Most guidebooks with chap- ters on Mazatlan, if they mention it at all, will tell you that there isn’t much history here. But actually, there’s quite a lot, ranging from the ulama game — the 3,000-year-old ball game still played in the villages of Sinaloa — to facades whose French influences date from the mid-19th century. Two local groups are working on the promotion of Mazatlan’s historic past and trying to preserve its vestiges for future generations. First of these is the Mazatlan Historical Society. Its president, Dr. Ernesto Hernandez, a professor of Social Sciences at the University of Sinaloa, recently told the Pacific Pearl of the group’s efforts to have the ulama game recognized by the world heritage arm of the United Nations. “We will deliver documentation on the history of the game,” he said, “before June 30 to UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Ulama is still played by descendants of the Meso-American tribes who have inhabited this area since at least a thousand years before Christ. It is regularly played in only 10 municipalities of Sinaloa.” Dr. Hernandez explained that the ball, about the size of a child’s bowling ball, is extremely dense and heavy. Although bouncy, it is made not of rubber but from a gum-like substance that comes from a native tuber flower called a machacuana. He said that there are three ways to play ulama. The most popular hereabouts is by propelling the ball back and forth with the side of the hip. It also is played in some areas by batting