From Manzanillo to Colima

Sunrise over Manzanillo

Located a 4-hour drive south of Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo is the swordfishing capital of the world and has become one of Mexico’s most important commercial ports and THE port for Mexico City.  I was stunned by the extent of port development in the last decade. We would learn that it is giving Long Beach, California increasing competition because there are rail lines into the port and ships can unload their containers here, which are placed on flatbeds and head for points north, from Texas to Canada.  It is less expensive to unload and ship from here than from Long Beach and this is feeding its growth. There is also an iron mine to the north and the ore is shipped from here.

Port of Manzanillo

Colima state is heavily agricultural with mangoes, coconuts, lemons, and agave (tequila) among the principal crops.

After docking we headed for the hills of Colima (the state and city) and two archaeological sites, one more stunning than the other.  Our wonderful driver, Felipe Esqueda,  spoke English, having spent 25 years in California, but is from Colima and seems to know everyone and all the usually-ignored byways.  First stop was a canal in Manzanillo where the trees are laden with iguanas—and one Great White Heron.   

The iguanas of Manzanillo

Agave

Mangoes

On the road, he told us that mangoes are an important crop for domestic consumption and export, then turned off to a farm, Mangoes Nuñez, where we had great photo ops of the not-yet-ripe mangoes, the biggest nopal cactus we have ever seen, a large green fruit called “yaca” and “mano de Budda”, another fruit that is chopped, then blended with water and sugar for a high-in-vitamin-C drink.  

Yaca

Mano de Budda

Shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe

Shrine to "Santa Muerte"

At another stop overlooking the Cuyutlan Lagoon (40 km. long), we encountered 3 shrines, one to the Virgin of Guadalupe (Mexico's patron saint), the other two to “Santa Muerte”—Saint Death. Felipe explained that they are erected by people involved in the drug trade, whether at a low or high level, because they expect their line of work will lead to their death at some point. This is of the same genre as the “black mass”, in which the cross is upside down and there is sometimes a sex act in the ceremony—in other words, satanic.  Still, Felipe said that Colima has little involvement in the drug trade and there has been little violence associated with it.

In Colima, which is an hour’s drive from the coast, our first stop was La Campana archaeological site. I didn’t recognize it because continuing excavations over the last decade (we were first here in 2005) have enlarged the site at least four-fold.  La Campana is the centre of the Colima, or “West” Culture”, an indigenous civilization that dominated this part of Mexico before the Aztecs.   

Using available material—as always—the pyramids, platforms, and residential areas are all built of river rock (3 rivers run through the area) and mortar.  There is a subterranean, L-shaped tomb holding items that were buried with the bodies: ceramic bowls and dogs that look like fat Chihuahuas and were central to their belief system. 

The ball court at La Campana

The (larger) ball court at El Chanal

After La Campana we headed to a lesser known site, El Chanal, a ten minute drive away.  Not as large as La Campana—although much remains unexcavated—less is known about the people who built El Chanal.  Its layout differs significantly from La Campana, with a large round platform at the entrance and a relatively small pyramid just beyond it that is square and occupies the central part of the site.   

Part of El Chanal from the top of the central pyramid.

Interestingly, both sites have immediately adjacent residential areas, unlike Teotihuacán, for example, where the residential areas are completely outside the main ceremonial area.   Both have ball courts, a common feature of Meso-American sites, although the one at La Campana is about one-third smaller than El Chanal. 

On leaving El Chanal we headed downtown, stopped for a liquid lunch at Dairy Queen, and visited the Colima Museum of Archaeology and History, located on the picturesque central plaza. Dancing dogs, from a pre-Columbian sculpture that are the symbol of Colima, decorated the sidewalk near the Cathedral--a reminder of Chicago's cows, Toronto's moose, and Bath, England's pigs.

 

The museum's ground floor is all pre-Columbian, the 2^nd floor more recent history. It is small but very well done, including laminated guides to the exhibits in English and other languages. 

A quick stop for photos around the central plaza, including the cathedral/ basilica, and we headed back to Manzanillo on the autopista, a super-highway that connects the coast with Guadalajara (4 hours) and points beyond.  

Back in Manzanillo we found a restaurant facing the port with free WiFi just to the right of the ayuntamiento--city hall. 

Manzanillo's City Hall

Leaving port we had a great view, including the mammoth metal swordfish that define's the city's late 20th century history, if not its future. 

Manzanillo Harbour