The little town that could

In the aftermath of a natural disaster such as Hurricane Patricia, there is shock, despair and a flow of tears that rival the world’s waterfalls.  But life must and does go on. 

Courage of La Manzanilla

Just five years after being battered and bruised by Hurricane Jova, our pueblo was once again assaulted by Mother Nature.  Hurricane Patricia bore down on La Manzanilla with a speed and ferocity unlike anything that even the oldest residents in the town had ever experienced. 

Bare Bones Theatre 

Since 2011 La Manzanilla’s Bare Bones Readers’ Theatre, headed-up by Arleen Pace, has been entertaining us with their annual productions. During their inaugural shows the group had us laughing and blushing during lively performances of The Vagina Monologues.   From intimate views into the human condition to raucous pieces about cheating spouses, Pace has a knack for finding sketches that are perfectly suited to the La Manzanilla winter demographic. The ensemble’s events are always sold out and no one scoffs at the 100 peso fee.  

Efren Gonzalez 

Baseball

The La Manzanilla Baseball Club’s annual seven-inning game between the club kids, their coaches, dads and several “old phart” expats took place Saturday, February 28.  The mixed teams, Lobos vs Tigers, was a spirited affair.  The Lobos leapt out to an early big lead by taking advantage of some Tiger sun glare errors and strong hitting.  The Lobos looked to be cooked but they crept back in the mid innings with their own aggressive base running and a few ‘seeing-eye’ drives that went through Lobo gaps to the end of the field.  The back and forth featured some crowd pleasing highlights by both the rag tag men, many of whom had not played in years, and the young guns who showed their skills built through the fine coaching led by Patti, Scottie and a host of awesome volunteers throughout the year.

Lending Library Project

A few winter seasons ago Susan O’Riley discovered La Manzanilla for the first time. That first season was spent getting to know the village, the local nonprofits and community projects.  She thought La Manzanilla would be the perfect place to set-up a library.  She made plans to return the following winter and got the project underway.