Julia, one of my German flatmates and I were planning on going to Manzanillo for the weekend for the beach there and to meet up with Victoria and her friends. Victoria and her friends were leaving at 3:30 though and I wouldn't be back to my house until 4 at least so Julia and I were going to have to find a way to get there by ourselves. Luckily, she has a Mexican friend, Céasar, with a car that doesn't mind making plans on the spot and so he drove us. It was a long drive too - about 4 hours. We had fun singing songs and talking. I was mostly paying attention to how fast he was driving though. At one point he was driving 160 km/hr (100 mph) when the speed limit was 100 km/hr (60 mph). And so I asked him if he has ever been pulled over. Nope, they aren't strict here at all.
When we got to Manzanillo, I texted Victoria and we arrived at the front of her hotel - Barceló Karmina Palace. The hotel was quite extravagant and as we arrived around midnight, the guard wouldn't let us go in. And we didn't want to stay the night there as each night costs $200. Céasar likes to camp and knew a house on the beach where we could stay. The only thing was that it wasn't his house and he didn't know the people that lived there, but the last time he went, people weren't there and they didn't have any problems even when cops passed by. I was still a little wary of this but I didn't really have many other options and thought it would be fun.
When we arrived at the beach (around 1 AM) we hung out for a while just talking while sitting on the sand. There were other people there too about 30 yards away by their cars, but other than the lights coming from those cars and speckles of light from the town and the moon, it was dark. And there wasn't much light coming from the moon because it was cloudy - I'm assuming from the hurricane. So the sea was a dark navy blue and ominous. But we tested out the waters anyway. They were so warm! I went back to our spot on the beach and lay there thinking while Céasar and Julia swam. I watched the sand and there were tiny grains of phosphorous that glowed on the sand. It started to drizzle and it felt really good as the air was warm and the rain cooler. And I fell asleep.
Flashing blue and red lights 30 yards away where the other people were. I went from bemused to alert immediately. They shined the light on Céasar and Julia in the water. They waved back. I was already laying down but I breathed in hard to blend in with the ground. The police didn't care about us being there and didn't even bother to talk with us. They just drove off. I was quite relieved.
It was around 2:30 and the house was 10 yard behind us. The patio that we were going to sleep on was en-fenced and so we threw our stuff over and then climbed over ourselves. I was exhausted and went right to sleep. Céasar had given me one of his sleeping bags but the floor was made of tile and I could definitely feel it. I slept relatively well though except for getting bit by tons of mosquitoes. I'd say I have at least 10 bites and they are really big ones.
I woke up around 6 because that is the schedule I'm on and as I walked to the "bathroom" I spotted a coconut being pushed back and forth by the sea. I took it back to our "camp" and when the others awoke, we ate and drank it. It was so cool to see Céasar prepare it and it tasted really good. It reminded me of the time that I went to Puerto Rico with Javier and Mohs and we found a coconut but had no clue how to open it properly hahah.
After swimming for an hour or two we went into town and had Chilquilles for breakfast and they were great. Céasar and Julia were planning to go to another beach in Manzanillo about 2 hours away and I wanted to hang out with Victoria and her friends for the day but I didn't want to stay at the hotel since it was so expensive. However, after Victoria told me that everything is included in the price (the seller was she said scuba diving was included) and that I wouldn't have to take a taxi to and from wherever I found a place to stay, I decided to stay that night. Unfortunately scuba diving wasn't included but in the end I was happy that I stayed there anyway.
The reason Victoria told me that she was in Manzanillo was because she and her friend were going to look into buying a bar but that never really panned out and we just hung out at the beach all day. I met her 3 friends - Carina, Esmeralda, and Alejandra and they are super cool. They don't speak English (or at least that is what they told me) and so I really got to practice using my Spanish. They taught me a lot of words that I'd never heard before - a lot of bad words that I'll probably never use hahah. Some how or another I got the nickname "Chulo John" and "Chulo Pancho." "Chulo" means good looking. So we had a lot of funny conversations. But it would have been much easier to converse in English. There were so many times in a conversation that I wanted to say something in Spanish and couldn't think of the vocabulary in time. Anyway, by the end of the week my mind was exhausted with Spanish I was really happy to get back home and talk English with the Germans hahah.
But let me describe the hotel. So when you drive in, there is a huge gate with a security guard. Once you pass that, you drive about a quarter of a mile past palm trees, a golf course and tennis courts. When you enter the lobby, it is huge. The ceilings are so high and vaulted and it is modeled after the old Indian temples. If you go straight, there are 3 or 4 huge pools and jacuzzis and beyond that there is the main beach which is like a cove. Beside that there is an amphitheater, a snack bar, a restaurant and a drink bar. Since everything is included, they give you a wristband to wear during your stay. The next day when we checked out, I had to check out at 12 but they didn't have to check out until 4 so I just carried a towel around over my wrist the whole time not that it really mattered I'm sure hahah.
On Saturday it was Carina's birthday and so Victoria, Carina and I went out dancing until around 2 in the morning. Then on Monday, Esmeralda picked me up and I went bowling and played pool and ate dinner with everyone minus Victoria. I can already tell that they are really good people and I'm so glad that I found them.
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