2007
October-November
Guaymas...
On 10-13-2007, Ralph's 60th birthday, we flew from Las
Vegas to To Guayas Mexico. Guaymas, near San Carlos, is located on
the mainland side of the Sea if Cortez in the Northern portions of the
Sea. Our good friend Karen Pullen picked us up at the airport and
gave us a tour of the area including a visit to the docks to re connect
with other cruising friends Dan and Lee all pictured together on the
right.
It felt great to be back by the Sea of Cortez and to re connect with Ron and Karen and other cruising friends. We celebrated Ralph's birthday with a beautiful sunset dinner overlooking the ocean.
Karen pre arranged our stay at the little Hotel Adlai where we were entertained by the huge praying mantis on the screen and the desert tortes who lived in the planter around one of the trees. This clean and friendly little hotel wraps around a pleasant courtyard and felt like a real bargain at 27.00 US per night.
There is a large Sunday Market in the area with lots of little booths covered booths selling everything imaginable. Karen introduced us to an "insect chalk" she uses on their boat as a first line of defense against unwanted hitch hikers.
In Mexico, as in many places, there are sometimes people asking for money. A sad fact is that some of the women and children are actually "pimped out". The majority of the money they collect actually goes to some other controlling person. I truly hope that was not the case with this irresistible, angelic little grandmother holding the handful of coins we gave her.
Topolobampo...
From
San Carlos we took a bus South down the coast to the seaport and very
small town of Topolobampo. This town has both a ferry landing and
terminal and commercial docks where freight is off loaded onto the
railroad cars who's tracks run to the landing.
We stayed in Hotel Marina, the only lodging available in town and ate at the hotel restaurant, I believe the only restaurant in town. The facility was very clean and the management very friendly. The reason for our being in Topolobampo was to meet friends, Jim and Leta, with whom we will travel Inland Mainland Mexico.
As we walked around town we enjoyed the flowers, the local people and seeing Mexican ingenuity. Who would have thought a cable drum, fish net and a few recycled boards would make such a comfortable lawn chair?
El Fuerte...
We traveled by bus through Los Mochis and on to the inland Colonial town of El Furete. We were fascinated by the beautiful Colonial architecture, the charming well used town square, the reconstructed fort and the friendly people.
There were lots of choices in hotels. Ralph choose
the quaint Rio Vista Hotel,
said to have once been the site of the fort's stables. It is
located on the same hill almost within touching distance of the fort.
The Rio Vista offered just that, a beautiful view of the river below
surpassed only by the 360 degree view from atop the fort. The Rio Vista
is absolutely charming. The open air lobby is the home to a large
population of humming birds who seem largely unaffected by our human
presence. Each room is individually decorated with beautifully
hand painted walls and decor. Scattered about the hotel are many
historical artifacts and collections. And, like so many Mexican
business this is a family operation and the presences of their darling
three year old was and added pleasure.
The
picture to the left is of the church and city with the mountains in the
background from atop the fort. In addition to the view from the
top of the fort there are many interesting exhibits including basket
making, pottery, pictographs, collections of guns, cannons and even a
horse drawn hearst. It really gave us a feel for "Old Mexico" and
it's life style. 
In the center of the fort is a water storage tank built of brick. In the photo to the right note the steps built "into" the brick structure.
There are good restaurants and plenty to do in El Fuerte. From here we made our reservations for our Copper Canyon trip.
El Fuerte to Bahuichivo....
We boarded the train in El Furete for one of the worlds most scenic rail journeys. This trip took us through the countryside, past beautiful peaceful lakes, alongside rivers and through treacherous mountains. And we do mean through the mountains! This passage is accomplished with no less than 36 bridges and 87 tunnels over 655 km.
In addition to the beautiful scenery we especially enjoyed the Mexican travelers. Because we chose the "economica" class train we were traveling with the locals. Whole families were traveling together. The children were allowed to run up and down the isles, but only under the watchful eyes and hands of their parents. See the photo below.
Most of our pictures were taken from between the train cars where you can hang outside the to take photos without the reflection of the glass. The photo on the right is Leta with the wind in her face. This is where she took her photos from.
There was a very nice local man between the cars with Glenda. A frequent traveler of this route, he was able to tell her where to be for the very best photo ops. The real trick is to be back inside the train door before you reach any one of those very tight 87 tunnels. In time she learned to listen for the change in sound as the engine entered the tunnel.
At our first stop, Bahuichivo, we claimed our luggage
and were on our way. The photo on the right is Ralph with our
luggage. The Nisan pickup behind Ralph is the car sent by San
Isidro Lodge to pick the four of us up and take us the fifteen plus
bumpy, dusty miles to San Isidro Lodge.
We had only gone a few blocks when we were stopped by two men with guns, a bit unnerving to say the least. It turns out they are local policemen hitching a ride back to the police station. They just jumped in on top of our luggage, guns pointing our direction, for the short ride to the station. Shortly thereafter we picked up yet another man who wanted to go in the direction we were going. We had read the local custom was to hitch a ride but we had no idea how prevalent it was.
San Isidro Lodge - Urique....
San Isidro Lodge turned out to be a quaint and very pleasant place to be. It has one main building for cooking and serving meals and many little casitas for sleeping. All of our delicious meals were included in the room rate of $60.00 US per night, per person, as well as transportation to and from the train station. There were beautiful wild flowers, interesting hand made furniture and each night a campfire and social time. The hot water for the entire complex was wood fired.
From here we got our first glimpse of a portion of the Copper Canyon.
This
is where we met the charming Tarahumara Runner seen in the photo to the
left. The Tarahumara people are known for their running abilities.
They often run form area to area in the canyon, all the time hitting a
wooden ball with a wooden stick.
This particular runner, now 64 years old, is world
famous. There is even a Hollywood movie, "Tarahumara", telling the
story of how he went to Colorado, when he was in his 40's, and won the
international 100 mile foot race. This was accomplished wearing
the tradition Tarahumara shoe shown on his foot in the photo below.
The shoe is made from a Goodyear rubber tire. It is tied with
leather straps that continue up his leg several inches.
He invited us onto his property. He is self sustaining with fruit from his orchard and vegetables from his garden. He trades what he has for what ever else he needs. He also invited us into his very small home, a fairly open two room cabin. With as little as he has he shared fresh figs from his tree and apples from his fruit crib. He is still grinding his corn on a ancient stone. We were very honored by his hospitality.
Later in the week he came to the campfire and demonstrated his traditional dance wearing traditional clothing part of which were bracelets made of caterpillar cocoons filled with a piece of grain which made a mighty nice rattling sound as he danced.
Our first trip into the Copper Canyon was at Urique
Canyon. We had only gone a couple of miles when we stopped to pick
up two men and the peaches they had picked. They needed to go to
Urique so were with us for the entire trip.
As you can see from the photos, the Copper Canyon is very lush green. There is lots of foliage and many wild flowers. The road into the canyon is very bumpy and very dusty but it was a great adventure. The photo to the left is an example of some of the smoother road, not much shoulder though.
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Once we were down into the canyon we crossed the Urique River by a swinging foot bridge and were treated to spectacular views of the mountains above us. The river was being fished by fisherman casting their nets into the current. There were cattle alongside the river enjoying the shade and the fresh water.
This town is very small. We did find one lodge down there built and now operated by a man from Oregon. He raises everything imaginable including peanuts. He rents out a casita, a room or a bed...all with a common kitchen all nestled in a snug little area with ample shade from very warm sun on the canyon floor.
Our "disca" meal was prepared on the lodge property, over and open fire. It consisted mostly of ground meat, bacon, a few potatoes, some onion and lots of flavor.
The trip out was just as beautiful as the trip down. And yes, we had hitchers. It was Friday so we took several school children to their homes (they stay in town for school all week and go home for the week ends). There was also a man with a box of grapefruit and a couple of others. That was good too, it gave us extra weight in the pickup for traction as we climbed out of the canyon
San Isidro Lodge to Creel......
Our trip back to the train from San Isidro Lodge was
in a very nice air-conditioned van, and yes we had hitchers. This
time three Tarahumara, in traditional dress, who were also going to the
train depot. They sat in the third row of seats and never looked
at us or spoke for the entire trip.
We stopped in the small town of Cerocaui which sits in a beautiful valley and is surrounded by bright yellow flowers. The main focal point, located in the center of town, is the church, San Francisco Javier de Cerocahui, founded in 1680 shown in the photo on the left.
The people were extremely friendly. One man, who offered to rent us horses, spent quite a bit of time visiting with us. He lives in the home on the right with his mother. She is hanging out the laundry in the foreground of the photo.
Back at the station in Bachuichivo Ralph noticed the cattle grazing on the grass on the of the baseball field. There was a lot of activity in the train station. We saw a train being made up with loads of logs and other freight.
The legs on the right belong to Ralph. A few days ago, while in El Fuerte, our friends took a river cruise. We stayed home and dined out so we wouldn't be bitten by mosquitoes. We were wearing 99.9% deet when we went out to dinner that evening and this is what Ralph has to show for it.
The train trip from Bachuichivo to Creel is not as remarkable as the first leg of our travel, but it is very interesting. To begin with we took the first class train with plans to get off at Divisadero, enjoy the view and get back onto the later ecomomico train. This train was over sold. Even some of our friends who got on the train hours before in El Fuerte did not have regular assigned seats. Instead, we were all crammed into the bar car. No problem though...that kind of environment makes for a lot of camaraderie and a lot of fun.
There is plenty of security on the train.
That's Ralph in the lower left of this photo and yes, Glenda did ask the guard for permission before I snapped this photo of him.
The Tarahumara women make pine needle baskets and sells them at the various train stops along this section our our train route. Note the baby on the back of the third woman. Their prices are very cheap and there is no bargaining. They hold the baskets up to the train door and you choose what you want and hand the money out the door. Note the fifty peso bill in the lower left of this photo.
This young woman was working the door on the opposite side of the train all by herself and she ended up being the the person Glenda purchased her baskets from. The baskets are so beautifully done with fine needles and needles of different colors that they are impossible to resist. The pine scent is an amazing bonus.
Just as Glenda had done before, she stood between the
cars and took photos along the way. We were pulling into the
station at San Rafael when the porters on the left side of the train
smiled and motioned
for
me to come quickly to take pictures of the women selling baskets in this
station too. As she did, she put her hand out to steady herself
and put it where it did not belong...the hinge side of the steel door of
the club car.
This is the passenger/doctor who stabilized her badly damaged and broken finger with a broken plastic spoon handle and some cardboard from the bar tender.
We skipped Divisadero and stayed on the train to Creel where we were met by the hotel driver and driven to the local Hospital/Clinic. There, a lovely Tarahumara Doctor in traditional Tahaumara dress, including the sandals (like those worn by the runner), with a lab coat over her dress, attended to the finger. With no x-ray available the doctor advised us to go to Cuachtemoc, two and a half hours away, where both x-ray and an orthopedic doctor were available. We were driven there by the hotel driver, the finger repaired and were back on track with our travels by morning.
Creel - Trip to Batopilas....
This portion of the Copper Canyon with the Batopilas River running through it is truly spectacular and a difficult part to access.
Batopilas is a very old mining town and at the time
the mines was in production the ore was brought up from the canyon by
mule teams. It took a week to make the round trip, up with ore and
back down with supplies for the town. There were two strings of
mules. One team worked a week while the other rested. Then
they traded places. The mule trail has been improved for
automobiles but is still very narrow
and very dangerous.
The photo on the left and right shows a bit of the road.
Here a truck and a car are meeting.
In this photo a vehicle is moving over to let us pass on a typical stretch of the road.
This photo was taken from the back seat of the van we were in right after we had a head on collision with the light colored vehicle. The cars "almost" stopped before they collided.
We shared the road with lots of local traffic. This truck which really did look a lot like an Easter basket stopped for a break about the same time we did at a wide spot in the road.
Everything needed in Batopilas, food, petroleum, bottled water, store goods, restaurant supplies, everything must travel down this road.
Batopilas....
Once we reached Batopilas we relaxed and really
enjoyed this once prosperous 19th-century silver mining village.
The photo on the left shows the Municipal Building and a corner of the
gazebo in the city square.
The photo on the right is of the center courtyard of Hotel Real de Minas which is located right by the town square. We had a delightful stay in the large, clean, beautifully decorated room they provided for us at only $37.00 US per night. It was an easy walk to every place we wanted to go.
This is Jose and Glenda. They are holding one of those Goodyear tires that the Tarahumara sandals are made from. He fitted Glenda's new shoes to her and even tied them again the second day when she was having trouble keeping them on.
Jim arrange a guided tour into this abandon silver mine. It was very exciting and a bit hazardous to be inside a mine that was still just as it had been left when the mining was complete in the 19th-century.
As part of the tour, Jim arranged, we visited ruins of Hacienda San Miguel as seen in the photo on the right. This is the former home of Alexander Shepherd, former mayor of Washington, DC who brought technological advances to the mining scene. Here we viewed the inside of the hacienda, the servants quarters and the mule holding area with their fencing, feed and water stations still intact after all these years.
The hacienda has been recently purchased and the new
owner is building what will be hotel rooms on one side of the property.
Yet another highlight was our trip to Cathedral
Perdida (Lost Cathedral) located in a remote uninhabited canyon 8km from
Batopilas.
And we were delighted to share our time there not only with our traveling companions, Jim and Leta Suarez but Ron & Karen Pullen (who took care of us in Guaymas) and all of their cruiser traveling companions.
Our travels to and from Batopilas took us through
other interesting sites. One of which was
this
cave dwelling that Leta is standing at the entrance to. You might
be able to see Ralph and his backpack just inside.
This is actually used as a home.
Not
far away is a field of unusually shaped and unusually stacked rocks
known as the "Valley of Mushrooms, Frogs and Monks". Glenda is
standing under the mushroom rock to the left..
This portion of our tour also included "Cusarare
Mission, Casarare Waterfall and Lake Arareko".
Chihuahua....
Arriving in Chihuahua, the capital of Mexico's largest state, with a population of 708,200 is quite a change from the small towns, rural communities and the Tarahumara Indian communities we have just traveled through. Chihuahua offers many fine hotels, restaurants, a variety of historical buildings, beautiful statues and interesting sites.
Our first evening in Chihuahua we walked up town just in time to listen to the military bands playing in Plaza de Armas in front of the Cathedral as they retired the colors. It was a moving experience.
Plaza de Armas is well used by the residents of
Chihuahua, it seems always to be full of people. In the short time
we were there we saw hundreds of locals enjoying a variety show, a
wedding party having their pictures taken and a fifteen year old having
her photos taken in celebration of her birthday while a very proud
father stood by. The 15th birthday is a big event...not
unlike a
wedding
with attendants and a big party.
The cathedral is beautiful, inside and out. In
the basement is "Museo de Arte Sacro", with a showing of 18-century
religious art. These are unbelievably beautiful works of art.
Also on display is the chair built for and used by Pope John Paul on his
visit to Chihuahua in 1990.
Chihuahua and it's leather district is famous for it's leather goods; belts, boots and any item you can think of. To the right are just a few of the very fancy boots we saw in the many store windows. The pink pair in the center of Ostrich leather is just like the driver was wearing the night he drove us to the hospital in Cuachtemoc.
We were exposed to lots of Mexico's history. Father Hidalgo, who is compared to our Abraham Lincoln, because he freed the indigenous people of Mexico from slavery, was imprisoned and executed here. We visited the dungeon where he was held, in the basement of Palacio Federal and the place of his execution in Palacio de Goberno. The walls of the the Governor's Palace that face the court yard are painted in a continuous mural depicting the history of Mexico. The building and the art work are very beautiful.
Another prominent man in Mexican history is the bandito-turned-revolutionary, Pancho Villa. His villa in Chihuahua, where his widow lived until 1981 has been turned into "Museum of the Mexican Revolution". Visiting his home and this museum gave us a good look into his very colorful life. Many rooms were furnished with original furnishings while others contained displays of his clothing, beautifully hand stitched saddles, numerous fancy well used guns, bullet belts and of course lots of historical photos. The US Wanted poster for Villa was proudly displayed. Sadly, at the age of 45, three years after the war, he was assassinated. The car in which he was riding is on display at the Villa.
The caverns we visited, "Gruta Nobre de Dios" offered beautiful views of stalagmites and stalactites on the 17-room underground journey we took over damp and sometimes slippery walkways. The narrated tour lasted about and hour and we traveled about a mile underground.
While in Chihuahua we made a day trip to Presidio, Texas for Glenda to renew her driver's license. This gave Ralph's his first view of the Rio Grand. The photo on the right is Ralph standing on the bridge between Mexico and the US with the Rio Grand in the background.
Parral....
Here Ralph selected the spick-and-span, museum quality 1950's, Hotel Acosta, located right next to Parral's city square. On the left is Ralph with Dona Acosta, a third-generation owner. Note the manual telephone switchboard behind Dona...and it works very well. This darling little woman went out of her way to assist us.
It was time for Glenda's stitches to come out. When Dona learned this she went out onto the street and brought back a man. Together they decided Glenda should go to his doctor friend who is Dona's orthopedic doctor. She assured us he was very good.
The man took our luggage up to our room and filled our
water pitcher. Ralph asked him if he worked for the hotel.
No, he was just a friend. He rushed us to a cab and we were on our
way to the doctor. This good gentleman took us in, waited with us
and went in to the doctor's office with us. When we were finished
at the doctor's and needed medication he took us to the pharmacy and
made sure our order was filled correctly. Back in the cab, on the
way back to the hotel, we offered to take him dinner. He said,
"no, but are you hungry?" He went into the hotel, talked with Dona
Acosta and together they decided where we should go to eat. This
good Samaritan walked us to the restaurant, made sure Ralph knew how to
get back to the hotel and in a flash was gone....Not before Ralph was
able to tell him, in Spanish, that he had been our Angel.
These motorcycles belong to three men who are traveling through Mexico as part of their "pole to pole" adventure. They are on their way to Argentina having already done the northern part of their trip. One of these fellows helped us talk with Dona and her friend. He spoke both English and Spanish even though neither was his first language.
Durango....
The bus trip to Durango took us through farmland for as far as the eye could see.
Durango was not our favorite city. It is a "city" with traffic and noise the likes of which we have never heard. We encountered more people asking for money in the first block than we had experienced in all the other cities we have just visited.
Hotel Roma, in the photo to the right, was another
vintage hotel
.
While it was not as neat and clean as the Hotel Acosta it was pleasant.
Anything it may have lacked was made up for by the eager uniformed young
men who were there to serve us. The elevator is interesting.
It's as old as the building and was challenging. Unless the boys
were there to help we took the stairs.
Cathedral Basilica Menor, shown on the left, is located in the center of the city's downtown. It is ornate and truly beautiful. Here the "Plaza de Armas" was decorated for the "day of the dead" and filled with celebrating local residents.
Zacatecas....
By now we have our bus travel down pat. Each time we arrive at a station we checked the clock to be assured we have the correct local time. Then Glenda stays with all those bags while Ralph buys the tickets for the next leg of our journey. This system works well for us.
Zacatecas,
shown in the photo to the left, has a population 119,000, is the most
northern of Mexico's fabled silver cities. It emanates Old World charm.
Unlike other Colonial cities we visited, seems to have been prosperous
continually. The buildings appear to have been maintained rather
than re constructed. We absolutely love Zacatecas....if it were
not so far from the ocean we would consider making it our home.
Still working out of our Lonely Planet book, "Mexico",
Ralph selected the centrally located Hotel Condesa with spacious rooms,
a three story covered court yard and fine views of La Bufa for our stay.
The staff was very helpful. They arranged our city tour and told
us about the "day of the dead" activities going on next door. They
urged us to join in.
The restaurant Ralph selected for dinner, Los Dorados de Villa, is at the opposite end of town giving us time to explore along the way. There are numerous squares and most of them had shrines decorated for special people in honor of "Day Of The Dead". Ralph soon noticed the darling little children dressed in costumes going from business to business singing their little song and receiving candy. He suggested we buy candy to hand out as well. This resulted in a wonderful experience. First Glenda would ask their mother permission to give the children candy, the mothers would direct the children to sing their very lengthy song and.....then the candy was dispensed.
Los Dorados de Villa turned out to be the very best restaurant we have eaten in on this entire trip through Mexico. It offered a local twist to traditional Mexican food.
We
were back near our hotel in time to catch the end of the recommended
celebration and refreshments of hot chocolate and "Day of the Dead"
fresh baked bread. While there we were invited to come back the
following night for the celebration followed by a precession through
the streets following a live band.
This proved to be an amazing experience. When we
were arrived we were honored by each being given one of the little hand
made 2 ounce cups hung on a satin ribbon. This is to wear around
our neck to receive the free Muscal that was carried around in gallon
jugs. After the ceremonial raising from the dead of several young
women dressed in black flowing chiffon type dresses that was followed by
the passing out of the food from the grave the procession began.
The musicians played and we followed. The two of us were the only "gringos" in the crowd and forty years older than the rest of the group. The musicians stopped at each of the many plazas. At each stop there was dancing and filling of the Muscal cups for anyone who wanted it. The tempo of the music would change and off we would go to the next plaza. We wound our way in the dark up and down the hills, down allies and and along back streets. All the time we were hoping we would end up someplace we could recognize in order to get back to our hotel.
It didn't take them long to have Ralph out dancing with the young women and Glenda was not far behind. They seemed to get quite a kick out of watching the "gringo grandparent" dance with them....did we mention they were all very YOUNG? To the right are a few of our fellow travelers at one of the many dance stops.
We did the touristy things too. We visited
one of Mexico's richest mines, "Eden Mine", worked from 1586 to the
1950's. Hoards of silver, gold, iron, copper and zinc were
extracted by enslaved indigenous people, some of them children at a terrible
price. Five people a day died form accidents or disease. The
size and scope of this mine is hard to fathom.
We went up to La Bufa, the hill a
bove
the city to view the city and see this small but ornate church with its
gold plated decor. After enjoying the views of the city took the
cable car back down to the city.
Once back in the city we toured the Cathedral built between 1729 and 1752. The rich silver barons of this area spared no expense so this is one of the most beautiful Cathedrals we have see. We toured as many of the old buildings as we had time for. There is still a lot for us to do in Zacatecas so returning is s must!
Guadalajara-Tlaquepaque-Tonala...
We arrived at the Zacatecas station early this morning
and found there was and earlier bus to Guadalajara available so we made
arrangements to take it.
This
seemed like a great idea until 40 minutes from Guadalajara when the bus
broke down. All but one Mexican man, a German couple and we got
off the bus and by some means vanished.
After a while Glenda asked the man behind her if he spoke English and he did. We were all in agreement that waiting for the bus that is an hour behind us was the best idea until we learned it is now two hours behind us. The bus driver, who was very concerned about us, wanted to pay half the price of a cab to the bus station. We finally agreed if there was a cab willing to take all five of us and all our luggage we would go.
Now, the cabs here are very small, three in the back seat is pushing it. Somehow the driver managed to get most of the luggage into the trunk. What wouldn't fit was piled on the lap of the German man in the front seat. His wife, our Mexican friend and Ralph piled into the back and pulled Glenda in on top. And yes, the poor cab did drag as it tried to pull itself back up onto the pavement.
The Guadalajara bus station is located beyond Guadalajara, where the German couple is going and beyond Tlaquepaque, where we are going. Our new found Mexican friend , a retired banker, suggested we negotiate a price with the driver now to take each of us back from the bus station to our hotels. He was kind enough to do that for us. Then as we approached Guadalajara he pointed out to the driver that it would be faster for him to drop the German couple off in Guadalajara, us in Tlaquepaque and then take him to the station....so a second bargain was struck. Each of us gave our new found friend our part of the fare plus the tip to be used at the final cab destination. While we were all very cramped this is one of the things we remember about our Mexico Inland travels.
In Tlaquepaque we stayed at the "La Posada de la Media Luna", a
charming facility with all the rooms surrounding a patio where breakfast
was served every morning. The rooms are very small, the lack of
windows make it very quiet even in this busy part of town. This
hotel is located within a block of the town square which was filled with
activity while we were there.
Tlaquepaque seems like a very safe town. Even Glenda did not hesitate to go out alone after dark. It is a popular shopping area. Even people from Guadalajara come on the weekends to enjoy the many specialty offering pottery, glass work and a mired of handy crafts, much of which is manufactured in near by Tonala. It is here that Glenda bought a few pieces of pottery dishes to "sea trial". We would love to have more of them.
The photo to the right is the gazebo in the town
square with the church behind.
It took Glenda forever to pick out the tapa cloth painting the lady on the is holding. She painted it and all of those on the floor behind her.
We were there for a special festival that included beautiful Mariachi music and traditional dancing. It is a bit hard to see, but the dancers to the right danced beautifully.
We visited the pottery museum here, enjoyed many good
meals and took the tour bus into Guadalajara to see the sites in the
city.
One of the first things we did was to go to the Sunday
Bullfights. Now this is something Glenda did in the 50's and she
really did not want to go and at the same time she did not want Ralph to
miss this experience. The procession prior to the fights with all
the music and cheers was the most fun. Ralph was very disappointed
to find out the propaganda he had been fed about the bull no longer
being hurt or killed was incorrect. Now w
e
won't have to do that again!
Guadalajara is a spectacular city. The downtown is filled with historical buildings, housing the arts, theatre, museums and all branches of the government. Many of the building have marvelous murals and paintings. There is way more here to see than we could see in the short time we were there.
Mercado San Juan de Dios is certainly worth mentioning. This several story building covers and immense area and houses hundreds of individual small businesses. We went in door number 53 which was by no means the highest numbered door we saw.
Guadalajara is another one of those cities we will just have to come back to. We barely scratched the surface on this short visit.
Tonala was a short trip from Tlaquepaque. Here Ralph arranged for us to have a private tour of the many pottery factories. The English speaking guide lead us about town, knocking on doors without signs, and lead us into many of the cities pottery factories. We saw pottery that sold for as much as $27,000.00 US for a place setting of twelve to the very inexpensive.
We even toured a paper maché factory which was fascinating. We had no idea how those beautiful figures were made. And like the pottery, the finish work and the painting are what defines the product.
With our Inland Mexico tour complete we flew back to La Paz and to our waiting sailboat, Our Country Home on November 10th having been away from home for six months, five days.