Manzanillo Visit

On the 24th we started walking from our apartement to the bus station at 10:30 am and made it to the Langbauer´s condominium in less than 13 hours. We had them a little worried because we waited for two hours for an urban bus that never came (we ended up having to go out of way a little to catch a more frequent running bus to their location). Besides that part, the long distance bus was far superior than any Alaska airline plane in comfortability, I just wish the spectacular view of the Michoacan coast didn´t have to compete with bad American movies.
We had a great time in Manzanillo, being treated to some luxeries we don´t usually get. Hot showers, a swimming pool, french toast for breakfast and nice restuarants at night; to name a few. Mainly, it was wonderful to be with friends and family (Sarah´s brother) for Christmas and refreshing to catch up and see some familiar faces. But also, we got to explore Manzanillo´s newly updated ´historical´ center where we discovered a type of gorditas, a sweet tortilla-like soft cookie about the size of four or five half dollars stacked on top of each other. One of the days The Langbauers brought us on a guided tour of Colima. We saw bananna, coco, agave, pineapple and many other plantations; the colonial age capital and surrounding towns

(picture of colonial church in Colima), Colimense ruins (see pics) and a good view of an active volcano. The last part of the tour was lunch at a busy tapas bar where we ordered drinks and were served everything from tacos to boiled pig flesh. All in all, a great tour.

Our ride back to Zihaut was slightly more eventful with a huge traffic jam in the mountains. A semi truck had slid across both narrow lanes on the steep curvy roads the midnight before. But we were very fortunate and got out quickly. In the two hours of confusion and waiting I met a man from Oregon looking for seasonal work here, a backpacker from Mexico city and a surfer from Israel. Sarah and I both decided the journey was a lot of fun and needs a sequel.