Isn't This a Lovely place to Come Home to

Hola! I'm back!!!
And, no, it did not take me two days to get back, but I was distracted from my blogging duties by a beaded necklace I needed to complete for someone.

It has been very hot for the past two days. There is absolutely no breeze today, but yesterday's clouds were very pretty.I had a great trip to Navajoa. In fact, it was so great that I cannot wait to go back. I am fearless of driving the truck now. I left Alamos at six am and enjoyed myself so much that I did not return until around four in the afternoon.

Senor told me the Chevy dealership opened at seven and I was determined to be first in line. I was first in line for almost an hour and a half because the dealership did not open until eight. They said they open whenever the guys get there to open the big roller doors.

So, below, the truck is up in the air and under repair. I spent the three hours inside the lobby, where they have installed a new flat screen tv, and drank coffee, wrote letters and met the cleaning lady. She is in the photo below. I am pretty sure by the time we finished talking she had invited me to her house which is only two blocks away. I told her maybe on my next visit. She said she will drive to Alamos someday and I told her where we live.

That dealership is the cleanest place I have ever been in. She is constantly scrubbing and sweeping and mopping and chasing crickets and making new coffee. She must have asked me ten times if I liked what was on the tv...............did I want her to change it.................was it loud enough.................did I want more coffee...............
I would go back again to just sit in the lobby. After leaving the dealership I drove down to Hotel Rio and had lunch in their lobby. The huge tv was on there as well. I watched the last of the France-Romania soccer match, and then the last of the mens' US Open.
I was looking for more soccer and the manager came from behind the counter and brought the tv channel changer with him. He began flipping the channels and found more soccer for me.

I began watching a COPA match between two Brazilian teams and as his phone was ringing, he left the channel changer on a table near me and went back to the counter.

There were about two minutes left in the game, a 1-1 tie and one of the teams had a penalty kick. This was turning out to be a good game to watch, but before I could even blink, another man came into the lobby, picked up the channel changer and switched it to womens' wrestling.

Well.................it did not take me long to finish my meal..................

On my way out I stopped in the restroom and a Mexican lady started talking to me in English. I found out that she had been an exchange student in Kirkland, WA, and she talked non stop about her experience. Finally another lady came into the bathroom, looking for her................I went outside and sat and read my magazine by the pool.

After leaving I pulled into the picture show parking lot to see if anything was showing. There were ten films, but the earliest started at four and the latest at eleven-thirty, obviously all meant for the late night crowd.


Driving back to the center of Navajoa, while stopped at a light, about eight little boys under ten jumped up on the hood and began washing the windshield. I have told you all about this, but when you are a single gringa driving you get eight plus on the hood of your truck, not the usual one or two. I yelled and waved my middle finger at them, which is what the books say to do. They did not get off. I shouted no, they did not get off. So I tried Senor Sabe le Todo's latest method. I started the wipers in fast motion. They all got off.

Once off, they all came to the windows with their hands outstretched, wanting money. I tried Senor's latest method again. I pointed my finger at each of them and gave them the evil eye. They moved away and scrambled up on the car behind me.

So, after my heart stopped racing, I found a parking spot at the Modi, a fabric store. Inside they have walls and walls of elegantly embroidered fabrics. They have rows and rows of linens and taffetas and cottons. They have beads, they have sequins, ribbons, lace and all kinds of little sparkling gifts for weddings and showers and birthdays. I love going in there, but usually you know who is there, too and he just does not like it as much as I do.

Aren't those fabrics gorgeous? I asked one of the senoras where the fabrics were made. She left for about ten minutes and came back and said.....................Estados Unidos.

Well, I discussed that later with Senor and we think it is all from China.

From my lucky parking spot, I walked to the mercado and to the square and sat in the quiet church for awhile. The weather didn't seem too hot and I had lots of time on my hands. I wanted to go into Blockbuster, but there was a barrel in front of the door and a handwritten paper said..........cerrado, closed.

When I returned to the truck, there were two young boys sitting on the bumper. I recognized them as two of the boys who had been on the hood of the truck earlier. They held out their hands for money. I really have not encountered this very much in Sonora and I was surprised to see it. I gave them the Senor Evil Eye, but I think if I had been with Senor, they would not have bothered me.

When I started the truck they hopped off the bumper and ran away.

At Ley, I had the pleasure of spending a few hours just looking at plastic jewelry made in China, clothes all the cd's and dvd's that were on sale. When I am shopping there with Senor, it can be a race to see how fast he can get out of there. After spending too much money at Ley on far too many fruits, vegetables and meats and fish that will not fit in the tiny refrigerator we have, I headed through town and toward Alamos.

There had been an accident on the side of the road and policia and bystanders were everywhere. A policia was standing in the middle of the road, directing traffic, but as I came up toward him, he stepped out in front of the truck. I had to swerve to the right to keep from hitting him. Fortunately, the right lane was empty.

Policia walked right up to the windshield, gave me the look of death and threw his arm into the air. I think he was motioning for me to get out of there.....and I did.

It was ninety-five when I left Navajoa and as I began climbing the hill to Alamos, a huge rain came and the temperature dropped to seventy-five. The shadowy object in the middle right of the photo above is Mt. Cucharumba. It poured buckets almost all the way to La Aduana, which is outside of Alamos.

From there to Alamos, it was picture perfect, with no rain, and the temperature climbed to around eighty-five.

Below, I am coming up to the new archway. They have been working on it now for well over a year and it is getting close to completetion.

The new bridges are now finished as well and I sailed into Alamos, where I decided to take the route home that I have always said I would never take if I ever drove alone. The streets on this route are narrow and there are some sharp turns. I made the corners fine and laughed out loud to think about the three or more times Senor has actually hit the wall there.

Below you can see part of the route.

On Calle Juarez, men were hanging the paper flags and other decorations in preparation for Independence Day, Wednesday the 16th.

It all looked very festive and they were laughing and smiling as they worked.

Back home, I unlocked the gate, drove the truck in, missed hitting all of the rubble that Senor has piled all over the place, stepped out of the truck and thought................now, isn't this just a lovely place to come home to..................

This afternoon I am brining some fish I bought and will get out the smoker tomorrow. I am very excited about this! We haven't brined or smoked since last November.

So, I will let you now how that turns out in a later post!

adios! linda lou