Manzanillo and back

This trip to Manzanillo was planned in the summer of last year when Doug and Crystal Winger told us, at their summer campsite, "Oh we winter in Manzanillo, that's not far from Puerrto Vallarta - just down the road" Well 270kms and four hours of travelling we arrived at the Winger's place.

Driving the Hwy 200 is no Pacific Coast Highway driving experience but not boring. The first hour South is in the mountains and is very windy as one climbs and drops following the original trail, levelling out  after one hundred kms we then moved through the agricultural heartelnad of Jalisco State and into Colima State.Passing through dusty towns and villages that have suffered the effects of urbanisation in the larger centres and the local stores and ventures have closed and whats's left appear to be not viable - just rundown and existing. With only two large Towns between start and finish we saw a lot of cultivated fields - mango trees, bananas and maybe tomatoes and peppers.

Arriving at Manzanill we entered the Town from the North, the touristy area and travelled around the bay to the South where Doug and Crystal's condo was located. This is in the middle of this huge Bay, the arc of which is probably thirty kms. The beaches at the North and the working port at the South end. Old Town or "Centro" is at the South and hasn't been modernised - it is cheaper to infill the open land between the boroughs than touch old town. The condo is in a complex of eighteen and D&C are the only occupants at the moment, it will be filled and rowdy at Easter time when the Mexican owners come in for the festival. Welcomed with open arms we settle in and decide to be entertained by the "tour" Everyone who gets friends from out of town wants to show off their sights/sites and we set off to see them. After an impressive drive around the richer homes pegged to the cliffs of the Bay we end up in a scruffy backwater compound that is the "Iguana Sanctuary". A local man has taken it upon himself to turn his property, that lines the main river, into an Iguana Sanctuary. We were not told if the iguanas lived here before he did but he tells us that there are now five hundred of these beasts living in the trees and buildings that make up his patch. Only seeing a couple on the ground, we questioned the numbers, but were told that it is too cold and they were up in the trees to catch the sun - and they were. As we drove along the river, on the way out, we could see iguana trees - trees thick with iguanas on the hhigher branches just sun-bathing, a strange but magnificent sight.

The drive back showed us the old town and its present state of busy decay, so familiar to older downtown urban centres. Busy, functional and very charming to a visitor's eye. Doug, who had adopted the Mexico way, very fast, was proud of the present expansion plans for the industrial port of Manzanillo. Governments of all levels has made the Port expansion a keystone of local economic development with National implications. "This will be the largest Port on the Pacific Coast when finished." Doug states. Finally he shows us a row of houses, in a better part of the residential area nearer downtown and tells us that "This is where I thought we might move to next, we want to live with the Mexicans!"

Twenty four hours later we parted company and thanked them profusely for the abundant hospitality, which far exceeded our expectations - thank you Doug and Crystal.

Arriving back in PV, the journey had none  of the minor drama of the trip South, when we had to wait for a while when the road was blocked due to the recovery of a tanker truck that had rolled off the road, burned out and the driver was killed. Also seeing one of the roaming cows, some Mexican farmers turn out their cows to graze on the roadside, laying dead in the gutter. Just a couple of sights that one sees on the roads. But then checking the internet that night it was noticed that an eighty car pile-up had ocurred on the 401 just West of Port Hope. Bad drivers everywhere!

Being away two days we fhought that would have been enough time  to have the internet installed, after all TelMex had said "within the next two days Senor" - wrong. Checking with our ever-present but not efficient rental agent, she agreed that TelMex had not been in and when checking further she said the same thing, "Within two days. But if you offer a tip I can get a technician now." Yep within twenty minutes Miguel had arrived and discovered what i suspected - ther was no internet feed on the line. As Miguel packed up and tried to explain, he finished with the same old refrain - "Manana (tomorrow)" But having been told about the free feed from a nearby Dental Clinic, which has an open network, we did get to check email later that night.

This entry, and the previous ones will be uploaded when the internet comes to the condo - perhaps Manana.

Day 2

Housekeeping duties - key to be recut, money to be changed and the final payment to Superior Tours for the bus trip next weekend to be made and the car pickup.

Riding the bus again, the fare has remained the same snce last year, we found oursleves downtown and noticing that the bus route had been changed. The bus was running on a parallel route to the road used last year, noone asked and nobody except me wondered why. H.owever the bus no longer runs on the Malecon as it is now a pedestrian mall, crowds are down ans the merchants are agitating for the return of the car, RoboFord should be Mayor here he'd give the cars back in an instant

The payment made the next stop was the "Page in the Sun" a popular coffee bar and local bookstore. But it had wifi. Everybody at the table produced their gadgets, plugged in and caught up with email and facebook. Lunch was at the familiar burger stand at the corner of the Square Lazero Cardenas on the waterfront. Same menu, different owners but really low prices and a free beer for ordering. Fantastic value Philly sandwich, burger, two beers for less then eleven dollars.

One oddity, even though the Canadian dollar is above par the cambios are paying less for it than the US dollar when you change money. Even the banks are in on this - go figure.

Time to catch the keymaker before he leaves for his other job at 3.30 is really passing quite quickly and we have to be back at the condo.  We also have to walk across the road to get the car. Charles and I go to get the car the ladies stay in the Supermarket to look for a hair dryer, the trip to Walmart had not yielded a cheaper result, so they went back to the first place they saw one.

Same procedure as last year for the car - arrive say hello to Luis, hand over license and credit card and wait for them to fill out the forms inspect the car and drive away. This year the mandatory third party liability insurance was $16 dollars up from $13, the second driver charge was $4 per day making the extra fees more expensive than the rental rate. Still $205 for six days was still reasonable for Mexico.  All we have to do now is remain scratch-free. This car is festooned with little stickers on the dents that say "reported"

A quiet night of wine/beer and chips and salsa/guacamole and an early to bed time. Funny with company in the house the lack of TV and internet is hardly noticed.

The first beautiful day

Day one was not without surprises. Arriving one hour late due to snow and de-icing operations we arrived at the rental agency on time as I had forgotten about the one  hour time difference between PV and Cobourg. "Bad news and Good news." Brissa said as we walked in the office. "First I messed up and booked you into the wrong condo (#6) but I have got you a much better one."

All the papers signed, and a security cheque handed over we walked around the familiar complex to a gate on the North side, we had the West side last year, walked as far as last year's model, all of these units are always so far from the entrance and opened the door. As with the other one the top two floors - the two bedroom units - are above the studio units so the first thing you see is a flight of stairs. This one was brand new glossy ceramic tile. "The owner has just spent six months remodelling it." Brissa said. And it showed. Everything was brand new and a few little items had not been thought of like the hair dryer and the toaster.

Suitably impressed the next orderof business was the 'vittels'. There  is a large supermarket in the building and we used it to stock up with essentials like beer/wine and toilet paper. Food was bought as well. The one item missing from the buying was the homemade salsa, to go with the tostados, we knew it would be gone, it usually is by 1045 in the morning - good stuff never lasts long. Never mind we will get it tomorrow when we are up and early.

Brother Charles, the birthday boy was ready to go to eat, so finding the bus stop in the usual place, nothing appears to change in PV they just add more new stuff to the old stuff, I like that; a perfect example of "infilling". Getting off at "Blakes" we entered the familiar sports bar to see the punters drooling  over the three hockey games beamed in by satellite. A thought did flash by "what did these people do in December during the lockout?"

As Wolfe says, "You can never go back" - Doreen did mention, back at the condo, "I didn't think the food was so good this time" a damning comment that will see us strike this one off the list.

Day two sees us downtown, to pay the other half of the trip to Guadalajuara, back to the airport to pick up the car, for the trip to Manzanillo, and whatever may come up. We do have to drop off the keys to Brissa for more copies, and patiently wait for the internet and cable to be installed - Manana?

On our way back again - first post of 2013

The amount of electronic gear we are taking each year seems to be getting bigger. This year another computer and a smart phone. Add them to the cameras and e-readers and one wonders just how we ever got along without them.

So we leave tomorrow afternoon and check in for a lazy night in TO and cheap longterm parking for the car.Arriving tomorrow afternoon it's only a ten minute walk to the condo and then we are in for a month. Finding a place to celebrate Charle's b'day will be the big event of the day.

So check in from time to time and live vicariously. We promise to be just above the mundane level - maybe interesting but we know that some of you do read it so we like to write it.

ben