Can't Get to Rio? Try the Colorful Family-Friendly Carnaval in Mazatlan, Mexico Bob Cooper - Houston Chronicle
go to original February 7, 2014

Carnaval Mazatlán 2014 (Ramón GoldenTv)

The world's longest uninterrupted promenade, curving beguilingly for four miles on the Pacific, is taken over nightly by families and dressed-to-kill singles for a week-long blur of parades, concerts, beauty contests and fireworks. Shrimp is grilled and margaritas mixed on street corners where mariachi bands brass up the mood. Music, food smells and celebrants spill out of the restaurants, nightclubs, bars and small hotels. The spectacle repeats itself for the 116th year on Feb. 27 to March 4.

Rio's Carnaval and New Orleans' Mardi Gras are better known worldwide, but the world's third-largest such festival in Mazatlan draws more than 600,000 people for the Sunday parade - the largest event among many. Most are from Mexico, but many visitors also arrive from the U.S., Canada and other Latin American countries. The tradition, a "last hurrah" before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, commenced in Mazatlan in 1898. A heavy police presence ensures that the potent mix of crowds, street music and Pacifico beer, which flows nightly until 4 a.m., is remarkably peaceful.

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