Story: Pat & Lori in Mexico 2006

This is a quick note about our trip . . . Patrick and I left for Manzanillo, Mexico the day after Christmas. Manzanillo is located on the pacific side of Mexico and this region was the most lush and economically stable part of that country we’ve visited so far. There were very few tourists from North America and those whom we met were mostly from Canada. A lot of the tourists were from Central America (mostly Guadalajara) and seemed well to do. We stayed in a condo right on the beach in Santiago Bay. When we learned that this is where Bo Derek did her famous run on the beach in the film, ’10’, we were reminiscent of her image and the music from the movie but no matter how hard we looked, she never appeared!

Since Manzanillo advertises itself as the sailfish capital of the world with a large statue of the fish in the town square we couldn’t do a trip there without going out on a boat. The fishing boat was crewed by the captain, his father (in this photo) and his young son. Patrick is shown with some of the catch including a sailfish and dorado (aka Mahi Mahi). That night we cooked up some of the catch (the dorado) in garlic and butter and later learned that it is also very good cooked with mango or papaya which is locally grown there. We brought the rest of the meat home with us so will continue to enjoy it. If you haven’t had it before its similar to tuna.

While much of the time was spent on the beach right where we stayed we did some exploring. There were other towns and places of interest we visited including historical museums with much about the Aztecs and the Spanish conquistadors, etc. We drove past numerous tropical fruit plantations with bananas, coconuts, mangoes, and papayas, visited charming towns with colonial architecture and Catholic churches built in the 1500’s, archeological sites, salt mines and a turtle refuge where over 70,000 turtles are released annually. There are 7 different types of turtles found in that area and all are listed as near extinction. These photos show a couple of the mature turtles being cleaned and one of the babies ready to release (no, this baby didn’t get eaten by the carnivorous human but will most likely meet up with hungry crocodiles when released which are also in the area). Patrick also took a scuba lesson one day which he thoroughly enjoyed and now, more then ever, wants very much to get certified.

Finally, each evening we made sure that we were always on the beach so we could watch the sun set. This photo was taken when I sat on the sand right outside our condo. When we arrived back in Anchorage early this morning (January 6th) we were hit with a blast of reality as we deplaned and were met by a cold breeze, not at all like the gentle, tropical breeze we had been enjoying. Its definitely winter here! The eight days of sun and beach seems so very long ago . . . Lori

March 7, 2006 Linda