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This log runs through April 4, 2000 January 17, 2000 driving to Guaymas, Mexico Our strategy is to swiftly get beyond the less interesting states of Sinaloa and Sonora, to the more southerly central Pacific states which are rural, scenic, 'safe' and enjoyable for driving and living. Today we drove all day and stopped for the night at Guaymas. We stopped by sunset, adhering to our strict safety rule of not driving in Mexico at night for fear of roaming donkeys, vehicles with no headlights, unmarked road construction, and banditos. January 18, 2000, traveling to Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico CLICK HERE to view enlargeable Mexico photos. January 19, 2000 in Rincon de Guayabitos, Nayarit, Mexico CLICK HERE for more photos of Mexico. January 20, 2000 in La Peņita de Jaltemba, Mexico January 23, 2000 in La Peņita de Jaltemba, Mexico January 25, 2000 in La Peņita Our friendly neighbors to the west have been selling homemade tamales on the sidewalk in front of their house around dinner time. From our roof, we can see where they prepare the food in their back yard “kitchen,” but we haven’t been sick yet. This afternoon we drove all over the hill that overlooks the town and sea. We picked up our laundry (four pounds for about $5.50, which is not too cheap but the clothes are very bright and clean). January 27, 2000 in La Penita de Jaltemba, Nayarit, Mexico When the gentleman died at around 3:00 this morning, someone went all around the neighborhood, waking families. Everyone immediately went to the dead man's house and sat quietly outside. By evening more than a hundred people sat quietly in folding chairs, which nearly fill the street. The mourners are facing the front door of the deceased's home, where he will remain until his funeral at the Catholic church in a few days. These neighbors are showing their respect and, according to Marco, are "keeping his spirit and family company" until the burial, which will be after his son arrives from California. Today it became clear why the local funeral parlors post signs on their businesses advertising their "24 hour service." They provide the midnight neighbor notification service, folding chairs for the whole community, the hovering black shade, they reroute traffic, and perform the in-home embalming, as well as the other necessary burial activities. January 28, 2000 in La Penita January 29, 2000 in La Penita and Chacala Beach, Mexico There were nine sailboats at anchor and we managed to meet some of the sailors. Historically, this cove was a popular respite for pirates, and a place of religious significance to the native Huichole people. The sand is white and soft, the bay lined with palm trees, and the surf gentle. There are far more Canadians spending the winter here than Americans. In fact, we haven't met any other Americans at all! February 4, 2000 in La Peņita February 5, 2000 in Lo de Marcos, Nayarit, Mexico February 21, 2000 in La Penita de Jaltemba, Nayarit, Mexico February 27, 2000 in Lima de Abajo, Nayarit, Mexico March 3, 2000 in La Penita, Nayarit March 4, 2000 in Lo de Marcos, Nayarit, Mexico March 8, 2000 in Mazatlan, Mexico March 19, 2000 in Alta Vista, Nayarit, Mexico We were glad that we drove our four-wheel-drive there, since it's a bit off the beaten path and we never would have found it without Alejandro. We brought our GPS so we could find the place on our own, next time. (We later returned with our Mexican friends, the Gonzales family, who had never before heard of this place.) The exact location is N 21 degrees 5.384 minutes, W 105 degrees 10.153 minutes. The protected archeological site is located along a creek bed where the water (when there is water) has exposed large stones bearing carvings dating back 2,300 years. This area constitutes a contact point between the southern Sierra Madre and the Mexican volcanic chain. As a result, there are both sedimentary as well as volcanic rocks. The trail is only a few hundred yards long, and ends at a waterfall (again, when there is water in the river, beginning in May or June and ending in October or November). There are many petroglyphs here, which used to be colorfully painted to depict various events. Along the trail are objects and gifts made by local Huicholes. These offerings, such as the handmade "Eye of God," are scattered throughout the area, tied to tree trunks, hanging on branches and strings, or standing up from the ground at certain meaningful locations. Huicholes believe that lights in the sky shine directly on this place, and that ancient peoples were able to hear metallic bells here long before the Spaniards introduced them. Some rocks are said to be inexplicably magnetic. The caretaker claims that on two separate days he was at the waterfalls and fell asleep while smoking a cigarette, and woke up hours later a quarter mile away at the site entrance. He had no explanation for this, and believed he was moved by mystical sources.
We could also see carvings of a cross, which was a combined Spanish and native creation, which demonstrates the time in which these carvings were made, as the Spaniards moved into this area 500 years before. We saw petroglyphs of the points of the compass, a snake, and could somewhat make out a caiman, dog, scorpion, deer, iguana and a coyote. One especially interesting carving we saw a couple of times is the "centeotl," the god of corn, whose hair is stalks of corn standing out from his head. Afterward, we decided to explore the village of Alta Vista high on the mountainside. The primary business there is coffee, which is grown on the steep hillsides, carried by hand and donkey to drying platforms, and sold. Today while visiting Alta Vista, we learned that the entire community was preparing for a wedding. White paper had been formed into the shapes of flowers and suspended on a string encased by straws in front of the church. Becky was nearly impressed to tears when we saw the family and friends carefully delivering a tall wedding cake from La Penita, miles and miles in the back of a pickup driving up the same dusty, terribly steep, rough road that we had just taken. A few blocks down the hill, a half dozen girls were blowing up balloons and tying them to a large metal frame in the shape of a heart. Spirits were high and everyone was dressed up. The locals were very friendly, curious, and generous, and even invited us to the wedding party! We would have loved to attend, but we had carpooled in our car with archeological guide and other visitors with us, and they needed to return to La Penita. Tuesday, March 21, 2000 in La Penita de Jaltemba, Nayarit, Mexico March 24, 2000 in Chacala Beach, Mexico Two sailboats at anchor in the cove when we arrived, and another three arrived during the afternoon. March 28, 2000 in La Penita de Jaltemba, Mexico Naturally, this so exhausts the dogs that they sleep all day. You can't walk the length of main street without stepping around dogs sprawled on the sidewalk. We always try to wake them up, in retaliation, but they are dead to the world. You could step on one's face before he would notice you. Barking all night at nothing is exhausting. Of course, all the dog commotion startles the roosters. And all it takes is one peep out of a single rooster and before long hundreds of them are crowing in competition so frantically that we sometimes wonder how they can avoid exhaustion before their official responsibilities begin with the sunrise. The nearby pigs aren't too bad, except for the smell. The human sounds, however, are far more intrusive. Take the dueling water trucks, for example. Representatives of at least four companies begin their rounds about 6:30 a.m., announcing their presence with long blasts of their truck’s air horns. We have been here long enough to learn to identify other sounds too. A man walking down the street ringing a cowbell precedes the garbage truck. The ice cream cart is near when we hear a high pitched bell - unless it's the competing ice cream cart, which makes a sound similar to carnival fun house music. Other bells and horns announce everything from LP gas salesmen pushing their tanks on little carts, to scissor sharpeners and other services. But the honking of horns is totally overwhelmed by various vehicles with huge loudspeakers on the top. They can be heard for miles, announcing all manner of items for sale.
All of this, of course, is in addition to the unmuffled roar of trucks, huge trucks that in the U.S. would be overweight and far too loud to be legal. Here, it's a macho thing. Not only are the drivers of big, loud trucks highly respected as virile men, their aggressive driving is feared. Anyone with a shred of sense, when spotting one of these monsters coming from the opposite direction on a narrow road, engine roaring, air horns blasting and lights flashing, knows it's time to get the hell out of the way. March 26, 2000 in La Penita de Jaltemba, Nayarit, Mexico We first learned about the object, known as the Santo Nino Cautivo (Sacred Captive Boy), when our rooftop happy hour beer guzzling was interrupted by fireworks exploding in the evening sky near the Catholic church. Upon investigation, we learned of the object, and that the current owner, who lives across the street from the Church, sets off fireworks at dusk for nine days during the anniversary of the discovery of the Santo.
Our friends Marco and Concha knew that we were curious about this Santo. Marco knew the Santo's owner -- who happens to be named "Mr. Santo!" -- and he arranged for all of us to see the Santo. Tonight, we saw the Santo in its glass case atop a homemade altar in the front room of the home, and we realized in an instant that it bore a strong likeness to a porcelain doll. The face was unisex in appearance, and the Santo is now about two feet tall (and growing each year) and dressed in a white satin gown. The room in which it was displayed was decorated with artificial flowers and pieces of colorful paper, and on display were the photos of several people reported to be the beneficiaries of miracle medical cures resulting from association with the Santo. Mr. Santo and members of the community are very sincere about their adoration of the Santo and its miracle powers, and we are grateful to have been invited to personally see and photograph the Santo. Wednesday, March 29, 2000 in La Penita de Jaltemba, Mexico Within 45 minutes everything was back together and the guard was ready to protect the front end from whatever might be so unfortunate as to walk, crawl, drive or hop in front of it. The total cost was $21, plus a small tip. March 30, 2000 in La Penita Miscellaneous items: We learned that the cross and plaque on the beach was put up by local families as a prayer to protect sailors and fishermen. We also learned that the reason we had such difficulty understanding the sign well enough to translate it into English, was because the Spanish on the plaque is written with such poor grammar and spelling. An interesting story is emerging regarding the new pizza place in town. It turns out that the owner, Miguel, is wanted by the law in the US! Apparently happy to find Americans to talk to, Miguel told us his whole life's story. He entered the U.S.A. illegally at an early age and lived in Oregon for 39 years. He met and married a 16 year old girl, and was divorced from her not long ago, after 17 years of marriage. He told us he was back in Mexico "for a few years until things cool off up north." It seems that during the court session for his divorce settlement, his wife's boyfriend laughed at him. Miguel reacted to that by later hunting him down in a bar. As he put it, "I tried to kill him, but he didn't die." April 1, 2000 in La Penita de Jaltemba and Las Varas, Mexico It's a nice place where water from a hot spring has been channeled into a large pool and two smaller pools. The caretaker there is a pleasant chap who charges 11 pesos per person to spend the day. The dirt road to the pool is like most in this area, rough, sometimes steep, narrow and, except for one small stream crossing it, bone dry. April 3, 2000 in La Penita de Jaltemba, Nayarit, Mexico April 4, 2000 in La Penita de Jaltemba to Navajoa, Mexico PREVIOUS LOG or |
We were on the road at 5:15, driving to ever-lovely Gila Bend and then down highway 85 through the Organ Pipe Cactus National Park. We arrived at the Sonoyta Border Crossing three hours later and were pleasantly surprised that it only took an hour to complete the paperwork to legally enter Mexico for a few months with our vehicle. The process was relatively simple and free of confusion, scams, unexpected fees, and long waits in line. We would certainly recommend this mellow Sonoyta border crossing over the wretched experience of Tijuana and Nogales crossings.
Our landlord Marco told us about one of his favorite places, Chacala Beach. He said it's a beautiful local spot a few miles north, and although it's difficult to get to, it's popular with Mexicans. Since our calendar is always wide open, today we beat down the washboard road and found the beautiful beach. (Later note: Two years later a force five hurricane almost totally destroyed this entire area).
We came across a couple of shacks on the gorgeous white sand beach. Two people sat on the front steps, and two boys played in the surf with a girl in her early teens. Nearby was a toddling neighbor girl who was less than two years old, apparently attended by nobody. Rebecca played with her for a bit, while looking around for any adults supervising these kids just a few feet from the dangerous surf. The teenage girl disappeared into her one-room hut, and emerged with her own tiny six-week old baby. We learned that despite the several candidates for fatherhood we saw hanging around, none of them was the father. The baby's father is "away" working in another state. It wasn't clear if that means he's gone forever. The mother was 17 years old, raising her baby alone in her mother's hut on the beach. Nearby, a 14 year old girl was playing on the beach. She has been married for a year and is pregnant. 
We drove the 240 miles from La Penita to Mazatlan and had a great time with our old friends from Minnesota. Lori and Becky love getting together so they can act silly, and their husbands have a good time watching them act so silly. The Busslers and Jacksons were on their timeshare vacation at the Marina El Cid Resort, as well as on vacation from their kids and the chilly north. We gypsies enjoyed pretending to be employed people taking a luxurious vacation.
Although it's common to associate the petroglyphs with the old traditions of hunters and gatherers, at this site the petroglyphs are linked to sedentary groups with a complex knowledge of astrology, which they used to determine things such as the harvest season. The stones themselves depict carvings representing the sun and moon, soil and rain, sea and time. There are spirals representing the wind and men's words and the God's breath, and a symbol called xilcaloliuhqui that represents wind, storm, lightening, clouds, and the mouth of the cave of the winds. 
From a mile away, one can hear announcements for fruits, vegetables, car parts, mattresses, aluminum, flowers - you name it. Some vendors play music to get your attention before making their pitch from their beat up old wreck of a car or truck. One guy was running a police siren. In a town where that sound is seldom heard, everyone looked up. Then one day a truck came down the street, with its huge speakers announcing the availability of toilets. Believe it or not, USED, BLUE toilets. “Just come right down and pick out the used blue toilet you find most appealing.”
A few days later but before we had actually seen the Santo, in front of a house across the street from the church, we noticed about 30 somber people, mostly women, singing in the direction of what appeared to be an altar inside a house. Other people sat on chairs on the sidewalk and joined in the singing. Every few minutes, from the roof of the house, a serious man in a white shirt launched skyrockets, which rose above the church and exploded loudly. In coming weeks we learned a bit more about the Santo, but not what it looked like or what it was made of. We were told only that the believers felt it was a sign from God. 