Service & Snorkeling!

yesterday, Friday, we went out in service in the morning. Some calls, some coffee (some things are the same wherever you go) and then some territory. This fishing expedition didn't turn up any English speaking people.

Many of the need greaters have only been here a short time. Its usually a young couple that moves in and is then joined by retiring parents.

Manzanillo is a rather large town, or rather set of towns. One area blends into another area. There are no signs that seem to mark the borders. The locals know the names of the different communities, the untrained observer just refers to the whole area as Manzanillo.

They have Costco, Wal-mart, KFC, DQ, Burgerking and of course Starbucks. Somethings are really expensive and other things are cheap. You can get a new 2 bedroom condo/apt for $150-250 off the beach and pay very little for electricity. Move beachside and it is a different story. The electricty rates are reminiscent of rates back home.

The people here say that driving is crazy. After the D.R. and Bolivia, I'm not seeing it.

Off to the beach in the afternoon. The popular spot is a beach that has a row of restaurants with tables and umbrellas that go right down to the beach. It is so close to the water that when the tide comes in you are at risk of loosing anything that is on the sand under your table. We had lunch and then Brandon went to test the waters. He proclaimed is was a bit on the cool side. This was not going to stop me from getting my snorkeling in, especially when there was a sunken ship to explore!

So off I went and trailing after was Josh. Josh reminds me a lot of Safstrom's dog duke. Pearl or Earl would tell that dog to go look after us as we went to the creek and that dog stayed by our side the whole time! I was thinking that Josh was a fellow snorkeler and would be snorkeling too. No, he just kinda hung out on his board and moved where I moved. His wife and Brandon and Skye and another couple stayed close to shore and to the umbrellas.

The colors aren't as vibrant as the Caribbean or Hawaii but still some interesting fish, pelicans and I think terns. After the ship we went to find the reefs. It seemed that the shore where the reefs were from the ship was not all that far. When you got to swimming it, it turned out to be really far. The water was a bit murky so the pics aren't all that great. The coolest thing was a snake or eel that was white with spots.