The second port of call on our Princess cruise to Mexico in March was Mazatlán, and as with Cabo San Lucas, we were blessed with beautiful weather. Unlike Cabo, Mazatlán boasts a deep port and a modern cruise terminal, so once the ship was tied up, we were able to come and go without having to catch a tender to shore.

Our day began with a shore excursion, though, so we met up with our guide, Jasmine, on the pier, and she ushered us aboard a ubiquitous form of transportation in the city, the aurigas. These are red pickup trucks with bench seats in the bed which serve as open-air taxis. It was a short ride to the Centro Histórico, where we hopped down and took a short stroll past historic buildings as Jasmine gave us some insight into the port’s past. We passed through Plaza Machado, surrounded by colonial buildings but also boasting intriguing modern sculptures. Tables and booths were set up in anticipation of the city’s Book Festival, opening later in the week. We were also met with a group of indigenous dancers who, while displaying rather fierce countenances and steps,

nevertheless cheerfully posed for pictures with children.

We passed through narrow streets lined with colorful buildings   before reaching our destination, the restaurant El Presidio, located in one of the oldest buildings in the area, Casa García. Here we would sample three varieties of ceviche while also tasting Los Osuna’s traditionally processed blue agave spirits . . . more on that later.

Entering the building, one passes a glassed-in, modern-looking café on the right and walks along a brick-lined corridor before entering a lush, shady courtyard with splashing fountains and trees and vines covering the three-story walls.   Seated at a long table ranged with a series of brandy snifters at each place, we faced another table lined with a host of bottles containing different varieties of mezcal.   Our hosts explained that, just as only sparkling wine made in Champagne can bear that name, only the blue agave spirit made in the state of Jalisco can legally be called “tequila.” Therefore, the spirit made by Los Osuna in Sinaloa bears the motto, “Tequila in the process but not from the region.” The process involves using only mature, nine-year-old estate-grown blue agave fruit (called the “piña” for its resemblance to a pineapple) which is cooked for 48 hours in a 140-year-old underground oven. The juice is then extracted, fermented and distilled; no flavorings, colorings or thickeners are added, and the liquid ages in American white oak barrels prior to bottling. This spirit, we were told, due to its purity, would not give the imbiber a hangover or headache, even if he drank an entire bottle.

I was not about to test that assertion, but I can say that all of the varieties we tried were smooth and very pleasant, and lovely in color and clear in the glass.     We started with the youngest (non-aged) — white — and moved on to reposado, aged from six months to a year. After that came the anejo (aged three years) and extra anejo (aged five years). As you can imagine, the longer the aging, the smoother and more complex the feel and taste and the more golden the color. We also sampled a couple of the liqueurs made from the mezcal — coconut and vanilla — and also found them very pleasant.

While we tasted, the chef prepared three different ceviches using a variety of seafood. Mazatlán is famed for its fishing industry, boasting the largest shrimp fleet in Mexico and the second-largest tuna fleet, with our visit coming at the end of the high season for shrimp (September to April). Each dish represented a color of the Mexican flag. The white, mildest ceviche featured sea bass and was mildly sweet in coconut milk and with a red onion, cucumber and tomato garnish. The red, with medium heat, had red snapper and shrimp in a tomato paste sauce with cilantro, avocado and radish. The hottest of the three, the green, offered large shrimp in a sauce which included jicama, green apple, cucumber and serrano peppers in a seafood and tomato broth. All of them were so delicious; the fresh ingredients and the perfectly acid-cooked (lime juice and sea salt) seafood clearly making them sing. And, of course, the tequila/mezcal complemented the food wonderfully!

A word to the wise: Although we were told we would get the best price in the city on the mezcal at this tasting, we actually discovered the same bottles at lower prices ($5 less on the bottle we had purchased) at a shop at the cruise terminal shops. Lesson learned.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor