urban dreams

Manzanillo has a certain charm.

Not the knockout beauty of a Salma Hayek.  For that, you would go to Querétaro.


Manzanillo is more like sitting next to Ayn Rand at a dinner party.  Challenging and exotic. 

During the past month, I have visited more areas of Manzanillo than I had in the full year I lived in Melaque.  I saw the northern expatriate area of Santiago for mail and supplies.  The port area to renew my visa.  The downtown area for lunch and to see the large covered market.  The southern beaches to experience the city's quiet -- and wild -- side.


Manzanillo is not just a tourist town.  Even though Bo Derek and Las Hadas may be cultural icons up north, Manzanillo exists to support Mexico's busiest port.  And, like all ports, it has muscular charm.  Cranes.  Trains.  Cargo containers.  All moving in some sort of Agnes de Mille bionic ballet.


But there are human ballets here, as well.  Manzanillo is the place I came this past year to fill my cultural void.  Dance.  Music.  Cinema.


All of this has caused me to give a bit of thought about living in Manzanillo.  Every time I visit, I feel its pull.


But there are negatives -- just as there are in any relationship.  It is more expensive than Melaque.  More crowded.  Less relaxed.  And it is merely an hour's drive from where I live.


There is a bigger issue that will keep me from Manzanillo.

 

For one adolescent year, I was enthralled with Ayn Rand and Objectivism.  She said everything that a 17-year old boy knew to be true.

Then I started listening to what she was really saying and decided not only did she not have answers.  She barely had shallow platitudes. 


A dinner party's worth of conversation is about was much of her as I could take.

And, if you look at her left hand in her photograph, you will see another attribute that would have made Ms. Rand a less-than-perfect regular part of my life.  She was a smoker.  A heavy smoker.  Even during dinner.


And that is where the analogy with Manzanillo holds up.


Manzanillo is home to a power plant that generates electricity from burning oil.

The plumes from the three stacks can be seen from iles around.  And the smoke often hangs in the air like Joe Btfsplk's cloud.


But not for long.


Mexico has contracted with a Japanese-Korean consortium to build a liquid natural gas plant.  The projected completion date is summer next year.


Who knows.  Maybe Manzanillo will be far more Salma Hayek and less Ayn Rand.


But I would settle for Bo Derek.