The journey started in San Francisco on March 17 when I flew on Alaska Airlines on a direct flight to Manzanillo with a brief stopover in Los Angeles. Total time in the air was about 3 hours 50 minutes. The cost for the air ticket from San Francisco was about $523USD - not a bad price.

After going through customs and immigration, I proceeded to the money exchange bureau at the airport to buy some pesos, where the posted rate is 10.90 pesos per dollar, and as ‘My Secret Paradise’ does not have a bank, let alone a currency exchange bureau, I proceeded to buy enough pesos to last me for at least 10 days. Believe it or not, I think I got shorted to the tune of about 20USD worth of pesos - I am guessing my mind was already at the beach!. My suggestion, is to buy no more than 100USD worth of pesos at the airport, and buy additional pesos at one of the currency exchange bureaus (or bank) located in the two small beach towns just outside of ‘My Secret Paradise’; you’ll get a better exchange rate - 11.00 at the currency bureau and 11.10 at the bank respectively. Hint: When you exchange your money for pesos, make sure you get a receipt and double check that you got the proper exchange.

After I bought some pesos, I went to the transportation booth, where I proceeded to buy a ticket for a taxi to ‘My Secret Paradise’. The fare to this ‘not so secret hideaway’ is at a set rate of 590 pesos (approx 54USD) per person, although I think the rate on a per person basis would be less for 3 or 4 passengers traveling together. The only way to get to this small beach town or any of the other beach towns located north of the airport is by taxi.

Ok, I know what you’re thinking, where is this ‘Secret Paradise’ that I keep on talking about and what is the real name of the place? Patience, I will tell you in my next post, believe me, all will be revealed!

This entry was posted on Friday, March 23rd, 2007 at 10:55 am and is filed under Mexico, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.