TWIN TOWERS

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Back to Menu Twin Towers Home Page LIVING AT TWIN TOWERS Twin Towers has been called a hand-built hotel, an international backpackers hostel, a campground, and an ad hoc community. Whatever you want to call it, it's a unique living experience on a long stretch of undeveloped tropical beach just a short boat ride from the city of Mazatlan, Mexico.
Living takes place in hand-constructed huts or hammocks under palm thatch shelters. It's all literally right on the beach. Walk out and turn left you're looking at twelve miles of beach lined with nothing but coconut palms and waves: turn right and you're fifty meters from a boat dock and the five minute ride to Mazatlan.	Photo By Piero Munaretto: Click to enlarge
This is Robinson Crusoe living, Gilligan's Island with a few more comforts. One of the main comforts being the company of fellow travelers and castaways. Twin Towers, and the camps that preceded them, have always had the feel of a friendly, unplanned community. The hammocks, beachcombing, serene evenings, and nights by the fire tend to draw people into an easy fellowship and create memories that stay vivid for years.
The Towers themselves were originally hand-built by Chris all by himself, almost with out the use of tools. It was completed in three months(except for ongoing improvements, which will probably never end) on Christmas, 2001 and people immediately starting calling it "The Twin Towers" as a joke. Chris adopted the name officially, partly as a commemoration of the 9-11 events in New York. Two weeks later Belinda showed up and decided to interrupt her world travels to stay and work on the Twin Towers and share Chris' barefoot beach life.	Hosts Chris and Belinda
Actually, even before construction of the Towers, the site had a reputation for years as a good place for travelers to hang out. Chris has built several different kinds of habitations, and for awhile rented rooms in Casa Zen. The new building is impressive, but the same tradition of friendly, laidback living merely continues.
Back to Menu Twin Towers Home Page ACCOMODATIONS We have two tower cabins with net "hammock" floors that can sleep up to four people each. There is also lots of covered space for hammocks, an arrangement many of our amigos prefer. And, of course, if you have your own tent there's plenty of room to camp. We have toilet facilities, of course, and a primitive but very effective hot water supply. (Primitive but effective is kind of the whole idea at Twin Towers.) Work is underway on a sweat lodge. Future plans call for an arts/graft gallery and increased self-suffienciency through fruit trees and gardens.	Unlimited facilities for Pod People
Back to Menu Twin Towers Home Page EATING ARRANGEMENTS There are many good places to eat on the island (see About Isla page but most people who stay here use our communal kitchen, which saves money and is a lot more fun. We have stoves, coolers, hot water, and all the tools and "fixin´s" and make trips to the grocery.	Every kitchen should have a hammock
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HOW TO GET HERE As this map of the Mazatlan area shows, Isla de la Piedra isn't really an island, but almost everybody comes over by boat. Here are directions from the most common arrival sites. FROM THE CENTRAL MARKET From the East side of the big Public Market (Aquiles Serdan St, one-way to the South) take any bus with Ferry (or variation of spelling) orPlaya Sur painted on the window. They will be stubby Orange buses and charge $4 pesos (about 40 cents US). The big green air-conditioned buses marked Sabalo Centro also work, but charge $7.50pesos. If you prefer to walk it's about 2 kilometers south. Go South on Serdan to the wide divided Aleman, go left, then right on Carnaval, proceed straight South to the ferry terminal. Get off where the bus curves right in front of the ferry building. Don't worry if you miss it, he will go up a block, turn around and stop right in front of the driveway. Walk on, building to your right, past the large fenced parking lot. Take a right at the end of the fence, you will see fishing boats. Continue around fence to the floating docks with open launches tied up. A small booth sells round trip tickets for $10 pesos (about a dollar US). Keep the ticket to come back.
Once across the estuary, walk up the dock and continue straight across the road towards the shelters in this photograph. You will see the beach. Walk down to the beach and over to the row of palm thatch restaurants to your left. Twin towers is the third property in the row. These boats operate ONLY IN DAYTIME. If you are crossing at night, use the boats described at the bottom of this section.	Photo By Piero Munaretto: Click to enlarge
FROM THE BUS STATION Walk out to main street (Ejercito Mexicano) and catch a bus on your side of the street, heading south, to your right facing the street. The orange buses with Ferry (or variation of spelling) or Playa Sur painted on the window are perfect. Also Morelos, anything with Aleman on it, or the big green Sabalo Centro buses, which charge twice what the smaller ones charge. ($4 pesos, about 40 cents US). Stay on until the end of the line, which will put you at the ferry terminal. Follow instructions above to get a boat across to Isla de la Piedra. FROM THE BAJA FERRY Walk off the ferry and out the gate to the street. Immediately turn right and walk around the large fenced parking lot until you are back on the water in front of the ferryboat, where there are roofed launches at a floating dock. Pay $10 pesos round trip, follow instructions in the top section. FROM THE AIRPORT The airport is quite a ways out in the country. Isla de la Piedra is near the airport on the map, but it's unlikely you can get a cab to take you, and it's a long, rough road. Better to go into town then cross from there. A group of 3 or 4 might as well take a taxi into town, which is quite a ways and costs $200 pesos ($22 USD). Individuals are better off taking the collective shuttle at around $50 pesos. Tell taxi to go to Ferry. Or say "Trasbordador". Once there, ask for "Paseo a Isla de la Piedra". If you take the shuttle, it will go around to a zillion hotels. If you are in the Golden Zone, catch a Sabalo Centro bus heading South and stay on to the end of the line. Follow boat instructions in first section. Or you can ask driver to let you off at the first place you can catch a taxi, which should run around $25-30 pesos to take you to the boats. ARRIVING AFTER DARK If you arrive in Mazatlan at night, you might wish to stay a night in Mazatlan before coming over to the Isla. We highly recommend the Hotel Lerma, on Simon Bolivar between Serdan and Juarez. Cheap, clean, nice staff: best deal in town. If they are full, there are other economy hotels nearby. Your airport shuttle will take you there if you ask them to. The boats from the ferry terminal are most convenient to Twin Towers, but only run during daylight hours. The Isla can be reached after dark by another boat system that embarks from the Embarcadero a Isla de la Piedra by the Navy Docks. This can be reached by bus, sort of, but is complicated and it's a somewhat rough neighborhood, so it's recommended to use a taxi, which will charge $20-25 pesos from downtown. Walk to the dock and see if there is anybody in the ticket booth. If so, buy a ticket and wait on the benches. If not, reach inside the top of the door of the ticket booth (marked Taquilla) and feel for the switch that turns on the light up top. Wait for a boat to come over an pick you up. On the Isla side, there will be open pulmonias that will take you to Twin Towers (tell the "Casa Zen") for $15 pesos. It's about but hard to find if you are not familiar with the area.
Back to Menu Twin Towers Home Page ACTIVITIES The trouble with island paradises is always finding something to do. This has never posed much of a problem at Twin Towers, however. If you get tired of sitting around chatting with other travelers, playing cards or chess, reading books from our trading library, or just kicking back in a hammock and zoning out, you can roam around the island doing Isla things. But there are also special events at the Twin Towers itself. Twin Towers has always been the scene of a lot of arts and crafts activity. In addition to shell mobiles, driftwood carving, and firing articles made from local clay, there are interesting woods to be found and Goat Island has a huge supply of red pipe stone, which can be carved with a pocket knife then polished to a shine. Meditation practioners might find kindred souls, or at least a serene environment, at our next-door neighbors, Casa Zen There is a long tradition of impromptu evening entertainments on the site. Camp fires, guitar jams, drum circles, fire dancers, flute concerts, sushi-making...it depends on who is here and who might happen to drop by to visit, but there is usually something afoot. If there is interest, we make trips to Mazatlan to hear live music, see Carnival events, attend movies, or shop for exotic goodies.	Flaming youth by our campfire
Back to Menu Twin Towers Home Page COSTS OF LIVING HERE We charge $50 pesos per person for the cabins (cheaper than any place in Mazatlan, where there are NO hostels) and a mere $30 pesos for hammocks and tents. (Our hammocks or yours.) At present, there are $9.20 pesos to a US dollar, about $5.50 to the Canadian dollar.) Everyone buys their own food, although we generally chip in for dinners. Prices at the local store are pretty reasonable. Fresh fish are available from our fishermen neighbors at great prices on a "catch as catch can" basis.	Dinner in our stylish dinette made from Hobie Cat ™ Hulls.
Back to Menu Twin Towers Home Page CASA ZEN Anyone with interest in Zen or meditation will be interested in our next door neighbors, Casa Zen. This retreat for Zen meditation and study has years of history on Isla de la Piedra and welcomes Twin Tower folks to join them for meditation and discussion.	Photo from Casa Zen: Meditation Room