Changes in Local Government - Tax Time!

    The time has come to replace the Mesa Directiva for the Ejido and welcome a new Delegado for our town.

    Starting Feb 1st Raymundo Cervantes Ramirez leaves the charge of Delegado Municipal to make way for Manuel Figueroa Alba "El Piso". The Delegado's role is to be a direct link with our Municipio of La Huerta and to make sure that all the basic services are provided to the community.

Delegado de La Manzanilla, Jalisco. 

Don Manuel Figueroa "El Piso" 

    On this same date Feb 1st and Feb 2nd the people from Catastro in La Huerta will be paying a visit to the Delegacion in La Manzanilla in hopes to help people register for their property tittles as well as collecting taxes if your are a home owner and saving you a long windy drive to La Huerta.

    Every three years the Ejido elects new "board" members and a new Comisariado Ejidal, the Comisariado is the person in charge of executing all the agreements made in the monthly Asamblea or general assembly, he is also responsible for the administrative aspect of the Ejido.

Our new Mesa Directiva for the Ejido looks like this:

Presidente: Nazario Zuazo Gomez.
Secretario: Othon Salvador Fernandez Medina.
Tesorero (Treasurer): Hugo Samuel Brambila Mendoza.
Presidente of the Vigilance Counsel: Jose Eliazar Martinez Rodriguez "Pepe".

La Manzanilla's Casa Ejidal where the Asamblea General is held every month. 

A little bit of La Manzanilla history. 

"Cada pueblo tiene el gobierno que se merece" 

Special Thanks to Pedro German Garcia M. and the Delegacion Municipal de La Mazanilla!  

Reina de las Fiestas Taurinas 2012! - Beauty Pageant in La Manzanilla

     As we all know Los Toros are coming up and everybody is preparing for the great fiesta! This year the town will crown a Beauty Queen and a Princesa for this 2012 Fiestas Taurinas 30th Edition.

    The Candidatas (Fatima, Maria, Yulisa and Betzaida) will participate in a Concurso de Belleza and given the chance to answer a question regarding their town. They will be judged by some experienced Pageant judges coming from Autlan, Jalisco.  They will also feature a couple cross dresser imitators who sing; that should make things a little more interesting!!!!

All this is being organized by our own local Diva Extraordinaire Juan Ruiz (your cook at the most popular taco stand in town / local choreographer / Miss Gay 2011) !!!

There is something else that's different about this years Fiesta Taurinas, they are having a day of Fiestas organized by Pollos y Pollas and Gallos y Gallinas. This is new in La Manzanilla they usually do this in Cihuatlan or Melaque. Pollos y Pollas refers to the young people in town and Gallos y Gallinas to the Senores and Senoras, as well as buisness owners who will all pitch in to  put on one day of Toros tradition with music, beer and birria to the max!

    Come and get your groove on, take a walk to the Casino Sat. Jan 28th starting at 9 : 00 p.m. and catch a glimpse of some pretty girls and get in to party mode, get prepared for the Rodeo and all the Bailes!

Special Thanks to Irlanda Rutherford and Juan Ruiz! 

Cipactli - Cocodrilo in Nahuatl

      La Manzanilla has become famous for various reasons but perhaps one of our towns main attractions is one we often take for granted. I'm talking about the Cocodrylus Acutus natural habitat in our estero.
     Whether your just passing by and want to see some prehistoric creatures up close or your are staying  in town and want to check out the changes and upgrades that are happening around the manglar; this visit  has become a full on experience, from the Cocodrilario were they keep the baby croc's (that you can actually touch!), to the bird watching towers and not to mention the hanging bridge over crocodile infested waters! All this for $5 pesos per person!  (locals get in for free, sorry!).

OK this is sounding like a theme park! In reality this has been long in the making and is only the beginning of a big project.

In 1995, after the earthquake, a lot of the lagoon was lost because people started trowing their ruble from their destroyed houses after the disaster in to the lagoon, there was so much debris that it seemed like a good idea at the time to expand the town over the swamp lands, and that was not the only contributing factor, but later the Municipio dirt filled and paved the main road to the crucero, now called Lazaro Cardenas, right over what used to be part of the lagoon. The body of water was divided and on one side they build the Telesecundaria and the Casino, and on the other they created more lotes for houses  and farm lands. I think you can still see some of the remains of some Mangle trees next to were Restaurant Mayahuel is now located.

  Finally some of the Ejido members decided that something had to be done to protect this valuable habitat, that the lagoon was an asset for the town not an inconvenience or a land fill! They formed a group called CIPACTLI which in the native Nahuatl language means Crocodile. The group was conformed by local environmental enthusiasts people like Pepe Martinez, Morgan, the late Don Trini "Colores" (que en paz descance), Chico, Don Sebas and many others...

With help from the ITESO (The Jesuit University in Guadalajara) and government instances like SEMARNAT and CONAFOR their plans have materialised in to creating a Eco touristic attraction that also protects this area. They managed to officially declare the estero an UMA (Unidad de Manejo Ambiental). Also our wetland or humedal was declared a RAMSAR site in August 2005 which is an international label that helps protect valuable ecosystems like this one in our La Manzanilla, due to their biological richness and also for being home to many aquatic migratory birds.

The effort to involve the community with this project continues, to help promote Environmental Education amongst the younger generation they have trained some of the local kids from the schools to give tourist a few important facts about our manglar and the cocodrilos. 

So come support this great thing, pay your $5 pesos ask some questions to the kids, and really appreciate the value of this amazing natural habitat home to some pretty cool critters and a contributor to the worlds natural climate control.

This humedal is the home to 50 aquatic resident and migratory birds, 42 species of fish and other populations of amphibians and mammals, 3 main species of mangrove (blanco, botoncillo y rojo). It also holds one of the three largest American crocodile concentrations in Jalisco. 

Special Thanks to Mar Aventura, Alberto Espinosa and Lin Magali Loza! 

SURF CONTEST - Las Brisas 2012

    Feeling like exploring your surroundings?  Take a little adventurous trip up the coast to the town of Arroyo Seco, just about 25 minutes north of La Manzanilla. You will see a large banner pointing to the dirt road that will take you through fruit plantations and the small town all the way to the beach.  If you follow the signs, and make a left after the end of the Jardin, you will again see the ocean when you come out to Playa Las Brisas...  at the far end of this beach there is a new restaurant named Restaurante Las Brisas.

   This in one of the local surf spots best known for it's glorious lefts on south swells. Now officially on the map thanks to the restaurant, they are trying to bring some business to them while promoting surfing. Come show some love and support, have some fun and visit another beautiful beach before it's privatized! (80% of Jalisco's beaches are now privately owned).


Canal 235 will also be there covering the event, this is a local PR channel from Cihuatlan, so be sure to smile for the camera!

Contest starts at 9 a.m. everyday ends around 6 p.m.

Surfs Up!!

Special Thanks to Tonatiuh Gutierrez 

Seguridad en La Manzanilla - 10 Tips for Safety

   After hearing all the concern about safety and the recent incidents in the neighboring town of Melaque, I decided to just give you a few safety tips and recommendations on how to stay safe and still have a great  time!!

1. Be discreet: when you arrive in Mexico and you take a cab to your destination, make sure you don't say too much about yourselves and the details of your trip, it's best not to share this information with strangers. 
2. Eliminate temptation: when you settle in to your space be sure not to leave out anything that might tempt someone to break in to your place. For example if you have a balcony or a patio, don't leave you camera, laptop, cell phone, purse, etc, out in plane sight were anyone passing by can see it. 
3. Lock up: always lock up your doors and windows, as well as your car. Even if you are just going out for Tacos or a quick errand, most of the Rateros don't even have to force an entry to get to peoples stuff! 
4. Lights on please!: it's easier for a burglar to do his work in the dark, make sure you leave your street light on, as well as one in your yard; and always carry a flashlight if you are going to be walking home in the dark.
5. Carry only what you need: try not to be walking around with all your belongings in your purse or all your money and credit cards in your wallet. It's best while going out, to bring only what you might need for that day in cash and leave the rest at home in a safe place. If there is no such location in your rental or home, there are safes available in town for tourist use.
6. Contact Info.: in case something did happen to you and you need to reach someone are some useful numbers:  Director of Public Security in La Huerta, Jalisco.  Juan Manuel Rojo Garcia. Tel. (357) 384-0046 Ext.130/131 Emergencies: (357) 384-0178 . ----- Director of Proteccion Civil Jose Ramirez Mendez Tel. (357) 384-0778 Ext.159 --------- The Delegacion in La Manzanilla does not have a working phone at the moment, so if your are experiencing a crisis I would suggest to get your neighbor to help, the good people from town will always drop anything to help you in any way they can.
7. Women precautions: because of the presence of Machismo in our society men will still whistle at a girl, smack his lips, yell out all sorts of things, or ask you if he can walk a pretty girl home (?)... It's important to just ignore catcalls, or if you can't resist I suppose you can say "dejame en paz pendejo!" and walk away! But be sure not go hiking by yourself, not to go walking alone down the beach or at night. Watch your alcohol so you are always aware of your surroundings. 
8. Dealing with the Policia: please never bribe and never give a cop money. No matter what crime he says you have committed don't let them scare you in to paying, and if you have no choice you can go to the Delegacion the next day and report this and get your money back! 
9. Documents: make a copy of your passport and I.D. use that to get around, never hand out your original documents to anybody. 
10. Denuncia: and last but definitely not least! The Denuncia or formal complaint is very important, even if it is a pane in the butt process... If nobody files a formal complain there is no record that anything bad ever happened to you and when the Municipio asks the State for support with security funds or police elements, etc, the State looks at the amount of denuncias for reference as to how much criminal activity is happening in the area. Also if some of these bad guys get caught they might not even serve time for their doings because nobody filed a Denuncia. Recuerda la Denuncia puede ser anonima.

La Manzanilla's Finest - Be safe! 

Dia de los Reyes Magos

   After a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year's there is still another major holiday to celebrate in Mexico, on January 6th, following the star of Bethlehem arrive Los Reyes Magos baring gifts for Baby Jesus and for most Hispanic kids around the world; this is also when Melchor, Gazpar y Baltazar are added to the Nacimiento or nativity scene.


  The tradition of this day is to have some Chocolate Caliente, open your gifts and celebrate by eating the Rosca de Reyes, an oval sweetbread decorated with candied fruit.  All over the country, in every city  and in every little town,  bakeries offer the Rosca de Reyes. 

   In La Manzanilla you can find one at almost any grocery store on the main street. Hidden inside the Rosca is a plastic Baby Jesus, and when you cut the Rosca you better pray your piece does not have a plastic baby in it! The person who finds the figurine gets to host a Tamale party and invite everyone present on Dia de la Candelaria February 2nd.

Typical Mexican traditions, one fiesta only leads you to the next fiesta...!

Don't forget that Dia de Reyes is the night when the Jugueton ends and all the kids get their presents down at the Jardin. 

fun, fun, fun! 




Special thanks to Miriam Figueroa