#56 / 2005 Tour 3: Manzanillo

MANZANILLO

#56


Before I got out of the bunk the next morning I could tell that I was well being over Montezuma's Revenge. I stuck my head out of the hatch and saw a glorious site. Mountains of palm trees, sun-washed banks of white edifices with red-tiled roofs, turrets, towers, it all seemed reminiscent of an old postcard from Greece. I had never seen anything like this in person or even on television in a fantasy tale. The white buildings were blinding against the tropical backgrounds. The whole bay of Manzanillo is breathtaking. We pumped up the dinghy and headed to shore.

As official "cruisers" in the bay we were entitled to limited use of the resort and beach facilities nearby. I was ecstatic to overhear that this is a "world-class" resort. Surely Disneyworld (never been there personally, but hear a lot about it) isn't any better than this. So this is how the other half lives. The marina is full of mostly yachts, now so many sailboards such as the Maya. This is big kahuna territory.

There is a lineup of these resorts along the beach, we stroll down underneath palm trees and flowering bushes on a brick inlaid tile path all the way down to the main route to town. There we take a left and climb a long bank of steps up to the street level. Manzanillo is the cleanest town I have seen. It doesn't seem poverty stricken like so many other places we have been. The three of us head down the carretera and find a nice place for breakfast. Joe and I ate again for the first time; just toast for me thanks and some fresh orange juice.

Our hard sailing had broken a large screw hook on one of the sail riggings. It was a common enough item, I see them at Wal-Mart all the time, think I had one in my junk drawer back home, but here it was impossible to find. Rick even hired a cab and went to both ends of town to no avail. Finally one fereteria suggested the naval hardware shop. We head back to the other side of town and sure enough a guy custom made one to order from scratch while we all waited in the cab. Mexicans are so ingenious like that.