Day 11 - 10/12/2021 - Manzanillo - Back in Time & a Little Magic

Today was the earliest we had to wake up on the entire voyage so far: 6am.  This was necessary because we had a 7:15am shoreside meet up time.  So we ate a quick breakfast, gathered our gear, and headed down to Deck A.  However we were stopped at Deck 1 as the ship hadn't yet been cleared which was a bit surprising.  There were about 50 people in line ahead of us.  7:15 came and went as well as 7:30 and there were several hundred people behind us stretching down the hall.  We've not seen this length of line since our stop at Easter Island on the Maasdam 3 years ago.  Finally about 7:40am, the gate was opened and the masses squeezed their way down the narrow stairway to deck A where they passed through security and stepped off the ship.  

 

It was a nice walk along a fairly new concrete pier to the bus staging area.  At this point the HAL organization of the crowd broke down significantly with crowding occurring for the two buses heading for our destination on a tour titled Magical Pueblos.  But it all sorted out and we took our customary seats in the back of the bus.  Today's trip was to be every bit as long as yesterday's but on much nicer roads.  There was even one stretch that was a tollway that cost $322 pesos or about $16.  We headed essentially south and east and had views of large coconut palm tree farms which we brought here by the Spaniards in the 1500's.  They are now a major agricultural crop of the area along with lime and coffee. There were also good views of the region's active volcano.

 

As we approached Comala the driver stopped the bus on a downhill stretch of road and shut off the engine.  He then released the air brakes, and the bus started backing up the hill!  It was a strange feeling for the bus to be backing up hill!  Hence the title for the tour:  Magical Pueblos.  This area is known for this phenomena.  We continued on to a archeological museum at the little village of Nogueras. Besides a small collection of pre-Hispanic artifacts it's also features a collection of items related to the artist, Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo who has a very distinctive style that's simply tastefully elegant.  In the museum are a few of his paintings and drawings.  We took two optional side tours that cost $1 each.  The first one displayed many more pieces of his artwork and the second his studio furnishings.  We then drove to the town square of Comala where we toured the very old and simple Catholic Church along with the town square with another gazebo and a number of dog statues

 

About 3 blocks away we stopped at a restaurant for lunch.  We were seated with a couple From the Vancouver area who had a picky dietary taste so we ended up with lots of food.  The menu was primarily small tacos and burritos and I found them to be very bland. We then retraced our route back to the ship passing through Colima and the large statue of the Dancing Dogs which is an oversized copy of the archeological find in the museum.  We got back to the ship at. 2:45pm which gave us enough time to take a few pictures in the port area and do some brief shopping before re-boarding the ship. Around 3:45 the ship backed away from the pier, rotated clockwise, and started sailing out to sea leaving our final Mexican port behind.  No sooner had we started traveling forward when the port pilot left the ship using a rope ladder thrown over. The side of our ship from which he stepped on board his little pilot boat powered by a pair of large Mercury outboard motors.

 

Since we departed so early there was ample time for another wildlife Q&A session up in the Crow's Nest Explorations café which turned out to be quite lively because Ross the naturalist hadn't heard of the large dolphin pod sighting the other day.  I showed him some movies I took of the encounter.  After dinner we watched the One Step Dance Company perform "Humanity" which we've seen many times previously.  It was still quite good.  We wrapped up the evening watching the BBKing All Stars belt out their tunes before retiring for the evening.  

 

I started my 4th and last in the current series of Mike Stoneman mystery novels,  "Fatal Infraction" about an NFL quarterback that gets murdered.  I should report that our earlier problem with the room's air conditioning has been totally fixed.  

 

Tomorrow is the first of 6 sea days, and I'm looking forward to them.  Stay tuned. 

 

 


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