La Manzanilla

La Manzanilla is a small village on the Pacific Coast north of Manzanillo in the state of Jalisco. We visited La Manzanilla while we were staying in Barra de Navidad and decided that we would return and stay for a month. There are no banks in the village and the only grocery stores are small tiendas. We drove 14 km (9 mi) south to Melaque, the largest community on the coast between Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo, to do most of our shopping. 

Entrance to La Manzanilla

La Manzanilla’s main attractions are the beach, water sports (fishing, swimming, surfing, kayaking), RV camping, La Catalina Natural Language School (link) and crocodile reserve (hence the statue on the way into town). The place is not well known among gringos, but is a popular weekend and holiday destination with Mexicans.

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

Wishing you a happy New Year. If you've been following our blog, you may have noticed that we changed our picture and blog description. Last year when we began this enterprise, we were leaving the working world and transitioning into retirement. Once retired, we quickly realized how much we enjoyed it; the transition was not difficult.  “Every day’s a Saturday” as my former boss said after he retired.

Sunrise, Mar de Cortés

Traveling had a lot to do with easing the transition. We sold our house in northern Colorado, got rid of a lot of stuff, put the rest in storage, packed the truck and headed to Mexico. We loved northern Colorado, but didn't want to spend another winter there. We sold our snow shovels in a garage sale and gave our winter clothes to Goodwill.

Barra de Navidad

We left Ajijic early on a Sunday morning. Lake Chapala had been dry and dusty, although sprinkled a couple times hinting at the rainy season to come. We were heading back to the Pacific Coast where it would be warm and humid. Descending to the coastal plain from 1,525 m (5,000 ft) on the paved road from Guadalajara to Manzanillo, we could feel the temperature and humidity increasing to 25°C (77°F) and 70% humidity. The air felt dense and heavy. What would summer be like at 35°C (95°F) and 90% humidity? 

Marlin-sailfish sculpture at the entrance to Barra de Navidad

We spent five weeks on the Costa Alegre (happy or cheerful coast), roughly 300 km (180 mi) of coast south of Puerto Vallarta to Manzanillo. A tropical environment, modest beach towns and uncrowded beaches attract Mexicans on weekends and holidays from as far as Guadalajara and Mexico City (link). American and Canadian tourists and snowbirds show up in the winter (November-April) when the temperatures are warm and it rarely rains, but their presence is not large like in Puerto Vallarta.

Hiking the Sierra Travesaño

Standing at 1,500 m (5,000 ft) in Ajijic looking up at the 2,500 m (8,000 ft) Sierra Travesaño made us want to put on our hiking shoes and find a trail. We found several hikes out of town in a guidebook by Teresa Kendrick (2007), including El Tepalo. Her directions were simple and straightforward – from Calle Jin (the main east-west street) follow Incarnación Rosas to Callejon de Tepalo up (north) to the entrance of El Tepalo – the canyon of the waterfalls. It was the end of the dry season, so we didn’t expect any water (and there wasn’t any). Our objective was the ridge where several white crosses were visible with binoculars from the village.

Looking up to the Sierra Travesaño