Barra and Melaque

Friday, January 3, 2014. continued

We drove through Mismaloya which was home to the Biological Garden and the PV Zoo. 

All we really experienced were cliffside waterfront views and condos or hotels. 

It was a lush beautiful area to be explored more another time. 

We drove south on Mexico Highway 200 (the coast road). The road was narrow and very windy. 

At some Pemex we had our delicious picnic of a bun with cheese and avocado - delish!!! 

We did encounter some wicked construction which was very bumpy. Good to see they are making improvements. 

Once you get about half way to our destination we discovered there are no longer stops with bathrooms - plan accordingly. 

You never who will pop up on the drive.

Our brief drive into La Manzanilla was uneventful and we will likely not return to the town this trip.

First burro of the day.

The first Melaque campground, that we dubbed "deservedly popular" from the Churches' description of it (clean bathroom and showers, overlooks of the ocean and right down town), was actually called Trailer Park La Playa. 

Then we drove on a really bumpy, primitive town road to our camping spot at Laguna Del Tule, it is right at the far south end between a lagoon and the ocean. Likely in the town of Ville Obregeon (home of the bloggist Steve Cotton). 

Laguna Del Tule is also a hotel complete with pool, palapas, coconut trees, iguanas, crocodiles, beach front, swim up bar and of course lagoon. We did not swim up to the bar (even though Ken's doctor suggested he swim more), we walked up and that should have been "walk away". The tequila incident of 2014 happened. Seems Ken was right when he postulated "happy hour" is 2 for 1 and the one means doubles.  We met Lea and her sister from Vancouver, Bill and Susan from Nanoose and others from BC and Canada. It was an enjoyable evening with many people just arriving and some getting ready to depart.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Late start on our day, but once up and about we walked the beach to Barra. It was a Gringo move because it was very hot and sunny, just before noon. 

Our arrival at the beach town of Barra de Navidad found us hot and hungry.

It seems a bit more of an upscale, funky place than what we have seen of Melaque.

There was a welcome ocean breeze in many of the open area ocean from restaurants. We walked around much of the downtown - lot of restaurants.

There was a peninsula where we saw someone fishing, we could see across to what appears to be an island where the Wyndham Hotel is located.

Wyndham Hotel - Barra de Navidad

There are little boats that will take you over there. We also saw fish carcasses - huge marlin.

Loco Loco was never open when we were in town.

Once slightly cooled off and fed we took the bus from Barra de Navidid back to Melaque (actually Villa Obergeon). We still had to walk quite a ways to the Trailer Park.


A dip in the pool give us the final cool down that was needed. With renewed renewed energy we walked downtown Melaque. Our supper was had at the Laguana Del Tule Restaurant overlooking the ocean.

It was still quite hot in the evening. I did not need the wrap that I took with me.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Yes, we did the tourist thing today. 

We wanted to get doing lots on the blog - ha! We did not get any of that done. 

Our morning beach walk was interrupted by a lengthy visit under a palapa with Bill and Susan from Nanoose. A welcome diversion - their friends from home were to arrive today. 

It was also really hot but we wanted to eat and try Esmerelda's Restaurant. Off we went with only our appetites and not map. After about an hour of walking in the heat and not finding Esmerelda's we returned for directions. 

A much needed dip cooled us down enough to continue our quest. The Restaurant was easy to find with directions. We needed another refreshing dip upon our return. 

Laguana Del Tule - at the entrance, office to the right.

By the way the whole area has a lot of Snowbirds living here - mostly from Canada.

It is about $1000 a month to stay at this hotel. A reliable source told us you can rent down here for about $400 a month. It cost someone $1300 each for return air flights and that was for each person in a family of thirteen, booked a year in advance. Then it rained about three to five days while they were here.

We saw cute black birds with vey long legs by the laguna.

Lazy and tiredness ruled our evening. We ate an orange and cucumber and went to bed early.

Very Friendly bird.

Nice hedge!

Finally: Esmerelda's Restaurant

Monday, January 6, 2014

What will we do today? 

It is great having lots of spare time and being in a tropical locale to allow you to be out of doors whenever you like. Especially if "the beach" and "a pool" are part o the tropical landscape.

This is a special day here in Mexico. The day is the twelfth day of Christmas and is called Dia de Reyes (Epiphany). Here it is the traditional day of gift opening. Often now children receive gifts today and at Christmas. The Mexicans serve a big round cake sort of like a big crown with a hole in the middle, it is also called three kings day, so I guess it is like on of their crowns. There is fruit placed on the outside like jewels on a crown. Little gifts are baked inside. The family member that finds the Baby Jesus hosts the party on February second. Later on in the day I tried a piece of the cake, (called Rosca de Reyes) from a bakery with boxes of the cake outside to sell.  It was like a cross between a hot cross bun and a cinnamon bun.

We walked to Barra de Navidad. along the beach, it was a more pleasant walk this time with cloud over. We saw a picture of coconut shrimp earlier at the campsite on TripAdvisor and shared a plate of the real thing for lunch.

Restaurant Nacho: run by a foodie.

We again walked the town, following many of the roads we walked last time we were here. We walked back to our campsite along the beach. 

Once it cooled off we walked into Melaque to eat but did not go to a restaurant. We picked up some fruit. More low cal and healthier than another meal. 

Even though it was a festive day most establishments appeared open. We saw one restaurant packed the Norteamericanos. It must have been good. 

We then walked back to our campsite. We knew these were last looks at Barra and Melaque because tomorrow we move on.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

We did not ready our van for travel until this morning. It is vey damp camping between the ocean and a lagoon. The ocean breeze in the evening, however, was worth it. Not staying until the sun hit our spot we packed up wet or damp, to dry out later.

We did have time to look for the alligator, not found, but others were there to amuse.

Manzanillo, Colima is about an hours drive away. We drove through a couple of small towns but most notably through groves of coconuts and bananas. 

We made one stop to check out an older establishment recommended to us "Hotel La Posada".  The rooms appeared clean and comfortable. The hotel was right by the Bahia de Manzanillo and sported a pool. It had huge dining facilities. Which could have been recently renovated. People come here in January from places such as Ajijic to warm up.

We continued right downtown to the big, blue Sailfish statue on the malecon. We checked out and checked into the Hotel Colonial. Likely more to do in this area of Manzanillo. 

A lavenderia we found was not far from our hotel and we took in our damp clothing.

Our walk a little ways down the Alameda took us into an area of loose dogs and poverty. I had to leave, not feeling comfortable.

A cool evening breeze was found by the ocean along a malecon walk made out evening more enjoyable.