The Costalagre - Two Towns on the Coast

Early in our winter journey we visited central interior Mexico towns: Tepoztlan, Puebla, Cuernavaca, Tlayacapan, and Guadalajara/Tlaquepaque. Now we wanted to sample some Costalagre (Happy Coast) seaside towns.  Since we know the town of Barra de Navidad pretty well already we booked an airbnb in nearby La Manzanilla for four days staying with an expat woman named Annette in her rental house four blocks from the beach.

Playa Careyes 81

Our taxi from Tenacatita arrived in La Manzanilla mid day and we tried to locate our accommodations using google maps on our smart phone, getting dropped up at the top of a steep hill which was a block away from the residence down below.  Not knowing where we needed to go, we talked to a gringo couple living at the top of that hill and they only scratched their heads and wished us good luck before they shut their big metal garage door.  Well, that was not helpful.  Then the door across the drive opened and revealed a younger Hispanic man getting into his car.  I asked him if we could get a ride down the hill. " Sure!"

He asked us what we were looking for then volunteered to help, spending a half hour driving us around before finding the location of our airbnb at Playa Careyes 81.  He was pleased with himself for finding the address. He said he thought he knew Annette. We thanked him profusely.  Isn't it interesting that the gringo couple, our compatriots, were no help, and the Mexican national was nothing but helpful.  Different cultures!

Crocodile Cafe

At Annette's, the time was well spent washing the salt out of our clothes, walking the beach, planning our next legs of the journey, and having plenty of time for Connie to practice her music. While Barra de Navidad seemed to have a good number of large, pale US senior citizens, La Manzanilla was favored by slightly more tanned large, Canadian senior citizens.  With my fledgling tan I felt a little more at home in "La Manz", as the boaters call it.

To the West

We shopped our food locally and cooked most of our meals at Annette's. The Crocodile Bar was one of our favorite places, right on the beach facing west.  We met some musicians there playing Gypsy Jazz and we had quite a fun happy hour dancing and talking with new acquaintances.  On our last night, Annette threw a party, inviting some musician friends and some music appreciation friends.  I watched and admired how Connie interacted with the local gringo musicians. It was a nice variety of instruments: an autoharp, 2 ukes, guitar and harmonica, accordion and, of course eveyone's voices!

It didn't take long before they were passing around sheets of music, (and libations), and swapping the lead. The non musicians started dancing, a great time with great folks.  Personally, my appreciation for my lovely wife only increases when I watch and she draws everyone together in harmony.  What a nice evening it was.

The next day we packed up our bags and got the heck out of there.

Manzanillo is the busiest port on the west coast of Mexico

To make our exit we needed a taxi.  The two phone numbers we had for taxis didn't connect us with anyone so we walked down to the town square and woke up this old guy who had an ancient bright yellow Nissan cab parked at the curb.  He was happy for our business and we had a nice bumpy ride up and over the hills and down into the nearby town of Barra de Navidad where there was a small ETN bus station.  We checked in there, were told (by a young man) that all was well and that our seats were reserved.  Later, once the bus was present and ready we were approached by the station boss woman who wanted our printed tickets.  We don't have printed tickets. We do it all online.  So I fired up our big black laptop and found PDF evidence I'd stashed on the desktop to prove that we paid for our two seats on the outgoing bus.  This is a normal Mexico thing we've found...  one location or one person will tell you things are one way then the next time it will be all different. We just smile and show them whatever we have and it usually works out just fine.

Vida del Mar

The two hour bus from Barra to Manzanillo was 200 pesos (~$10 USD) for the two of us.  Then we got a taxi (30 Pesos) at the bus station to take us to a nearby Walmart where I guarded the bags while Connie did a master shopping job buying just the right amount of food and wine to get us through four days at the Vida del Mar condo resort. (Look up Airbnb - Condo Los Chatos in Manzinillo) A woman named Mirlo Berenice picked us up at the store and carried us to the outskirts of town to our luxury Airbnb accommodations overlooking the blue Pacific.

So nice to have a fully equipped kitchen in a nice condo for a while

The big complex was built in the 70's and is as beautiful as ever with manicured lawns, flowering shrubs and trees, and palms, palms, everywhere.  Our porch faced south with a full view of the wide pacific.  We had a really nice kitchen to cook in, a large shaded porch facing the ocean and a big soft queen sized bed.  Now we're really coming up in life!  About $50 US per day, our most expensive but well worth it stay.  We swam in the ocean, sunned and read at the pool, hiked around, and visited the nearby La Boquita beach where we'd anchored our boat many years ago.

The four days flew by and soon we were in a VW diesel driven by Mirlo's friend Victor who for 600 pesos ($35 USD) took us 67 kilometers down the coast to Cuyutlán, Colima, to the old seaside hotel San Rafael.  During the ride we talked a little politics, all agreeing that our president was crazy.  Victor seemed reassured when we told him that most people in the US also think Trump is a criminal... and crazy.  We learned that their new president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, had suspended tolls for passenger vehicles on the Colima-Manzanillo highway. Hooray! 

We love watching these banana boats at the beach

 He's also in the process of raffling off the presidential Jet, a Boeing 787.   Like many of the ways Mexico controls traffic, there was a simple solution to implement the toll removal,  make a portal at the toll booths restricted in height and width.  If the car fits through, there is no toll.  Another smart (but annoying) thing they do with traffic is they install topes (speed bumps) everywhere.  In the US, we put up signs, install MPH readouts, and have police with radar guns to keep people from speeding    In Mexico, they engineer the road with topes so that if you speed, you’ll tear your vehicle apart.  Simple, but effective, no cops, no equipment to fail, no speeding.

In Mexico, there is so much that makes sense, and so much that doesn't.   We continue our coastal hopping in the next episode.  I can't wait.

Big White Belly