More discoveries and a fiesta farewell

We’re in our 200 year-old room getting ready for bed with the sounds of Mexican traditional songs wafting in the window. We spent an hour in the plaza taking part in the fiesta events along with most of the town. It’s only a little after 9:00 pm but we had to leave the festivities early as we’ve had a full and wonderful day. After a morning of exploring the town by foot and by car, we connected this afternoon with Robin, a woman who has lived here in Alamos with her husband and two daughters (now aged 7 and 9) for the past six years. She showed us the house that is available for rent and then took us on a little tour of the town and a visit to their beautiful casa, which was built for Mary Astor, a 1930s Hollywood star, who moved here when she retired from the movies to write books. The house is just lovely and so are they. We ended up joining them for dinner at El Mirador, a little restaurant on a hill overlooking the town and had a great time together, not to mention the delicious stuffed shrimp we ate.

Robin and Rich told us more about the town and about the horrific damage caused by the Hurricane Norbert, which swept through here in early October. Quite a few people lost their lives and many more lost their homes. The repairs to the roads, sewers etc, will continue for months or years, but the town is coping. We also learned more about the expat community here. It seems to be a close knit group and growing every year. The difference we see between Alamos and San Carlos, for example, is that people who live in Alamos get involved in the life of the town. This is very appealing to us.

Robin showed us a house up in the hills that we can rent next winter and we are very seriously thinking of making this arrangement. The house is huge, maybe 3,000 square feet with a big living/dining area and kitchen plus three bedrooms, each with a bathroom, and a few other nooks and crannies as well. It has a big open-air covered porch that looks out over the valley, a pleasant front yard area and even a huge yard where the dogs could roam. We’re thinking that we could rent it for two or three months next year and invite everyone we know to come and visit.

We are far from finished with this town. Every time we come here we discover new charms. The fiesta tonight was a delight. We thought that last night was the fiesta but it hadn’t even started yet. Tonight there was spectacular music, fireworks, the crowing of the fiesta queens and folkloric dancing. We actually hate to leave but we have to head south tomorrow in order to make it to Mazatlan on the 7th of December, however we’ll stop here on our way back towards the end of January. Apparently there is a wonderful music festival taking place here then that it not to be missed.