Goin' Home again....

It has been cold in Mexico. A second small but very wet front moved through the Lake area before we left, leaving a trail of crisp clear air in behind it. Not that it would be considered "crisp" in more ordinary northern climes, but here it is unpleasant. A last minute decision and we tucked in the two very heavy wool blankets we had bought locally and usually left behind us. A very fortuitous decision as it turned out.

I, the main passenger, get to man the camera on the route. I usually get every power pole, every mark on the windshield, and miss the subject matter. But I did manage to capture a reasonable view of the town of Tequila as we whizzed past in the early hours. Tequila is where you make tequila of course. In Mexico, the making of tequila and the growing of agave is a matter of state regulation. Not just anybody is allowed to do it. And the town of Tequila is the centre of the whole industry. Definitely worth a day trip, which we haven't done so far. Ho hum. Always next year?? 

The Town of Tequila in the distance

The 6-7 hour trip to Mazatlan is all down hill. An easy drive. And as we get lower in elevation, moving off the 5,000 foot level of the central plateau, we can see the effects of all the recent rain with lush stands of corn 4 feet tall and growing, sugar cane and the earliest of spring flowering trees and shrubs.

Unfortunately, when we get to Mazatlan, our expectations of a short period of tropical beach life are somewhat cut short. The afternoon was cooler than expected but nice. 

Our Hotel "Los Arcos"

 People were lying around soaking up the rays and the beach, although fairly quiet, looked alluring. It gave us a beautiful Mazatlan sunset.

And then, it turned nasty cold. Mazatlan is not supposed to turn cold. Hence, there are no blankets on the bed and the mini-splits on the wall do not heat, they just cool. So we brought in the wool blankets from the van, and between them and Molly the foot warmer, and a pair of warm socks, we stayed toasty warm.

Off the next morning early as it was longest day, crossing the endless Sinaloa coastal plain up the toll highway to our next stop at San Carlos. This stretch is very agricultural, fields and fields of corn and vegetables and sacks of new potatoes stacked along the roadway, awaiting pick up. After a full day's drive we made it to the turn off to San Carlos and Guaymas. This is the last spot of the beach, before the highway turns inland and climbs back up to 3,000 off feet in elevation as it crosses into Nogales Arizona, just an hour or so south of Tucson.

We like to stop here, and we had a little project to do before settling in to our hotel room in San Carlos. We  had heard about an interesting spot in Guaymas on the Bay, an old traditional hacienda type hotel built in the 1930s by some very rich investor. It was at the end of the road, and very private, and was described as an aging beauty. We had to see what it looked like
.

Hotel Playa del Cortez

It was more than we expected. A beautiful spot, lovely privacy, and all the atmosphere one could expect. In addition, in behind the hotel they had a nearly deserted, tucked away RV parking area with shade trees, full hook ups, convenient location to the hotel swimming pool and so on. A little gem tucked away, at the end of an upscale Guaymas neighbourhood.

Residential Neighborhood in Guaymas

Mount Tetakawi over San Carlos.

San Carlos is the tourist area, a purpose-built location in a dramatic area, around the corner and about 15 minutes drive from Guaymas. Guaymas is a Mexican port town with a very clean and well-to-do air about it. It sits surrounded by the same craggy mountains as the iconic Mount Tetakawi that looms over San Carlos, which provide both a dramatic back drop and a sense of cosy enclosure.  Maybe you can tell that I REALLY like Guaymas. I keep nagging Rick that this place is just perfect for me and 1000 miles closet to home than Lake Chapala. And only 264 miles fro Nogales, Arizona. A real convenience!  Of the two places, I prefer Mexican Guaymas to American San Carlos. But then, I am kinda weird that way...

On the road again....

Tomorrow is departure day! The gas tank is full, the tire pressures have been checked, and all the gear is loaded. Before we finish this leg of the journey we will have traveled around 3200 miles in 10 driving days to get home. We may or may not have internet connections at our two motels in Mexico on this portion of trip so we thought we would send this out in advance. Here is a map of our planned route:

The first three days will be spent getting out of Mexico, On day 1 we will drive to Mazatlan (B on the map) on the coast to stay at a small beach front hotel for the night. It is an easy day's drive of about 325 miles and we should arrive around mid-afternoon. Except for the portion of the route in and around Guadalajara, all the driving will be on toll roads (Cuotas) which are good quality limited access highways. Speed limits are 110-120 Km/Hr which is roughly 68-75 Mph. Of course many drive even faster than that (not me of course).

Day 2 will take us from Mazatlan to San Carlos, Sonora (C on the map) this day is a little bit longer with a driving distance of 492 miles and a driving time of about 9 hours. Again most of the driving is on the toll road so it easy to make good time. San Carlos is a beautiful location on the Gulf of California that is popular area for diving and deep sea fishing. It is an easy days drive from Phoenix and Tucson and is a popular destination for people from Arizona for a beach getaway.

Day 3 in Mexico takes us from San Carlos, through the town of Hermosillo, on to Nogales at the border and finally to Tucson (D on the map) where we will stay overnight. Total driving for this day is around 330 miles with 270 miles of that being in Mexico. It is about a 5 hour drive from San Carlos to the border and another hour on to Tucson once we are cleared through US customs and immigration. We like to make this a shorter day as the border crossing can be 15 minutes or it can take 2 hours. There is no way of knowing in advance. 

Rick

A Pictorial Look at Jocotepec

It struck me that we haven't really shown you much of you our local town of Jocotepec. So I thought I would tell you a little bit about the town and show you some pictures.

Jocotepec  (ho-co-te-pec) is a town of about 18,000 inhabitants on the far western shore of Lake Chapala. As you can see from the map below we are only about 30 miles from Guadalajara but it feels like a different world. Along the north shore of the lake is a mountain range that physically separates the two areas and gives them two different climates with the lake providing a moderating effect for the towns around it.

The Jocotepec is primarily an agricultural town although there used to be a lively fishing industry here also. 

  

Below is the entrance road leading into the town just off Hwy. 15. 

Looking across the town plaza towards city hall

On the other three sides of the plaza are covered arcades that provide protection from the rain and sun in the next three photos.

A street scene looking north off the plaza towards the mountains.

There are numerous Ferreteria's or what we would call a hardware store. They typically specialize so that some will sell plumbing, or tile, or construction materials. The building below is painted orange because that is a color associated with one of the major hardware brands, such as Tru-value or Ace in the US. Down here it is "Truper". I suspect they provide free paint to advertise their brand as virtually all hardware stores are painted the same color and everybody sell Truper tools and hardware.

Most of the hardware stores have a small display area in front, then a counter and most of the stock in the back. You usually have to ask for what you want which can be a problem if you don't know what the heck it is called.

A typical street scene

A street side food vendor.

This lady is selling fruit by the quart ready to eat.

A house with a retail shops on the ground floor.

Another street scene. You can see the church tower poking up over the buildings.

A creative rooftop garden.

Our Supermarket. This store is part of the Walmart chain. They put these in small towns that don't have the  population to support a full size store. It is mostly groceries but they do have a small pharmacy and you can buy a TV, mattress or even some tires in there. 

One of the local feed stores.

Jocotepec has a large park on the lake with playground, picnic area, and a broad "board walk for strolling along. Of course there are a variety of vendor selling Ice cream, beverages, food. 

That's it from Jocotepec, We hope you enjoyed the photo's.

Rick and Barbara

A change in the air

Here we are on New Years Day and there has been a change in the air, literally. Some of you may remember the photo below taken soon after we arrived here in Mexico. Sunny blue skys, warm, and just lovely.

Ah, but look at it now. We have a weather front moving through off the Pacific and when the Pacific is involved, there is usually moisture. We woke up Monday morning with cloudy skies and we thought, oh, this will burn off and we will have another sunny afternoon just like the last few days. Instead of thinning, it thickened and by noon we were witnessing a few drops of rain. And the rain got heavier.

It rained into the evening, quite heavy at times, and gave all the outside plants a good drink.

 This morning we discovered that it had stopped raining sometime in the middle of the night and we  had this lovely sunrise. We had hopes that perhaps it might now clear out.

Nope! By 9am it was starting to get heavier and by 10 it was starting to sprinkle again.

Here is our weather forecast, the most optimistic of them anyway, as they all show something different, all involving rain. It looks like it will be iffy for the rest of the week and then clear out. This weather pattern often happens around the first two weeks of January and after it finishes, the sun will return non-stop until the summer rains start some time in June. 

I think the "weather gods" are just trying to prepare us for our return home where it will be like this for the next 5 months!

Cheers from Mexico, Happy New Year!

Rick and Barbie

What a Difference a Day Makes....

I am sure you remember the deserted plaza in Saturday's post. We just thought you would enjoy seeing the transformation that happened to the plaza yesterday morning...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE and to all a HEALTHY AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

The Christmas Season in Mexico

Whereas Christmas is somewhat of a serious, sombre religious affair, the day falls right in the middle of a highly developed religious circuit of fiestas that occurs in the villages along the north shore of the lake. These start in the village of Ajijic in November and end in Jocotepec in mid-January. In sharp contrast to Christmas, these festivities involve very gay, noisy, exuberant public processions in which the patron saint of the village is paraded through the village and returned to the church. Different occupational groups within the village proudly sponsor their day in the festivities, each one trying to raise their status by showing a greater financial contribution than the other groups. This competitive aspect means the noise, rockets, fireworks, music and dancing go on relentlessly for the duration of that fiesta. At that point the fiesta in the next village begins on a similar schedule. Between November and January, the dogs and their masters sleep very little on the north shore of lake Chapala.

Christmas in Jocotepec is a pretty simple family affair, compared to the madness north of the border or the festiveness of the local fiestas. The family will gather together and have a simple meal and then attend Christmas Mass at the town church below. On Christmas Day, the town is very quiet as the families will celebrate the day quietly behind their family walls.

There are not a lot of what we would consider Christmas decorations around town. The town's decorations focus on the creche set up in the communal living room of the town: the town plaza.

Please notice the large rock in the foreground of the creche. It is claimed by the town to be a meteorite that fell in the hills adjacent to the town many years ago. It was brought down as a monument for the town, and has held a place of honor in the plaza ever since. It is also in the photo below on the right side. It has been deliberately included inside the creche.

Above is the Bandstand in the center of the plaza. Later in the evening there will probably be music  and there will be lots of stalls selling food and sweets for the family's. Below is a stand selling all kinds of sweet treats for the kids.

The town of Jocotepec is quite proud of their history. Below is a large stone plaque celebrating their four hundred and fiftieth anniversary, from 1529 to 1979.

Even before Christmas festivities start to fade in the town of Jocotepec, preliminary preparations around the town for the patron saint "Senor del Monte" can be observed...

Merry Christmas from Barbara and Rick in Mexico.

Noise...

Now everyone you will meet in Mexico, whether Mexican, American, European or Swahili, will freely admit to you that Mexico suffers from an extraordinary abundance of noise pollution. Dogs tied on roof tops bark at passing strangers all day and sometimes all night. Cohetes (rockets) go off to celebrate religious events erratically day and night, sometimes series of them, dozens of them. Trucks lack mufflers. Bamba music is ubiquitous, and sometimes an eventos (club) can spring up right next door and pump out the glory of that until 5AM!!!  No-one can ever take for granted a peaceful night. We do the best we can where we are, but during fiesta season when music and bamba noise (I consider them separate species) float out across the water, even our home reverberates and makes sleep a "mission impossible"....

And yet, there is one kind of noise that honestly, I have almost never heard. I never hear babies cry. I never hear toddlers scream. The world of distracting, annoying, spoiled brats is completely alien here. If it happened, we would definitely know, because the streets are teeming with families and babies of all descriptions, sizes, ages and genders. Babies are present in places and at times you would never see them at home, day and night. Mind you, sometimes it is hard to know FOR CERTAIN that they actually are a baby, because you can't see a single hair on their head.  Mama is transporting around town a large sausage size parcel wrapped in a blanket...could be a baby...but then could be a 10 pound load of bread. Who's to know?? 

Babies are fully integrated here. Families march down the sidewalks, proud papas and mamas holding the little ones' hands, all the children dressed immaculately, the boys' hair slicked  down like Dick Tracy...the girls in frilly frocks. But there are amazing things to notice. First of all, these wrapped up parcels in their mama's arms are always motionless and noiseless. Without knowing otherwise, how can one know if they are even breathing, I wonder?? Once in a while the mama lifts a well folded corner and peeks underneath. Satisfied that baby is still there, she smiles with contentment and goes back to leaning languorously against the brick wall in the middle of the busiest street in town chatting casually away with a girlfriend/relative who probably also has a baby, whether swaddled in her arms, or standing patiently by her side clutching her clothes, or perhaps several in various positions all silently and quietly watching mama and listening intently and exhibiting NONE of the usual baby or toddler behavior we in El Norte have come to think of as "normal". I do wonder how they do it. But I have a theory. Babies here are coddled. They live in their mothers' arms. Day and night I am sure. When baby cries, out flips a breast or two and the need is addressed. Mind you, I have seen that event happen because all of these babies are sleeping contentedly. I can only ASSUME that is what happens. In between feeds, if mama isn't there, then an aunt is. Or an older sister. Or even better, grandmama! Grandmamas love to spend vast amounts of casual time rocking a blanket wrapped bundle or two. 

These little bundles become active toddlers. But they are very different from ours. As soon they can walk, and especially if mama has had another bundle by this time and has no free hands, the little toddler walks along beside his mama clutching on to her side. Now keep in mind that mama is walking along an irregular, narrow, roughly cast sidewalk only inches away from cement trucks and motorcycles and buses throttling through town. And yet larger baby is on the vehicle side, and no-one shows any particular alarm. Will older baby let go and tumble off?  Never happens. Sometimes you see mama straddling a scooter or quad, one baby dangled under the left arm, another elder one clutching onto the right side, or sometimes a mid-range size of baby (one who can sit but not walk) will be sitting in front of mama who is driving with one hand, the other hand clutched around the precious baby. Do these babies fall off?  Never happens.

On the side streets where houses abut each other and traffic is slowed to a crawl, these babies know how to dodge it, and how to play near or even on the street without ever getting run over to the best of my knowledge. And here is another thing I have observed. They never stray from the area directly in front of their own homes. It is as if there is an invisible line drawn along each property line into the middle of the street. Old people love to sit on the sidewalk in front of their house and watch the happenings outside, but they too, never stray from the area directly outside their front door. Children stay inside this domestic boundary with grandparents and only when they reach a certain indefinable age do they stray further...

All observations conclude with the fact that Mexicans have some secret knowledge that allows them to rear their babies in such a way that reduces stress or anxiety. We, apparently know NOTHING about rearing ours....