PV to La Manzanilla

We wanted some extra beach time this trip around, so took a short drive to La Manzanilla to soak up the sun before heading up towards the mountains as we planned. The drive to La Manzanilla took about 3 hours. We stopped at a few view points to check out the scenery and take some pictures, but made it to La Manzanilla in pretty good timing; around 2pm.

We ran into some road construction along the way, but to be honest I have no idea what was going on. It seemed as though they were just digging sand from a nearby mountain and throwing it on the roads. With all the cars speeding ahead of us it got so dusty we could barely see much of the time. At one point, a large cow emerged from the dust about 50 feet ahead of us and we thanked our lucky stars that we weren’t closer when the cow decided to pass by. So far on this trip, the roads in Mexico have been incredible, making the rides smoother than in some places in the states.

We read about La Tenacatita being a beautiful, resort style beach that everyone should see, so we took a short drive off the main highway to see what all the fuss was about. We followed signs heading towards La Tenacatita, but we must have taken a local way to a different side of the beach because there were no resorts or restaurants in sight as our book discussed, and there were security guards blocking off the residential area surrounding the beach. Nevertheless, the beach was beautiful and were suddenly bummed that we didn’t have our camping gear with us. This would have been the perfect spot for secluded, relaxing camping.

 We arrived in La Manzanilla shortly after. The night before we had tried to book a hotel room or at least have some prospects in mind as we normally do, but La Manzanilla is a small town, and the local hotels weren’t even listed online. We drove all the way down the main street to the beach, and got off to reassess our situation. The beach was exactly what we were looking for; perfect for a nice day of basking in the sun without too large a crowd. Not having a hotel in mind and with hungry bellies, we took a break to eat some aquachile and have a beer at a beach side restaurant close enough to watch our bike. Walking towards a restaurant, a Canadian couple asked us a few questions about our bike, the ride so far, and then discussed their own travel plans.They were staying in a town just north of La Manzanilla, where they stay four months out of the year every year, and were in La Manzanilla to experience the "city life". As La Manzanilla is basically a town with two lazy streets, I wonder what home looks like to them. 

After lunch we regained our strength to go out seeking for a place to stay. We stopped to inquire about a room at a hotel when we were approached by a gringo staying at the hotel next to us. He told us to be careful with our bike, and to park somewhere safe because just last week a tourists BMW was stolen off the streets. We stayed at Hotel Michel, with secure parking and a locked gate, for $31 USD. The room was basic but large, quiet and had hot water.

The rest of the day we did exactly what we intended to do; sat on the beach, slept on the beach, enjoyed the water, ate seafood and nachos, watched the tide come in, the sun set, and had a few more drinks.