Carrizal and Santiago Bay
20 January 2011
Most of the respondents to the "Name This Equipment" contest were correct. The plastic discs are plastic plates we cut and slid on the docklines to prevent raccoons and rats from boarding the boat. Last year in Barra we had raccoons come aboard a couple of times and help themselves to our tortilla chips. Apparently a rat boarded a boat this year too so we decided not to take any chances. Lee did hear little feet on deck one night though.
On Monday we headed south to Carrizal with So Inclined, Pacifico and Blue Rodeo. The weather was great but no wind so it was a motorboat trip. We arrived in Carrizal, a small anchorage just inside Manzanillo bay at around 1:00pm. It was warm so I immediately jumped in the water for a swim. The water here is still a little chilly, about 75 degrees. Later in the day we all went to Blue Rodeo for a pork roast dinner that was fabulous.
We stayed in Carrizal for two nights and moved into Santiago Bay on Wednesday morning. Shopping was the first item on all our schedules so we piled into two dinghies and went ashore at the palapa beach. Then we walked through a resort community to find a bus stop. It was about a 1.5 mile walk which is the longest I've done in over a month. No problems so the back must be getting better. We were told to take the R1 bus and not the R2 bus to get to the commercial shopping center in Manzanillo. An R3 bus came by and we asked it went to the shopping center and of course the bus driver said yes. Eventually the bus did finally make it to shopping after about an hour side tour of all the little pueblos inland from Manzanillo. So now we know we definitely want the R1 bus which just takes 15 minutes.
We ate lunch at a wonderful chicken rotisserie place in the shopping center. For 43 pesos (about $3.00) you get a 1/2 chicken with tortillas and a verde sauce. After lunch we found a Thrifty ice cream store (Lee's favorite) closeby and had chocolate ice cream cones I'm sure we will be returning to this area.
Mike went with us to a palapa restaurant at the beach for dinner and here again we had a "Mexican" experience. Lee and I ordered empenadas camarones (shrimp empenadas) and Mike ordered quesadillas camarones. We all ended up with quesadillas camarones. We're not sure what happened, especially since we pointed on the menu what we wanted.
The weather has turned chilly again at night so we're back to using the down comforter. But it is warm during the day. It's very pleasant during the day, not too warm or humid so no need for fans.