and the beautiful cathedral that sits in the middle of the town, but I didn’t take any time in writing about the children of Alamos… Today was “Parade Day”, in celebration of the 1910 Revolution. It was also the day that all the children dressed in costume to play in marching in bands, walk, dance and climb into pyramids as they made their way throughout the route. The tour group was sitting and listening about all the history of Alamos when the first band started up, and that was all it took, all attention was lost. Our host invited us to come back after the parade but go out and enjoy the festivities until then… there is no doubt, I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the parade and that was because of the kids and their dress. Now it was time to get back to the reason that we were in town…the guided tour. Our tour took us inside 3 completely different homes of Alamos. One was very simply done, but very comfortable. Another was the home of a wealthy person that apparently only shows up in town once or twice a year. It did have the family pool, fountain, plants and trees that made it like a park, and beautiful rooms surrounding it all. The next was a total remodeling project by a Texan that just went overboard by going completely modern. By that time we had seen all that we wanted to see so off we went on our own.
0 Comments
_15 November ‘09 Sol and Carol drove in this morning and we joined another couple that is parked here in the campground in a hike. The hike took us to one of the highest points of the town and gave us a great chance to get a feel as to how the town is laid out. _With the streets of the town being so narrow, the sidewalks elevated as much as 3 feet, and the walls of the homes and businesses running another 10 to 12 feet above that, you lose all sense of where you are. Speaking of the homes, or “Haciendas”, this is what Alamos is all about… Los Alamos was once a huge gold and silver mining area of the world, and those that lived here then and for years after had developed one of the most beautiful towns in the world. It wasn’t so much the town it’s self but the large and beautiful homes that the wealthy built. There are so many homes that cover a square block of Alamos that you could hardly count them. With the tall walls giving support for the many rooms that surround a large courtyard _that most often is decorated with waterfalls, fountains, pools (swimming and reflection), and fully grown trees and bush. The colors of the flowers in the courtyard are as magnificent as the colors of the walls and furniture that are in play throughout. So today we hiked the hill and walked the streets, strolled the street market, _and enjoyed the music, food, and the people of Alamos. We were told that there was another hill town that we should visit before we leave…La Aduana. We drove out of town about a mile to where we found a sign that told us take a left on to a dirt road. We followed this road? through some pretty tough going while driving in and out of a dry river bed. Finally after about 4 or 5 miles of steady climbing we came upon a very small old mining town. It is mostly abandoned, but the church of Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Balvanera _remains strong…well maybe a little weaker and not quite as polished as it once was, but still there. Fact is, today was a day that is set aside for a pilgrimage from all the towns and villages of the area to the church and Aduana. The church was built to celebrate a miracle which resulted in the discovery of silver in the town. It was amazing to see the loyal walking the highway and then the dry river bed to give thanks and recognize the church and the miracle. Not only were we there to see the pilgrimage, we found some amazing bread…Carol and Louise could hardly hold their selves back _trying to get their pesos’ out and get a taste. I must say, it was quite good and will not last long around the Minnie Winnie… _14 November ‘09 We had a great time in San Carlos, but now it is time to move further south. Our destination is Los Alamos or just plain Alamos. Louise and I are going to have company traveling with us for awhile… Sol and Carol have decided that journeying a little further south sounded pretty good so they are joining in. We’ve got it a little easier traveling because we’re in a 27’ motor home and they are pulling a 36’ 5th wheel with a 4x4 GMC 4 door dually. We were under way by 10:30am and heading for Guaymas and soon will leave the Sea of Cortez behind. _Hwy 15 will take us inland and directly through this major town, meaning that we’ll have heavier traffic all around us that will be jockeying for position at each and every corner and stoplight. As it turned out, the traffic wasn’t too bad and we were able to skirt through without any problems or mis-directions. Hwy 15 then takes us across some flat landscapes and leads us into the second of three large cities that we’ll have on this drive south. Now as we were about half way across this flat landscape, we came upon a sign that caught us off guard… There was a large red circle with a slash across it that said “NO FREE ZONE” and just about 100 yards in back of this sign was the station that we should have driven into… Unfortunately we were past it before we got our senses of ourselves and decided that we should turn around and visit this “official looking building”. For Louise and me, we were fine and could pass by but for Sol and Carol, we knew that they hadn’t applied for or had their vehicles “imported”. This is very important to be able to continue further south, so that is the reason that we made that impossible turn-around. Fortunately we were only about 2 miles past the station so we were able to get right back without backtracking half a day or more and possibly have a huge fine for Sol if caught without that import tag. Things always seem simpler than they are. We knew that they didn’t have their vehicles imported but we didn’t realize that they neglected to get their Tourist Visa’s as they came across the border as well. Now this does make it a little harder…Now they had 2 choices…one to head back north and take their time and enjoy the northern part of Mexico all over again or two, head back to the airport just north of Guaymas and pick-up their tourist visa and then back to the import station (about 80 miles round trip) and get import taxes and stickers taken care of so that they can continue south. Sol and Carol told Louise and me to continue heading for our destination of Los Alamos and if everything went OK, they would join us that evening, or check our email if they weren’t there and there might be a message that they were turning back. Well we continued onto Ciudad Obregon. Now we’re close to 12:30 so we stopped and had lunch at a great “Taco Stand”. _From here we traveled south to Navojoa and then due east and up into the mountains to our destination of Los Alamos. We’d been at sea level for so long that as soon as we got above 300 feet our ears started to plug so I was constantly taking a deep breath or pulling my ear to equalize…strange. After 30 miles (50 kilometers) we drove through the gates of Los Alamos and headed down into town and our campground. Getting all settled in, we grabbed the camera and took a short walk into town. The townspeople had been gathering throughout the day to celebrate “The Revolution of 1910” but seeing as how we were getting into town so late, we missed just about the whole thing but fortunately they will all be out again on Monday for the big parade. Well, we were going to make a short night of it anyway, so we just opted for another “street” dinner _and headed back to the coach. Just about 9pm a large truck pulled up next to us and a voice came with it…”We’re back and ready to go…” Sol and Carol got all the paper work done, signed and copied, and paid for before heading on to meet up with us once again. _12 November ‘09 Day two in San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico… If you would like, you can find us located at: 27.96431N 111.02526W We traveled out of Bahia Kino with Sol and Carol and headed east to Hermosillo. After doing a little shopping at Soriano’s we turned south for San Carlos. Traffic was heavy going through Hermosillo and when I looked in my rearview mirror I wasn’t too surprised to see a policia pull up beside Sol and Carol (or me for that matter) and flash their red/blue lights at them. Well, Sol is driving a 4X4 GMC 4 door pick-up and pulling a 37’ 5th wheel so finding a spot to pull off the road was almost impossible. For us, it was still impossible until we got another mile or so up the highway until we found a spot long and wide enough for us to get off the road. We had no idea as to what they wanted, but we did know that there was nothing we could do by sitting beside the road in this hot weather waiting. After about 10 minutes or so, we pulled back on the road and continued south. Not long after I noticed a 5th wheel coming up on us pretty fast and knew Sol was trying to make up time. The drive from Hermosillo to San Carlos was just over an hour and 30 minutes and that’s when we found out what happened back there…”they ran a red light”… 400 peso’s later and they were on their way. I’m not sure we should be keeping this kind of “company”… Totonaka RV Park is across the street from the sea but after the last storm that came through here in October, the access to the beach might as well be in the next state. It was one of those storms that took all the sand from the beach and shifted it somewhere else. It left a big mess and tough access to the beach. Like in Bahia Kino, Sol and Carol asked us to go out with them and explore the area in their truck. It’s very nice when people take pity on us for not having a car/truck to get around in. This is another beautiful beach community that deserves the kind words of those of us that were given the opportunity to visit. With the exception of the damage and the work that is now being done because of the storm, San Carlos is a small Cabo San Lucas, but 30 years behind, and this is all good... We took a short break from our drive and found a great little lagoon to do some swimming. The water was great, sand soft, and the surrounding mountains were magnificent. Refreshed from our drive and the swim, we headed back to the campground. At the entrance to the campground is this restaurant/ bar that offers a free margarita to those of us that are staying at the campground so we made a stop for refreshments. I must admit, this “Free” margarita was one of the best I’ve ever had…fact is, we all thought so. We thought it was so good that we had to be polite and have another with dinner. _9 November ‘09 Bahia Kino is a very small village that sits on the eastern banks of the Sea of Cortez. With some homes, small single and two floor condos, a couple of restaurants, and 5 small vendor stalls, and a half dozen vacant lots, you get a feeling as to what Bahia Kino is all about…”kicking back”. Some find it too kicked back, and others find it just a quiet and amazing soft sand beach area with great fishing from boats or beach. Yesterday we hauled the kayak down to the water’s edge, ate a great breakfast of Huevos Rancheros, a Bloody-Mary, _and took a paddle for a couple of hours. The water was amazingly warm and flat. The fish were abundant below us, and the pelicans were having a feast for breakfast all around us…it was quite a sight. We paddled down the beach for about 100 yards and then out and around the rock hills that come to the deep water. All along the rocks, the fishermen were tossing out their lines for the days catch, some already lucky and others still hanging tough. We paddled from one protrusion of rocks to another and onto another until we had come to a small development of the only large homes we have seen in Kino Bay. One smaller home that was already finished and right down on the beach was absolutely beautiful, and then there were the 3 others that sat higher on the hillside that were going to be huge when finished…pretty nice, but how the hell do you get to them??? The only paved road is the one that comes into Bahia Kino from Hermosillo and then takes a right for about 6 miles and then comes to an end. The rest of the roads are heavily rutted dirt and a tough ride it is. We’ve met up with a couple (Sol and Carol) from Steamboat Springs, Colorado. They arrived the day before we did and we happened to find a location to park right in front of their 5th wheel. For the last couple of evenings, we’ve gotten together at the edge of the beach to watch the sun go down. _This morning Carol asked us if we would like to explore Old Bahia Kino and try to get out to the land spit that connects the mainland to one of the island. Well we found the road (dirt and heavily rutted), but it only took us about 1/3rd of the way to the island. From there it was walking only if you wanted to continue. We did find a small area were the fishermen leave and come back from the bay. _Not only did they have a catch of fish and crab, but the beach was covered with some of the best shells Louise and Carol have ever had a chance to collect from. They were both very happy to walk through all that soft mud to get their riches. After lunch at one of the beach-side restaurants in Ole Kino, we headed out the 12 mile “test track of dirt roads” to the Western Horizon Resort that we were going to camp in (Louise and I started out that road and immediately said “Hell will freeze over before I continue…”). Sal has a large 4 wheel drive pick-up and wanted the challenge…we got there and back and found it to be a very nice resort, but still on the road from hell. Then we went by the golf course that Sal has been golfing on. It is a desert sand course and looks to be quite nice and challenging. _Tonight we enjoyed another sunset and dinner at Jorge’s…just another day in PARADISE !!! _6 November ‘09 If you want to see our location on Google Earth it is located at; 28.85973N / 112.02493W I’ve mentioned before that the “cab air-conditioning” hasn’t been working and ever since we’ve worked our way south of Los Angles, California, we’ve suffered “terribly”… We tried to have Freon put in while in Indio but the cost of $100 a pound (and we need 4.5) plus labor, AND the great possibility that it would just leak out again before too long made us think that if we could suffer long enough to get south of the border maybe we could save a little CASH… Well yesterday, our host Edgar made a call and found two fellow Mexicans that would fix us up… It turned out that there was a fairly large hole in one of the high-pressure air-conditioning lines that they could weld while still on the van. All said and it was done. For $130 we had a welded line, 4.5 pounds of Freon and COLD AIR coming out of our vents for the first time and making us HAPPY CAMPERS once again. This morning we were once again on the move. We said our thanks and good-byes and headed to Hermosillo. In Hermosillo we found both Wal-Mart and Costco… what a gold mine for us and the locals. They were busy!!! And, the city of Hermosillo was busy with cars and trucks everywhere and in a hurry. Hermosillo has a population of approx. 300,000 people and I think they were all on the roads that we wanted to travel on. It kind of reminded me of driving in Istanbul, the leading fender wins… I loved every second of it and it drove Louise crazy. After having a quick slice of pizza at Costco we drove west to Bahia Kino. _Bahia Kino is a small, lazy, kick-back, beach town that has one of our Western Horizon campgrounds. The campground is located at the end of a 12 mile dirt road? that is soooo pot-holed that I gave up after a mile or two and drove back to town and found another campground to stay in. I thought we would make it out there, even though we had heard some horror stories, but I was wrong…who wants to put themselves or their RV through that kind of torture??? Well what the heck, I really didn’t want to go all that way out of town anyway… _4 November ‘09 It seemed a little strange waking up to an empty campground… Lukeville really doesn’t have a lot around it except the border crossing, gas station, small grocery store/restaurant/insurance office, the campground, and a motel that has closed down awhile back. That’s ok, all we wanted we received, enough electricity to run our air-conditioner and make my coffee in the morning. We were up and ready early and across the border into Mexico by 9. 15 miles down the road we stopped at the immigration office and took care of our travel papers and importation sticker for the Minnie Winnie. I really don’t mind all the paper work that it takes to travel here in Mexico, but it’s all the running back and forth from one building to another and then back again to the first. Then once that’s all done, you’ve got to run to another to have copies made of all that has been done and returned to the first again…anyone make any sense out of that???? We did get “ripped off” at the copy shop, that will qualify for the first “ripped” opportunity here in Mexico and it only took being here a couple of hours. 3 pieces of paper copied (one copy each) and it was $5 US!!! I probably could have avoided the opportunity if I had smaller peso change available, but all I had were $200 peso’s (about $15+) and they didn’t have any change (but the $5 would work PERFECTLY!!!). OK, boo-hoo… We drove the rest of the way to our next stop of Santa Ana on really nice wide roads that were lined with the desert hills and mountains on both sides. _These were quite a surprise to us, as we had expected much the same as we’ve experienced driving the Baja, narrow, very narrow at times, and no shoulder…the roads to day were reminiscent of roads we drove in Poland. These are nice 2 lane roads with a “driving” shoulder. When a car, bus, or truck comes up from behind, you move over onto this shoulder area and let them pass…it could be that there are 4 vehicles that meet side-by-side with the two inner lanes being the passing lanes. Anyway it works and I’m grateful that we only had 3 abreast while passing or being passed… Our campground here in Santa Ana is one of the smaller campgrounds we’ve camped in but the couple that own it are wonderful….Ana and Edger. _We’re using the “Mexico Camping” book by the Church’s and they recommended this one to us and their recommendation was spot on. There is only room enough for 8 to 10 RV's parked here so when your here your "Like family"... Most of their customers are "return" RV'ers and we will be as well when we come out in April. We also used the Church European Camping Guide when we did our journey through Europe…we wouldn’t be without one. Just before going to dinner, we took a walk into town. Santa Ana sits down below us so we started our walking journey walking down hill…the town is a wonderful little town with great Spanish architecture that dates back to 1790 or before. It’s not new, and it’s not all that well taken care of, but it’s great! In the center of the town is the Catholic Church with a wonderful green grass park to one side. Further up on the hill we came across this large cemetery that was all decorated up from the “Day of the Dead” celebration. _Over-all we walked about 2 to 3 miles before getting back in the dark and then we had to find our “taco stand”… _Taco’s, a cerveza, all taken care of we head back to the coach (Minnie Winnie) and enjoy a warm and beautiful night under our awning. _3 November ‘09 A couple of days behind our “schedule”, but we’re still doing great !!! Tonight we’re parked in a campground within 50’ of the border crossing in Lukeville, and we’re the only guests staying here. At one time this must have been one heck of a campground. I would guess that there is more than 250 sites here with water and electricity and plenty of shade trees to handle the harshest of bright and hot sunshine. We left the great company of Mark and Susan this morning, stopped for propane and some antibiotics, and a small box of Amish pastries before heading east on Hwy 8 for Gila Bend. The high temperatures of Yuma (in the low to mid 90’s) are still hanging around and we will be carrying them with us to the border town of Lukeville…all this without “cab air-conditioning”. We must be getting a little tougher because the highs of the day didn’t wipe us out as it did when we first arrived in the south. The drive was scenic but un-eventful. Arriving in Gila Bend about noon, we stopped for lunch, topped off the fuel tank, and turned south for the border. Tomorrow we’ll be crossing early and heading for the tourists offices to get all of our paper work in order for our 6 month journey. |
*Locations*
All
*Archives*
November 2016
|