Feeling Hot Hot Hot!

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Having escaped the fiasco that was Manzanillo and its hotel room situation we travelled onto Colima, the capital of the state of the same name. By Mexican standards its quite a small little town and it has had quite a lot of earthquakes so there isnt any of the colonial building business. However it makes up for it with some very pretty squares, which are full of plants and flowers and fountains and benches and in the evening stalls and a band. It also has the standard 5 Mexican streets, to be found in every town village and megalopolis; Morelos, Juarez, 5 de Mayo, Av. 1910 and Revolucion. We found a hotel, very cheap after the coast and conveniently located in a shopping centre, shops downstairs, hotel rooms upstairs...normal...dumped our stuff and headed out for a fortifying breakfast, then on to a park which promised a zoo.

The zoo was really quite pathetic, even after the rubbishness than was London Zoo when I went in January and all the animals were cold and sulking inside their enclosures. It was so incredibly hot it was all we could do to drag ourselves to the lions, "Great lions, lets go", then back to the entrance to hunt down water. Cooled slightly by my water I sat on a wall which unbeknown to me had been warmed to sizzling point by the sun, so I leapt RIGHT back up again with a slightly burnt bum! I dont think anyone saw...

There was a communal pool on the other side of the park but on inspection it was full of children and looked a bit skanky, so we snuck into a posh looking hotel in the zocalo and found its pool on the roof. Oh it was lovely!!! Some of us were less sure than others about our tresspassing and chickened out so in the end it was just me and Angie left to wallow in the rooftop pool. We made friends with a Canadian couple who were travelling down the coast and I think they believed we were bonafide guests. Wahey!

In the evening we set out to go on a free bus tour the Canadians reccomended to us but got slightly distracted by many many shops with lovely goods! Im sure my standards have lowered since arriving and Im starting too appreciate Mexican fashion because Ive never seen souch bountiful shops here before. I have to admit I got a bit carried away, but I did NEED a bag at least...my one had actual holes in it and needed replacing even before I left England.

Easter day here is completely like a normal Sunday. I was quite suprised at first of the general disregard of Sunday as a day of rest, there are no closed shops or enforced short opening hours, and the last one was no different, except all the first class buses back to Guadalajara were booked so we went cattle class and it was HOT!!! And sweaty and uncomfortable. Ugh! But we did see Colimas volcano and we even saw it puff smoke! So here I am in Guadalajara, with my host family near the Plaza del Sol shopping centre, the language school right next door to a beautiful beautiful cake shop and free internet access, as much as I can take!!! So Im sure with that kind of excitement Im going to be happy!

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