on the road: The Beach, Parties, Friends, Markets, Music, Dogs, Caballeros-Does It Get Any Better Than This?

On Saturdays, we like to walk down to the La Posada Beach near us and listen to one of our favorite bands, Assterisko, play at La Palapa Griega.

We live up on the hill to the left and over a few blocks. There are some
very rudimentary steps in the cliff to ease us down to the sand. We've been
lucky not to fall so far!

Not very many people here today....

These guys are great-a little Santana, many oldies with a
Mexican twist...

Happy lady and perro with a front row seat

Alfredo

Frito

Jorge

Mexican family enjoying the beach

An appreciative audience

On Sunday, we had two events. First we were invited to a lovely brunch at our friends, Cynthia Chertos and Bill Dodge's amazing house in Tecali. Tecali is hard to describe. It was, I believe, originally an RV park. Today, the RV park, Totanaka, is right next door. It is in the heart of the main part of the malecon on Beltrones. Many of the homes are built around RVs, with small casitas and outdoor kitchens. Cynthia and Bill's house was originally owned by Dan Blocker, Hoss Cartwright of Bonanza fame. He built it in the 60s as a getaway place. He sold it to two artists who really enhanced the home with all kinds of beautiful stained glass, tile work, painted woodwork, etc. I don't know about square footage, but I can tell you, you can get lost in here. After the crash of 2008, the local economy went belly up and the drug wars discouraged many Americans from coming to Mexico. Cynthia and Bill bought this for $200,000, including all the art and furniture and everything else in the house. WHAT A STEAL!

Isn't this dome just gorgeous?

We ate outside in their huge outdoor area that was built for an RV.

That evening we were invited to Rummy's 14th birthday party at the Andersons.

The birthday boy

The other perro invited, Toby

We all had steaks and salad and the pups even had their own hamburgers which were gobbled up in no time flat. One note about the meat here, while I am thinking of it: Sonoran beef is some of the best beef we have ever had. Our local market has excellent meat, as does Tony, the local produce man who sells out of his truck. The meat (chicken, lamb and pork) is local, not pumped full of grains or hormones like many places in the states. This is Whole Foods quality carne, pollo and mariscos for Mexican prices! We are living the good life down here.

On Monday, I needed an adventure, having been cooped up for so long. It was a little cloudy so we took off early for the Empalme open air markets. Empalme is a city of about 40,000, almost entirely surrounded by Guaymas. It was built by the Southern Pacific Railroad, with very few local materials, people or supplies. Many of the homes still have a very American look-made of wood. Railroad repair facilities are still active here but the economy also relies heavily on their seafood markets-some of the freshest octopus, shrimp, clams, oysters, crab and shark anywhere. There is a huge potential for some of its beaches to eventually be developed, but so far, those of us who are here now, have lucked out (see below).

We left town to a very strange sight this morning: there were many hundred
runners and walkers and the roads were closed off. We watched as almost
everyone was painted from head to foot. The event was a "Color Fun Run"
and this is the spray station. Must be a Mexican thing!

Because of the fun run, we ran into our friends, Bobby and Leslie, and
Leslie's cousin, Kathy, while waiting in line to get out of town. We
followed them to Empalme and lucked out as they could show us the
ropes. This is one of the little taquerias there, serving the most
scrumptious shrimp tacos we've ever tasted. We have two new discoveries
today: Jamaica (an hibiscus tea) and horchata (a rice drink with cinnamon
and other spices).

Enrique, who was willing to share his table
with us. The tacos are served with salsa, hot
sauce, cucumbers, peppers, limes and radishes.

They sell everything here: fruits and veggies, clothes,
household goods, electronics, appliances, furniture...

CANDY

And lots of very unappetizing but popular things
like liver and pork rinds and some kind of
intestines!

Our cook for today

Lots of dogs, but this one was the cutest-the owner, too!

Next, we decided to travel on down the road to Cohorit Beach, which we discovered last year. Most of this beach community was devastated by a hurricane a few years back. Like so much in Mexico, the destroyed buildings just sit there still. This is an absolutely gorgeous area. The white sand beaches go for miles; no one is here and there are shells everywhere.

Only the birds, the shellfish and us

Looking towards Guaymas

Beauty before me, beauty behind me, above me and below me!

Pelicans keeping us company

Guess who is having the time of his life!?!

What more could a pup ask for?

Clams, cockles, scallops, horn snails, conchs, limpits and
so much more I still must learn about.....

While walking the beach today, I said to myself that this is one of those special days in life. You are healthy, happy, have the one you love by your side, the sweetest dog playing in the surf at your feet, and you are surrounded by incredible beauty. I am so grateful to be here now!

Orange jelly blob

Looks like a pearl
I guess it is what you might call a blue jelly blob
I must learn more about these things, apparently all are not
jellyfish.

We have vowed to come back here, lie
in a hammock and drink a cold cerveza one day soon!

Fishing boats on the beach

OH, PLEASE DON'T LET THIS TURN INTO ANOTHER CANCUN!

A fish taco stand on the way out of town

I think this one is closed.

Haven't eaten here yet but we are told they are good.

The adventure wasn't quite over. As we were leaving, we spotted a whole lot of caballeros and horses. We tried driving through the desert to see where they were going and ended up on the wrong side of a barbed wire fence. We stopped and watched some of the precedings.