Summer Spanish School in La Manzanilla

Summer School in La Manzanilla
I decided to try La Catalina Spanish School in La Manzanilla instead of heading into the highlands and cooler weather like I usually do. Just finished my first week and would highly suggest it for serious students. I'll probably take only two weeks to start as it doesn't really allow time for anything else. You really need to do homework to get what you should out of the classes. Next week I start book two of intermediate.

The classes are spoken in Spanish only, the books are in both English and Spanish and there is a CD for pronunciation for each lesson. Mostly it's story reading and comprehension. I had two other students in my class last week and next week I will be alone.

La Catalina Natural Language School

Bahia Tenacatita over La Manzanilla

La Manzanilla Centro

Example of hillside construction

Native and Coco Palms behind La Manzanilla

La Manzanilla Rodeo 2006

This is my first visit to the Rodeo in La Manzanilla and one of the few that starts early enough to get some pictures. Friends went to one in Cihuatlan a month ago thinking it started at six and they waited until 8:30 while listening to 70,000 watts of music and an out of control disk jockey. The Fiesta going on right now in Villa Obregon (Ejido Villa Obregon Candelaria Celebration) seems to only have events in the evening ... but it goes through Monday so we'll see.

Villa Obregon Candelaria Fiesta

The La Manzanilla rodeo started with the Band marching up the hill and up to the "bandstand". The riders are introduced one at a time and then they say their prayers and hello to the crowd. After that a rider comes out every 20-30 minutes depending on how much time it takes to get the previous bull out of the ring. After the rider is off three guys on horses lasso the bull and can control his direction back to the exit gate. In between, lots of people watching, dancing, eating and beer drinking.

Comment from La Manzanilla Message board announcing ...
It’s time to rev things up for Gringo Day again, the first of La Manzanilla’s four rodeo days. This year it is Friday, Feb. 3 and, WOW!, this is the 25th Annual Gringo Day! As a review, and for those of you new to the concept, Gringo Day is when the gringos of our fair community sponsor all the rodeo action for our warmhearted Mexican neighbors as a thank you for this wonderful village we know and love so well.

More fotos of the Rodeo

Band coming up the hill

Coming out of the chute

This bull knows what to do

Kids enjoying the show

Time for dancing and beer

La Manzanilla, Costalegre, Jalisco, Mexico

Playa Boca de Iguanas

I've only been to Boca de Iguanas along the beach on our walks from La Manzanilla - and once on Rays tours thru the mangroves to go bodysurfing - but never into town. Glen and I decided to drive up for a day of Boogie Boarding and here's a few fotos.

The waves along the beach here don't have shape for real surfing but they do roll in far enough (shallow water) to get a ride on a Boogie Board. Beaches like Melaque tend to be steeper with the waves breaking closer to the beach - often times only good for an elevator ride down.


The few short blocks of Boca de Iguanas central


The only store in town


The second of two trailer parks


This little restaurant has an adjoining motel

La Manzanilla

La Manzanilla (gets its name from a tree which grew in the area called Manzanillo, the apple like fruits are Manzanillas [possibly derived from Manzana]). It's less than a kilometer (½ mi) in from the highway to the beach at La Manzanilla, on the southern edge of large Bahía de Tenacatita, 78 kilometers north of Manzanillo. Hotels and restaurants line the main street of the town. Rocks dot the gray sands and edge both ends of the wide beach. The bay is usually calm. At the beach road's north end is where you find the famous Caimen of the La Manzanilla Lagoon - also know as crocodiles or cocodrilos.


Famous Cocodrilos


The new Malecon


Beach in front of La Manzanilla


Boca de Iguanas beach looking back at La manzanilla