San Carlos to Tucson (March 11-18, 2007)
Dear fellow travelers...
Once again, I have a lot of catching up to do. Future blog postings will take us to Tucson, Mesa and Scottsdale (a stay shorter than we had planned), then to Las Cruces and Colorado City for the Excel Club gatherings. The teaser is that Betty and I end up back in Lakewood in early May but found ourselves homeless! The good news is that I did get my taxes done, and filed. Good ol’ Turbo Tax.
Now, the adventure continues as we prepare to leave our wonderful Mexican Adventure behind.
Before leaving San Carlos, we took a short trip to the Colonial town of Alamos with two other couples. One of these couples are Mexican citizens and have a friend and business associate who owns property in Alamos. We three couples were permitted to stay in his home since he was going to be away. What an amazing experience. My mouth was open in awe nearly the whole trip.
Located in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains, Alamos was once the most important colonial city of northern Mexico. In 1531, Coronado explored this area and in 1630 Jesuits build a mission near Alamos. Silver was discovered by the Spaniards during the late 1600's and over the next 250 years Alamos became the center of government,
commerce and culture in this part of the world. Silver Barons built large haciendas and money and power ruled. In 1783, when the first Bishop of Sonora arrived in Alamos, the population was over 30,000. By 1790, Alamos produced more silver than anywhere else in the world. In 1865 Emperor Maxamillian renamed Alamos the capitol but by 1909, most mines were closed due to cost of production and revolutions. Poncho Villa’s troops entered town in 1915, and he announced that he would live in Ala
mos one day; but by 1933 the railroad was abandoned and the population had decreased to about 1000; Alamos was nearly a ghost town. In the mid 1940’s a few Americans rediscovered Alamos and began restoring the old haciendas. Today it is a charming town of about 10,000 happy and friendly residents.
The 300 year old hacienda in which we stayed was initially renovated in the 1950’s with upgrades following. This home fronts a long, narrow street just two blocks from the city square surrounding the church. The exterior looks like a simple white wall with a few ordinary shuttered windows; but the door was ornately carved. This door was only a hint of what was to come as the home opened up into huge interior gardens, pools, fountains, tile and brick floors, outdoor living rooms facing the courtyard and large individual bedrooms with bath facilities (our bedroom was 25’ x 25’ with an attached 15’ x 25 bathroom…all tiled. A library, formal dining room and large modern kitchen were appropriate compliments to the home. Attached to the home on one end was a guest house, or casita with two large bedrooms, separate baths, outdoor living room and dining area, and
huge kitchen.
Just to give you dimensions, the main house was 75 feet deep from the street to the back wall, and 125 along the street front. The attached guest house added an additional 50 feet along the street front, and was also 75 feet deep. The home was not opulent, but finished in the quiet grace of colonial Mexico. Truly, this was an amazing experience for us, and we owe deep thanks to our friends in San Carlos and their friend in Alamos for including us in this wonderful adventure.
Before leaving San Carlos, we took a short trip to the Colonial town of Alamos with two other couples. One of these couples are Mexican citizens and have a friend and business associate who owns property in Alamos. We three couples were permitted to stay in his home since he was going to be away. What an amazing experience. My mouth was open in awe nearly the whole trip.Located in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains, Alamos was once the most important colonial city of northern Mexico. In 1531, Coronado explored this area and in 1630 Jesuits build a mission near Alamos. Silver was discovered by the Spaniards during the late 1600's and over the next 250 years Alamos became the center of government,
commerce and culture in this part of the world. Silver Barons built large haciendas and money and power ruled. In 1783, when the first Bishop of Sonora arrived in Alamos, the population was over 30,000. By 1790, Alamos produced more silver than anywhere else in the world. In 1865 Emperor Maxamillian renamed Alamos the capitol but by 1909, most mines were closed due to cost of production and revolutions. Poncho Villa’s troops entered town in 1915, and he announced that he would live in Ala
mos one day; but by 1933 the railroad was abandoned and the population had decreased to about 1000; Alamos was nearly a ghost town. In the mid 1940’s a few Americans rediscovered Alamos and began restoring the old haciendas. Today it is a charming town of about 10,000 happy and friendly residents.The 300 year old hacienda in which we stayed was initially renovated in the 1950’s with upgrades following. This home fronts a long, narrow street just two blocks from the city square surrounding the church. The exterior looks like a simple white wall with a few ordinary shuttered windows; but the door was ornately carved. This door was only a hint of what was to come as the home opened up into huge interior gardens, pools, fountains, tile and brick floors, outdoor living rooms facing the courtyard and large individual bedrooms with bath facilities (our bedroom was 25’ x 25’ with an attached 15’ x 25 bathroom…all tiled. A library, formal dining room and large modern kitchen were appropriate compliments to the home. Attached to the home on one end was a guest house, or casita with two large bedrooms, separate baths, outdoor living room and dining area, and
huge kitchen. We departed Mexico on Sunday, March 18th and when I returned my Sonora sticker at the 21 km station, I bought diesel at Pemex station for $1.88 USD per gallon, the lowest price I have paid since buying the Ford Diesel in November of 2005! Boy sure wish I had bought the extra 100 gallon fuel tank! When we reached Nogales we waited in a line of vehicles for about 2 hours at the border station. The US Border guards were efficient and courteous asking the obligatory questions and inspected the interior of the trailer. Their interest with us was in raw fruit, beef, vegetables, and pork. The frozen prawns I brought home were of no interest. We were soon on our way, blasting toward the Tucson airport to get our friend on her reserved flight to Denver. She checked in 3 minutes before the gate closed. WHEW!
We stayed overnight, and the next three weeks, at Tucson's Voyager RV Resort on Kolb Road just south of Interstate 10. We can't wait to tell you about Voyager's and this marvelous experience, along with our trip to Phoenix, Las Cruces and Colorado City on our way back to Lakewood. With a LOT OF LUCK, I should be able to write this in a few days.
I must say that our Mexican experience was one to repeat. Yes, If you EVER want to visit this amazing country, don’t hesitate. Make your plans, gather some friends and travel together in a caravan. Get ready for a pleasant adventure. Send us an email and ask us any questions. We won’t have all the answers, but will love to talk to you about it. Would we do it again…you bet!
Thanks for sharing Mexico with us. We hope you will stay tuned for Arizona and New Mexico.
posted by TalktoBandG @ 6:29 PM
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