A Long and Winding Road That Leads.....

Where Have We Been?

Yep.  It's been a while and we're finally back home in Ajijic.   We covered about 3,500 miles by car -- most of which was very pleasant.  Usually we encounter bizarre and usual situations that amuse or stress us out but strangely this time we didn't.  I'm almost kind of embarrassed to admit that.  I mean I know you've come to count on us to misfire in multiple ways so you can sit back and say "Good God, do those people have NOODLES for brains?  What were they thinking?"  And, you would be justified.  But not this time Misters.  No way.  So, it may be a little travelogy and a little short on heart -stopping drama but here goes.  The pictures will be good.

First Stop Mazatlan

First of all, they have too many coastal towns that sound the same:  Manzanillo, La Manzanilla, Mazatlan...well you get it.  However, we did manage to convince the GPS to take us to the correct one.  My spirits were a bit dampened as we approached town and saw a very massive and impressive prison followed quickly by a gigantic coal burning power plant.  However, we were most impressed by the town itself and had a great time.  This is in direct counterpoint to the other three times we have gone to the Pacific Coast and had an absolutely horrific/scary/sweaty time. We stayed in the Old Town (as opposed to the Gold Coast where all the time shares and ritzy places are). We strongly recommend this approach.  The historic center is beautiful with one of the best plazas we have seen. It's wonderfully walkable and has a very long Malacon.  That's it.  That's my pitch.  Just check out the photos.

Statues, particularly statues related to the sea, were a common sight.

Mazatlan has its cliff divers as well.

We never did find out what was behind the iron grate of the "Cave of the Devil"

This traveling soccer team posed for this picture when they saw the camera.

One of the very colorful buildings of Mazatlan.

This spiral slide led into a pool right by the sea.

An example of one set of colorful steps we encountered on our trip.

Mazatlan had murals as well. These were slightly hidden and a little stranger & more sinister than our murals.

The merchants set up in the town plaza as the sun started to go down.

Mazatlan's plaza was wonderful, with restaurants and cafes to watch the activity in the plaza.

Sunset over the Sea of Cortez.

On the "Gold Coast" we encountered this colorful sign for the Seashell City Museum...

which constantly changed colors (only two of the colors are shown in these photos).

Cartel Country -- Yahoo!

We lingered there for two nights and then made the run from Mazatlan to Ciudad Obregon.  This is a town that has nothing to recommend it except that it is probably one of the main drug plazas (routes) of Sinoloa which, I suppose, is something.  Our hotel had a gate and security guard 24/7 and we encountered two military check points, two fruit police checkpoints and one combo fruit police/military checkpoint between Mazatlan and Ciudad de Obregon.

The fruit police?  These guys mean business.  You better not be trying to infiltrate THEIR state with a contraband apricot or, God forbid, avocado.  I mean I know at the U.S. border it makes sense but between Jalisco and Sinaloa?  And Sinaloa and Sonora?  And even though their job is fruit they dress in the same attractive flak vests and Goat Horns (AK47s) as the military.  It is a BIG fine if they find so much as a pit on you.  But we were clean and moved on.  The military checkpoints were interesting.  They pull over all the trucks and all the buses and they make all the people get out of the buses because....well, I don't know but I'm sure it's drug related.  Meanwhile, we'd just slow down and give the heavily armed and armored soldier a big goofy grin and wave and he'd be so shocked to see old Gringos that he'd wave wildly back and smile and move us on.  So we arrived at Ciudad Obregon unscathed and spent an uneventful night under the gaze of our full time security squadron.

The Border is Almost In Sight--Almost

The dawn emerged clear and bright and after being ripped off for our breakfast in the hotel (SOMEBODY has to pay for that level of security) we hit the road for Tucson.  Now this was going to be an 8 hour drive under the best of circumstances and it was certainly not the best of circumstances.  The cuotas (freeways/highways/tollroads) in Mexico are marvelous.  Way better than the U.S.  And if you keep your toll receipts and get into a devastating accident the fact that you paid the toll (as long as the slip wasn't burned up in the devastating accident) means you are fully insured by the Mexican government for car, bodily injury, the  full nine yards.  The cuotas are marvelous everywhere BUT Sonora which is, regrettably, where we were.  I guess they just haven't gotten to this road yet.  Gigantic pot holes, detours through towns with topes (giant bumps to rip your chassis apart), roaming suicidal dogs.  In any case we had gone for about 4 hours over this very deficient highway when we hear a strange sound.  We think it is the moon roof because that has occasionally howled for unknown reasons at unpredictable times but then Michael looks at me and says:  "Oh #@#t$$2 we blew a tire."  We pull over and the tire looks like a spaghetti squash after it is fully prepared.

Undeterred, we exhume every piece of luggage from the trunk, extract the mysterious tools that should change our destroyed tire and Michael ventures into the lane by the traffic to change the evil thing.Why is it ALWAYS on the traffic side?)  I am desultorily steering traffic away from his body when, from out of nowhere, appear two guys.  Really.  Out of  nowhere.  One silently takes the tire iron out of Michael's hand and the other gently pushes me to the side of the road while he more aggressively (well VERY aggressively) signals people that they need to go to the left lane and not hit his buddy.

Within five minutes the tire is changed, the tools and luggage put back in the trunk and we are on our way.  This is the equivalent of Mexican AAA.  People just  pop up (particularly I suspect if you are old Gringos) and take care of your car.  We shot the guys 240 pesos (about 15 dollars) and they were very pleased.  It is really hard to determine, on the fly, what you should recompense people in a situation like this but they seemed to think that was reasonable.

Next requirement.  New tire.  Oh, no.   Not new tire.  FOUR new tires. And why? Why?  Because we have an all wheel drive vehicle and the tires must all be at the same wear level.  Or so they say.  What a good idea!  Our Mexican AAA guys direct us to a llanteria (tire store-- kind of) and I inquire if we might purchase 4 new tires.  He informs me that they don't sell new tires.  But you are a tire store I say in a baffled way..  Si, senora but we only sell old tires.  OK.  Remember retreads?  Maybe?  Not if you are under 60.

I return to the car in poor spirit.  I say to Michael, "Right now I'd give my left arm for a Costco."  His eyes light up and he enters it in the GPS.  Holy Moly!  There is a Costco 5 kilometers away.  For once we have had the luck to encounter misfortune in civilization.  We are just outside Hermosillo which is a large town.  For the prior four hours we had been in the desert.  Lucky us.  We pull in and I start to explain in Spanish when the woman puts her finger to her lips, opens the door and yells "ENGLISH!".  Sure enough a guy walks in who speaks English faultlessly.  He apologizes that it may take an hour and a half to get it done.  We go eat hot dogs and drink Pepsi and appreciate our good fortune.

Run Run, Run for the Border

And now for the Border.  We must get our deposit back for the car.  When we entered they put $400 on our credit card but didn't charge it. This is to ensure you won't just bring cars into Mexico and sell them. They just hold the money and then when you bring the car out (with it never to return) they cancel the deposit.  Sure.  Right.  We pull up to the booth with our requisite paperwork and sticker on the car all giggly at thought that this transaction will soon be over.  But no.  The woman is charming but says in effect "Nope.  Never.  No money for you.  You didn't file some papers (that no one including our lawyer ever told us to file) and they had to be refiled every year and then something changed and you didn't do that either so....no money for you." After four years in Mexico you reconcile yourself to the fact that there is a certain "cost of doing business" here and with 17 pesos to the dollar we shouldn't complain.  Well, at least not much.

We hit Tucson and fall over in our stylish, yet quirky, Mid Century Modern AirBnB.  We've got a day to recover before we head out to LA.  This is getting pretty long so I'll let the Tucson pictures do the talking.

As soon as we entered the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, we encountered this barn owl.

There was also a snake, which definitely ticked off one of Deirdre's phobias.

More fascinating was this cave display....

and a display of the various minerals found in Arizona.

From mineral to animal as we cam across this black bear snoozing away.

Next was the Mexican grey wolf...

and then this mule deer.

The saguaro cactus dotted the landscape everywhere we looked.

We spotted this Gila woodpecker perched on a cactus.

This saguaro cactus had six fully developed arms with another on the way.  Considering that most saguaro only grow their first side arm at any time from 75 -100 years of age, this is am amazing specimen.

Deirdre dubbed this the Mickey Mouse cactus.

This wild boar found a shaded area to take a nap.

This collared lizard on the other hand was wide awake...

but this coyote was fast asleep.

We were fortunate to be there at a time when most of the cacti were flowering.

This cactus is called a Golden Torch.

This one is called a Rainbow Hedgehog.

This one is almost ready to bloom.

This is the mother of the baby Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep you will see later...

this is most likely the father...

and this is the latest addition to the family.

This lizard was just hanging around the wall of the enclosure for the Big Horn Sheep.

The museum was replete with all of the desert animals, like this Desert Tortoise....

Gambrel's Quail

Greater Roadrunner

and Stellar's Jay.

The variety of flora was astounding and interesting...

especially when viewed up close.

Now we switch to our trip through Sabino Canyon where we encountered this face mask-like rock.

The contrast between the blue sky, the rocks and the greenery was amazing.

And we will leave you with this photo of another saguaro of incredible height and astounding number of arms.

We spent a great long weekend in LA with the boys doing things fun and practical. Met Alex's friend Lizzie who is smart and funny. Managed to meet up with a college friend, Mark, whom we hadn't seen in over 40 years and geared up for our trip up the Pacific Coast Highway, San Francisco, Sonoma and Yosemite.   More on those soon.