# Anyone Live in Durango or Mazatlan?



## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

There are so many attractive destinations in Mexico, it's really been hard to decide which cities to explore, but I'll be travelling to Durango (the capital city) and Mazatlan at the end of this year to consider both places.

Since I have websites naturally internet service will be vitally important, but I suspect that won't be a problem in either city. If anyone knows different please let me know.

But I would be very interested in any comments you might have on any topic if you live in one of these two place, or have in the past.


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## Aadela (Jul 18, 2013)

Mazatlan is amazing!


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## Anonimo (Apr 8, 2012)

*More details, please!*



Aadela said:


> Mazatlan is amazing!


Tell us why it is amazing.


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## Aadela (Jul 18, 2013)

The people are friendly....
Beaches are nice....
It is a small town but relaxing ...and modern.


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

Aadela said:


> The people are friendly....
> Beaches are nice....
> It is a small town but relaxing ...and modern.


Do you live in Mazatlan?


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## moldero (Jun 19, 2013)

I live in Maz too, this place is a dream. quite, safe, friendly people.


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

Mazatlán, (not Maz) is a nice town, but not modern in any light, people are friendly, that is true


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## moldero (Jun 19, 2013)

GARYJ65 said:


> Mazatlán, (not Maz) is a nice town, but not modern in any light, people are friendly, that is true


Yeah I dont think "modern" is anywhere in Mexico


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

moldero said:


> Yeah I dont think "modern" is anywhere in Mexico


You are very welcome to go to a modern Country then


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## moldero (Jun 19, 2013)

GARYJ65 said:


> You are very welcome to go to a modern Country then


Yeah dont get defensive there Gary, A lot of us left where we came from to get away from "modern", that's 1 of the reasons I left San Francisco where I had robots vacuuming my floor, where buying groceries online from the office was the norm.
If you think modern cities are the only good cities, than that's your prerogative.
Mazatlan is a paradise, but its far from modern (compared to where a lot of expats come from) but you know, that's one of the beauties of it.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Whether or not a city is "modern" depends on how you define the word. Before moving to Mexico in 2007, I lived most of my life in the US and never had a robot to vacuum the floors or bought groceries on line (which, by the way, you can do in Mexico City). I've never been to Mazatlan, so I have no idea how "modern"or "unmodern" a city it is. Why, in your opinion, is it the latter?


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

moldero said:


> Yeah dont get defensive there Gary, A lot of us left where we came from to get away from "modern", that's 1 of the reasons I left San Francisco where I had robots vacuuming my floor, where buying groceries online from the office was the norm.
> If you think modern cities are the only good cities, than that's your prerogative.
> Mazatlan is a paradise, but its far from modern (compared to where a lot of expats come from) but you know, that's one of the beauties of it.


What I did not think was correct is on the statement of "I dont think "modern" is anywhere in Mexico"
Mexico has modern places as well as rural 

By the way, I do not consider some Cities as modern, if we speak about traffic, pollution, crime, etc. that is not modern to me


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

As usual, another string of posts that has absolutely nothing to do with the original question and everything to do with the big egos passing for "experts" on this forum.


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## moldero (Jun 19, 2013)

Isla Verde said:


> Whether or not a city is "modern" depends on how you define the word. Before moving to Mexico in 2007, I lived most of my life in the US and never had a robot to vacuum the floors or bought groceries on line (which, by the way, you can do in Mexico City). I've never been to Mazatlan, so I have no idea how "modern"or "unmodern" a city it is. Why, in your opinion, is it the latter?


I always joke around with my wife telling her I feel like I went in a time machine back 20 years, its all the little things I guess especially for me and my field of work needing the ease of access to technology, in the states I was an animator and digital FX compositor working for clients ranging from Microsoft to Dreamworks, so access to technology would be 1.

Mexican advertising would be another. (I've been in Advertising since '97)
Music would be another. (Need I say more?)

Political correctness would be another, I will explain (please keep in mind im from SF which is super PC)
When we moved to Mexico back in '07 initially we moved to Culiacan, dead smack in the peak of Mexico's drug war, In the 6 years i lived there, I only seen 1 other American and he was just passing through, so another would be (in my experience anyway) was the lack of PC with the locals, I had quite a few extremely racist experiences living in Culiacan, but then moving to Mazatlan (being more touristy) it was less extreme racism and more to just racial profiling, because lets face it, some of the locals look at us as if were made of money (I'm not mentioning any names cough cough traffic police cough cough), and putting myself in some of their shoes I can understand why, for example working your butt off in a construction field sometimes making $60 pesos a day, its crazy. But its nothing we cant adapt to, for example, if you dont want to be harassed for extra money, dress down and dont drive around in a Porsche. When I first moved to Culiacan, I moved down with a $4500 mountain bike (I didn't know, living here was a new experience for me) but I did look around and realize right away I had to bring that completely unnecessary beast back stateside and leave it there. Mexico has humbled me in a lot of ways, in the states I would just buy something because I could. Living in Mexico as a shooter now (Cinematographer) I shoot in a lot of small towns and ranches collecting stock footage for some branches of the MX gov, and experiencing this has changed me a lot, I buy necessities now, and that is all, and I am 100% happier this way.

I look at it this way, no place is perfect, but living by the beach with a $600 rent working an average of 4 hour days, coming from paying a $3800 mortgage in foggy San Francisco working an average of 60 hour weeks, I'll pick Mexico any day of the week. I absolutely love this place. 

So by my standards, its not modern, but so what, that's part of its charm for me, If I wanted modern, I wouldn't have left San Francisco. but every day I wake up, walk out to my yard look up at the sky and have an intense feeling gratefulness just for the opportunity of living here for as long as I have while hoping I will be lucky enough for it to last the rest of my life.

But getting back on topic, Safety is definitely one of Mazatlan's strong points.
Another (over Durango) would be Beaches.

Now this is an assumption, but I would guess there is a lot less cops harassing tourists in Durango then there is in Mazatlan, I assume this because it was like this in Culiacan, cops dont know what to do with tourists there.
But in Mazatlan cops have been known to physically remove/change speed limit signs dropping the speeds from 60km to 40km making speed traps specifically targeting tourists extorting them for $500 pesos a pop (including passengers not wearing seat belts).

Visiting Mazatlan from Culiacan a lot back when I live there, the police harassment of tourists was very noticeable.

Just last week A cop was trying to tag me for driving my truck on the beach (which i didn't do) I was parked on the sand so my dogs can have some shade while i surf, but he said I drove it on the beach and someone called it in (there was not 1 person in sight the entire morning), I told him, my truck is not 4x4 i would get stuck + its a heavy full-sized quad cab, i even pointed out to him the tire tracks ended at the top of the hill, it was obvious I didn't drive all over the beach like he said, but he didn't want to hear it so he said "were going to the station" I told him, fine, let me snap some pics of these tire tracks right quick and then I'll follow you, then he just figured "forget it" and left.

its inconvenient, but its petty really, as long as you know how to talk to these guys its not really an issue.


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

moldero said:


> I always joke around with my wife telling her I feel like I went in a time machine back 20 years, its all the little things I guess especially for me and my field of work needing the ease of access to technology, in the states I was an animator and digital FX compositor working for clients ranging from Microsoft to Dreamworks, so access to technology would be 1.
> 
> Mexican advertising would be another. (I've been in Advertising since '97)
> Music would be another. (Need I say more?)
> ...


Thanks for an actual picture of a few things about Mazatlan from someone who actually lives there --- the object of the post. Access to web technology is important to me, too. How is the internet service?


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

ElPaso2012 said:


> As usual, another string of posts that has absolutely nothing to do with the original question and everything to do with the big egos passing for "experts" on this forum.


That is, as you said, usual
You can always set up your own forum and control everything you want people to say and answer.
As for the big egos, perhaps that suit fits me, I don't get offended
On the "experts" part of the comment, being a Mexican makes me if not an expert, at the very least a professional on Mexican issues


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## moldero (Jun 19, 2013)

ElPaso2012 said:


> Thanks for an actual picture of a few things about Mazatlan from someone who actually lives there --- the object of the post. Access to web technology is important to me, too. How is the internet service?


internet service is good enough (but no matter how fast it can always be faster)
I pay about $110 US telephone (including free stateside and canada calls) their fastest I think was 20mbs or something, I dont remember, i just asked for the fastest internet they had + I have the full cable package, HBOs and all that junk that I dont even need, but anyway, I transfer HD video files to stateside clients almost daily so speed is important to me as well, and it works. they have some kind of block on their end though for some anti spam thing, so if your using a custom email domain you will have to have them unblock that for for your outgoing SMTP email to work, but if your using gmail or live or another one of the big ones than its not an issue. as far as reliability, Internet and electricity is very reliable where Im at in Mazatlan, But in Culiacan, we would get power outages, sometimes 3 a day, so working from home it can really mess you up, so i picked up a UPS (Uninterruptible power supply), In Maz i think the powers gone off 3 times in the past year and thats all been due to the last stormy season when the lightning was really intense, and even then, the power outages were short, in Culiacan power has gone off for as long as a few hours at times.

AH reminds me, Another + with Maz water and electricity is very cheap compared to Culiacan, I asked around to find out why, some said Maz has its own grid or something making it cheaper than the rest of Mexico, if that's true or not i have no idea. but yeah my power bills in Maz are 1/6th what they were in Culiacan, so that might be another thing to look into when considering Durango, it all ads up.


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

moldero said:


> internet service is good enough (but no matter how fast it can always be faster)
> I pay about $110 US telephone (including free stateside and canada calls) their fastest I think was 20mbs or something, I dont remember, i just asked for the fastest internet they had + I have the full cable package, HBOs and all that junk that I dont even need, but anyway, I transfer HD video files to stateside clients almost daily so speed is important to me as well, and it works. they have some kind of block on their end though for some anti spam thing, so if your using a custom email domain you will have to have them unblock that for for your outgoing SMTP email to work, but if your using gmail or live or another one of the big ones than its not an issue. as far as reliability, Internet and electricity is very reliable where Im at in Mazatlan, But in Culiacan, we would get power outages, sometimes 3 a day, so working from home it can really mess you up, so i picked up a UPS (Uninterruptible power supply), In Maz i think the powers gone off 3 times in the past year and thats all been due to the last stormy season when the lightning was really intense, and even then, the power outages were short, in Culiacan power has gone off for as long as a few hours at times.
> 
> AH reminds me, Another + with Maz water and electricity is very cheap compared to Culiacan, I asked around to find out why, some said Maz has its own grid or something making it cheaper than the rest of Mexico, if that's true or not i have no idea. but yeah my power bills in Maz are 1/6th what they were in Culiacan, so that might be another thing to look into when considering Durango, it all ads up.


Thanks again. That all sounds pretty good to me, especially the part about the electric bills. The cab driver I befriended in Durango told me electricity was expensive there.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

ElPaso2012 said:


> Thanks again. That all sounds pretty good to me, especially the part about the electric bills. The cab driver I befriended in Durango told me electricity was expensive there.


Electricity is very cheap if you don't use too much (less than 150 -300 kw hours/2 months). If you go over that, the rate goes way up. The thresholds may vary with place, and maybe with season in some places.


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## ElPaso2012 (Dec 16, 2012)

TundraGreen said:


> Electricity is very cheap if you don't use too much (less than 150 -300 kw hours/2 months). If you go over that, the rate goes way up. The thresholds may vary with place, and maybe with season in some places.


Yes, the threshold has been explained here in other threads, but the poster is saying it is drastically cheaper overall than his experience in Culiacan. Perhaps someone knows the specifics.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

ElPaso2012 said:


> Yes, the threshold has been explained here in other threads, but the poster is saying it is drastically cheaper overall than his experience in Culiacan. Perhaps someone knows the specifics.


Good point. I was responding to your comment about a casual remark from a cab driver, and didn't notice that it started with a report from someone who had lived in both Culiacan and Mazatlan.


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