Christmas Vacation for Emily, Joanne & Lee -

• Booked via Transat Holidays, via itravel2000

• staying at the Karmina Palace, Manzanillo, Mexico has a good reputation), where we had a one week all inclusive with two Junior Suites, Ocean View (Room 7011 for Joanne and Lee - which has an amazing sunset view from the balcony, Room 5030 for Emily)

Day 1 (Saturday, December 31st) - Travel to Manzanillo (Edmonton to Manzanillo direct, with stop in Calgary)

• Departure - leave from Edmonton International – Saturday, December 31, 2005 at 6:05pm WestJet Flight WS5028(charter) arriving in Manzanillo at 1:25am, Sunday, January 1, 2006.
  • uneventful flight, boarding on-time at just after 5pm and we touched down in Calgary for under an hour
  • the plane was one of the new WestJet 737s with Satellite TV, so we had Canadian TV for most of the 5½ flight (out of range from the satellite for about the last hour)
• after a quick run through customs we boarded a bus Tlalco Tours bus for the 1-hour drive to the hotel (its normally ½ hour but due to road construction it was longer) and we could see some New Years celebrations still going on
• then at the hotel they had some food and drinks for us, checked in, unpacked & in bed by 4am for some much needed sleep

• up at about 9am for the first of many great meals, the buffet breakfast at Habanero's
• session with Kim, from Transat Holidays at 11am to go over all of the activities, meals, etc.
• Joanne and Emily followed up with Kim after the session to book our 'special dinners' (a la carte/non-buffet - the all inclusive package covers 4 but 2 were for La Trattoria. the Italian restaurant, and since we will be in Rome this July we opted for it only once) and a 'Plantation & Barra de Navidad' day trip, while I walked over to 'Place Manzanillo' (the shopping mall next to the Karmina Palace) to get some Mexican cash (& to see how far it really was to walk, as it had looked close in the Fodor's Mexico book & was actually closer than I thought)
• then a buffet lunch at Habanero's, an afternoon of sun on the beach, a long walk along the public beach watching the tide come in & sunset and more food

• up early breakfast at Habanero's, as Tlalco Tours was picking us up at 8:45am for their Plantation & Barra de Navidad day tour
• Cubanis, our guide from Tlalco Tours, picked up at the hotel -
  • first stop was at a coconut plantation
  • then on to a banana plantation
  • continuing on to Barra de Navidad for -
    • boat tour of the harbour, fishing area, and canals with amazing houses
    • an excellent shrimp dinner at a restaurant over the water
    • walking tour of the town, including a church ("Christ with the falling arms", which was damaged by "Huracane Lilly"), shops, fruit stands & beaches
  • we all met at 2pm for the mostly uneventful drive back to the hotel
• then the rest of the afternoon on the beach, kayaking out around the area and an amazing dinner at Carioca, which is an open air restaurant on a point overlooking the ocean (with the Theme Dinner we were missing being French & as good as the food was at the Karmina Palace it would have been impossible to top what we ate in Paris)

• up early to stake out a prime spot at the beach (but needed to be earlier for a great spot - beach-1 & beach-2), as we were preferring slower pace at the beach rather at the many pools (few kids, no obnoxious adults), breakfast at Bugambilia's (not as nice as Habanero's but with larger selection & close to our preferred spot at the beach) and a great day at the beach
• lunch was at Carioca (almost as good as their dinners & great atmosphere) and a very good Italian dinner La Trattoria (almost, but not totally disappointed we didn't book the 2nd dinner here when we had the chance on Sunday, but not really as the Theme Dinner we were missing was Mexican), and before dinner we all walked over the mall at Place Manzanillo for some touristy stuff, and
• we stayed on for the evening entertainment - a 'kids' show, Danny Depoe & Peirson Ross (two excellent jazz-blues-folk musicians from Toronto) and a 'Las Vegas' themed show from the hotel dancers

• up even earlier get a great spot at the beach, breakfast at Bugambilia's, lunch at Carioca and a nice long walk before dinner along the hills from Karmina Palace, Las Hadas & Grand Costa Real with a great view of the bays/coves
• after dinner we stayed again for the 'kids' show, Danny Depoe & Peirson Ross and a 'Latin American' themed show from the hotel dancers

• up early breakfast at Bugambilia's and then off to the flea markets at Playa Miramar -
  • Noe, from the Hector Tours desk provided excellent directions to the flea markets, the markets in Santiago (walking distance from the hotel), Place Salahua (just past Place Manzanillo) and a rundown as to the taxi fares & walking times
  • it was then a taxi & cheap taxi ride to the flea markets, actually 3 of them within walking distance - the taxi driver took us to the furthest one pointing out the others as we past ... real touristy stuff here - sombreros, tacky t-shirts, tequila with a worm, silver jewelry, etc.
  • once we were shopped out another taxi was by within seconds, he took us to the markets in Santiago with lots of artisan stuff (pottery, glasswear, paintings)
  • we then walked back, passing a cemetery, the hotel and on to Place Salahua & Place Manzanillo, before returning to the Karmina Palace
• after returning to the hotel it was a late lunch at Habanero's (as we hadn't eaten at the markets - while the food there looked/smelled amazing we didn't want to take any risks) followed by a late dinner at Habanero's
• after dinner we stayed for the 'kids' show, Danny Depoe & Peirson Ross & 'World Dance' themed show from the hotel dancers

• up early enough to get the great spot on the beach again & all day at the beach, with breakfast at Bugambilia's, lunch was at Habanero's with the Theme Dinner being an excellent Mexican buffet
• after checking with Kim, from Transat Holidays, that the hotel checkout was at noon but the bus for the airport didn't leave for the airport until 10:50pm we immediately went to the front desk to see about arranging for a late checkout - the hotel had a reasonable rate (half the daily rate for a 7pm checkout), so we took that option for 1 of the rooms & kept the noon checkout for the other
• after dinner we stayed for the 'kids' show plus some Mexican cultural music/dancing from local entertainers

• up early enough for the great spot on the beach we all liked, breakfast at Bugambilia's, lunch (at Carioca), a relaxing day on the beach, some final packing, then checking out of the hotel for 7pm (I was glad we kept our room for the day, even though Transat Holidays provided a room to cleanup & change for those who checked out at noon, it was a little more relaxing to have our own room to change & wind down before heading home) and one final Theme Dinner (American 'cuisine' & the dance show was Disney, so knew it was time to leave)
• the Tlalco Tours bus picked us up at the hotel at 10:50pm for the return trip - Manzanillo, International – Sunday, January 8, 2006 at 2:17am WestJet Flight WS5029 (charter). arrive at Edmonton at 7:30 AM, Sunday, January 8, 2006
• uneventful flight (I slept most of the way), arriving in Edmonton on time and after getting our luggage, clearing Canadian Customs we were home by 8:45am

A fantastic trip, most fun I've ever had on a beach vacation ... the nice part of Manzanillo being that it was already a well established port and farming community before the resorts arrived - even to the point where almost half the guests were from other parts of Mexico (which you wouldn't see in the Mayan Riviera), so it has both touristy stuff as well as the feeling of real Mexico, I wouldn't hesitate to return to Manzanillo and the Karmina Palace ...

For more information e-mail us at : joanneandlee@shaw.ca