Monday, March 22, 2010

Off to the races

Sunday Mar 21, 2010

We were told by Dolores’ maid, Armita, that in the nearby pueblo of Tezal, there were going to be horse races at 3pm. “Hey, THAT sounds like something different to do! Especially since we never go to races of any kind in the states.

We thought that might be fun to see how they do it here; how many horses at once would race, how large a participation from surrounding pueblos & how rowdy it might get. We figured we’d go early enough to see a race or two & get the heck out of there before things possibly got out of hand. Ya know; Drinking, loud music & shooting at the sky in celebration.

We hoped to see the “dancing horses” again & they certainly would need music for that!

We ran into Lise & invited her to go with us, picked her up & were on our way. On the road towards Navojoa we were able to find the hand painted “Tezal” sign & made the hairpin turn to the right onto a bumpy dirt road. We were not sure how far to go but Armita told us it was “not very far”. After about a 2 mile drive (maybe not even that far but it felt like it because of the slow speed we took the bumps) Joey decided to pull into a ranch where we saw some people sitting on their portal & ask about it. They’d know for sure because it’s in the “neighborhood” & usually the people around here know everything that’s going on. They didn’t disappoint us. We were told we came on the wrong day. It would be next Saturday right there at that ranch. We all laughed about showing up on the wrong day & we’d see them next week. At least we now knew exactly where to go.

We stayed at home & watched a DVD that Jason had lent us & that was all we did today.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

The Amazing Women of Alamos

Saturday Mar 20, 2010
Today at the Museo on the main plaza there was a showing of the many products a small group of women from Alamos have made.

All of the products are items made from recycled plastic bags. Yup, those awful bags that we cannot seem to live without but are a blight to every city & countryside. What they have done is to find a way to crochet them into hats, purses, placemats, flowers even rugs.

I bought a hat & 3 bags.
It's not so easy taking a photo of yourself in a mirror. Oh, well, you get the idea.

They served wine & snacks to what seemed the whole population of Gringos here. The hat I bought was about $20 & the bags were $14 & $15. In one way it seems a bit high for plastic bags but they are actually very pretty and the work they put into it in a 3 week period is pretty incredible. They did very nice work & I’m happy to support them in my small way. Yeah, Joey needed to twist my arm!

Here’s one that got away but I’m happy that my friend Emily got it. It looks way better on her anyway.


Here’s another friend, Joan, that let it get away too.

This is a photo of two others….I was considering buying the blue & white one but decided I’d already spent enough.
Oh, I forgot to mention St Patrick’s Day Irish Stew Dinner at Casa de Maria Felix. We all wore our green & drank green beer. There was Irish Music piped in & there was a nice crowd.

When I saw Deb there without Dewey I asked where he was. She told me he’d gone fishing & had been due home at 2pm so he could partake in the Irish night celebration. It was now 7pm & we were all worried. To make a long story short; The police were called & eventually they got home about 10pm. While they were out fishing all four tires on their car had been slashed. Dewey walked 3 miles to a little town where the police or someone drove him back to the car. They took the tires to Navojoa for a fix & then back again. WHEW, it was a long day but at least they were home safely with a tale to tell.

One more thing, Deb makes beaded jewelry & had a showing. I bought this one.

A Follow up re El Pedregal w/Links

EL PEDREGAL:
We had a brunch here & I didn’t take photos but these are two links that show way more that I could have.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD3pWvWgNwc
http://www.elpedregalmexico.com/

PS Jason, a friend of Dolores'& Mirea from Phoenix is now hooked on GeoCaching thanks to Emily & Trish! I gave him the print-outs from Emily on the 4 caches in Alamos. He didn't even have a GPS but found the one on the steps behind the Palicio just from her notes.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Filling in Social Schedule here, Whew!

Now the Alamos weather is getting nice & warm. About 83 in the daytime & 58 or so at night. To me that’s PERFECT!

Let's see: Last night we ate again at Las Palmeras. It's our favorite restaurant. Good food, fair prices and great Indio draught beer (by Tecate) for 20 pesos (about $1.80) in a cold pint mug. We usually end up with two each because their salsa is so picante that we NEED that beer to keep from dieing.

They have nice recorded music in the “background”. Que Raro! AND they have an internet hotspot so I’m usually online while waiting for the dinner to come and for Jose Luis to finish eating. Remember, he’s a slow one so it gives me more online time & I can read emails to him while he finishes up.
If they only took credit cards we’d be ecstatic! In the few places that DO take credit cards here we always get a good exchange rate…better than the local bank is giving.

Notice how tan Joey’s is, eh? He’s been working hard in the yard every day. I cannot stop him he’s on a roll. Here he is in his work clothes checking out what's going on in the street.

A few nights ago we were on our way to La Capilla barrio to find a guy that can make a shade shelter for our car. On the way back we were planning on stopping by to visit some new found friends that were house/dog sitting. They are from Bisbee, AZ; Alyce & Donald. We ran into them on the way TO find the the shelter guy & they jumped in our car and after finding “the guy” we all went to Las Palmeras for their last night in Alamos.

Joey tried on Donald's new cowboy hat:


Another night we went out to Rancho Palomar for a BBQ. It was a charity function for the school kids. The teenagers presented some folk dances & it poured cats & dogs. They ran out of chicken as well as tortillas; other than that it was great fun to see so many of our friends. My name retention is a joke but all the smiley faces gave & got hugs. Little by little the names are coming back into my brain. (Especially, after I ask someone "What is that person's name over there with the black top?" or whatever.)

Another happening was a lovely brunch out at El Pedrigal. For those of you that remember Elizabeth Nuzum & her straw bale house out in the countryside; well it's now owned by Jen & David & they've REALLY created a beautiful space. They have several small casitas for rental & 3 foot stone walls defining spaces & walkways. I didn't take any photos....duh. Maybe if we go again I'll take a few so you can see how beautiful the huge palapa we eat under. BTW the name of the place means lots of stones.
We may be going there again next Sunday so if we do then I'll be sure to take some photos to share.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

All of the days seem to run together here


March 16, 2010
All of the days seem to run together here & often I don’t know what day of the week it is. I’m not online much so that adds to my confusion of what happened when.

Anyway, on one of the days in the last 10, Joey & I did some more geocaching. There were 4 of them placed here in Alamos by Emily Preece (aka BlackDogGina) just this season. We were not the first to discover them all however.

There are quite a few pilots that now fly into Alamos since the small airport has been fixed up beautifully; its runway lengthened & fenced & an large new hanger has been built. Small private jets are now able to land here since the runway was lengthened.
The reason I mention this is because one of the pilots was the first one to discover Emily’s well-placed geocaches.

We were the second ones to find them all. What fun we had!
The 1st GeoCache was in the Pantheon (cemetery). It was a “nano” one in size which means it’s about the size of the tip of your little finger from just below the fingernail. It had a tiny magnet inside which allowed it to be well hidden and attached to the underside of one of the filigreed iron fences that surround many of the gravestones & monuments.


It took us about 45 minutes of walking around the cemetery, enjoying every moment, before we found it. It was dusk & we were getting a little bit worried that we might be locked in the gated walls because the close “at dark”.

2nd geocache was just up the street from our house hidden in a three foot high rock wall. This type of rock wall is not held together with cement. They way the rocks are perfectly placed keeps them together and they define boundaries of many of the properties here. I really love these rock walls. I guess I just love rocks….so much so that most of my screensavers show rocks…river rocks mostly…you know, the smoothed ones.

I digress. This 2nd geocache was cleverly placed in the rock wall in front of a huge cactus that was on the other side of the wall. The cactus was part of the hint to help find a particular small rock that needed to be removed from its place. Once the small rock was moved it exposed the cavity where the “micro” size cache was. It wasn’t necessary for this one to have a magnet because it rested peacefully in its cavity..

We had to visit this cache twice because just as we were about to pull out the rock that covered the cache we had to pretend we were taking photos of the big cactus due to a “muggle”. A friend of Joey’s showed up & they talked & talked, seemingly forever. We returned later when no one was around in order to see us make our discovery. Secrecy is part of the fun.

3rd GeoCache was as near the “Talking Tree”. That is a signal tower that’s camouflaged to look like a tree. It’s about 1 mile from town center & we were able to drive to the base of the hill where the tower rises above “O little town of Alamos”. The GeoCache was about 200 steps past the tower. Just as Joey was squatting down to pull this “small” geocache out from it’s hiding place; we it we heard male voices coming up from the other side of the hill. I whispered, “Muggles, Muggles” so that Joey could quickly re-hide the cache (before we even got a chance to open it) So, again, I needed to do the “pretended to be taking a photo number” as Joey was looking with interest at a rock that he still had in his hand as, perhaps, a rockhounder would do. When the 2 men behind the voices made their appearance we were well into stealth mode. TAH DAH!

As soon as they were out of site we opened the cache & discovered, not the log but also a TB ( travel bug ).That’s a special dog-tag-type thing with a recordable number. We took the TB with us in order to place in another geocache along our travels & follow its travels..

Right now I’m unable to remember the 4th geocache & we need to leave to go over to Cami & Squire’s home to watch him roast his coffee beans.

Ok, I remember the 4th Geocache now.
It was along a steep stairway leading up from the Palacio (City Hall) to Diane Carpenter’s house on the hill. The one where the last TGIF was held.
Great exercise getting to it…puff puff…..but it the sun was setting and the view from there is beautiful at this hour especially. I’ll try to add a couple of photos.

This is the view from “almost” next to where the geocache was found.




This is a view from the same spot only off to one side of the stairway. Ruins can be pretty too.

Friday, March 5, 2010

TGIF Alamos

Mar 5th Friday. Tonight was the 1st TGIF since we’ve been here. It’s a pot-luck gathering of locals & their guests. BYOB too so it’s easy on the host. They used to have them weekly using a different home each week but I guess people got tired of it for awhile & needed a break.
I’m glad there was at least one that we could attend.

It was held at Diane Carpenter’s home up on a hill with the large patio that overlooks the whole of Alamos. The two domes of the church seemed so close as to be able to almost touch them. The timing of the TGIF’s are from 5pm – 7pm and this location was particularly pleasant from which to watch the colors of the sunset.

Diane is from a remote town in Alaska, Bethel, I think she returns there in the summers. There are several Alamos residents that go home to Alaska in the summer. It’s always interesting to talk with them. They all have unique experiences & Alaskan stories. Need I repeat; “We love Alaska”

Thursday, March 4, 2010

My love/hate relationship w/Mexico

March 4th Thursday
Today we went to the History Club at the Hacienda de los Santos. It’s always interesting & we see some old friends & meet new ones.

We made reservations for the Sunday academy award show at Hacienda de los Santos. The $22 each will include the big screened theatre & lots of special hors d’oeveres…..
(yeah, well, if u can spell it better without a dictionary..good luck) ……throughout the many hours of the Red Carpet, The Awards & the Barbara Walters show afterwards….IF we can stay awake that long. If not, we’ve recorded it all on our DVR @ home & will be able to watch it on our SlingBox tomorrow or whenever.

Tonight just at dusk Joey flicked up the switch in the master bedroom’s closet & poof….lights went out, computer went off. It was very strange because one hallway & the kitchen, dank gawd, were working. At least the fridge & the freezer with the fish & angus burgers wouldn’t spoil.

We DID bring flashlights so we’d be ok for the night…except the electric blanket wouldn’t be able to help keep us warm.

We said to hell with it & got in the car to go visit Jayne & Mike but their gate was all locked up. Maybe the went back to AZ early.

At that point Joey said we should stop by Nacho’s house. He’s an excellent plumber as well as an electrician. We know he’s working full time on two big jobs already but thought what the heck.

He was just sitting down to dinner when Joey knocked on his door. He said he’d finish his dinner & be by in 20 minutes. He was. It was dark now so he did all of his checking by flashlight. Within a half hour he found a short in the electrical box & was able to fix it. There’s more to it but I don’t feel like typing it all here. The fix could last ok for a very long time….or not.
Nacho charged only 100 pesos about $12.50 usd.

We were really lucky to get him because he told us his other two jobs are keeping him completely tied up during the daytime.

Changing the subject: I see that somebody keyed a big scratch along the whole side of our car. Ah nice!
These two experiences truly show why I have a love/hate relationship with Mexico!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Back to Navojoa.

March 3rd Wednesday
We actually decided to drive back to Navojoa to try two different ATM machines at different banks so that we could have sufficient pesos for the rest of the trip. The only bank in Alamos would only allow one withdrawal per day. This time we used HSBC, a bank I’ve used in Asia as well as other countries with no problems. Success! I ended up with more pesos than I had even tried for before.

There were two HSBC’s in Navojoa & we used both & that enabled us to get many pesos in two transactions
Interestingly, both HSBC banks had different exchange rates by 20 cents on the dollar. I know international exchange rates change several times daily but my two transactions were no more than a ½ hour apart. I was using my brokerage ATM card & they allow more transactions & more dollars than most bank or Credit Union cards allow in a single day. A great advantage.

We did some more shopping for groceries for things we’d missed the other day as well as going to a hardware store & a beauty supply store. I guess that made the 70 mile round trip worth it. However, the MAIN thing that made it worthwhile was getting to see the beautiful lavender amapa trees that are in full bloom now. They are all over the mountainsides & we had lovely views in both directions.

We cooked some fish tonight for dinner. We will continue to buy from Salavdor when he comes to the door. His seafood is always freshly frozen.

PS: We were so tired from the day’s trip we were in bed about 6:30pm!!!.....and stayed there until 7am the next day.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The REST of the story, well, almost.

March 2nd Tuesday
Called the bank today to tell them what happened yesterday & they said they’ll check on it & let me know the outcome by email. Meanwhile, my account shows $350 deducted. I was told not to worry because Santander’s end-of-day accounting would show that the had 7k pesos more than they should have & it would all work out.
Prior to this call a hold had been placed on my card so I wouldn’t have been able to use it at any bank….they released the hold & told me I could use my card again. I hope it works. We’ll try tomorrow.

We took things to Nera, my seamstress, with some things I brought down that needed hemming & altering so that’s out of the way. I always bring things down to be fixed…she’s really good & very reasonable.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Not a great day.

March 1st Monday
Not the best of days.
Today we had to go to Navojoa for a Dr’s appointment for Joey. Just a checkup from his favorite doctor; Dr Gallegos and to get some pesos at the ATM as well as some groceries.
Yes, there is an ATM in Alamos but the exchange rate is way lower in Alamos & the grocery stores here have higher prices & don’t have as great a selection as in Navojoa. Yes, it IS 35 miles one way but the Dr appointment gave us the opportunity to kill all those birds with one trip. We wouldn’t make that 70 mile round trip just for some better deals on groceries & exchange rates.

BTW gasoline here after the Liter conversion is about $2.41 per gallon.

We badly were in the need of pesos too so we went to the bank that offered the best exchange rate. Today it was Santander a Spanish headquarted bank.

Most of the banks limit the peso withdrawal to 5000 pesos per day (about $350 usd @ today’s rate) but I’d remembered that at one bank last year I was able to get 9000 pesos. I couldn’t remember WHICH bank allowed that. The point is to take out as much as you can in one transaction in order to only pay for one transaction/service fee.

I started with asking for 11,000 pesos (hey, it’s worth a try) & the screen told me…nope , then I tried , 10k then 9k, then 8k…all .”nope”. Finally when I got to 7,000 pesos it said OK
. After a few seconds the screen said Transaction Complete,. Take your receipt, Take your card, Take your money”
Well, we took the first two but after some normal clunking sounds of the machine….no money came out of it’s mouth…we waited a bit longer….nothing. I stood by the machine while Joey went inside to get a manager. He came out to join me at the ATM . He asked me to try again, which I was reluctant to do because I already had a receipt that showed I had actually gotten my 7,000pesos & certainly didn’t wish to have another deduction from my account. He talked me into it & this time it was rejected.

He told me he & his bank could do nothing about what happened and that I needed to contact MY bank. Oh great! I tried to insist that Santander’s receipt to me showed that they have given me this amount & they have NOT.
No matter what I said, his tune did not change.

We were very hungry at that point & hadn’t eaten breakfast so we went across the plaza from the bank & ate a new Italian restaurant, Amore.

Then finished our shopping & drove back to Alamos where I got online & called my bank using MagicJack. The department I needed to speak with was already closed so the agent made notes as to what happened so it could be noted that I reported the problem on the same day it happened.

Drove back to Alamos without our pesos. Not a great day