Iguanas, Tequila and terrible beer

Manzanillo, Mexico! Also known locally as the Sailfish capital of the world was a fun place. Another maiden call for Queen Mary 2 with a plaque swapping ceremony held on the quayside which was accompanied with music and dancers in traditional colourful costumes.

What slightly jarred against this sight was the presence of fully tooled up Marines in body armour, face coverings and ballistic helmets which offered up slightly concerning thoughts of what's to come in town!

The ship docked alongside the cruise ship pier which aside from the security zone, led almost immediately into town via a typical tourist waterfront 

Walking into the old town was an interesting experience! The further you head away from the waterfront the sketchier the area became. An interesting array of colourful buildings and storefronts containing random businesses. Every now and then a pick up truck would pass by containing three or four gun toting militia styled marines all piled in the back of the pick up. Should I be reassured by this or slightly threatened, a bit unsure to be honest!!

A sign stating that there was a marina 2 kilometres away presented an opportunity to get some steps in and a chance to see another part of Manzanillo until some 20 minutes later another sign appeared stating exactly the same information!! Perhaps measuring distance accurately isn't a popular pastime in Mexico? So that idea was abandoned.

Hanging a left to begin the walk back in the general direction of the main town meant walking alongside a murky waterway. A bus had just spilled out a load of QM2 guests. It wasn't immediately obvious as to why until you look in the trees and see an insane amount of Iguanas all basking in the sun on just about every available branch. The more you looked, the more you saw! 

Needless to say, the combination of walking in the heat and the mild sense of being in a part of town that may not be readily recommended it was time to locate some sanctuary and a cold beer. Surprisingly, not the easiest of tasks it turns out. Thankfully the Hotel Colonial came to the rescue. A lovely building with a rustic charm but more importantly a large fridge full of cold beer coming in at around £2 each. It's always nice to try and go local when it comes to beer so that was the starting point. 

Beer preference is of course a subjective matter. The Dos Equis is a mexican beer and is self proclaimed as crisp and delicious. It's neither of these things. I'm not sure what the background flavour is but it isn't a good one. I reluctantly got to the bottom of the bottle before moving onto the alternative option of Amstel Ultra which whilst being bland, it was cold and easy to see off.

The hotel provided some tortilla chips accompanied with a got sauce. The tortilla chips were surprisingly tasteless and the hot sauce, unsurprisingly hot but again, very little flavour!

Food came in the shape of chicken and cheese enchiladas. After a couple of beers these were a welcome bit of food but again, lacked any real flavour. Introducing the hot sauce to them lifted them slightly. I think it's fair to say that the western version of Mexican food that we find in our towns at home is considerably more interesting than the food that inspires it!!

It came as a surprise that the general impression of Mexican food and drink is underwhelming and bland. 

The Hotel Colonial Atrium 

Obviously, it wouldn't be right to not explore the tequila! So that was next up. Back at home you'd expect the salt and lime and the small shot glass, apparently not here. The glass was a dessert wine glass and the shot was not small!! The weapon of choice was Don Julio Tequila. Kind of a middle ground tequila? I've had better but I've definitely had worse. The absence of any gagging puts it a bit higher on the quality scale. Probably not how they'd like to market their product but that's my personal assessment.