Field Trips

Adventures in Concordia and Copala

On September 21^st, 2007, our international Cultura de Mexico class headed off on an exciting adventure to visit the historical towns of Concordia and Copala, approximately 45 minutes away from Mazatlán. The first highlight of our day was our visit to the small picturesque town of Concordia– originally called Villa De San Sebastian – and founded in January 1565 by Spanish Grandee, Francisco de Ibarra. Here, we toured the charming old-style town square, built in front of the Colonial Church of Saint Sebastian which is over 350 years old. This is the oldest church in the State of Sinaloa– built with Baroque architecture and decorated columns, and is adorned with beautiful religious artifacts Concordia is a colonial town well-known for producing hand-made pottery and beautifully crafted furniture and the citizens took great pride in displaying a giant wooden chair in the square which many of the international students had fun posing with and taking pictures for souvenirs. Another highlight of our trip to historic Concordia was touring the home of a private family. They had a great collection of historical artifacts and pottery representing the pre-Columbian motif. Then it was a delight to finish off our trip with samples of homemade ice cream and other local Mexican delicacies.

We then headed to the beautiful town of Copala – an ancient mining settlement with a quiet charm and romantically meandering streets of white-walled houses with their characteristic red-tiled roofs. The people here were quite hospitable and were always smiling and time seems to have stood still. Copala boasts a number of pleasant restaurants and shops offering a range of one-of-a-kind handicrafts from all over the country. We took the opportunity to stroll down the quaint cobblestone streets to see rustic colonial buildings, toured the San José Church, built in 1740, and ride the ‘burros’ (donkeys). Afterwards, we stopped at a beautiful restaurant posted atop a hillside and were able to choose from an assortment of delicious Mexican dishes, which was accompanied by a piece of banana coconut pie – yummmm.

Overall, this trip has been a great cultural experience for me – I was fascinated by the history and enchanted by the friendly disposition of the people – and I am now looking forward to touring some of the other beautiful towns surrounding Mazatlan.

Sonia Mahadeo, RYERSON, Canada , Fall 2007