Hurricane Hunter making the rounds

May 15th is the start of the Pacific season

They are in Cabo right now and should be in Vallarta next week. Shortly after that they'll be at the Manzanillo airport (ZLO). They have an open house in each city they visit .... but we went a few years ago and the line was a mile long and mostly in the sun. 

That plane flew through the heart of Hurricane Patricia last year and recorded it as the most powerful on record. Just over a month for the Pacific season to start and Atlantic starts the 1st of June.

UNAM Biological Station in Chamela

UNAM Biological Station in Chamela had an open house Dec. 6th

It was probably eight years since I'd been there and it was the time of year everything was brown and dry. This year all was green and pretty. The last time there wasn't much to see except a short walk on their loop trail with plants marked. This year they really put on a show. At first we thought it was going to be too dry and educational but the more we walked around we found neat stuff for the kids, a puppet show and some very nice displays.

The girls decorated a paper butterfly on a stick, made a parrot mask, made pinwheels and got some nice coloring books. Surprised there was no food or drink available but we brought a cooler with sandwich makings and a coke. Pretty long drive up there but glad we went.

Butterfly booth

Puppet show

Don't buy parrots - it's illegal

Nahima and Lorena decorating a butterfly  

Butterflies native to this area

Hurricane season almost here

Evidently this is a yearly event about this time of year. I was searching for further info on today's activities and found 2 from previous years. What it is, is a Hurricane Hunter aircraft from the US has an open house at the Manzanillo airport (ZLO). They are probably making stops up and down the coast. Pacific Hurricane season starts May 15 and we are almost there again.

My neighbors have only been to the airport once when we picked up a lost Gringa a few months ago.   I figured this would be an education for both of us so of we went combined with a stop in Cihuatlan.  The problem was I had no idea this would be so popular and we found 100's of people waiting.   The schedule said Noon to 6PM but dignitaries and special people got to take the tour first.   Then the couple hundred who got there early had to register, be given a pass and ushered through at 30 in a group.  Not only would the wait be well over an hour  but standing in line in the sun was not on our to-do-list. So we sized up the crowd, took a few pictures through the fence and headed back north.   If I remember next year I'll go later in the day when things have calmed down.

From out by the drive

A little closer through the fence

Lineup to enter the rear

Line of people a couple hundred yards long