MANZANILLO ARRIVAL

Manzanillo is working to attract more cruise ships, and Holland America will probably stop here more often.  The ship moors at a long pier close to the center of the old town with a variety of restaurants and shops.

We arrived in Manzanillo around Noon with an all-aboard time of 8:30 pm.  Our plan for today was to explore the old town on foot and sample some local food.

We walked almost 4 miles on our loop through old town. The beach area is more touristy.

The Zuiderdam moored alongside a long, narrow pier

We left the ship around 1:30 pm.  Mexican agricultural inspectors, using dogs,  inspected our bags for contraband food as we left the pier.  Vendors selling souvenirs set up tables near the port exit.

Playing the xylophone as we exited the port security area

Taxi drivers offered city tours for about $20 an hour as we left the pier security area

A large Manzanillo city sign is just outside the port area.  These signs are becoming more common in many tourist ports around the world.

SAILFISH AND THE ZODIAC

Mexican sculptor Sebastián (born Enrique Carbajal González) created the large blue sailfish sculpture that dominates the downtown area.  He also made 12 smaller sculptures that represent each of the Zodiac signs along the harbor promenade.

Many of the twelve Zodiac sculptures as seen from the pier, with the large sailfish sculpture in the background.

This sculpture was created by the artist Sebastian, marking Manzanillo as the “World’s Capital of the sailfish.”

This is the Zodiac sculpture for Virgo, my sign

This was the sculpture for Judy’s Zodiac sign: Gemini

The Manzanillo sign is backward when we stood here, but I flipped the image in this selfie using Photoshop.

The streets were busy as we walked around town

Esquite, corn in a cup, is a common snack sold from food carts in Manzanillo.  Made from corn mixed with mayonnaise, cotija cheese or queso fresco, lime juice, and chili

STREET TACOS

We came across a taco stand near the main street.  We placed our order with a woman at a small table who gave us a small slip of paper that we handed to the cooks inside the truck. I ordered two tacos, one beef and one chicken, which were ready in a few minutes and delicious.

Place your street taco order here.  Each taco was 14 to 16 pesos, 80 to 90 cents, but sold them for 1 USD each if you didn’t have pesos

After we placed our order we got a ticket that we gave to the workers here.

One pork and one chicken taco

Colorful houses covered the hillside surrounding central Manzanillo

As we continued our walking loop, we walked through a local market just getting set up – or maybe reopening after a midday break.

Most of the vendors in the market sold fruits and vegetables.

We stopped here to replace Judy’s broken hairbrush.

BACK ON THE SHIP

Back on the ship, we decided to have dinner out on our verandah and ordered from the Main Dining Room menu.  Since we were at anchor, there wasn’t any wind; the weather was pleasant.

We enjoyed dinner on our Verandah with the lights of Manzanillo in the background