They hadn´t planned on coming to Mazatlán. In the 15 years they had been visiting Mexico, Mazatlán had never been on their itinerary. But when they had seen all the sites Puerto Vallarta had to offer and began heading north by bus to Arizona where they had left their car, they decided to stop off in this unexplored city for a few days. A week later they bought a timeshare in Mazatlán, and three weeks later they were still here. Cathy and Stan Mantrop, Canadians and parents of two adult children, live in Westport, Ontario, population 700 in the winter. Situated in a popular summer tourist spot in the Rideau Lakes, the area swells to accommodate 50,000 visitors during the warm summer months. They are owners of two stores in Westport, one they describe as a “country department store” and the smaller as a Christmas and jewelry boutique. Cathy and Stan are the main buyers for their stores, traveling to the biggest trade shows in the States in Vegas and Chicago. With the introduction of NAFTA, they began scouting Mexico as a resource for silver jewelry, fabrics and the exotic. “This year, though,” said Stan, “we came down for a wedding in Leon.” In 1991, he explained, he and Cathy took their boys out of school for six weeks and headed to Mexico in their old Dodge Ram Van with a mattress in the back. “We had no itinerary and were just out to see the country. In Leon our van died, right in front of a garage. Well, it was going to take days to get parts. The garage owner said ‘no problema, come with me’ and he took us to his house and put us up for three nights.” Although no one in the Mantrop family spoke Spanish, one of the garage owner´s daughters did, and the families soon became friends. In February this year, the garage owner and his family visited the Mantrops in Canada with a desire to go skiing. “We drove through a blizzard to pick them up at the airport. But that didn´t deter them because they decided to go to Quebec to ski. A day later they came back because they found it too cold, and they drove all the way back to Ontario in another snowstorm! That takes guts.” It was for the wedding of this Mexican family´s daughter that they were in Leon in

October. “We came down by bus this time,” Cathy explained. “You see more of the country if someone else is driving. The bus system here is so efficient, with frequent departures, compared to the States where there are long waits. This way we see the country, feel it, stop at quaint spots.” After the excitement and festivities of the wedding, Cathy and Stan hopped a bus to Puerto Vallarta, stayed a week, and wandered slowly north, landing in Mazatlán. “This is the first time for us in Mazatlán,” said Stan. “It wasn´t a city in Mexico to go to. Cancun, Cabo and San Miguel de Allende get all the publicity. We used to go to Florida, but not any more. What can you do there? Not much.” Cathy and Stan both agreed that Mazatlán offers the best of both worlds, a big city experience with a resort atmosphere. Their first order of business was to take a city tour, which introduced them, Stan said, “to one of the most dynamic waterfronts we´ve experienced in Mexico. When you travel you notice what is missing in a place, but Mazatlán seems to have everything.” Cathy´s enthusiasm for the beach at Cerritos grew quickly when she found a bounty of sand dollars and shells in the sand. One spectacular shell will find a place in a display cabinet in her jewelry shop in Canada. Her practiced eye picked out several silver jewelry items in the Mazatlán shops which she will drape over the shell. For her, the vibrant colors, the flowers and the art available here bring the Mexican experience to life. “And we can stay in touch with Canada easily,” Stan pointed out. “The internet cafés are fabulous and aircondi-tioned. Our cell phone with a GPS system works perfectly here. Not like in years past when communications were touchy.” Now that the Mantrops have purchased a timeshare in Mazatlán, they plan to come back every year. Their priority is to become bilingual because, they say, they want to learn “this language which is so musical.” And they want to share their Mazatlán experience by making the timeshare unit available to their employees in Canada. “Accidentally finding Mazatlán was a bonus on this trip,” said Stan. “We are definitely coming back.” maureen@pacificpearl.com