The Beach Trip

Hola! I hate to even say this......................it looks like rain this morning. I am still hoping it will clear up. We can see a few patches of clear sky out to the east, but it is a little dark and overcast.
Umberto came to work this morning and so did the roofers on the casa to the east of us, so they must think the storm is over.

I have always loved the rain, but I have had enough. We cannot get ourselves dried out at our casa. I have a little floor fan blowing on my tennis shoes.

I have used all of our towels since Friday, trying to keep rain out of the livable rooms and trying to dry off other assorted items. My plan is to not spend ten minutes finding all the neccessary parts to hook up the washing machine and instead to load up the back end of the truck and take it all to Dolisa, where I will ask the little Senoras to wash and dry it (whoa! in a dryer! nice 'n soft!) for me........................



Sitting in the Hilton Garden Room Monday evening with Culver and Jenny, we discovered the roof in there was leaking badly. The rug is sopping wet as are the cushions of several of the chairs. Most of our clothing is wet..............But enough, because I am certain there are much wetter casas than mine in some of the barrios.



I could probably go on and on, but I won't because I am going to take you to the beach! WooWhooooo!!!!!!!!

If you remember, we went to Huatabampito on Sunday, and I had planned to let you see the photos yesterday, but wanted to show you what was happening here in Alamos instead.

The beach was great, even though it did rain most of the time.

We followed a Wahington State apple truck out to the town of Huatabampo. It was a Mexican plated truck with true apple decals..............gotta love those apples!!

We stopped in our favorite restaurant on the beach for some camarones................... usually we sit outside, but half the palapa has been missing since Norbert and the sand under the good half was flooded, so we sat inside. The outside grill was not going. The inside grill was not going. Too windy, they said. So we had our camarones veracruz style.

Culver, Jenny and Senor are in the photo below.

Our waiter, Enrique, practiced his English with us and we found out quickly that it was better than our Spanish. But we got what we wanted and it was great.Below, all the tables and chairs from outside are piled in the restaurant entrance. Through the broken window we could see the stormy beach.


Outside, the rain came down, off and on, but the wind was warm and we strolled the beach and came up with a good, combined shell collection. Culver came up with a prize winning tow line rope. Senor found hundreds of perfectly tiny shells for me to use to make a necklace.

Senor and I got caught up, willingly, in a little soccer match, on the beach with a couple of Mexican brothers. The mother eventually came out of her casa and said, in broken English, their family lives in Tiajuana.

For one week, every month, she and her husband drive, in their little white van, to their little beach house in Huatabampito for a whole week. They bring children and cousins, and aunts and uncles and grandparents and friends. She said there were twelve people this week.

She invited us to dinner, but Senor said we had to go so we would not be driving back to Alamos in the dark. She asked us to come next month when they return in the middle of November for Thanksgiving.

Of course that makes me think of Thanksgiving and the upcoming holidays but I won't go into that yet......................... oh, who knows, maybe we will just go to the beach..............................The sun is still trying to stay out this morning. I think it is going to happen...................we are off to another huge breakfast at La Puerta Roja with Culver and Jenny...............adios, linda lou

You Must Remember This

Buenas Tardes.

According to an online weather report, we have been in the middle of a water vapor loop.

It has been raining since Friday. We have had light rain and very heavy rain. We have had a few brief moments when we thought we saw blue sky, only to have it darken up again and rain heavily.

The sun has been out for about half an hour now, but as I write, the temperature has dropped and the sky is darkening again in every direction. The online weather station says we are still in the loop...................

An Alamos resident reported four inches on her rain gauge and someone else called us and reported six.

Our gauge says FULL at seven and who knows what slipped over the top and onto the ground.

I am here to report that it was a HECK OF ALOT OF RAIN...........................


Now I know you must remember this.............. Hurricane Norbert, a year ago, on October 11. This is not a Norbert by any means, of course, but it is still alarming and worriesome to many people.



When we came home last night, I heard a very familiar sound that I really did not plan on hearing ever again.............the sound of rushing water and large knocking or banging. With a knot in my stomach, and in the pouring rain, Senor and Culver and Jenny and I walked to the Chalaton Arroyo. I already knew what would be there.


This morning I was up before daybreak and up at the Chalaton Arroyo. These are the pictures I took.

Below, I am looking down my street. Water is pouring down my street and every street in town.

The Chalaton is uphill and behind me.

At the arroyo water is rushing and I can see the small boulders and rocks that were banging and knocking as they tumbled along in the night.

The sign to the left is for a small grocery store called Pinney's. The store was hit hard during Norbert, but in this tropical depression called Olaf, it appears okay. The bulldozers came out after I took these photos and widened the sides of the arroyo. This prevented the water from coming around and destroying Pinney's again and actually increased the current at the main Chalaton Arroya crossing.

There appeared to be a medical emergency across the water, somewhere in the barrio. Ambulances and Policia were abundant, but after much yelling across the roaring water, the emergency seemed to take care of itself and everyone left.

If you look very closely you can see people are standing on the small footbridge that was partially destroyed during Norbert. The bridge is accesible from the Chalaton, but cannot be reached in this water from the other side. Below is another view of the arroyo and the footbridge. The water is trying to come around to Pinney's front door, but it will not make it.
Below another road leads to the Chalaton Arroyo and the water continues on, where it will meet the Arroyo Aduana.

This is the water as it flows at the end of that street.

In town, I am walking on Juarez to go and see the Aduana Arroyo. Water spills everywhere, draining from the insides of many courtyards. Other than the sound of water, the streets are quiet.

Up on the new arched walkways, I look both ways to see the large Aduana. The streets are blocked off and no one can drive across, but the new bridges are such an advantage and people are beginning to come across now to town and go to work like they would on any other day. I see a woman I know and she tells me that there is no school today.

And below, the clean up begins.

After breakfast with Culver and Jenny, the four of us walk back to the Chalaton. The situation there has not changed much, but more people are out looking at the water. The tortilla truck and the new loud Yaqui milk truck come up to try and cross. neither of them gets very close to the water. A man tries to throw a black bag across the rushing water to someone on the bridge. It floats downstream.


The man below has tried twice to cross the water, but turns back each time.Finally a younger man comes along and together, they cross.Our walk took us by DIF, where trucks and dozers were lined up, ready to work if needed. A friend from DIF came out to greet me. There are no big problems................. she said..........we are very lucky.

There was loud music playing from a radio inside DIF. People were outside, just sitting around chatting........................last night I dreamed I was cooking eggs there....................do you need help............i asked............she gave me a little kiss on the cheek and shoved me toward the street..........okay, then, bye, i said......................... and she laughed at me. Over at Barrio de La Capilla, the road has been washed out. You can see it way below. This is where the huge bridge washed out in Norbert. The concrete edge in the lower left is about a thirty foot drop straight down into the water.

The water flows on through the Aduana Arroyo to meet the Chalaton, beyond the church. Later this afternoon I plan to go there and have a look, but I asked about it at DIF and she assured me that the bulldozer widened arroyos could handle the water.

So as I write, the rain has started again and Jenny and I are off soon to look for rain ponchos. We think this water vapor loop may decide to follow us to the Copper Canyon on Wednesday.

I will try and post photos of the meeting of the two arroyos manana.

Alamos appears fine, from what I have seen and heard............

The arroyos have been finally reopened to vehicle traffic, but the Chalaton Barrio remains closed off because the water there is too fast and deep. All houses on both sides look fine, just very wet. There is water in all the small arroyos in the Guayaparine and Esmeralda barrios. There is deep water in the small arroyo that has to be crossed to get to the Pantheon and Mirador. We tried and had to turn back.............tomorrow we might try again and perhaps all the water will be gone..............

I hear alot of music coming from different places in town. I hear kids riding their bikes out on our street and dogs are barking and the burro is very loud and a group of guys are playing basketball over at the miner's house and all seems normal, I guess.

We are just very wet..............Linda Lou

The Paved Road to El Fuerte

hola!

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

This New Habit

Buen Dia! I am going to take you on yesterday's bike route.

First we have to step over fat cat Cookies, who is sound asleep on the nice, cool bedroom floor. All 25 pounds of him were grateful that we left the mini split on all night long. Do not worry, he sleeps like this all the time......









I am going to do this kind of post ONE TIME ONLY. It has taken longer to draw the silly map than to do the post. Don't question street names and north, south, east, west stuff.
I barely had time for this. Not to mention I feel like a first grader in art class......

As you can see, my casa is on the left, the road route is yellow and La Aduana Arroyo is orange.



Here is the plan..............follow La Aduana, take the dirt road to El Fuerte, go on the opposite side of the Mirador, which is pink on the map, and hopefully connect somewhere with a road that will lead back home. We will circle the whole hill on which the Mirador sits......and take a couple of photos......


Senor and I consider ourselves experts on the back roads to El Fuerte. We have been all over them, sometimes many times over the same ones while we were lost. But while Senor is doing the driving, I am watching the little birds and pretty flowers. So, this will be a totally different experience as I am doing the driving. Also, we are not really planning to go that far. One back road trip in the truck to El Fuerte took about 12 hours. I am thinking, an hour, hour and a half.........

At 5:20am, we are cruising through town, the Mirador is up on top of that hill in the distance. We are going around to the other side of it.

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.

By 7am we are looking back at the road we have just traveled, thinking maybe we should have paid better attention to the road sign nailed to the gate way back there. It seems like we are going too far away from the Mirador.

Okay, really time to go back and look.

Alot of back tracking. But it is a nice, cool morning, the sky is slightly overcast.

Back at the sign by 7:30am.

New old bike does not know which way to go. Right or left?

I think, what would Senor do?

The sign on the gate says 'mirador', but the arrow is a little strange. Left or right? Down, or is that up?.....maybe that means straight ahead...............

The road to the right is going downhill.

The road to the left goes uphill. I think Senor would go left. We are going right.

We are looking good. We have found the main road to the Mirador and made a complete circle, well a circle with alot of detours, around it. Now we just have to go downhill on the cobblestone road to hook up with a nice smooth street, somewhere, to get home.
A long swig of topochico mineral water, batteries on the camera are pooped out so no photo can be taken to show the road to the Mirador. It looks just like this one, only it goes straight up. 8:10am.

We are going down and it feels like we are riding over thousands of little baby topes.

Back at the casa, a battery change on the camera and the cat is mad because we woke him up.

A quick note in my journal tells me I need: a compass, an odometer, extra camera batteries, a review on how to change a flat tire and all the equipment neccessary and a knock on wood, thank goodness that didn't happen this morning, a new day pack with more pockets, to bring the bike lock keys in case I need to lock the bike and hitch a ride to town, mas aqua and well, a little food might be nice because it looks like this bike riding stuff is becoming a habit.

que tengas buen dia! linda lou