Here in Mazatlan, one often hears Norteamericanos speak wistfully of hard -to- get grocery items such as fresh croissants and aged camembert, a nice pint o’ Guinness, gourmet cranberry sauce, whole honey-cured hams, blueberry pancakes with real maple syrup, and - enough, I’m hungry! Actually, I couldn’t afford all that good stuff when I was living up there, anyhow. Now let’s all remind ourselves that there is plenty of fabulous and affordable food to be found here, so might as well take advantage of what is cheap and plentiful. Papayas, mangos and pineapples. Limes and coconuts. All kinds of delicious seafood, especially if you manage to develop a taste for octopus and calamar. And who needs salmon when marlin abounds? Then there’s guacamole, fresh tortillas and lots of salsa. And you’ve got to admit, they have some mighty fine beer. Personally, I tend to patronize the local Pacifico brewery. It was founded by Germans who obviously knew what they were doing when it comes to “beir”. Pacifico is tasty, thirst quenching cerveza that is hard to beat, especially for the price. Of course, the more high toned Negra Modelo is a fine dark brew for sipping on in the cool of the evening. XX Ambar, or, better yet, the rare Indio, are my favorites of the Tecate family. And sometimes it’s worth a little extra for a “michelada”, a salt-rimmed glass full of ice, lime and maybe a dash of seasoning, so a beer can