El Mirador de Álamos

Layne snipped at me this morning when I was abed and she was up and being a busy human doing. 

“You haven’t posted anything today?” Her voice was dripping with indignation as she prepared a tray of tomatillos for toasting. I was reading  Robert Byron’s Road to Oxiana a wryly amusing travel diary from the Great Silk Road in 1933. Laynes indictment reminded me I was being a lazy diarist myself.  

We have been busy enough visiting the town of Álamos making up for the brief sideswipe we awarded the town in January. However Monday is our last day here and after ten days of no forward motion the GANNET2 expedition is slowing down. Laziness is seeping into our daily routines. The systems are working, the ranch operates around us and rumors of rain next week make the rounds. Meanwhile the days stay above 100 degrees and the skies are blue. 

We got our days muddled up (again) and went into town Saturday to check out the market which takes place on Sunday. So we drove up to the overlook called El Mirador and under a grilling sun we looked out over the city. 

The cathedral built in 1786. From up above the city looks tiny but from street level where you thread your Promaster van with inches to spare the Warren of streets feels endless. 

The church was packed on Saturday and closed weekdays. They say it’s quite impressively decorated inside. I’ll give it a look when we’re back in December. 

We also saw the campground from the mirador high above the city. It’s under the line of tall palms on the edge of the wilderness.

And then we saw the cemetery next to Rancho Acosta. 

It all looks like a toy setting from up on the hill. And like Key West from ground level!  Or at least a certain similarity.

There was a man at the mirador and he was wrapping a bottle with string. We fell into conversation as he practiced his English and we expanded his vocabulary. “I wish my English was better,” he said exhibiting a very good command of the most universal and difficult of languages.

Beniamino explained he was wrapping a bottle for a particular type of local tequila, Bacanora traditionally kept in string wrapped bottles.

He made friends with Rusty giving him a glass of water and we chatted in the shade of the mirador. He’s a firefighter in town and talked about the difficulty of getting the government to find first responders. We had some subjects in common and talked as he wrapped the bottle. It was a pleasant moment in a burning hot place. I put some food out for the resident frightened dog and we drove down the hill. It’s not a long way up but it has great views. 

The road up to the lookout is a pain, made as it is of cobbles which require walking pace or losing your teeth to the shaking. 

There are steps up but we only pretended Layne walked them. In winter it would be pleasant no doubt but with the car temperature gauge showing 114 degrees and Accuweather showing 94 ( take your pick) on Layne’s phone it was just too hot to play silly buggers. 

Back at town level, 1600 feet (485 meters) above sea level we decided to take refuge from the heat and across the plaza from the cathedral we ducked into the history museum, Museo Costumbrista to check on the history of this town. Rusty slept in the van under the air conditioning which runs off the battery bank. 

The history of this town is one of those stories of discovery, colonization by the Spanish and from there Álamos became a center of mining and education creating a disaffected Mexican ruling class that  fomented revolt against Spain. 

You can imagine the slow slide into irrelevance when highways and railways bypassed the beautiful colonial architecture creating a back water tucked into the mountains. 

It turns out Alamos is the northernmost colonial city in Mexico, nowadays just six hours driving from the US border at Nogales. Once discovered by gringos tourism flourished and if you drive through Sonora anyone who knows will recommend you visit Álamos. Mexicans too come here in droves. There may not be any mining anymore. 

There is tourism. And the museum stresses preservation of nature aimed at younger visitors.  And then rooms displaying life in the 19th century. 

We bought a small balsa wood souvenir that fits aboard GANNET2.

Rusty joined us outside and we went to lunch. I shall miss Rusty’s freedom when we return to the US next week. 

I had huevos rancheros while Layne had chilaquiles, fried tortilla chips in a tart tomatillo sauce in this case with shredded chicken on top:

We eat outdoors from preference and out of continuing Covid precautions and to share our space with our very relaxed dog. 

Life in Mexico for Rusty!