Two more things

Just two more things about Alamos and then I'll stop. First, the hills west of town are dotted with purple blooming trees that we're told are called Amapas. So beautiful. And second, late late Friday night after the fiesta, a group of inebriated fellows wandered along the street outside our window. In most places a group like this would be shouting and swearing; but in Alamos they were singing Mexican traditional songs (very raggedly and loudly) and accompanying themselves on a guitar. What a place!

Tonight we're staying at a roadside motel south of Culiacan and tomorrow we'll drive the autopista straight into Mazatlan.

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.

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.

Our love affair with Alamos continues

After a pleasant morning in San Carlos taking Maggie for a walk and a swim at the beach, we headed off to Alamos. This is possibly our most favorite place from our trip last year. We stayed here for ten days and fell in love with it. Alamos is a 450 year old colonial gem of a town in the Sierra Madre, about 50 miles inland from Navajoa. In this magical place you feel as though you are stepping back in time. The central part of the town is all colonial buildings, some restored and others with just the facades remaining. Many of the beautiful old buildings have been restored by foreigners but it still has the feel of a small Mexican town, with a lot of town life going on all around.

We arrived in the central plaza, parked in front of the cathedral, and stepped out of the car to find a fellow we met last year when he gave us a tour of the old town. He told us that Alamos suffered damage a couple of months ago from a hurricane and flood. They are still repairing the road and some areas where houses were swept away. He also directed us to a small hotel nearby called Solipaso, which is run by an American couple. It turns out that this is adjacent to a cafe we visited several times last year for its lattes, book exchange, and free wifi. We were shown a beautiful room with 14 foot ceilings, saltillo tile floors, and deep windowsills. It's furnished with lovely comfortable antiques and Maggie is welcome.


What a lovely place to stay for a few days. We're looking forward to exploring more of this beautiful place. Apparently there is a big fiesta with dancing and children's rides tomorrow night in the central plaza. I'll keep you posted on goings on.

Crossing the Border

The border crossing at Nogales’ Mariposa Gate seems too easy to be true—you just drive past a sign that says “Entering Mexico”—then drive through a few miles of steep earth walls with barbed wire. But of course it’s not that easy--there’s much more processing to be done 13 kilometers south at the immigration offices. Here is where we knew without at doubt that we had crossed into Mexico.

Nogales is the busiest border crossing in the Western part of the continent. In addition to all the trucks carrying produce, and the regular traffic back and forth, it handles the annual influx of thousands of snowbirds traveling in RVs from Canada and the USA. You might think there would be a smooth system for these people, most of who don’t speak more than a few words of Spanish. But no—it’s a very confusing place with many people standing around with clipboards, some with guns, and a few with uniforms. There are several different buildings to go through, two or three different officials to talk to, copies of documents to be made and at least two different payments to be made to get the permit for taking a vehicle into Mexico. But there are no signs or maps to explain the process—and the only person there who speaks fluent English is the copy man.

We parked our car and made our way to the nearest office along with a number of others. This is the immigration office where you apply for your visitors permit. Three uniformed men stood behind the counter speaking very fast Spanish to people ahead of us. Harry and I lined up and when it was our turn presented our passports to one fellow. Without a word he gave us each a form to fill out for the tourist card. It took only a few minutes and a few simple questions for us to get the documents. We asked where we were to pay and were waved towards another door. So with our tourist cards in hand went through the door into a big courtyard with buildings on all four sides.

Right ahead of us in the middle of the courtyard was a tall booth with a huge sign saying COPIES – NO TIPS. We knew from last year that we would need copies of some of our documents so we went up to the wicket where the very helpful fellow explained in perfect and colloquial English exactly what we needed, what the process was and where we should take the papers. He made the copies for us and put them in order and directed us to the correct building. We asked how much for the copies and he said, “You pay me what you want to.” The sign says No tips—but you can pay what you want to the only person there who can explain the process. This guy must make a fortune!

The next step was to get our temporary importation permit for the van. This is the complicated part. Only one person can import one vehicle and the name on the registration, license and credit card must match. It wasn’t too difficult for us as we’re driving the van, but for those towing a trailer or a 5th wheel or another car (which many snowbirds do) it is a very complex business involving much discussion between officials, additional copies of papers, and a great deal of confusion as to what the costs were and what the rules were. None of the officials spoke much English and not one of them was able to answer a question about how much the peso amount was in US dollars. Even for us with just the van it took close to an hour and three different credit card transactions in pesos.

As an introduction to Mexico it’s just about perfect. Everyone is polite, there are officials everywhere, the process is complex and inefficient, and the one who controls it all is the copy man, who takes no tips but asks you to pay whatever you wish. This is just so Mexican!

Nogales to San Carlos

We spent last night in Nogales getting ready to cross the border. This involved buying a few last minute things that may not be available in Mexico--like camping chairs, cottage cheese, window shades for the car, and other odds and ends. This morning we left early and got to the border around 8:00 a.m. It took about and hour and half to get all the paperwork in place for our tourist cards and the car permit. Then over we went and into Mexico. It's surprising how suddenly things feel very different. Mexico is so much more relaxed than the USA. Even the saguaro cactuses look healthier.

Forty kilometers north of Guymas we passed the spot where Mohita broke down last year and had to be towed. This time we just sailed right past in Wanda. What a relief! The van is just so much easier to drive and things are a lot easier with a smaller, more nimble (not to mention trustworthy) vehicle.

Tonight we're staying in the Totonaka RV park in San Carlos where we camped last year. They rent cute little apartments at the back and we're here for one night. Maggie even seems to recognize the place. She's happy to have a space to play frizbee after a couple of days on the road.

It seems strange to be here without Mohita and Geordie, and without our camping friends Lorne and Anne. But we made the best of it with a lovely early dinner at Ruby's wine bar in San Carlos where we wandered around the sailboats and watched the sun go down. It's good to be back in Sonora. As you can see the photos, the skies are intensely blue and we think (hope) that it will be like this for the duration.

Too many people, too many cars

Our visit to Corinne and her two dogs, Havoc and Duncan, in Beaumont, California was short but sweet. We had enough time to get in some play time in the park with the dogs, drive up into the hills, go out to dinner, and sweep through Sam's Club for some bargains (wine and a new GPS to replace the old one that was stolen in Victoria).

The weather on Saturday was spectacular--warm and sunny enough that we needed air conditioning in the car. We drove up to Oak Grove where there is an apple orchard theme park, very charming and complete with Early American style building and costumes. Many families from the area were visiting with their kids--obviously a Thanksgiving tradition. Lots of fun for us as well. Corinne and I bought matching red sandals there.

We were lucky to have been able to skirt most of the Los Angeles basin traffic. We left the jammed I-5 shortly after Castaic and breezed into Beaumont on a new highway I-210. Beaumont is 70 miles from LA but still part of the frantic Southern California lifestyle. Some people who live there actually commute daily to Los Angeles for work--a trip of over two hours each way (if the traffic is good). Freeway driving is just part of every day and trips are measured in hours rather than miles. It seems that Southern California is the victim of its lovely climate--there are just too many people and too many cars, and so the sunny, summery lifestyle is marred by constant worries about traffic jams and freeway pile-ups.

This morning, the last day of the four-day Thanksgiving weekend we left Beaumont and headed east towards Phoenix. The east-bound traffic was light but it looked like it was going to be hours of bumper to bumper traffic for people heading back to the coast. Corinne tells us that many people go to a desert dunes area for recreation and it was obvious that that was the activity of choice this weekend. Many RVs, big trucks, and trailers were on the road complete with the ATVs and dune buggies, with over a hundred miles of traffic jam to get through. What a dreary end that would be to a long weekend!

Tonight we're in Buckeye, Arizona. We saw the same kind of freeway backup heading into Phoenix this afternoon so we stopped off here in order to head south to Tucson on a bypass route tomorrow.

The photo of Corinne's dogs shows Havoc on the left and Duncan on the right. Havoc is a great flyball dog, a mix of Border Collie, Jack Russell, Whippet and maybe something else. He is already running under four seconds at the beginning of his career; he's also an absolute love-sponge. Duncan is a Cairn Terrier who did flyball for a while but is now retired. Maggie enjoyed being with both of these guys today, running after tennis balls and playing in the back yard. I think she's missing Geordie as she actually initiated some play with Havoc this morning--and that's unusual for her.