Good Times alumna, longtime Santa Cruz food writer and current Mazatlán resident Janet Blaser, Why We Left: An Anthology of American Women Expats.
More discovery awaits inside its pages, with a range of testimonials on how to find happiness down south, which she sums up later.
“Whatever your normal life or what you want it to be, you will create that here just as easily,” she says. “People think it’s so different. There are a lot of things that aren’t. It’s cheaper and prettier and now you don’t have Trump.”
In this part of Mexico, you’ll also have a boatload of hyper-fresh shrimp in signature presentations.
“Aguachile may be Mazatlán’s best-known dish, and given that the city is known as the ‘Shrimp Capital of the World,’ that makes total sense,” Blaser wrote in the M! Magazine she published for 10 years, noting 10,000 tons of wild shrimp are caught off Mazatlán each year. “Needless to say, shrimp is plentiful throughout town, on restaurant menus, in the mercados and from las changueras, Mazatlán’s fabled ‘shrimp ladies,’ who sell a wide variety of camarónes and other shellfish every day of the year from their outdoor stands in Centro Historico.”
Here’s her favorite way to prep it, shrimplified for ease and limited space.
Aguachile de Camarón, Mazatlán Style
1 lb. shrimp, cleaned
½ cup fresh lime juice
3 Tbsp. water
1-3 serrano peppers
¼ cup fresh cilantro
Salt
½ red onion
1 cucumber, peeled
Avocado
8 corn tostadas
Butterfly shrimp; place in ceramic/glass bowl. Blend chilies, lime juice, 3 Tbsp. water, half the cilantro till chunky. Pour over shrimp, stir. Refrigerate 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. (Shrimp will turn white and opaque when ready.) Slice onion & cucumber thinly. To serve, spoon shrimp and sauce onto a platter. Layer cucumbers and onions on top. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serve with tostadas and sliced avocado.
QUICK ’N’ TASTY
The Santa Cruz Warriors just announced they reached 60,765 meals donated to Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County through the Swishes for Dishes initiative this season, as part of a tradition that’s now in its fifth year, and up to 283,615 total meals for Second Harvest. santacruz.gleague.nba.com…La Posta (538 Seabright Ave., Santa Cruz) is doing some epic quarterly Cru Nights like the one tonight, June 18, with large-format bottles, from older vintages, and from small production vineyards, lapostarestaurant.com/events…Plan ahead, flavor-forward style: Surf City Wine Walk flows 1-4pm July 12, starring wines from the Santa Cruz Mountains and a stroll along Swift Street, winesofthesantacruzmountains.com/events/surfcityww…Then there’s Hops ’N Barley craft beer bonanza at Skypark in Scotts Valley July 12 with 50 breweries and cideries, hopnbar.webflow.io/…Sail us home, Jacques Yves Cousteau, whose statue appears on the cusp of the Mazatlán coast: “The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”
