Sunday ; Happy 64th birthday to my sister Sharon
Today was overcast and cool.
This morning Bo and I were invited to join the neighbours on a beach walk. I extended the invitation to Louis the Jack Russell, one of the caravan people’s dogs. Three men, two women, two little girls, two little dogs, all gringos, walking on the beach. The other two men walked ahead quickly, the women and girls stuck together, and me and the dogs were a “pack”. Bo and Louie were interested in some surf play, so we turned around after half a mile or so and walked back to the RV park, playing in the surf along the way. The rest of the group walked down the beach all the way into Las Glorias and then walked back through town.
Right after lunch we went exploring by truck. We drove through Las Glorias and over to the nearby village of Boca del Rio. OH ! ! ! DUH ! ! ! Mouth of the River ! ! ! That explains all those large fishing boats just offshore. Sunday is “Family Day” in Mexico, so both Las Glorias and Boca del Rio were filled with people young and old enjoying a rowdy day at the beach. There were cars, trucks, motorcycles, dune buggies and ATV’s roaring up and down the beach. So … when in Rome … !
I shifted Lanoire into six wheel drive, and … ZOOOM ! Onto the beach we went. Joanne disapproved.
We found the “doughnut shop” in Boca del Rio. Out in front of a house, a man was preparing doughnut dough on a table. His wife was frying large doughnuts one at a time in a pot of oil. We bought four doughnuts at five pesos each. Large, wonderful doughnuts ! We bought some milk and tortillas de harina at an abarrote. We drove back through Boca del Rio and Las Glorias exploring. At the far end of Las Glorias I once again drove onto the beach. I wanted to drive on the beach past our RV park. Once again Joanne disapproved. Just as we were driving past our RV park, a small aircraft, a Piper Cub, I think, flew over us, about ten feet above us ! Holy mackerel ! Like rules of the road in Mexico, I guess aviation regulations are just “suggestions”. I wonder what would be the consequences if I flew a Cessna 172 about fifteen feet above the beach on Skaha Lake in Penticton. HA HA HA !
I < ahem > hacked into the caravan’s Wi-Fi and got a lot of online work done this evening.
Monday ; Today started out a bit cloudy but by afternoon became sunny, warm, and windy.
This morning we had a beach doughnut play session with Bo and Louie the Jack Russell Terrier. Gee … Louie is as eager and fearless about playing beach doughnut fetch in ocean surf as Bo was four years ago. I suppose age brings wisdom and caution.
I used my machete to whack open coconuts for neighbours twice today. I guess I’m the only gringo around that has a machete. HA HA HA !
We had a late afternoon and evening planned with the next door neighbours who are departing tomorrow morning. First I built a campfire on the road in front of their rig. I’ll clean up the remnants of it tomorrow. Then we had a Mardi Gras parade. The girls had spent part of the day making masks and costumes. Joanne and I have masks and beads from spending Mardi Gras in and around Lafayette, Louisiana in 2006 or 2007. While the girls paraded around their motorhome to zydeco music I threw chocolate bars and beads at them every time they came around their RV and hollered “throw me something, mister”. HA HA HA … I taught them that Mardi Gras parade tradition today. Nicole had prepared packets of aluminum foil wrapped chicken and vegetables which we cooked over the campfire. While supper cooked I performed a magic show. It was great ! A five year old and an eight year old are a great magic show audience ! After the magic show we ate supper. Dessert was a chocolate brownie type cake Joanne baked today in the Sun Oven. We spent the evening sitting around the campfire chatting.
Tuesday ; Mardi Gras
This morning we went on a day trip outing to Bird Island ( singular in English ) / Isla Pájaros ( birds / plural in Spanish ) and Shell Island ( self-explanatory in English ) / Isla Macapule ( the Spanish name of a type of tree found on the island ). It was a tour arranged for the caravan group. Some in the caravan group obviously did not like that we came along on their day trip, but … I don’t really give a right royal **** ! We were invited by both the owner / operator and the assistant manager of Mr. Moro Hotel & RV Park, the organizers of the trip, before the caravan even arrived here, and again yesterday ! And we paid the same fee to go on the trip as they did ! ! !
We car pooled to the little nearby village of Pitahaya. The caravan group should have realized where our invitation came from when they saw that all the food coolers for lunch were in our truck, and the two Mr. Moro employees leading the trip were in our truck ! The group of about thirty people loaded into three pangas ( little fishing boats ) which then drove for about an hour to reach Isla Pájaros. Much of the trip was through a maze of mangrove swamps. The last part was over choppy open seas and the ride was brutally rough ! Joanne pointed out that we should take a boat trip every five years or so to remind ourselves how much we hate small boats !
Isla Pájaros was astounding ! It’s a small island filled with thousand of nesting birds, mostly Cormorants and Pelicans but also Ospreys and Vultures and who knows what else ? We wandered around for a couple of hours finding and photographing nests, eggs in nests, hatchlings in nests, fledglings in nests, mature birds in trees and cacti … ! After a couple of hours we climbed back into the pangas and headed over to Isla Macapule to eat lunch and wander around finding interesting shells to collect. The boat ride home in mid-afternoon was a lot smoother than the morning ride.
After returning to Mr. Moro we took Bo for a beach play session and after playing beach doughnut fetch for awhile we went to recruit Louis the Jack Russell and Latté the Miniature Dachshund to join us. We don’t invite Louis to join us until Bo has had enough beach doughnut fetch. Louis is too rough with the beach doughnut, having already destroyed the one we gave him a few days ago.
Tonight’s sunset was probably the best one of our trip so far !
Joanne prepared a beef stew to cook in the Sun Oven. She hand washed a few articles of clothing and hung them out in the sun to dry. She’s been doing that most days that we’ve been here.
I worked on processing yesterday’s photos. WOW ! See above ! Since no one else was here,
I allowed Bo to be outside, untethered. I thought he would stick around our trailer, like the three Mexican dogs who were snoozing in the shade of the trailer. But NOOOOO … not Bo ! After
I finished some routine preventive maintenance I realized I hadn’t seen him for awhile. UH-OH !
I called and called him, and he finally showed up, wagging his tail furiously. I think he was “helping” the restaurant’s cook in the kitchen ! Why is it that the Mexican perros know better than to go wandering into the restaurant, especially into the kitchen, and the little gringo dog / perrito doesn’t ? ! ?
Sully wanted to go outside in the warm sunlight. I opened the door and followed him out. Usually he just wants to walk around for a few minutes. The snoozing Mexican perros saw us and wandered over. Luna sniffed Sully’s tail. Sully was indignant ! He immediately turned around, walked back and climbed up the trailer steps, wanting to be allowed back inside. That’s odd ! He usually just uses his big outdoor Siamese voice to intimidate dogs away. What’s the matter, Sully ? You can’t intimidate Mexican perros ? ! ? HA HA HA !
When he’s not the assistant manager at Mr. Moro Hotel & RV Park, Horatio is a part time English teacher at the university in Guasave. Yesterday he asked if I would teach him a magic trick / illusion that he could use to teach English. YES ! My “three ropes” illusion is full of patter and audience interaction. Today around noon we brought all the employees into the restaurant.
I performed the illusion … in English. Horatio translated into Spanish. And he was an audience member when he saw the magic trick for the first time. The staff returned to work. I taught the trick to Horatio. I forgot how difficult it is to learn.
Lunch was great ! Albeit expensive. While we were having lunch Horatio came over for some coaching on “patter”. I guess “BLAH BLAH BLAH” while performing an illusion comes easier to some than to others. And since he intends to use this magic trick as part of an English lesson, patter is integral.
We had a great beach play session after lunch. After playing beach doughnut fetch for awhile we went for a long walk on the beach. Bo’s pack of Brenda, Luna, and Sergio joined us. Late in the afternoon we all returned to the beach to watch our final sunset here.
Well … consistent with all of our other travel days in Mexico, this one certainly could have gone better !
This morning Horatio asked if we would take him to Guasave on our way out. He had been staying in one of the Mr. Moro Hotel rooms for the last week because of the caravan workload, and now he wanted to return to his home in Guasave for a few days off. Certainly, no problem ! Our departure was slightly “different” than usual, Joanne to the back seat with Sully to make room for Horatio in the front, loading Horatio’s bags into the box of the truck, and so on. As a result … apparently
I forgot to close the tailgate of the truck after loading some of Horatio’s stuff. Or the tailgate bounced open on the rough roads ? I don’t know ! In seven years of travelling with Lanoire, her tailgate has never opened before. I must have forgotten to close it !
When we departed Mr. Moro Hotel & RV Park, Horatio tied four different coloured ribbons around Lanoire’s rear view mirror. They are prayer ribbons from his tribe. He is a Mayo Yoreme Indian. Each ribbon represents one of the four compass points / directions. Together they represent a prayer / wish for the recipient’s family, and peace, and traditions, and prosperity. I shall leave them on the mirror and remember his prayers for us whenever I see them. He was eager to get home to attend a sweat lodge ceremony today. It’s interesting that Canadian and American and Mexican Indians / Natives all have similar traditions and practices.
When we got to the place in Guasave where we were dropping him off and his sister was picking him up, I stopped, we got out of the truck, and … OMIGAWD ! The tailgate of the truck was open. A bag of Horatio’s had fallen out of the truck ! It contained some dirty laundry and a small vacuum cleaner that he was taking home to repair. I AM SO SORRY ! ! ! I felt terrible ! And still do ! He declined my offer to drive back to Las Glorias and look for the bag. < sigh >
On the outskirts of Guasave I saw a Santa Fe Supermercado. I stopped, we needed some groceries. Santa Fe isn’t as nice a supermarket as Ley or Soriana. We bought our groceries and were walking back to our truck and trailer parked on the edge of the highway outside the supermarket’s parking lot when we saw … HEY … GET OFF MY TRUCK ! A “car washer” was standing on the top of the storage chest / tool box in the bed of the truck, “washing” the truck roof.
I was furious ! NO ! NO, GRACIAS ! NO PERMISO ! ! ! He had a filthy bucket of water, and a filthy wash towel. The truck was mostly “washed” already, but very poorly.
I will NOT succumb to this practice of bullying extortion in Mexico, whether it’s a cop looking for mordida or a car washer trying to get paid for a really bad car wash that I did not ask for nor did I want ! ! ! While Joanne put the grocery bags in the trailer door, I made my displeasure known to the car washer. As we drove away, he intentionally scratched the rear door of the truck ! YOU ****ING A**H**E ! ! ! ! !
And while I had my hands full with the damn car washer, Joanne had her own problems. A “grocery helper” was determined to wrestle the grocery cart away from her, then wrestle the grocery bags away from her, and load them into the trailer door, then wrestle the grocery cart away from her again to return it to the store, all “services for a fee” ! YEAH … **** OFF, PAL ! Neither of you a**h***s gets a single peso out of us ! ! ! I was impressed with Joanne’s strength of character !
You know, sometimes, for some people, some places just seem doomed. For us, I guess that’s Guasave ! And Mexicans wonder why gringos don’t want to come to Mexico any more ? ! ?
We continued northbound on MEX 15. At the border between the states of Sinaloa and Sonora we had to stop at a food inspection station. OH, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD ! ! ! ! ! They confiscated a bag of mandarin oranges and a bag of limes we had bought just minutes earlier ! ! ! And Mexicans wonder why gringos don’t want to come to Mexico any more ? ! ?
At Navajoa we refilled with diesel. Joanne washed the truck windows and then was trying to clean and dry our long handled window squeegee. I intervened and “showed her a better way”. CRACK !
I broke the squeegee’s long handle ! < rolling eyes in despair >
We turned east at Navajoa to head up into the mountains to Alamos. Each of our two Mexico highway maps showed the same route but with different highway numbers. And the actual highway signs showed it as yet a third highway number ! And Mexicans wonder why gringos don’t want to come to Mexico any more ? ! ?
We found our way to Alamos and our chosen RV park in the small city. We were parked and set up before dark so we decided to walk to centro / downtown and explore. And decide whether we were going to leave tomorrow morning, or spend the day here exploring. After walking around and exploring for a couple of hours we decided to stay here tomorrow and explore more.
We walked around and found both of the town squares / plazas, including the old one beside El Templo Parroquoial de la Inmaculada Concepcion built in 1786. Now isn’t that church name a mouthful ? The Parochial Temple of the Immaculate Conception !
Día de San Valentín / Valentine’s Day is a big deal in Mexico. Almost all women we saw today were wearing some bright red clothing. Valentine’s Day chocolates and cakes and balloons and long stemmed roses and all sorts of other Valentine’s Day stuff was on sale everywhere today.
As we were wandering around we decided we might as well have dinner out. We stopped at a comida economica and had ( yet another ) amazingly good supper. A comida economica usually has a prix fixe menu with limited offerings at a very reasonable price. The one we went to tonight had four offerings. Joanne and I shared two of them. I ordered caldo de queso / cheese stew. It was a huge bowl of soup … a spicy chicken broth, I think … filled with vegetables, potatoes, and chunks of queso fresca. Joanne ordered bistek ranchero, a grilled and diced thin steak in a spicy gravy, con arroz y frijoles / with rice and refried beans. As always, the meal included a large bowl of hot tortillas, so after we shared the large bowl of soup we made many tacos with the contents of Joanne’s plate. Just as we were finishing our meal a group of nine “blue collars / hard hats” came in for dinner after a hard day at work. It’s always gratifying / reassuring to know that we chose a restaurant that appeals to the locals. By the way, la cuenta, including dos refrescos / two soft drinks was noventa ( 90 ) pesos, about $7.35.
This morning when I woke Joanne said she had a big surprise for me. I looooove big surprises ! When she walked Bo before I woke she found an orange tree in this RV park. She picked three large, juicy oranges to make fresh orange juice for me for breakfast. How wonderful ! Thank you, my dear. EEEEUUUUWWWW ! ! ! How is it possible for oranges to be that sour ? ? ? This was truly an example of “it’s the thought that counts” !
Today was dedicated to more exploring of Alamo by foot. Unfortunately, Joanne had a bit of an upset stomach today, putting a bit of a crimp in her ability to enjoy the day. After morning chores we refilled a water jug ( the agua purificadora is adjacent to the RV park ), paid for another night in the RV park, and headed out. We wandered a few blocks over to the Mercado, adjacent to Plaza Alameda, one of the two plazas / town squares. While in the Mercado browsing and sightseeing we selected one of the small food counters as the place to have lunch. I was intrigued by what we saw at one of the counters. The lady was friendly and engaging when I asked her questions. So … we had her gorditas for lunch. Her gorditas were made of masa ( tamale cornmeal ) formed into little bowl shapes, then cooked on an upside down bowl shaped grill so that they were like little masa bowls after cooking. She spread frijoles on them, then carne de res ( grilled, diced beef … like carne asada ), shredded lettuce, slices of tomatoes and guacamoles. While she prepared our gorditas she served each of us a cup of her “consommé”, a spicy chicken broth with thin slivers of vegetables and peppers. Following her suggestions I squeezed lime juice and added some of her salsa picante to mine. WHEW … now that was a cup of soup ! The gorditas were pretty good.
I initially ordered one for each of us, then as she was preparing them, I changed my order to two for each of us. Should have stuck to the original plan ! By the time we were finished we were stuffed ! Her daughter went out to a local abarrote to buy us the refrescos / soft drinks we ordered that she didn’t have in her fridge. Two bowls of consommé ( I think they were complimentary ), four gorditas, two soft drinks were sesenta ( 60 ) pesos / almost five dollars ! When I asked for la cuenta / the bill I misheard and thought she said setenta ( 70 ) pesos, so that’s what I left on the counter. Oh, well … first numbering mistake I’ve made on this trip. The extra ten pesos could either be a tip or payment for the cups of consommé.
We wandered around the town, admiring the old colonial architecture. Some homes had their front doors open, and we could peek inside. Some were very nice, especially the ones with front “courtyards”. In a climate this warm, it’s sometimes a bit hard for gringos like us to know what constitutes “inside” and “outside” the house. Where we come from, inside and outside are easily defined. Not so much here !
While wandering around after lunch we found a veterinary pharmacy. While browsing in there I found and bought some medications and medical supplies that I thought would be a good idea to have on hand. HA HA HA … ya never know ! We wandered over to Plaza de Armas, the other town square. It‘s newer ( 1904 ! ) and larger. And the big church is there ! We also wandered into the local government office, a large building with an interior large courtyard and stage. There was some manner of federal government job fair taking place in the courtyard. By then Joanne was feeling poorly, so we sat on benches outside the plaza and rested, then walked slowly home. By the time we got back to the RV park, we were both pretty tired. We had walked far.
We spent the late afternoon and early evening resting. We went for supper to the comida economica again. On the way we dropped into Elektra, an electronics and appliance store, and browsed. I picked up their current flyer. WOW … you can buy an iron for only twenty-five pesos / two bucks a week … for a hundred weeks. HA HA HA ! Must be pretty steep financing charges ! Supper was not quite as good as last night. And a bit more expensive. I had pescado empanizado / breaded fish fillets. Joanne had carne adobada / marinated "meat" ( pork cutlet ). Both dishes were served with frijoles, arroz, y ensalata, and, of course, a bowl of hot tortillas. La cuenta tonight, including dos refrescos, was ciento viente ( 120 ) pesos, close to ten dollars.
I've just turned "auto-correct" off in my word processor program. I was re-reading what I just typed and "pescado empanizado" became "pescado emphasized". HA HA HA !
I have been hoping, during this entire trip, for a travel day that didn't leave one or both of us feeling demoralized and defeated ! Finally ... today was that day.
This morning we prepared for departure and left Dolisa Hotel & RV Park in Alamos. We drove west back to Navajoa on the mystery numbered highway, then around Navajoa on their "periphery road". Shouldn't have bothered. Should have just driven through the city. We stayed on MEX 15 Cuota, the toll road, from Navajoa to Guaymas. Two toll booths today, each one costing about ten dollars ! Maybe it's worth it. There was actually reasonable direction signage on the toll road.
We stopped for lunch in the large parking lot of a Pemex station. While Joanne prepared lunch
I walked around the truck and trailer checking that everything was okay. It wasn't ! All of the truck tires' valve extensions and valve caps were missing ! Retribution by the ****ing "car washer" that
I hadn't noticed before ! Perhaps the disruptive "grocery helper" was a diversion while the "car washer" stole all the valve caps and valve extenders and scratched the rear door of the truck ? You know ... we regularly encounter boys, usually ten to fifteen years of age, who think that as soon as they see a gringo, they should ask for money. I don't know who or what has given them the idea that gringos will literally throw money at them. This car washer, and his ilk, are just grown up versions of those misguided and badly behaved boys.
At Guaymas we found our way to Hotel Playa de Cortés. Very nice, upscale resort hotel on the Sea of Cortez ( Cortés in Spanish, I guess ) with an adjacent large RV park. We selected a site ... lots of selection, only two other rigs in the RV park ... then went over to the hotel to pay and look around. Very nice resort, lovely grounds on a bit of a cliff overlooking a pebble beach. No beach doughnut play for Bo here. There was just enough daylight left for me to set up the satellite dish so that we can watch the season premiere of Amazing Race tomorrow night.
WOW ! ! ! ! ! We have just returned from a late night walk where we witnessed the most amazing spectacle ! We strolled across the RV park and over to the hotel to see what was the source of the music Joanne heard while walking Bo. There was a wedding taking place on the hotel's manicured courtyard facing the Sea of Cortez. What a lovely setting on the cliff looking out over the moonlit water, and the lights of San Carlos visible across the bay. Despite being a relatively small wedding ... less than 100 guests ... there was a full stage with elaborate lighting, a live band with about eight or ten instruments, and two singers. We watched the band and singers perform a couple of very lively Mexican music pieces and then ... HUH ? The guests began to unfold what looked like ... white pillowcases. They opened them up and .... HUH ? ? ? ... assembled some small frame like contraption underneath them, and ... HUH ? ? ? ... lit candles under them ? ? ? ! ! !
OMIGAWD ! ! ! They're little hot air balloons ! ! ! As the candles burned the balloons slowly filled with hot air and then ... very slowly, very gracefully, one by one by one, rose slowly into the air. WOW ! ! ! ! ! What a privilege to be able to witness this ! The glowing white balloons slowly rose, and drifted right over Joanne and me and out to sea where after a few minutes the candles burned out and the balloons fell. Some fell into the sea. Some got stuck on trees in the hotel courtyard and slowly burned themselves out. Some drifted over adjacent buildings and fell. Mexicans certainly do like to live dangerously !
Walking back to the RV park I was teasing Joanne. While she and Bo have each been to one Mexican wedding, I have now been to two ! HA HA HA !
This morning we prepared for departure and left Dolisa Hotel & RV Park in Alamos. We drove west back to Navajoa on the mystery numbered highway, then around Navajoa on their "periphery road". Shouldn't have bothered. Should have just driven through the city. We stayed on MEX 15 Cuota, the toll road, from Navajoa to Guaymas. Two toll booths today, each one costing about ten dollars ! Maybe it's worth it. There was actually reasonable direction signage on the toll road.
We stopped for lunch in the large parking lot of a Pemex station. While Joanne prepared lunch
I walked around the truck and trailer checking that everything was okay. It wasn't ! All of the truck tires' valve extensions and valve caps were missing ! Retribution by the ****ing "car washer" that
I hadn't noticed before ! Perhaps the disruptive "grocery helper" was a diversion while the "car washer" stole all the valve caps and valve extenders and scratched the rear door of the truck ? You know ... we regularly encounter boys, usually ten to fifteen years of age, who think that as soon as they see a gringo, they should ask for money. I don't know who or what has given them the idea that gringos will literally throw money at them. This car washer, and his ilk, are just grown up versions of those misguided and badly behaved boys.
At Guaymas we found our way to Hotel Playa de Cortés. Very nice, upscale resort hotel on the Sea of Cortez ( Cortés in Spanish, I guess ) with an adjacent large RV park. We selected a site ... lots of selection, only two other rigs in the RV park ... then went over to the hotel to pay and look around. Very nice resort, lovely grounds on a bit of a cliff overlooking a pebble beach. No beach doughnut play for Bo here. There was just enough daylight left for me to set up the satellite dish so that we can watch the season premiere of Amazing Race tomorrow night.
WOW ! ! ! ! ! We have just returned from a late night walk where we witnessed the most amazing spectacle ! We strolled across the RV park and over to the hotel to see what was the source of the music Joanne heard while walking Bo. There was a wedding taking place on the hotel's manicured courtyard facing the Sea of Cortez. What a lovely setting on the cliff looking out over the moonlit water, and the lights of San Carlos visible across the bay. Despite being a relatively small wedding ... less than 100 guests ... there was a full stage with elaborate lighting, a live band with about eight or ten instruments, and two singers. We watched the band and singers perform a couple of very lively Mexican music pieces and then ... HUH ? The guests began to unfold what looked like ... white pillowcases. They opened them up and .... HUH ? ? ? ... assembled some small frame like contraption underneath them, and ... HUH ? ? ? ... lit candles under them ? ? ? ! ! !
OMIGAWD ! ! ! They're little hot air balloons ! ! ! As the candles burned the balloons slowly filled with hot air and then ... very slowly, very gracefully, one by one by one, rose slowly into the air. WOW ! ! ! ! ! What a privilege to be able to witness this ! The glowing white balloons slowly rose, and drifted right over Joanne and me and out to sea where after a few minutes the candles burned out and the balloons fell. Some fell into the sea. Some got stuck on trees in the hotel courtyard and slowly burned themselves out. Some drifted over adjacent buildings and fell. Mexicans certainly do like to live dangerously !
Walking back to the RV park I was teasing Joanne. While she and Bo have each been to one Mexican wedding, I have now been to two ! HA HA HA !
DSK
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