MANZANILLO
The world became aware of Manzanillo when it saw Bo Derek and Dudley
Moore cavorting on the beaches and in the then-elegant all-white hotel Las
Hadas (the fairies) in the movie “10” back in the 1970s. It was a picture
of romance that caught everyone’s fancy.
Before then it was simply an
important seaport (since before the Spanish Conquest), fishing town and
home of the Mexican Navy. The old port, which has seen its share of
colorful, historical episodes involving pirates and hidden treasures, is
set on the southern end of Manzanillo—named by Hernan Cortes in 1531,
after the beautiful chamomile plants he found there in abundance. The site
where Cortes met with the Indians is still called Audienca (audience), and
is one of its finest beaches. Cortez founded the first shipyard in Latin
America there, at the mouth of the Santiago River. He also spent part of
his retirement at this west coast port, which is in a straight line across
Mexico from Veracruz, where he first arrived!
In 1564, Captain Basque Lopez de Legazpi led a fleet of galleons across
the Pacific to conquer the Philippines in the name of the Spanish Crown.
His ships were built by Indians and Spaniards on the beaches of Manzanillo!
Other Spanish explorers sailed from here to discover La Paz and Ensenada
(Baja California), Santa Barbara and San Diego (California). Such an
important shipping center also attracted some notorious pirates—Drake,
Cavendish and Speijelbergen among them. So the area is rumored to be a
veritable cemetery of buried treasures, some of which allegedly have been
found. In 1862 a steamer caught fire near Manzanillo and sank with a cargo
of a million and a half dollars in gold and silver aboard. In 1900, a U.S.
expedition recovered some half-million dollars worth of the booty, and the
rest may still be there!
Manzanillo, on a giant curving bay, has many beaches, some where the
sea is calmer than others, including Playa de la Audiencia, where Cortes
met the Indians for the first time. A 600-slip marina is planned in a huge
development that is still in the works. Some of the beaches north of the
city are even more beautiful, and side trips or visits to the Costalegre
(happy coast) area north of Manzanillo are highly recommended to visitors.
Another favorite trip, inland, is to the city of Colima, a charming place
that, although not on the ocean, is just as romantic as Manzanillo. Its
twin volcanoes that rise above the Volcan de Colima National Park, are
only about 25 miles north of the city. One of these volcanoes has been
erupting periodically since 1941, and smokes constantly. Just minutes from
Colima is Comala, close to the volcanoes and a wonderful place to
experience small-town Mexico, especially on Sundays.
The area surrounding Manzanillo and Colima is mountainous with flat
stretches in between, where vast coconut plantations stretch out as far as
the eye can see. Often bananas are grown under the tall coconut trees.
Coconuts are a big industry here—the State exports coconut oil and coconut
milk, which is a very popular thirst-quencher in these parts. Served with
ice and a squeeze of lime, you can buy a coco to drink at every roadside
stand or even in convenience stores. And then there’s coconut candy, soap,
lotions, handicrafts made from the husks—the list goes on and on and there
are roadside stands in abundance.
The entire area is beautiful and interesting to explore, golf, shop,
swim, sun, horseback ride, or just to relax in, as it’s relatively remote,
the coastline still largely untouched and the people friendly and
hospitable.
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