Manzanillo

After our visit to Colima we headed to the town of Manzanillo, which has the distinction of being Mexican’s biggest west coast port, as well as a resort-that-never-quite-was… Back in the early 1960s, as I understand it, there was an attempt to annoint Manzanillo as a new glamorous resort, but it never really “took.” After we parked our rental car we looked over the edge of the parking lot to see this odd sight:

A small papier mache factory producing Toy Story characters in Manzanillo...

This modern dolphin sculpture dominates the waterfront near the historic center of Manzanillo.

There was a big cruise ship in town when we arrived, which looked like a hideous way to travel. The local shops were jammed with cruise ship passengers, so we wandered away from the shore into the busy everyday downtown zone. The main drag cuts between two steep hills, and we headed up this one:

Historic center of Manzanillo.

This was the view back from the top of the stairs. A big industrial port was just right of this view, and the natural bay is rimmed by condos. On the other side of the water is a modern middle class zone full of fast food joints, Walmarts, and fancy hotels too.

This iguana suddenly appeared on a rooftop as we gazed out over the city.

The stairs adjacent to downtown were quite charming.

We drove around the bay to our apartment, and after dropping our stuff, we went in pursuit of Mariscos Carlos, which Adriana’s brother-in-law told us was hands-down the best place to eat in the whole area. And sure enough, the Sopa de Mariscos was FANTASTIC!