San Carlos, Mexico | Castaway Kids Benefit

 

 

On my last day in San Carlos, there was a huge benefit with music by various local performers and a BBQ.  I left after 4 hours, after hearing multiple groups, since they were only given time enough to do 3-4 songs each. For two of those hours, I volunteered to sell tickets, so I kept busy.  They were still going strong when I left.

This is only part of the crowd, and inside the restaurant was packed.  The photo below shows a great way to attend, except I don't think they got any food!

 

One of the groups performing was the Steel Pan Band of Esperanza Azteca Sonora, school children who have been trained on the steel pans.  One of the players was probably only 6 years old, so they start young.  As always, great performance by them.

 

 

I was able to get this shot of the bass player for Assterisko from the ticket sales table - nice to have a good zoom on the camera!

  

There were only one or two solo singers, this guy has a great voice.

The dance troupe also gave a performance.  Unfortunately, I missed some photos while I was selling tickets.  However, the event was well attended and everyone enjoyed it.



Of course, the vendors were outside the restaurant, just waiting to sell all sorts of goodies to anyone willing to buy.

Anyone wanting to find out more information about Castaway Kids can check out the website at http://castawaykidsmx.org/

San Carlos Mexico | Time to leave

 

 

It is time for Semana Santa next week - although I'll be leaving to escape the madness.  There will be an influx of locals to celebrate this religious time.  Many of the local residents will not be leaving their homes very often until it's over.  These two guys have been all over, one banging his drum and the other with a cup for donations.  Their belts are made of bamboo pieces and when they move, the pieces knock together in rhythm.  We were in a restaurant recently, with the band on stage between songs.  These two guys came in, wandered around while the band waited for them to leave so they could continue.  They were able to get a few donations from the crowd.

 

I have been in San Carlos now for over 4 months and it is the longest I have stayed anywhere since I started traveling in my RV.  I have had lots of fun and have met wonderful people, but now that the weather is getting warmer, I'm ready to hit the road and explore.

San Carlos is a small town, but there's most everything here that's needed.  For other things, Guaymas is only about 10 miles away and has most anything you'll need. 

 

While I was here - I got to know many people in the community and joined them in my ceramics group, volunteering at the ambulance service's thrift shop, going out to eat in the local restaurants and listening to the many talented musicians who call this home.  I went to many of their events benefitting the animal population as well as some of the less fortunate families around the area.

 

 

I was lucky to have a friend who has been here a few years now and she introduced me to the area, the great restaurants and the people. 

 



  

 

I'm not looking forward to the long drive out of here. but it's nice enough here that I'll probably come back here again next winter.

 

 

Wupatki National Monument, Arizona

 

Remains of pueblos in this area date back to about 1000.  By the time the volcanos in the area stopped erupting, these people had moved on to another region.  During the time they inhabited this area, they built pueblos to live in, using the red rock that is found in this area. 

 

 

The construction of these pueblos is impressive, some were three stories tall.  Large boulders were incorporated into walls, depending on the terrain.  After all these years, with weather and vandalism, there is quite a bit left of these structures.

 



 

 

The photo below shows a large area that has been reconstructed, probably a meeting area for the community. 

 

One of the pueblos included a large open area that had remnants of walls that were rounded in shape, to enclose the open area.   It is thought that this area was for socializing and working on projects, such as pottery making.

 

 

This little guy was sitting in the middle of the trail when I was leaving.  He let me take a few pictures of him and then I got this shot from the other side.  Colorful little guy, and seemingly unafraid, he probably knows he can outrun me.

 

 

Some of the pueblos were miles away from this main area, and built on the edges of a small canyon, which was probably a water source at the time.

 

 

 

Balcony House - Mesa Verde National Park



I have heard of Mesa Verde from everyone - a must see, do-not-miss type of warning. And they were right - it's an amazing National Park. It has been on my list since before I set out.

When I got to the Durango area, I found the campground where two of my fellow solo female RVer were staying. We have been meeting up off and on when our paths cross. It just so happened that the day I got there was their last day at that camp.  When I arrived that morning, they invited me to go to Mesa Verde for the day. Sure - sounded good to me!

 

The park covers a large territory and the roads wind up and down the mountainsides. We had time to do only one tour - Balcony House. At the appointed time, there were about 20 or so people gathered for the tour. After a short briefing, we started down into the canyon by a series of steel stairways. The trail was only a quarter of a mile long, but during that time, we climbed a 32' double ladder to the first rooms. This photo of the ladder was taken after everyone had safely arrived at the top.

The next area was visible through a window between the two living areas.

 

After a briefing about the first area and the construction, the next area was accessed by a skinny tunnel......

The next area contained two kivas, areas that had multiple purposes in the puebloan peoples' lives - ceremonies and socializing. Kivas are always round and sunken. When they were in use, they had ceilings.

During their construction of all these cliff dwellings, they used the existing rock formations and caves as part of their construction, as seen below.

This was the final area of this little neighborhood and we had to exit through a tunnel. This tunnel was so small, we all had to crawl through it, only a few feet until we could stand and then another crawl area for a few feet.

After that, the fun continues, there were steep steps carved into a rock heading up the hill. These had been carved over 800 years ago. They are so steep that, to prevent mishaps, the park has installed heavy chain railings and a safety net on the downhill side.

After a couple of short ladders, the tour was over. Such a great place, such an experience to see how these people lived more than 800 years ago. For some reason, they moved out in 1200 - no one seems to know why.

 

I will be back to do more of their tours of the cliff dwellings and to further explore the park. There is much more to see here.

 

 

 

Negro Bill Canyon Trail, near Moab, Utah

 

Before I got to Moab, a friend told me that I had to hike this trail.  The sign says it's 4 miles round trip, but plan on 4 hours.  I knew then that it's not an "easy" hike like the sign said.  I got up early one morning and got on the trail at 7 AM.  Luckily it was cool and most of the trail was shaded.  Unluckily, it had rained the day before and the trail had wet bushes that infringed on the walkway, so I kept brushing the leftover raindrops onto me as I meandered through the winding trail.  The trail (the easy part!) is shown below, but it doesn't show the poison ivy that was in a couple spots.  It's been long enough that I can say I successfully avoided those patches!

 

 

The small stream that went along the trail had to be crossed at least 6 times during the course of the trail.  The first time was easy, no wet feet.  After that, I got my feet multiple times both ways.  Some of the rocks in the river were slimy and slippery, so that didn't help.  I had to wash out my hiking boots when I got home!

 

 

The photo below shows a small sign in the corner - trail is that way.  Trail?  It's all rock about waist high!  After I check out the situation, I decided I could make it up - very carefully.  I put my camera and water bottle on the ledge and hoisted myself up. 

 

 

A short time up the trail, the reward is the Morning Glory Bridge off in the distance.

 

 

My hiking stick was definitely helpful on this trip - it's great for balancing on those rocks going across the water.

 

 

 

Navajo Indian Ceremony



While I was at Canyon de Chelly, the campground was very sparsely populated probably because of the July 4th weekend. I was glad I found a quiet spot where I could wait until all the traffic madness and fireworks were over. The campground was in the National Park, but is run by the Navajo Indians.

One evening, there was a knock on my door while I was fixing dinner. One of the Park Rangers was there to let me know about a program that evening in a nearby ampitheater. I have been to other National Parks and attended their evening programs and found them to be interesting, so I told her I'd be over to attend.

When I got there, the female Park Ranger and I were the first to arrive. Shortly a couple Navajo women from town arrived, one knew the Ranger. The program was loosely structured because of the small group and the fact that the majority were Navajo. During the course of conversation, one of the women from town started discussing the small patch of corn and squash plants that the Ranger had planted for demonstration near the Visitor Center of the Park. She asked if the crop had been blessed  and since it hadn't, they decided to do it that evening after the program.

When the program ended and we all got up to leave, they invited me to join in the ceremony to bless the crops. OK, sounds like it could be interesting, - I'd never seen any kind of Indian ceremony, so I told them I'd love to go. We walked the path to the Visitor Center and the little gated farm.

When we got there, the woman from town brought out a hand-rolled cigarette that she said was a mixture of farmed and wild tobacco grown on the reservation. She lit it and puffed it to life and she started walking down each short row of plants and blowing smoke into them, praying for them. When she finished, she passed the cigarette to the next woman who did the same thing and then on to the third woman. It was offered to me, but since I have never smoked, I didn't think it would be good to have a coughing fit over their crop, so I declined.

It was a simple ceremony, but I was pleased to be a witness to it, to get an insight to how these people have lived for years. They all seem to be quiet and soft spoken and have a respect for nature, since most of their sustenance comes from the earth in one way or another.

 

San Carlos, Mexico | Mexico is different!

Mexico is different from the U. S.  I like the differences, and find little ones often - sometimes they're amusing and sometimes they make more sense than what we do in the States.

In my neighborhood, a little white car drives around every morning with a loudspeaker on the roof, announcing specials at various stores and other events.  Unfortunately, it's all in Spanish and I can only pick out a few words, so I have learned to tune it out.  

We have diet Coke here - it's called Coca-Cola light.  You might notice above the brand name, it tells us the bottle is returnable!  It's been a long time since we have seen that in the States!  They still have cans though and although there is no official recycling like we have in the States, there are some people who collect them to cash in.



You know the feeling when you're driving along after dark and you see the flashing lights of a police vehicle in back of you?  All police vehicles here have their lights flashing after dark when they're just on patrol.  The first few times, it gave me that paranoid feeling - what did I do wrong?  After a while, you just get used to it.  The good thing is that we know they're out there patrolling.

There are motels in Mexico that are set up with garages for each unit, providing anonymity for their guests, who are charged by the hour.  However, gringo travelers have caught onto the idea and use them for stopovers during their trips around the country.  Makes sense, since it's cheaper to pay for hours used if you only stay overnight and leave early the next morning.

The car below belongs to an electrician in the area, and he drives it all the time.  For those who may not remember, it's a 1970 Maverick - 45 years old!  He says he sometimes has a hard time finding parts.  Talk about making things last!

Walmart is in the next town and it looks like any Walmart, except for signs being in Spanish and it doesn't seem to have some of the departments we are used to, but they have the basics.  They did have a nice big cake set out in the grocery section - you could just cut a piece of it, put it in one of those little plastic containers to take home.  For the record - I didn't! 

I did find my filters at Home Depot, for about twice the cost in the States.  They were imported from the States with Spanish language labels on them.  Obviously some things are still made in the States.

 

A big similarity at WalMart - the bagging people seem to put the heavy stuff in one bag and the light stuff in another bag.  Just like most places in the states!

I see people riding in the back of pickup trucks all the time here - lots of times it happens to be men on their way to a job location.  I remember way back when we could do that in the states, but the last time I was riding in the back of a pickup was in Tobago, down in the Caribbean.  It's probably still legal down there also!

Another thing I saw the other day was electronic price markers on the shelves in a store.  I had not seen them before.  And, of course, all our measures here are in kilos and liters.  You get used to it after a while, just like you get used to dealing with pesos instead of dollars.

 

The funny thing was that the store they were in was Woolworth.  When was the last time you shopped in one of those stores?

San Carlos, Mexico | Music on the Beach!

Mark Mulligan, in the colorful shirt covered with chiles, is a musician who has played gigs in San Carlos for years, as well as venues in the States.  This is the second time during my stay here that he has brought the band Forasteros, from Hermasillo, about 2 hours north of us, to play a concert for us at La Palapa Griega, which is located right on the beach.  They have been quite a hit in this little town. 

This last concert was attended by over 250 people.  As usual, the festivities started at 5 PM and continued to 8 PM.  During this time, the serving staff was kept running to provide drinks and food to everyone.  The photo below shows a great way to see the concert, just a short distance from the beach.  We got to sit right on the beach - since the restaurant isn't big enough to seat that many people, tables and chairs were set up on the beach near the stage.  Great ambience!

The band is billed as playing country music but they include music by the Eagles and Jimmy Buffett as well.  They sure know how to put on a good show, as you can see when two of the guitar players joined the audience for a line dance.



I got a kick out of this guy's guitar.  Obviously, he is a fan of the Dukes of Hazzard TV show and the Charger that was featured with the 01 painted race-car-style on the doors.

 

Thanks to Mark and everyone else involved for bringing us a fun evening!

Mark Mulligan was instrumental in developing the organization here called "Castaway Kids".  This organization, all volunteers, raises money to provide school scholarships to needy kids, provide food, clothing and shelter to families in emergency situations as well as other projects.  A thrift shop bearing that name also provides funds.  Anyone interested in learning more about Castaway Kids can find information on their website at http://castawaykidsmx.org/