Tonatzin

Manzanillo and the state of Colima, Facts, Tips and Daytrips
a review by Wendy Devlin

February 1999

An excellent new guidebook, Manzanillo and the state of Colima, Facts, Tips and Daytrips, profiles Colima and the coastal city of Manzanillo. Susan Dearing, veteran dive director, owner/operator of Underworld Scuba in Manzanillo has written a comprehensive guide to the area. She brings to the book the facts that she has gleaned from her nine years of living and working in the Manzanillo area. Her business as a highly qualified scuba-diving instructor gives her a keen appreciation of the relationship of tourism to ecological guardianship of the natural wonders.

The state of Colima is located 165 miles south of Puerto Vallarta in the central western part of Mexico. The fourth smallest state in Mexico rises from the sea along the pacific coast to 11,670 feet in the Sierras. Colima's eighty-seven miles of coastline and volcanic mountains are a natural mecca with a yearly average of 350 days of sunshine.

Manzanillo, Colima is an important seaport since before the Spanish Conquest and today is a popular international tourist destination.

The old provincial port is also the western home for the Mexican navy. Driving in from the north towards Manzanillo's international airport, Playa de Oro, the scenery is lovely with palm trees and fruit trees, tropical foliage and lagoons. But as you approach the harbor, the scene changes to a marine beehive. The docks are downtown, and the railroad tracks to the wharves cut across the main street.

The town of 120,000 is situated on the southern end of Manzanillo Bay on a narrow isthmus that separates the Pacific from the large Cuyutlan Lagoon. Before the Spanish came, it was an important fishing village said to have hosted junks from the Orient. Today Manzanillo ranks as Mexico's most important western port, largely because it's the only major one with rail connections to the interior. It's a shipping center for coconuts, bananas, limes, avocados, mangoes and sugar cane from the local plantations.

Tips

Susan states in her introduction that she sometimes spends more time answering questions than working at her business. This explains the large inventory of helpful 'Tips' with its own index at the end of the book. Thirty pages give you up-to-date information and understanding of common Mexican experiences.

Day trips

The day trip section is very valuable to both old and new visitors to Manzanillo and Colima. The book includes extremely detailed maps of downtown Manzanillo and all its beaches, the state and city of Colima, and Barra de Navidad/ Melaque. The maps showing restaurants, hotels and services of Las Brisas, Manzanillo Bay and Santiago Bay pinpoint location to street lights and within a tenth of a mile for accuracy. In my week, travelling the area by local bus, panga and van, I found the book very helpful in my explorations.

My favorite aspect of the book is the detailed description of location of many off-of-the beaten path villages, beaches, volcanoes, lakes and waterfalls. Susan describes each place's, unique history, cultural traditions and interesting sites or natural wonders. I am an internet writer and a collector of Mexican travel books and I found her descriptions of this area, the most detailed available.

Thanks for Sharing

Since its first publication in 1995, this book has been updated several times. Susan welcomes comments, suggestions and drawings in return for free copies of the book. She is attempting to keep this wealth of local information about Manzanillo and Colima, accurate and up-to-date. To purchase copies send a $25 check or money order to:

Susan Dearing
A.P. 295
28861 Santiago, Colima, Mexico
Email: scubamex@delfin.colimanet.com

Or buy a copy locally for just $20 at the scuba shop in Plaza Pacifico, Av. Audiencia, or Juanito's Restaurant, Club Santiago clubhouse, Hotel La Posada, in Manzanillo, Colima.

Wendy Devlin is a frequent traveler in Mexico. She can be reached via email at wdevlin@prcn.org An archive of her stories is online the Mexico Connect website at http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/travel/wdevlin/wdwalktalkindex.html.

PLANETA.COM GUIDES

g Mexico Environment and Travel Bibliography

 

 

Planeta.com

Home | About | Advertise! | Books | Central America | Ecotourism | Headlines
Learn Spanish | Mexico | Media | Site Map | South America | World Travel | Updates