The week started with dinner at the Sunset Grill to thank Jim and Karen for a wonderful boat trip last week. The ambiance, the company, the sunset and the food were all fabulous. We even had "real" cocktails!
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| That's a lime in his mouth. |
On Tuesday, we awakened to a beautiful sunrise, seen below from our shower. We had been scheduled to go with a group to a little ejido (communal land which is registered with the Mexican government-we call them fishing villages) north of town called El Colorado last week, but it was cancelled because of high winds. Today looked perfect for an adventure-and an adventure it was!
It began with a long wait in the parking lot behind Barracuda Bob's. All of us were there except one, who thought we were leaving two hours later. After a quick call, she arrived and we took off on Rte 15 towards Hermosillo to the cut off for Kino Bay. The road was unbelievably rough for most of the trip to El Colorado from here. The potholes seemed to have potholes and it was a challenge for Jim to keep me from having an anxiety attack, while he tried to keep up with our tour director who seemed alot more comfortable with the road than we were! The whole caravan was moving all over the road trying to avoid the potholes. THAT was virtually impossible. When we made the final left turn towards the ejido, we noticed that one car wasn't with us. Most of us stayed at this little ranchette watching the cows come home, while Ian went to investigate. It turned out that Sam Rainwater blew out a tire. Luckily, he had a spare, the tire was changed and we were on our way.
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| There was hardly anything left of that tire! |
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| The ranchette |
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| Caballero!! |
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The desert along the road was wonderful-
lots of organ pipe (here in foreground),
saguaro, old man cacti, and ocotillo. |
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| Those are flowers blooming atop the saguaro. |
Once we arrived, we quickly loaded ourselves (not easy-no ladders or step stools) into the panga for a cruise up the coast. Some of us (me!) needed more help than others.
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Susan King, Jim, El Capitan, Susan Anderson and Sam and Elizabeth
Rainwater. The little ball of fur inthe front is, of course, El Senor Boo.
David, Susan and I were in the front seat of the boat. |
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You can see why it is called El Colorado-
incredibly beautiful red rock lining the coast. |
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There were all kinds of caves and
beautiful little private beaches. |
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| Another cave |
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| That's an osprey on that cactus. |
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| Another ejido up the coast |
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| Gotta love that gull, along for the ride |
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| ...and pelicans were everywhere. |
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| Boo resting on the very narrow seat-butt up |
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| Susan soaking up the rays |
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| The Mayan mask |
The panga ride was delightful. Things started to change a bit as we headed toward El Colorado. Our captain, who spoke hardly a word of English, was motioning for the men to get ready for something. He kept pointing to cameras and phones and the ladies, so we figured they were about to get wet and that we should hold their equipment. It seemed that the men were to jump out of the boat and pull us to shore. That plan didn't work too well as Jim got stuck with one leg on board-ouch! and had to be pulled down, another man almost lost his pants in the process and the others stumbled to shore. The boat was still afloat! So, with the ladies on board and the men on land, the captain takes off and circles around the landing area several times. (Susan thinks we are going to be kidnapped and sold into sex slavery, although, because we are old, we would probably have to keep going from place to place forever as no one would take us). The captain somehow gets across to us that we need to hold on to the seats. I can't because I am holding Boo. Susan can't because she is holding onto the side of the boat with one hand and me with the other. The captain motions for the men to get out of the way. WHAT? He then guns the motor and we head towards shore. I, thankfully, get my feet braced in front of me. Terrified! THEN, he guns it even more and we are heading to crash on shore. Screaming, eyes closed and holding onto Boo for dear life, I am alive when we crash onto the beach. OH, FOR A PICTURE!!!!! (but of course, the men had no cameras).
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We head for the palapa, where lunch has been prepared.
Thank goodness we had wine and beer to calm our nerves! |
The people who organized the trip are in partnership with a man and his wife who live here. They are trying to run an ecotourism sort of business (very small scale). The man and his wife are college graduates and have two kids. They have chosen to live here so their children can experience living in nature-no electricity or plumbing or running water!
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| David con sabritos |
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This was the bathroom. I took one look and
headed for the ocean instead! |
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| One of the ejido homes |
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| I can't believe that I was actually smiling! |
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You can't tell but, once the food came, there must have
been hundreds of flies to keep us company. We loved
the wonderful tacos but you had to keep swishing the
flies away to get a bite sans fly. |
We spent the afternoon in the water at the beach. It was, thankfully, a relaxing end to the day.
The ride home was uneventful for us, except for dodging potholes again. But Sam and his crew spotted a malnourished little puppy by the side of the road and brought it home to be nursed back to health by Susan King. Sam says there were four people in the car-three votes for leaving it where it was and one for taking it home. Guess who won? So far, little Tilley is doing well.
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This is our friend, Bill, giving Tilley an adjustment.
Bill is a chiropractor and worked on my back after
the infamous panga ride did me in.
Look how teeny this little girl is! |
PS I just learned that Tilley was adopted-YAY!
