Alamos Arroyos after a Good Rain

 Hola.

I want to share some arroyo photos with you.

If you are a facebook fan of Glasspondstudio, then you may have already seen some of these.

 

If you have been to Alamos during the winter season when it is typically dry and brown, but nonetheless very full of life, these scenes may make you want to return in the summer when again, the Pueblo Magico is full of life, but very, very green.

 Alamos has two major arroyos, the Chalaton and the  La Aduana.

 La Aduana, the largest, runs east-west through town, on the north side of the Alameda. 

The Chalaton runs the same direction, on the south side, near the foothills of the Sierra Madres, but merges with a smaller arroyo, the Escondido, and then meets La Aduana, on the west side of town, near the barrio Las Delicias.

Of course, for those of you who remember Hurricane Norbert, in October, of 2008, (after Senor and I had only arrived in June of that year), the merging of so much water and the filling of so many small tributary arroyos are what helped lead to the flooding of Alamos that night of the 11th.

 Above is a photo of a roadway that is in the Barrio Perico. It is a great example of how oddly ordinary little places can fill up quickly with water. And this photo was taken after it began receeding.

 Below is the Arroyo or Aqua Escondido which comes south-north down from the foothill mountains and meets the Chalaton up a little higher in between the Barrio Perico and the Barrio Tacubaya.

 In the photograph below you can see the larger La Aduana as it meets the Escondido.

One interesting thing about the rains that led to the filling of these arroyos on this particular day is there was absolutely no water in the Chalaton. So the water rushing on the right has no other influence, it has just come down from the mountains.

And equally as interesting, to me at least, is two days later we had another big rain and the Chalaton was spilling over its banks and in a huge hurry to meet the Escondido.

 The next two photos are of La Aduana as she flows toward Olas Altas Barrio and then, Las Delicias.

 Below, water from both La Aduana and Escondido.

 Below you can see the two arroyos and the hillsides that are lush and tropical. 

These photos were taken in late July and now, in late August, not only is it even greener, but the San Miguelito vines, which are almost neon pink, will start to cover some of the vegetation and then, if we are lucky, the vivid purple morning glory will do the same.

 Again, La Aduana flows on the north side of town, opposite the Alameda, the merchant area of town. On the higher area to the left, near the blue tarp, is the location of the open air Sunday market, the Tianguis. The market stretches the length of the arroyo as it goes alongside the town. And to the right are only a few of the buildings that were so heavily damaged during Norbert.

 On this day that I took these photos, I said to Senor.........now, drive around the whole town and let's see where the water is. After only a couple of disagreements over which way to turn and who was the boss, excluding the Aduana and Escondido arroyos, we saw over nine little small tributaries that had filled with water. Little roadways and low lying areas in between casas, it was amazing how they all filled up so quickly with water.

And this was not a particularly heavy rain.

 And at last, La Aduana, flows quietly near the Barrio La Capilla, and waits for the sun to set.