Cuyutlán, Colima: Sea Salt, Sea Turtles, and Surfing La Ola Verde
Colima Sea Salt from the Cuyutlán Lagoon
Guadalajara to Manzanillo: How to get to Manzanillo
Even though I don’t currently live in Colima I often tell the story about how Colima is responsible for me winding up in Mexico. I had just finished a contract with Google and was looking to take an extended vacation through Mexico. My truck was tuned up, I had a quiver of prime surfboards and I had no particular destination other than the beach. Crossing the border in Nogales, I cruised the coast puebleando from Sonora to Guerrero. Boca de Pascuales, Colima is where I scored the best waves and met the coolest people on my trip. Less than a year later I was living up the road in Guadalajara, working on my master’s degree at the Tec de Monterrey and surfing in Colima almost every weekend. Life was good.
Colima is small but plays a particularly interesting character in the theater that is Mexico. The city of Colima is a throwback to what Mexico was like in the 1960’s with little traffic, a thriving bicycle culture and a world class university that nourishes the local agricultural industry. I know more than a few tapatios that disliked the growing congestion in Guadalajara enough to leave for Colima. The quality of life, small town feel and proximity to the beach are easy selling points.
The port of Manzanillo is one of Mexico’s busiest shipping corridors that dwarfs a second class resort town that only exists because it is closer to Guadalajara than Puerto Vallarta. The surf scene is world class and the breaks of Pascuales, Paraiso and Cuyutlan see a yearly influx of professionals shooting photos for all the big magazines. You may or may not remember the dystopian town of Comala from Juan Rulfo’s classic Pedro Paramo, a book that inspired Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Jorge Luis Borges. Nowadays Comala has earned the designation of Pueblo Magico because of the colonial architecture, stunning views of one of the world’s most active volcanoes and a launch point to explore the Manantlán Biosphere Reserve. There is a ton to do and explore packed into a small state.