Two days in Pueblo Magico

Alamos has been recognized as a special place--a puebl0o magico-- by the Mexican government, which is paying to have all the electric wires buried underground in the central area. This is part of what creates the special feeling about the town, but there's more to it than that. There's a sense of living in a small town where everyone knows each other. Doors are left unlocked, everyone (both Mexican and Anglo) smiles and greets each other on the sidewalks, children sing while walking to school, church bells ring, the songs of birds fill the air. And the air is very pleasant here--cool nights, fresh mornings and warm, sunny days. There is the tang of wood smoke and the sound of people working and chatting. A lot of work is going on these days. Ancient buildings and portales are being repaired and repainted, and there is also the transformation of the plaza for the four-day fiesta of the Parroquia de la Purisma Conception.

When we arrived on Wednesday, they were setting up the children's rides and last night was a busy one in the plaza. It seemed to be a family event. Parents and children and teenagers were all milling around, buying cobs of corn and shave ice from vendors, looking at tables of crafts and toys for sale, and putting the kids on the carnival rides. We sat outside on one side of square and watched the action while we ate our dinner of chicken mole and sopa de Azteca.

It's a walking town and there's much to explore, including whole areas that we didn't see last year. Maggie has been able to be with us just about everywhere we go. She enjoys that but has some issues with the street dogs that come right up to her or bark furiously as we go by. There are dogs wandering everywhere here and they all seem interested in meeting Maggie. But she's not that interested so we end up shooing them away.

Today we'll continue walking around. That is if I can drag Harry away from the breakfast table. We were served a lovely breakfast of fruit and home baked muffins, coffee and fresh orange juice. He's been talking to a fellow from Berkeley for the past hour and a half, but there's no rush. Time has a different feeling here. We saw a poster last night about a small house for rent where children and dogs are welcome. We're going to take a look today to see if it might be possible to rent it for a period of time next winter.