Febuary 20, 1998-Manzanillo

It's funny when something you've never seen turns out like you imagine it.

Manzanillo did, for me.



We arrived here from Tenacatita the day before yesterday. Actually we arrived in Las Hadas. You know… the "Bo Derek" place. It too is just like I imagined only I cheated, having seen a bunch of photos over the years, not counting Bo's movie, "10", since I never saw any scenery in that movie.

Manzanillo Anchorage

Today we went into town.

It is a nice, old, Mexican waterfront town, with a sheltered harbor, lots of ships, big and small, and a quaintness about it which reminds me of Mazatlan's old town, only more tropical.

Shopping

About twenty years ago I said I wanted to sail my boat to Manzanillo, and I imagined what it would be like. Here we are, and it turned out pretty close. Today we walked around a bit, took some photos, had lunch in an old hotel restaurant, and bought a map.

The hotel was fancy, if old. It had high ceilings and ceiling fans, and a waiter dressed in white who was about 70 years old. There was a TV on the wall with soap operas and the waiter watched it intently. The windows were large arches with turned wood grillwork, no glass, and the door was open to the sidewalk. It was cool inside but the patch of sunlight which fell on the floor inside doorway was bright.

As we ate our enchiladas and tortilla soup we watched the cars and foot traffic outside the door. Judy remarked that she "really loves Mexico".

There are some hills right in downtown with houses stacked up on them looking down on the downtown streets and the houses are brightly painted. There are no roads to them, just stairs, and the streets below are narrow and paved in some odd shaped bricks.

Manzanillo Hillside Houses

We glanced up a steep alley which looked like it came out of the Cazbar in Algeria, and saw a pretty girl coming down it. Judy said it would make a neat picture so I raised my camera but the girl ducked into a doorway just as I snapped the picture. When she got to the street she laughed and followed us for a block, at a distance though.

We walked by the navy base and saw sailors at work, and when we got on the bus to go back to Las Hadas where Wings is moored, we passed a container terminal as big as Seattle's (it looked) and there were six ocean going container ships alongside the docks, which were busy. We also saw a large lot full of brand new Japanese cars.

The only thing we didn't see in Mazanillo was a good place to come ashore with our dingy, which we wanted to find. If we had that we could anchor in the harbor and we wouldn't need to stay at Las Hadas.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Mexico