MANZANILLO, MEXICO

Manzanillo, here we come!!!

After watching the movie , "Christmas with the Kranks", Daryl and I figured it was not such a bad idea to take a trip to sunny mexico and boycott christmas as well. Instead of sitting it out here to brave the cold, December storm of the bay area, we decided to book a flight to Manzanillo, Mexico via Alaskan Airlines. Last year, when we spent our New year in Seattle, my brother, JJ convinced us that Alaskan Airlines offered the best mileage plan, after studying all the mileage plan available. So we subscribed enthusiastically and started accumulating our miles as the new year rolled in. We also get a $50.00 companion pass every year from Alaska Airlines to anywhere we choose to go in the world as long as it lies within the alaskan airlines route. Well, isn't that a good deal so far?

After verifying my school semester's schedule and my husbands vacation allotment, we decided to book a flight to Manzanillo , Mexico. Why Manzanillo?

Manzanillo is a low key international tourist destination. There were only a few Americans. Is this good or bad? :)

We met a few americans from the cruises who were rerouted to Manzanillo due to some weather or tide turbulence. There were a lots of Canadians from Vancouver who availed themselves of the Alaskan Airlines web promotions and there were many Mexican tourists from Guadalajara as well.

Manzanillo is home to the Mexican navy. It is an old provincial port with historical episodes involving pirates and treasures. The historical old town has a gargantuan statue of a sailfish by Mexican artist Sebastian, as it is a sailfish capital.


It has the most important west coast ports because of it’s rail connections to the interior. It is the shipping center for coconuts, bananas, limes, avocadoes, mangoes, and sugarcane from local plantations.

It is mexico’s main door to the increasingly important pacific rim.

So why not Manzanillo? My husband and I also had our own personal reasons as well as to why we wanted to visit. Daryl has heard about this wonderful place from a good friend, who unfortunately passed away. He owned properties down there and oftentimes extended Daryl a personal invitation to come and visit.

As for me, I am more inclined to dig on my own personal historical roots. Manzanillo was the place where galleons were built and Legazpi set off the Galleon trade from Mexico to Manila Philippines in the 1600's. After Ferdinand Magellan was killed in my island of Cebu, Philippines, Legazpi came one hundred years later to colonize my country. We stayed in the same area where the Galleons were built around Las Hadas Hotel.

As soon as we got off the airport, I started taking pictures and the authorities instantly chided me for my actions. Oooooopppssss, I was forbidden to take any pictures while in the airport area. "Sorry!Lo siento!", I foolishly smiled. We left one chilly rainy night from the bay area and as soon as we landed almost everyone wanted to tear off layers off thier winter clothes and switch into their shorts and t-shirts.

After exchanging curt brief polite spanish greetings with the immigration and customs personnel, "Bievenido" we retrieved our luggages. Than we sought out the rental car we booked from the mainland. It is wiser to book from the US, as it did cost double the amount, if we leased the car locally. The car rental agent still persisted in charging us local car insurance, even if we bought the mexican local insurance online. So be wary, and don't let them talk you into buying extras they think you should have.

The drive to the hotel was simple, direct and easy, as we followed the sign obediently. There was a road construction from the airport to Manzanillo centro. Two lane roads were reduced to one dusty rubble roads to the centro. That did not stop the road ragers from overtaking, if you drove your car carefully and cautiously.

Along the way, the countryside was pleasant to view with a stretch of palm trees, mango, banana , and lemon trees, pineapple and sugar cane. It almost reminds me of home. Finally we got to our hotel, the Hotel Las Hadas.
Las Hadas hotel was evocative of one thousand and one Arabian nights. The hotel was owned and built by multimillionare Antenor Patino also known as the bolivian tin king. It looked like a huge white palace with moorish influence. The floors were all made with marbles inside and outside the courtyards. This place was also the setting for the movie "10" with Bo Derek and Dudley Moore.
The dinner scene was shot at Las hadas Legazpi gourmet restaurant. Many scenes were shot as the Las Hadas beach.

The following day, we decided to explore the Manzanillo Centro. We drove to the city centre familiarizing ourselves with the traffic lights and road signs which were slightly different from the mainland USA signs. It was difficult to spot a red light . But we managed to tour the city without getting ticketed. It was fascinating for me to see the bright colored houses. When I spotted a purple building, I already liked it here.


We visited the old historical town of Manzanillo and walked through the old streets and shops. The town was decorated with festive christmas decors.



The next day we wanted to explore the neighboring town of Colima which was just an hour's drive north of Manzanillo. The roads were pretty good and there were lots of telltale signboards cautioning the commuters to drive carefully. Driving north, we can see the smoking twin volcanosfrom the horizon.


Colima is the state capital and still maintain old town atmosphere. It was a day before christmas so everyone seems to be doing their last minute shopping. Naturally, parking place was hard to find. The influx of the crowd was suffocating. As Daryl tried to find his way out of the traffic maze, I was so engaged in taking pictures of the old Spanish architecture. He wasn't so happy with it as he expected me to read the road map and guide him out of the way. Reading the road map was no easy task either so i just decided to enjoy the view and piqued up my husband's temper. :) We decided it wasn't the right time to tour the town and proceeded to drive on further north.