Every now an again you need a break from paradise. While in Barra de Navidad, we put the boat up in a marina for a few days to take an inland trip to Colima City (the capital of the state of Colima). We made hotel reservations, got some bus tickets and packed our back packs to head inland to see some terra firma. The bus was a huge surprise with reclining luxury seats and your own private movie screen on the seat back. The trip was about three hours. Of course, we had no clue or plan what we were going to do in Colima when we got there. So we headed to the local Officina de Tourismo and checked out what there was to do. Turns out the city itself is really old and has some ancient churches and is well known for its Jardin’s (city parks). There are also ruins within the city where the ancient peoples lived. The ruins were unearthed and repaired. You could walk and climb over most…there was a tomb where bones and pots were found and the archaeologist left them in place and you could walk down into the earth to chek em’ out. We tried (3 different companies) to rent a car but every time we were supposed to meet the rental agents no one ever showed up…so we bailed on that. Unfortunately there is a large park not to far from the city where you can go see an active volcano, swim in fresh spring fed lakes and drive on this road where it seems like you are going up when you are really going down…don’t ask….I never got to see it. That aside, we had a really good time checking out the city.
Colima has a lot of funky weird stuff…this was amongst the weird…kinda gave me the clown heebs
This is one of the really old churches near a Jardin…funny thing, the sculpture in front is of a classic tuba vendor…a naturally fermented drink found in the top of palm trees…guess this priest loved him some tuba…I know I did
Close up of tuba vendor statue…tuba is fermented, but not alcoholic in nature. It is served over ice with cacahuentes (peanuts) on top
On our way to the Parque Regional (zoo) we came across this entrepreneurial enterprise…unfortunately the legal council was out on siesta
Hey guys…what’s up…let’s say you let me outta here and we can grab a beer…on me!
I don’t know what the above two animals are…but I am guessing this is some piggy type creature
These turtles were in the reptile area with crocs, lizzards and snakes…every time we went near they all swam towards us, they were either hungry or wanted escape from the crocs
I don’t usually like monkeys, but these guys were pretty funny…and they didn’t even throw poo at me
These are the ancient ruins. The site was massive. Walking around there you really felt transported to another time and could almost see the palapa tops and ninos running through the narrow streets as you walked around
These are some of the ruins that have not been redone…there is a carving in this wall
More ruins…think this was near the play court…can’t remember the name of the game, but it was like high-li (sp?)
Bonus, while we were at the ruins, the active volcano erupted.
This is he tumba (tomb) that was dug up recently. You can actually descend into it and look in
And here is what they found inside
Mexico doesn’t do “bars” in the sense that Americans expect…but when they do, they go full out with swinging doors and everything…I half expected to see some gunslingers when we entered. It was one of those music screetchin’ to a halt stop and stare entrances that we love so much. Don’t think they got many gringos up in there
When you drink in a bar like that, ya gotta be a man…Cuba libre = double shot of rum with a coke to wash it down
During our stay it was carnival (like Mardi gras and fat Tuesday). There are 10 days of activity and on the last day a large parade for the outgoing carnival queen and the new one. We were there for the last day.
The old queen….
And the new..
It was a typical Mexican parade full of color and extragavant costumes. This one seemed to be more senior centric…but they were cute old ladies and really got into the dancing and partying.
Overall this was an awesome trip…can’t wait for many more inland adventures in Central America.
So happy to have come across your site