Manzanillo, Mexico

---

Geo: 19.0477, -104.327

Room service woke us before 6:30 this morning to deliver croissants and a reminder that today was a port day! Today the ship was stopping in Manzanillo, Mexico. It is very humid in Manzanillo and as we pulled into port I attempted to get some pictures but my camera lens kept fogging-up.
We had a long day in Manzanillo planned – a seven hour excursion into Colima and Colama, cities approximately 1.5 to 2 hours away from the port. We were to see some "authentic" Mexico this way, according to my dear hubby. We were scheduled to go to an artifact museum, the governor's mansion, a cathedral, an authentic Mexican restaurant, and an archaeological site with ruins.

We left the ship early today and it was already hot-hot-hot. Hubby did not seem so thrilled about HIS choice of excursion today… Hmmmm Sometimes being right feels a tiny bit good. Well, hot or not, I told hubby we were going to put on our walking shoes and go-go-go… I was very excited to get off the ship and do something!

We boarded our bus and headed toward Colima, Mexico. The thing I immediately noticed about Manzanillo was their incredibly poor standard of living. The houses and businesses were seemingly uninhabitable to me yet there were people inside the homes. There was mold growing on the sides of homes, big holes in lots of areas, lots of windows had bars and no glass, just makeshift curtains hanging, etc. I have to say it is something you have to see to believe. I have been to Jamaica and I have been to Cozumel but I have never seen poverty like this before in my life. It was heartbreaking.

We toured a museum & a governor's mansion and the small downtown square area of Colima. The guide said everyone should try fresh coconut juice – from a coconut about three to four months old - because it is the only drink in the world that is perfectly balanced isotonic drink for your body – like plasma – and that during the war they would, in extreme circumstances, inject the soldiers with coconut juice if there was no plasma. I'm not sure I believe the second part but he was not kidding when he told the story. Anyway, they like the coconut juice with peanuts here… so, of course, hubby and my father-in-law had a drink. I stuck with my water.

We all got back on the bus and drove about twenty minutes to a new town – Comala. Comala is considered a Mexican "Magic Pueblo" because the architecture is original and has no changes. Sadly, this area looked a bit more destitute than Colima. We arrived at another town square, very small, and went to a Mexican Restaurant where we had prepaid for a meal. The guide told us we would get fish tacos, ceviche, fresh this, fresh that, blah blah blah. We got some free beers and Pepsi light, some guacamole on the corn chips, and a plate of corn chips with some beef, lettuce & cheese. Okay. Whatever. It was too hot to eat anyway.

We ordered beer (cerveza pronounced sir-vase-uh) and they wanted to know which brand? I said Corona and you would have thought I had ordered a non-Mexican beer. Uh. No. Not available. The guide explained there were two cerveza plants in Mexico – one being Bohemia and the other Corona. Bohemia is the GOOOOOOD stuff he said. They seem offended that I had even asked for a Corona. Okay, whatever. The Bohemia was fine. It was a cold beer on a hot day. It's all good. We got two free drinks so my next drink was a Pepsi Lite… yummy! I have no clue why but in every country I have been it is not Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi but rather it is always Coca-Cola Lite or Pepsi Lite.

As we were sitting at the restaurant there were people coming up wanting to sell us all sorts of junkola. One guy was selling head massagers. Believe it or not… lots of people purchased them!

Everywhere we stopped today – and I do mean everywhere – a military and policia presence followed us – at the museum in Colima, at the governor's mansion, here at the restaurant and town square in Comala, etc. I know it is sad but we were not allowed to leave the small one-block area we were in each time we stopped today. Our guide is from Colima and he said he didn't blame the tourists for not visiting because there is so much manipulation of the policia and the government with the drug lords that it is just not safe. I don't know whether I felt more safe that the military followed us all day or more leery?? Today was culture shock for me.

We had time to do some shopping at a corner store before getting back on the bus and I bought some vanilla. I had researched what brand to buy before we ever left for this trip and I made sure it was Coumadin-free. As a side note, for a long time the vanilla in Mexico was sold with Coumadin in it – and some of the cheaper stuff is still sold that way – and if you know anything about the medical field than you know Coumadin is a blood thinner that can be quite dangerous – especially if you are an older person and/or on any prescription medications. Sometimes people go to another country and forget to realize that they do not have an FDA like we have and their products might not be safe. You should do your research.

On the way back from Comala to Colima, Chico pointed-out these “beautiful” retirement condominiums and suggested we should all consider retiring in Mexico as they would love to have us. He said the condos were only $50,000 – good deal, good deal – he said. They were covered in graffiti.

Next, we went to the “recently” discovered pyramids/ruins of La Campana. When we pulled-up I thought it looked a little underwhelming. It quickly became the most fascinating place we visited all day. The guide told a long, interesting detailed story about the history of the site and I will give you the shortened version…
The site was discovered when investors decided to build a shopping center on the overgrown grounds and came upon these rocks… and eventually, more rocks… and decided to leave the area alone and build the shopping center to the left of the ruins. To date, only 2% of the 320 acres of ruins have been excavated. They were still finding new buildings on the site in 1995 & 1996. Frankly, they don't have the money to even properly take care of the grounds they do have available for viewing so who knows what really lies below the service on all this land??

What they do know about these pyramids…
This is the only archaeological site in the world that is not religious based. The pyramids were used as a playground for the wealthy. According to researchers, the wealthy would meet here and play games and the WINNER was beheaded. It was considered an HONOR to be beheaded and the LOSER had to wear the skull on his belt as a sign of shame. Again, this was a game of the WEALTHY?? I almost didn't believe our guide. Maybe researchers have it wrong? Maybe the loser was beheaded? Maybe the wealthy played and beheaded one of his or her opponent's servants?? I just don't know that they have the story correct but he says they do and I'm sure researchers know A LOT more than me.

The sweltering heat went away and this stopped ended-up being the nicest of our day. The sun had hidden behind some clouds and the wind had picked-up and it felt like a cool sea breeze was hitting you. It was nice. We had a fantastic time here and wish we would have had more time to see and learn more about this strange site.

I have little memory of what we did the remainder of today as I am writing this a couple of days later and all I remember for sure is being very, very happy to get back to the boat. I immediately took a shower. I'm sure we ate dinner at some point and when we returned to our room and slept in the nice, cool a/c.

---