Feb 13-20

 Another nice few days here in Melaque. 

To be honest my blog reader numbers keep dropping so I will be giving serious consideration to stopping the blog once I get home. It is a lot of work, even for this little blog. I can probably accomplish the same thing on Facebook. Time will tell.

Feb 13th: Not much today but we did go out, around the corner, to Taqueria Gaby. Street-side dining at it's best! However, this particular night the mosquitoes were dreadful. Doug even got bit. I had slathered myself up with bug spray so it would seem I escaped the worst of it.

One of the stores in town. 

Multiple shoes!!

Problems with people not getting vaccines. Sorry, but this is a disease that was almost completely erradicated a few decades ago, and here we are again! We, of course, have all vaccines. Hope everyone stays well! 

Feb 14th: Another favourite spot for dining, just around the corner at Rosita's. Lovely breakfast.

Evening walk around the square. SO many flowers for sale and this is Valentines Day. Not sure what they will do with all the leftovers?

Coffee stop on the way home.

Feb 15-17: Just comings and goings:

Resident crocodile out looking for breakfast.

Goat tied up to a bench. Now, if anyone remembers the scene from Jurassic Park (original) where they put the goat in the T-Rex pen, tied to a little pole? This was weirdly similar.

Right across the walkway from the goat. Doesn't look like much but the crocs are hard to take a picture of. A 12 foot one to be sure. This is currently the end of the lagoon where they cruise. There are at least 4 of them. Not too sure about the boat though!

Video terminals?

The best BBQ chicken you cn get!

Another non-working phone booth!

And another!

Mattress anyone?

Our resiident iguana that sits right above our stairwell. We give each other a little scare once in a while.

End of another lovely day.

Fri Feb 20th: My sister Julie and hubby, Martin arrived today. It just happens to be their 44th Wedding anniversary. We planned a secret little surprise dinner at a newly opened beach restaurant, Mar y Arena. Oscar and Elizabeth just opened a few weeks ago and were very excited to host this dinner. They pulled out all the stops for sure! 

  

Elizabeth even made up a special dessert.

They even had this card made up.

How special is that?!

Thus ends another sunny and restful week in lovely Melaque. I'm sure we will have a few adventures with the family this upcoming week so stayed tuned.

Peace out friends! 

Thought for the Day: Talking about our problems is our greatest addiction. Break the habit. Talk about your joys!

Feb 7 - 12

We are both amazed at how fast time is going by here, in this little Mexican paradise. We arrived on Jan 2nd and depart on March 31. For those mathematicians in the group that means we leave in 42 days!

Let's see what we've been up to. Just so you know, when I do the blog, it's a reminder to me of what I've done too. And no smarty comments about how often it includes some type of food or drink, okay?

Our morning coffee spot. Can't beat the view.

Yes, we have seen and heard the croc having his breakfast too. A bit unnerving if I do say so!

I can't remember if I showed you this. It's the 

rooftop above Irma's residence.

That is where we have our morning coffee.

Short walk of 10-12 minutes to the beach.

This picture is quite deceiving because there is a ridge of about 20-30 feet down to where the waves are crashing. About a 30 degree angle too!

Below is a hotel, formerly Hotel Coco Club or Hotel Melaque was damaged by an earthquake in 1995 and subsequent storms. Internet research shows that it was "originally a prominent hotel but suffered severe structural damage that year. It experienced further, partial collapses in September 2022. It is often described as a now abandoned, dangerous structure. Also known for some urban legends." 

Hmmm. I wonder what those could be?? 

We are happy to see it finally being completely demolished. I wonder what will go in it's place? It's a HUGE piece of premium beachfront. But what a massive job!!

You can research Hotel Coco Club in Melaque and see how it used to look. It was spectacular looking and quite huge!

The last end of the hotel waiting demo.

This walk, after passing the demolished hotel, we came upon the El Dorado Hotel which had an impressive bank of solar over the parking garage. Should NEVER run out of solar here in the land of sunshine!

Then it was onto the malecon. Super pretty and a really nice walk. If you can, go right to the end, after the sidewalk ends to the rocky beach to see the split in the rock formations. gives you a visual of the ocean on the other side of Melaque.

This footbridge is quite new. 

A great way to cross the drainage canal. 

In the rainy season, this canal drains into this end of the beach. It is pretty dirty, unfortunately.

Start of the malecon...

This cool lookout type of building used to have a restaurant. It has never been open in the many times we have been to Melaque.

End of the malecon you can 

go down to the rocky beach.

Looking back towards Melaque

That was a great 15,000 step day!!

Are you all tired??

On Thursday Feb 12th we ventured off to La Manzanilla to see the Crocodile Refuge and to hang out in the little town.

We opted for the local bus. It's a 30 minute ride up and over the mountain to get to La Manzanilla. The bus was packed. We were the last on. Driver indicated for me to sit on the dashboard! Of course, I always do as instructed. I did, however, assume that he would shut the front doors. No, he did not so down the highway we went. Doug was basically standing in the stepwell.  I have an epic video but it is too big to upload. Sorry!

Notice we are both hanging on with 

BOTH hands!!

Phew, yes, obviously, we arrived safe and sound. That was interesting! Let's go explore. First some crocs....

Fancy archway to the beach. Right around the corner is the entrance to the croc refuge.

Beach (delightfully flat) to explore later.

The Cocodrilario La Manzanilla is a natural habitat sanctuary hosting over 400 American crocodiles. It covers more than 264 hectares. They range from hatchlings to LARGE adults. This is locally managed. It was officially declared a Ramsar Wetland in 2008 after local people, fought to keep it from developers. 

You buy tickets (MXN $50 each -> $4 Cdn) and it's a self-guided tour. It takes you on a 650 meter circular route through the mangroves. You are walking on elevated ramps (duh). This is a natural area. I guess the crocs are free to come and go as they please.   

Don't bring your dogs!

The pictures never do the size justice.

Termite nest.

Probably 4' long by 3' wide

You see them around most corners. Just

lazing in the sun. This one was probably 12-15 feet long. Prehistoric looking fellow

Bridge going over the river

It definitely makes you gasp a bit when you are walking and look down (not that far actually) and see a huge one right below you.

There is a segregated small area for three crocodiles that were surrendered to the sactuary. They have been cross-bred with some other "croc" type and can't be released into the general population as it will change the whole DNA base. Kinda sad. These ones are fed. The others are not fed. They feed off any birds and fish they catch. 

Just for scale purposes, there is a VERY large croc that is sitting by a fence below. As you can see by the cab driving by, you wouldn't want to encounter this one whilst paddleboarding. He does hang out there a lot because the locals will still throw fish into him. they aren't supposed to but old habits are hard to change I suppose. Good grief it's freaking HUGE!!!

We also saw young ones that are keep in captivity until they are about 2 years old to give them a fighting chance to not get eaten by the big ones.

All in all very worthwhile time spent here. 

After all that excitement we headed to the nice flat beach to enjoy some yummy food and cold drinks.

Inflatable corner

Coffee stop...of course!

With a view!

I'll stop there as I'm sure some of you have to go to the bathroom!! All in all, we REALLY enjoyed our day at La Manzanilla. Bus ride home we actually got seats!!

Peace out friends!

Thought for the Day: Chocolate is vital for our survival. Dinosaurs didn't have chocolate and look what happened to them.