LA MANZANILLA: A SMALL TOWN WITH A LOT OF PERSONALITY!

BOCA BEACH SUNSET

LA MANZANILLA HAS BEEN DISCOVERED!

We arrived in La Manzanilla expecting to stay for 3 days. Then we paid for another 3 days. After a week, we still weren’t ready to leave this little piece of paradise! At this point in our trip around the coastal route of Mexico, this was our favorite town. We could easily live here for the rest of the winter. We finally decided after 11 days here that we should head south or we were not going to make it around the mainland coastal route of Mexico in the 180 days we had on our Tourist Permits and Temporary Vehicle Import Permit on our PT Cruiser. 
     La Manzanilla is a small village of about 2000 inhabitants on the beautiful Tenacatita Bay. This was the first time we had ever visited La Manzanilla or Boca Beach and we were amazed at how peaceful it

was. It turns out, though we had only just discovered this little bit of utopia, it was already well-known by a large population of Canadians and Americans who

Camping at Boca Beach RV Park

regularly spend the winter there. I wondered why we had never stopped there before. 

     My memory of the reason was that the early editions of the Mexican Camping book by Church and Church warned about the crocodiles that live in the estuary at Boca Beach RV Park, the largest campground in the area. That would have been enough for me to tell Jon to “keep driving! There will be another campground in Melaque!” I may be mistaken about my memory of the Churches' warning about crocodiles at Boca Beach, and I can’t check my resources because we had given away all of our Mexican Camping books on this trip. We had met several Americans who were motorhoming in Mexico for the first time and needed the Mexican Camping "bible" (as I call it), more than we did. 

     Regardless, there are still stories circulating the area about Pancho, the large “croc” who lives in

Crocodile at the Nature Sanctuary

the estuary and is sometimes seen venturing out into the ocean for a swim. The only crocodiles that we saw in La Manzanilla were in the nature sanctuary in town, but we still kept Bella on a leash near the estuary and never let her swim in that small body of water. We saw young Mexican children playing in the estuary and wondered if they knew the stories of Pancho!

     We are very glad that we disregarded or forgot about the warnings of crocodiles in the area and decided to camp at Boca Beach. It was one of the most beautiful and peaceful beaches that we have camped on in all of Mexico.

     We often walked the 3 mile stretch of flat, firm sand from Boca Beach RV Park to La Manzanilla for dinner. The walk took us a little over an hour, mostly because we had to wait for Bella (and sometimes Jon, too) while she sniffed and snorted with her nose buried in crab holes in the sand along the way. Then she would decide she had to dig

Jon Helps Bella Dig in Crab Holes

an especially good smelling crab hole every few minutes, further delaying our trek into town. It was all part of the fun!

    We look forward to returning to La Manzanilla and Boca Beach next winter!

Do We Have to Leave for Dinner NOW?

 

 

Bocce Ball on the Beach

Great Tennis Court Near the Beach

Activos! My Kind of Fitness Center!

Zumba with June at Activos! Fitness Center

Usually Bella Wasn't Sassy in Restaurants

La Manzanilla Sunsets Draw A "Crowd"

    Read About Our 6-Month RV Trip Around Mexico!

     My book "Healthy Living and Traveling in Mexico: A Search for Sunshine, Sassy Exercise, Savory Food and a Simpler Life" is available in all Amazon markets. For Canada, see it at HERE. FREE with KindleUnlimited.
    Read more recent stories about Healthy Living and Traveling in Mexico on my blog, Retirement Before the Age of 59!

COPYRIGHT © 2014 by Terry L Turrell

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication May be Reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or Transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, scanning, photocopying, recording, or Otherwise, without prior written permission .