I am pleased to announce that during our Sunday drive we saw no smoke and no fire. The land was very peaceful, dry and hot, but it is surprising how green the terrain is beginning to turn. We still do not really know what the helicopter has been doing.We weren't able to get up too close to Mt. Cacharamba as we had planned, but here is the backside of Mt. Alamos. You are looking at the huge landslide from the hurricane. This slide has been estimated at more than two football fields wide. There are no communites, no pueblos, no ejidos here, thankfully nothing but land at the base of the slide.
The town of Alamos, is right on the other side.
Happy to not see any smoke, we decided to keep driving and go to the sea.We took the new paved road to Masiaca. This road provides great conversation around town. Many people think it is paved ALL the way to Masiaca. Well, we have been on this road many times. It is Not paved all the way to Masiaca.
It is nicely paved from Alamos to KM7 and then, it is back to the normal..... dirt , dirt, and more dirt, huge gullies, oops, washed out on that side, yikes, deeply rutted on this side, time to put it in four wheel drive over there and this hill, do you want me to get out and push?
It isn't always that bad, and sometimes, the road has been graded, smoothing out some of the rough areas, but the road also changes all the time, depending upon how much travel it has received, how much livestock passes on it and how much wind and rain there is. Just wait till June 24, and the monsoons. What road?
At KM 20 the paved road begins again and then, it is approximately 37 KM's to the little town of Masiaca.
Shortly beyond Masiaca, is Highway 15. Going north we would end up in Navajoa, south would lead to Los Mochis, but west will take us to Las Bocas and the beach, or northwest would take us to the beach at Huatabampito. Both are very different and very beautiful.
On Sunday, we chose Las Bocas. The water was gorgeous and we soaked up some good humidity. It was 10 degrees cooler there than on our drive.
Little lots, their boundaries all fenced off, are for sale here and there. A few rustic adobe structures are also 'se vende', as well as some larger casas and haciendas. I told Senor I thought it might be nice to live at the beach, get one of the little fenced lots........wrong thing to say to a guy who works like he does, in the sun, 7 days a week to get a roof over the casa we have.........
So I walked on down the beach by myself because I knew he was a little irritated, scored big on shells and by the time I got back, life was good again...........
cute little 'se vende' lots. Senor, if you are reading this, I do not want to live at the beach.....I REPEAT, I do not want to live at the beach...I am just showing people how pretty the little lots are, that's all.........
So, I told Senor a funny story.
I told him about the 2 fellows I met, in town, on Saturday morning. They had dropped by to check out Alamos, on their way from Las Vegas to Mazatlan, where they were going to be renting a casa for the year.
They had just been on a tour of town and had heard there was only one other tourist in town..............was it me, they asked...............no, i said, i live here, how do you like Alamos?.........Oh, we love it! We think we might want to live here! one of them said.
They were very excited. Not only had they fallen in love with Alamos after being in town for 2 hours, they were eager to try out the new paved road to El Fuerte because it would cut down on the driving time to and from Mazatlan................huh? i said, boy, i don't think so, there is no paved road to El Fuerte.................we were told we could get to El Fuerte, in an hour and a half, on the new paved road, one of them said.
Well, i explained, there must have been some confusion................there is a partially paved road to Masiaca, but every road that leads to El Fuerte, is dirt, and........an hour and a half?.....the last time i went, it took almost 8 hours.
They looked at me like they did not believe me. Their final destination was Mazatlan by nightfall............. won't happen, i said.
What kind of vehicle do you have, i asked......a chevy van, one man said.
Won't happen, i wanted to scream at them..........you will be on the back road to El Fuerte and it will be getting dark and you will not know where you are and you will have to sleep in your van and you will not, I repeat, will not get to Mazatlan until tomorrow!
The two men just looked at each other, one said............ well the road is just right out there, we heard.
They thanked me and got in their van to go on the new paved road to El Fuerte.
Below is part of the paved road to Masiaca.
Below is one of the dirt roads that leads to El Fuerte. There is NO paved road to El Fuerte.
gotta take a siesta! linda lou
We will take the dirt road that travels along the big La Aduana Arroyo. This is the arroyo that sustained the most damage from Hurricane Norbert, but other arroyos, Chalaton and Escondida, were also hit heavily. These are the 3 main arroyos where people's homes and businesses and vehicles and lives, were buried by mud or in some cases, simply washed away. Below, you can see the new arch that is being built to hold the foot bridge. There are several of these under construction now across La Aduana.
A photo of the road we are traveling on. The sunday tiangus is held here.
Work is continuing on the new sanctuary and the next photo shows what the finished building will look like. The sun is just beginning to crest the hill tops.
On top of this hillside is the Mirador. From here, we can't see the flag post or structures, so we are already beginning to go around it. The Mirador is the highest point in town and I have shown you pictures of Alamos in earlier posts, taken from the Mirador. You can see the arroyo is filled with small streams of water and alot of algae and other green stuff.
These cars are left over from the hurricane.
From here, we can see the flagpole on top of the Mirador. We are getting ready to ride across the arroyo and onto the road to El Fuerte.
Today I have my cell phone and we have been gone for one hour. It is 6:30am.
The road to the left goes uphill. I think Senor would go left. We are going right.
Back at the casa, a battery change on the camera and the cat is mad because we woke him up. 
que tengas buen dia! linda lou