Visiting Friends in La Manzanilla

Beach at La Manzanilla looking toward Boca de Iguanas.

On Friday, Linda and I packed up the backpack and walked to the bus terminal in Malaque.  We were looking to catch the bus to La Manzanilla, which is about 30 minutes northwest of our community.  Linda inquired about the bus and once again a very nice young lady helped explained when it would arrive.  We waited and watched the chaos of the local bus vs. the very large tour bus comings and goings. It is amazing that they can maneuver three greyhound sized busses, heading different directions, around in an area the size of Zip's parking lot. All this while three local school bus sized busses wonder through the mix.  When our bus arrived the young lady that previously helped Linda made sure we were on the bus.  Our bus was standing room only so we hung on and off we rumbled.

Jennifer, John and Linda in their palapa.

La Manzanilla is on a five-mile arching beach of fine sand. You can walk this beach northwest and eventually reach the town of  with Boca de Iguanas. Several years ago we did some boogie boarding on Boca.  On that same trip exploring we visited the beach of Tenacatita.  The entire bay area is called the  Bay of Tenacatita and all the beaches I just mentioned are within its protection.

This year La Manzanilla is the winter home of a friend of Linda's, Jennifer McLeod, who she met while working in the school district. Jennifer and her husband, John, have been traveling Mexico many years and have zeroed in on La Manzanilla as one of their favorite places to stay.

Our bus entered the town proper and Linda beckoned for us to exit. We had been told to get off at the "Y".  The area looked more like an "X" but I followed like the good burro I am.  Linda's memory is usually as sharp as a tack but for some reason she could not remember the name of the restaurant where we were to meet Jennifer.  We stood and looked, and then followed the flow of people walking along the road following the path of our bus.  Within a few blocks, I spotted Jennifer coming our way.  We had exited about four blocks too early at the intersection and not the "Y".  Jenifer had stopped the bus and was told by the driver that we had abandoned ship earlier. She had backtracked and found us wandering.

Jennifer lead as we walked the interior streets and up a hill towards their house. Prior to getting there we met up with Jennifer's son John who was on his way to the beach.  From there we walked a little further up the hill to their lovely rental house for some water, and a tour.

John, Jennifer's husband, met us at the door and we immediately went on a tour of their home.  It was a nice three story building with spacious living spaces.  The entire house was built tucked into the side of the hill giving it very nice shade and a lovely view of the Bay of Tenacatita. We sat up at the rooftop palapa drinking ice water and cooling down from our trip over.  We talked of the history of their coming to this little village, their past history as a couple and of their families.  It was very pleasant and relaxing.

Later we took a walking tour of the town and visited the tiangi where Linda bought a basket. 
We walked down to the waters edge and followed the beach south to the cliff side home of friends of the McLeod's where we visited their beautiful home and picked up some items.  After that we walked back up the beach to Pedro's Tacos and had fish tacos for lunch.  We sat and talked, their son John joined us and we ate and drank in the shade of the beach umbrellas.

At about 3:00 PM we walked to the "Y" and met our bus.  We made plans for John and Jennifer to visit us at our house in the future.  John and I talked about a possible fishing trip with Geraldo. We thanked them for the lunch and tour and were off.

The bus ride back was fast and fun.  A guitar player sang while his friend played the wood flute.  They were very good and collected way more pesos then their fare cost.  After the bus let us off we went to the store and bought some food items, walked home and flopped into the pool.  Another great day in our Big Adventure!