Saturday. Back to Manzanillo

Fernando felt that he didn't want to drive to Manzanillo after being warned by several people that driving the highway at night in this area is very dangerous. With that thought in mind the four of them decided to come back with us on the bus. This would enable a longer stay and watching the sunset together before returning back to Colima in the safety of the bus. Because they are all over 60 years old they get tickets half price (about $12 each, return). We couldn't get that price because we are extranjeros (foreigners).

None of us chose to eat  the buffet breakfast. Instead Caro and I ate some snacks purchased yesterday, checked out, and together we were all on the 10 AM bus and back here at our place by about 11:45. I was able to enjoy the magnificent coastal mountain scenery another time!

We set up the beach umbrella and soon Ruben was out enjoying the ocean, followed a little later by all the women. Fernando and I decided to stay on the veranda and guard the house (we're good guys that way!!). I had gone earlier to Oxxo to purchase Negro Medelo beer. To me it is yucky, but Fernando and Ruben like it so they had a couple each (and took the remainder back to Colima).

After enjoying our place,the ocean, meeting some of the neighbours, and eating snacks we decided to walk to a recommended restaurant for a final meal together. The chosen location had a brass band playing (piercingly, painfully loud) and we almost didn't stay however the restaurant said they had a "quieter" room where we didn't scream at each other to communicate (no exaggeration). Very fortunately (!!!) the band took a break when our food came (seriously my ears still hurt from the racket we endured). This was a band that couldn't play or sing very well so cranked up the amplifiers to max. UGGHH

Unfortunately the photo of Caro isn't the best. The other photo is my meal; shrimp wrapped in bacon, smothered in a delicious sauce, with sides of veggies and rice. Naturally I had a Corona beer. Caro had a naranjada (an orange drink).Our portion of the bill (with large tip) was $42. A wonderful,delicious meal.

We walked the kilometre or do back to our place (including further down the road to where the ships leave the harbour).

Arriving home just before sunset, we seated ourselves in the pool terrace area to watch the daylight disappear. Beautiful again!

 Here it comes!

A great finish to the day, as we spent the last 30 minutes together chatting, before the four of them caught a taxi to the bus depot.

We heard from Fernando today that they were back in Colima by 9:30 PM.

A wonderful visit, as always.

Friday in Tecoman

We slept OK and met the others at the buffet for breakfast. At almost $10/person it was hard to justify the cost (in Mexico anyway) but there were no other places to eat near the hotel. The staff made pancakes and eggs along with having a large selection of other hot food, fruit etc.so that was very good. I had a craving for a good pancake so I had three (along with some eggs)

We decided to go to the beach near Tecoman which is half way back to Manzanillo. The beach itself is a dirty colour (blackish) and is open to the ocean so there are large waves coming in from Japan and China. There was no point going into the water although Ruben had wanted to try (but wisely chose not to).

We chose one of the numerous restaurants overlooking the beach; ordering a drink each (beer or pop etc) and enjoyed the waves crashing onto the shore.

We decided to walk on the sand and completed more than two kilometres.

By now it was Mexican lunchtime (somewhere around 2 PM) and we went back to the original restaurant where we had had refreshments earlier.

I wasn't very hungry so I just ordered consume with shrimp. A good choice as there was about five nice size shrimp in the soup. The photo below makes the shrimp look bigger than they were-the cup is a regular coffee cup.

The group ordered a large fried fish and other delicious food and proceeded to enjoy a great meal. Edu had ordered a shrimp "shish kebab" which came a little later. She wasn't very hungry by then which was a bonus for me as even though I wasn't hungry I had about half her kebab. Without question it was one of the best kebabs I have ever had!. Shrimp,onions,bacon, covered in a mustard/mayo type sauce. OMG it was awesome.

Another long walk later (this time on the main restaurant road ) we attempted to walk off the numerous calories we had consumed and afterwards we all piled into Fernando's car heading back to Colima.

In the evening I was left off at the hotel (along with Ruben who wasn't feeling well) as the rest of the group headed by taxi to the downtown. It turns out that this weekend is a HUGE vaquero (cowboy) festival with hundreds of thousands of people enjoying hundreds (if not thousands) of vaqueros parading their finest horses while dressed in their finest traditional clothing. One of the videos Caro later showed me was that of a prized horse prancing! Interspersed between groups of the horses were brass bands playing traditional vaquero songs.

They watched a couple hours of this, then left to come back to the hotel by 10 PM. The taxi driver told them the parade carries on non-stop until all riders and bands have paraded through the downtown streets (it finishes about 1 A.M).

Caro showered immediately when she came into the room and I felt no allergic reactions.

Thursday Feb 6/2020 Colima

We hurried our breakfast and grabbed a taxi to the bus depot; arrived at 0850, just in time to buy tickets for the 0900 bus to Colima.

The bus drove along the coastline then turned inland going through spectacular mountainous countryside and arrived in Colima an hour and 20 minutes after leaving Manzanillo.

In practically no time we were at the hotel and walked up to Fernando,Edu, Ruben and Tete as they were completing a mid morning coffee. They hadn't expected us until after 1 P.M.

We all piled into Fernando's car (NOT built for six people LOL) and headed out to one of Mexico's "Magic Towns (Pueblo Magico) very close by. It is called Comala and is one of those precious little towns that is very traditional looking and is kept very clean and is a "must see" when in the area.

We ended up taking a long walk through the town to a restored hacienda (named "Nogueras") that was the home for an extremely famous artist in Mexico named Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo. I really like some of his work.

Near this city is a 12,600 foot mountain called Colima Volcano. Simply magnificent.

This photo was taken as we drove from Comala to a location similar to Magnetic Hill in Canada. When we got there Fernando put the car in neutral and as we slowly coasted downhill it appeared that we were going up; cool!

Earlier, while in Comala, we had decided to go for lunch in the zocalo. We stopped in a very interesting place. The way it worked was we would buy very overpriced beer (at $4.50/bottle!) or other alcohol drinks and while drinking the restaurant supplied us with a continual parade of different local foods (usually different kinds of tacos and sopes). We ate ourselves very full and had a couple of beers each (the men) and one fancy drink each (the women) for a total price (including tip) of $42. What a great deal.

Back in Colima we checked into our room, at which time I found a dead bug in between my sheets. Yuck!! We expressed our concerns to management and then a person came by to double check everything, correct a few problems in the room (light bulbs replaced as needed) and a good spray of an aromatic (due to the stuffiness-I think the room hadn't been used for a while).

We finished off the day with a night time walk of the zocalo, everyone enjoying a coffee (except not me) and watching the night action.

Just a photo of a photo of the volcano erupting a few years ago (taken from near the zocalo in Comala)

Problems with Mexican Banks &*@@!!!

Today was  a "bit" of a stressful day.

Caro went back to the beauty salon she went to yesterday and got a pedicure (hard to turn down at $19!). There was a tremendous downpour this morning but it had finished up by the time she started walking there.

After lunch we caught the bus (9 pesos/ 65 cents) to the downtown where Caro left off a pair of shoes at a shoe repair place to get stretched a bit more (estimated cost $3.60). We will pick them up next week.

We needed more cash and so began a couple of stressful hours getting money. First stop was a huge bank called Santander (corporate head office is Spain). Several of their ABM's were broken and the lineup in the bank was huge so we carried on looking for another option. Next stop was a smallish Mexican bank called Banorte. Their ABM refused both my ATB debit card and ATB Mastercard. Also we couldn't tell from the ABM screen if our bank account had been debited the withdrawal or not (and hadn't given us our money-now I am stressed!!!!).After that we decided to forget the small Mexican banks and instead caught a bus back to the area of town where there are lots of expats and banks should be set up for foreigners to get cash (i.e. the shopping area near Soriano's and Walmart). First stop; Scotia Bank. A Canadian company-should be no problem. Hmm ....Rejected my debit card and then when I used my ATB mastercard, IT ATE IT!!!  No chance of getting the card back and there was nothing the bank people could do about it. Told us that all cards "eaten" are destroyed. DAMN!!!!!!!!

OK now I am angry (and we still need to get money). We walked a couple of blocks to a mall that we knew had a Banamex location. Unfortunately their machines were out of service so we were out of luck. The bank fellow told us that Walmart had an ABM so off we went. We walked into Walmart and sure enough they had two different bank ABM's. We tried my ATB debit card and it WORKED!. Hallelujah!

This photo is taken from the beach behind Walmart. Our place is located where the beach curves over to the far right (at the right hand side of the photo).

After the bus ride home I got on-line and confirmed we have had only had one withdrawal today from ATB  debit. I also tried to contact ATB to ask for a new card but their website does not seem to allow e-mail contact. I will monitor my Mastercard account very closely to confirm all is OK (we will be using Caro's ATB card for the rest of this trip-and we have other cards if needed).

We had leftovers for supper to clean out the fridge as tomorrow we are going to the city of Colima to meet up with Fernando/Edu and Tete/Ruben for a couple of nights.

This was our sunset tonight. Absolutely stunning!

Tonight Caro kicked my butt in rummy. Sigh  : (

We left our rummy game with the Quebec folks for them to use until we get back on Saturday.

Tuesday Feb 4/2020

Yesterday we woke up to a lousy day, with lots of early morning rain and quite an angry sea.

We didn't do too much until the afternoon when, after the rain mostly stopped, we decided to walk to Soriano's. An hour, (and 5 kms) later we arrived just in time for the rain to start again. The first stop was a high end store across the street from Soriano's called La Marina (very much like a Liverpool store). In the small appliance section I found the following;

A Oster toaster for "ONLY" $157  !!!!!! Now I know it is a nice toaster but.......

After our purchases in Soriano's we stopped outside at the Oaxaca market which was completing its last full day in the parking lot before moving somewhere else. We picked up a few items and then proceeded across the main street to pick up the bus to get home.

The evening was spent playing rummy and watching an episode of Mind Hunters on Netflix.

Today we woke up to overcast skies but throughout the day it brightened up. Other than a lot of bugs outside it was a pleasant day.

Caro went down to the beach in the morning (as she usually does at some point in the day ) and noticed the damage done by the storm waves.

The restaurant people told her this is normal and the beach will restore itself over time.

I didn't do too much today but Caro walked about 15 minutes to her appointment at the hair salon.

Tonight Caro fried up some fish and along with rice and a salad we enjoyed another great meal.

We are finally getting low on cash. I will have to find a bank tomorrow and pick up a few hundred dollars before we head to Colima on Thursday.

We have reached the half way point in our time down here. We have found that with Face Time we can talk to the kids and grandkids as often as we (and they) want to chat, so we are not missing them as much as we would have even a few years ago when the technology wasn't as good.

Tonight a nice breeze has come up thus keeping the bugs away and allowing us to enjoy the veranda with the lights of the houses and buildings glistening across the bay. There is the occasional large container ship gliding by, either inboard or outbound which is always nice to see.

Sunday Feb 2nd

Another day in a long line of days that is overcast, but warm (and humid).

It is half time of the Superbowl game which I have been able to see in English on TV here. Caro is watching the half time show. The ESPN English half time broadcast is being preempted by a substitute program from Mexico BUT the Mexican network broadcasting the game is showing the performances. I am outside on the veranda typing this while listening to the few remaining people enjoying the beach. Today is the middle day of the long weekend here so the beach is relatively busy out in front of us.

This morning we caught the bus to the downtown where we went to the central market for some fresh food.

We simply walked around after that enjoying the sights,sounds and smells of the markets and downtown areas.

On the way back on the bus when we were fairly close to getting off a donut vendor got on with a huge rack of donuts intended for sale (no doubt) on the beach further down from us where there are many more people. HOLY GOOD SMELLS BATMAN!!!   After riding a further ten minutes with him in the back of the bus I SUCCUMBED to temptation. As we left the bus we caused a slight delay in traffic flow behind us as we scrambled to find 30 pesos (about $2 ) in small change  to buy a couple.

I practically snorted down my donut as soon as we were in the house. Later in the afternoon Caro informed me that the second one was also for me. BONUS!!!! P.S. It is gone already and Caro got a big hug from me. Funny enough though, I was not hungry for supper!

Half time is over and the game is about to restart. Tonight looks to be a typical night for us. Once the game is over we may play cards or rummy.

Caro just informed me that there are vendors selling tamales so no doubt she will be coming back with her meals for tomorrow (I am not a fan of tamales).

Saturday

Last night, for the first time on this trip, we hooked up the HDMI line I brought down with us and connected my computer to the TV. We watched a couple of episodes of Mind Hunter before heading off to bed.

Today right after breakfast we hopped on the number 3 bus and took it all the far end of the city where we got off it on the main drag and then grabbed a taxi down to a very popular beach called La Boquita.

Above is a tourist map of the greater Manzanillo area.

The black "right hand" side arrow shows our apartment location

The black "rectangle"below our apartment (on the map) is the area of the downtown market. To get there we take a bus that goes north and then between the two large lagoons behind us before turning south and driving around the port before getting to the old area of town.

The black "circle" is the location of Soriano's and Walmart where we do the majority of our shopping.

The black "triangle" is Tesoro Resort where Caro and the girls vacationed some years ago.

The black "left hand" side arrow is the beach we went to today. As the pelican flies (no crows here!), it is about ten kilometres away.

This beach is a wonderful place due to its shallowness and small wave action which allows children to play in the ocean without serious concerns. A large portion of the area has beach restaurants and as we were there before huge amounts of visitors (and beach vendors) we stopped for a beer and some food before it got too crazy and uncomfortable (which happened just as we finished eating)

Yes Lisa, that is a chelada your Mom is having!

This is a panorama shot and while it shows the beach sand and wave action  nicely it doesn't show how really big it is (note Santiago Bay above on the map)

Across the water,at the far end of Santiago Bay is the Tesoro Resort. It is the large white building in the middle of the photo.

Interestingly enough, once we got home I used the telephoto on Caro's Nikon camera and was able to make out, through the haze, all the La Boquita beach restaurants and buildings where we had come back from.

On the way back we found it much simpler to get a cab (the bus route had taken us through a large portion of back streets and sketchy areas that took "forever" to get through).

As requested the cab dropped us off at a well known market that is set up every Saturday. It is quite near Tesoro Resort. It seemed to be a "must stop" for all the expats and tourists.We didn't buy too much.

Another bus ride and we were at Walmart and walked out with about $80 worth of food and supplies.

A cab ride home and we have just vegged the rest of the day.

Caro just came in from a walk and it appears there are mosquitos outside. I guess we may be playing crib or rummy inside tonight.