La Ciudad Colima
 We will visit and explore Colima city and
the surrounding highlands including nearby historic Comala, and Suchitlán.
This will be an informal and spontaneous trip. We will "wing
it" and ride the Mexican busses from Cuyutlán to Colima city
and return. We will take a small local bus from Cuyutlán to a larger town nearby where we will catch another bus to Colima City. This may be a modern first
class bus with air conditioning and big comfortable seats or a "Roja,"
the old style second class "red line" busses that service
Colima conveniently as they arrive at the old
bus station near the city center and closer to our hotel. We will catch the first bus that has room for our group.
La
ciudad Colima is the
small and very friendly capital of Colima state. Colima offers shady sidewalk cafes, outstanding archeology museums, great restaurants and two beautiful plazas or jardins (gardens). Colimenses (people from Colima) call their plazas jardins.
Explore the Museo de las Culturas Occidente (Museum of Western Cultures) which holds a diverse collection of pre Columbian antiquities from all over México including an outstanding collection of ceramic art from indigenous  cultures who lived in Colima. Just off the main jardin, the Jardin Libertad is the Museo de Historia (Historical Museum) which has displays of early Spanish colonial life in and around Colima. There are also life size dioramas that show the tumbas de tiro (shaft tombs) used by Colima's pre Columbian cultures.
Colima has a bustling 4 block shopping district that will give you a great peek into how a working Mexican city shops and plays. As you explore the city on foot or by cab you will discover all manner of shops, traditional markets, art galleries, beautiful templos (churches) lovely jardins, artisan's markets, great restaurants, side walk cafes and most of all the friendly always willing to help Colimenses.
 One of the great joys of traveling is the surprise encountering new customs, sights, sounds and smells. México provides a steady stream of these experiences. It always seems that there is a birthday party or a marcha (parade) almost every day no matter how big or small a town may be.
Mexican culture preserves many old and elegant traditions. When a young girl has her 15th birthday families celebrate this rite of passage with a traditional quincenera. This special birthday celebrates a girl's transition into adult life. In this photo a family has hired a traditional horse drawn carriage to bring the birthday girl to the cathedral for the traditional Catholic Mass that is a part of the celebration. |
