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.

After leaving Yelapa behind, we did an overnight to Chamela. This was a cool bay with chill little palapas next to a river…apparently there was a town…but we walked up the wrong road and never found it. We hung out a night there and caught up with Josh and Jill on s/v La Gitana (fellow surfer we met up in Punta de Mita). Both boats headed off the next day to a cool island name Isla Cocina which is a bird sanctuary. Great snorkeling and a perfect beach for a bonfire. We made hobos…a concoction from Scotty on s/v Ghost…which consists of meat, veggies and copious amounts of cheese and butter all wrapped in foil and hucked into the fire…good stuff!

The next day we had a long passage of 8 knots to Paraiso…which was our own private paradise. As we pulled into the bay there was a beach with 4 coconut trees and a beautiful white Sand beach…it was amazing. More good snorkeling….I’ll let the photos do the rest.

Palarran in Palm tree paradise

The landscape around the anchorage was a dinghy exploring mecca

This is listed as a great dinghy pass through…I don’t know Hello World…the oh shit factor was a lot higher here than the cave in Canada…we declined to “pass” through

Next stop was Tenacatita…this place was like LaCruz south. Tons of boats that had been anchored there for months…there was cruisers net on the radio and everything…this aside, the place was amazing. We also finally hooked up with s/v Unleashed who had left La Cruz to go south about a month ahead of us. They are now on the return route north.

Catching up with S/V Unleashed (the younger couple on the right) and some other cruisers

There was a cocodrillio reserve done up Mexican style with semi rotted board walks bordered by 3 foot high hurricane fencing that was in need of much repair…did this sway our 10 peso entrance…hell no! The following are photos taken on a regular point and shoot…no zoom required.

I swear…this dude is alive…never did move, but they say a croc can move 30mph on land in short bursts…I’ll take buddies word for it:-)

Next was the jungle estuary tour…who doesn’t like to explore a jungle via dinghy cutting through narrow passages carved by a tidal flow? The birds were beautiful and varied from Pelicans to Snowy Egrets.

There were also a number of large cobwebs that CB always managed to drive through on my side of the dinghy. The river was about 2 miles long and ended in a large lagoon where apparently you used to be able to beach your dinghy and hike over to the beach and have a beer at a palapa…unfortunately about 2 years ago there was a property dispute and a large fence went up preventing any access…then all the businesses went tits up…so we just turned around.

Yoda was just around the corner….swamp land this is, yeessss.

CB really could have cared less about the flora and fauna… he was all about the full throttle return trip. He flew the dink through tight turns narrowly missing pangas flying with Han Solo type skill (so he said) until we came out to the beach…it took us an hour and a half to get up there and only 20 minutes to get back…good stuff!

CB said this was just like riding speeder bikes through the forests on the moons of Endor

The next day it was onto Barre de Navidad…I can’t wait to see this place…updates to follow…I promise :-)

With love!