Day Thirteen

Today is the last full day of the trip. We started early on the bus for the long trip back to Tucson. We stopped near Hermosillo for an ironwood demonstration. Ironwood is a very dense wood of the region and the Seri Indians started creating carvings out of it. We did not go to an indian home, but we still saw the entire process of carving the items. It was here that there were lots of chile petin grinders, some of them shaped like chiles. There were some beautiful statues of the dear dancers that we saw in El Fuerte.


We had lunch in Santa Ana, and it was our chance to thank Chuck, our wonderful driver. He had such a gentle touch with the bus and got us around with no problems. And such a nice and genuine guy. Then we got back on the bus to head for the border. On the way Teresa started playing "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" to get us back in the spirit - we don't need no stinkin' badges! The border crossing was extremely smooth - it must have been the wink Teresa gave the guards there. We only had to unload the carryon luggage that was on the bus, and there was a real short line to begin with. We returned back to Tucson by 5:45.

We had a wonderful final dinner. Everyone was invited to share their favorite moment on the trip, and there were so many. We also did a rendition of the Harvey Mudd fight song for the non-mudders, and then Pat Barrett led the group with his harmonica in a round of "She'll be comin' round the mountain" with substituted lyrics. Several have very appropriate lyrics and I hope Pat got a chance to write them down. So many memories, so many new friends, and everyone wants to do another trip. We just need a destination. Thank you all for reading, I had a great time. I will try to post pictures from the other days when I have a chance to process them.

Day Twelve

Today was a beautiful day. We had a nature cruise on the San Carlos bay and got to see lots of birds. More of the Great Blue Herons and better views of their nests, plus even some babies. Then there were the Blue Footed Boobies, same species as in the Galapagos. Lots of cormorants and brown pelicans and ..... - can you tell I am not a bird person?



After returning from the cruise I went on a horseback ride through the Sonoran Desert to a small fishing village for a wonderful shrimp lunch. I have not been on a horse for over 40 years, and the only problem I seem to have had was with my knee of all things. Lets see how I feel tomorrow.


Tonight is our final night in Mexico. We will meet for drinks at the palapa and then watch the sunset, hoping to see the green flash. Then it is back to the hotel for dinner. Tomorrow is the long bus ride back to Tucson for one more night before flying home. I believe we have some interesting stops tomorrow before we actually arrive back in Tucson. This has been a wonderful trip and I have met some great friends I hope to keep forever, some of them even other Mudders!!!


Until tomorrow.

Day Eleven

I have 20 minutes before we leave for dinner. Today we went out to the old Club Med to see some of the cactus they have planted there - lots of them which I cannot spell. We then went to a lookout where we could see where some famous movies were made, among them Zorro.

Then it was off to the Pearl Farm. It is close to the University of Monterrey extension facility, and they did the initial research. Three guys bought out the technology and are now successfully cultivating two species of oysters for pearl creation - the black lipped and the rainbow lipped. They have a really cool way of putting nylon netting in nylon mesh bags down near where the oysters are created so they can then crawl onto the netting and start to grow. It mimics the sea fan coral which they typically grow on. Then they pull up those and transfer them to little oyster condominimums of a little bit bigger netting arranged sort of like those fruit wire baskets. Then they graduate to being teenagers and get put into even larger condos. At maturity, they are collected and implanted with either a mabe shape at the lip, or have a "minor" surgical procedure that places a bead of Mississippi river oyster in a sack sort of like our appendix, along with a small portion of oyster mantle. In 2 years they harvest the pearls. Mabes have a much higher success rate, practically 100%, and the round pearls are reaching 20%. They only have three people right now that do the delicate surgery.

After the pearls was lunch at a great shrimp place. 18 styles of shrimp. Then back to the hotel. Having lived in Oxnard near the coast for more than 20 years, I am used to wind at the beach. But it has been very windy here, and the sand is blowing on the beach. We are now off to the El Bronco restaurant for steaks. Tomorrow is a nature cruise and horseback riding along the coast.
Buenos Noches for now.

Day Nine and Ten

Day Nine

We went for a walk along the river, and above is a picture of Lee Curtis and some of the gourds that grow in the area.

We went for a discovery of a typical Mayo village, and started at one of the homes. There the family demonstrated the technique of making corn tortillas. We got to make our own and then sample them with butter, tomatillo tomatoes and a little salt. They were excellent.

We then went to an elementary school where each of us were met by a student in the second grade and taken to their classroom. All of the students were asked what they wanted to be when they grow up, and most wanted to be school teachers, but there was one boy who wanted to be an engineer. They also sang a song for us and we asked many questions of the instructor.


We were then led by our student outside to sit on some benches. There we were given a demonstration of singing and dancing. After the professionals were finished, they invited members of the group to join in.


Some of us went on a nature float trip down the river. We were picked up in a big SUV with a trailer behind it. We all sat in the trailer on padded seats and had to listen to the blaring music. The music wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been so loud. The poor guy driving got an ear-full from everyone once we stopped. But the birds along the river were great. Here are some of the herons nesting in the trees.


Half way through the float trip we stopped on an island to walk to some petroglyphs. This was the worst place for the bugs. It wasn't so bad near the hotel, but on the island they were out in full force. This was the one day we really needed the deet bug spray. But below is one of the petroglyphs, and during the flood stage of the river it is under water.

Here's Bill Hartman hamming it up for the camera. Below is a kapok tree, some of the natural vegetation in the area, and you can see some of the cactus as well. I'm not sure which species it is.


Day Ten


Today we left all influences of the canyon and headed for the coast. We stopped in the town of Navajoa for a nice lunch in a beautiful house. The owner also has a hotel in El Fuerte where we spent the last two days. Yesterday on the float trip we saw numerous birds, including three trees with great blue herons nesting in the top.

Another big stop in Obregon was at the Walmart. This was our chance to pick up mexican alcohol at greatly reduced prices, plus other sorts of snacks. Our hotel for the next three nights is in San Carlos at a "resort" several miles out of town. And the hotel gift store has typical inflated prices.

At dinner tonight we were talking about where to go next, and we all agreed that it really does¨not matter much, but everyone wants to go somewhere else. This has been a great time to meet new people in other classes and also other non-HMC people. The non-HMC people have also gotten a chance to learn more about Harvey Mudd College and are very impressed.

Day Six, Seven and Eight

This Blog has been edited - Pictures have been added and text. New text is in dark blue.
Karen

Calamity!!!!

My laptop will not power up. The blogs that I created for day six and seven are on there, along with the pictues. And I didn´t get to write last nights blog, nor edit the pictures and format for the web. I won´t try to fix the Macbook on the road, so I will have to create the rest of the blog when I get back and process the pictures. We did have a great time at the Canyon, and celebrated Bill Hartman´s birthday on Saturday. There were numerous hummingbirds there and everyone on the trip I think bought at least two baskets made by the Tarahumara. The train ride was spectacular thru the canyon, and we are now off for a float trip to see the bird and animal life. Tomorrow we head to San Carlos.

I will try to write more tomorrow as I have 10 minutes to get back to the hotel for the float trip.

Day Six

A lovely sunrise again. We are on our way to Divisidero and the canyon. Here is a picture of the sunrise from my hotel room.


We stopped at a Mennonite farm and heard about their presence in Mexico. They have several colonies in Mexico and the family farm we stopped at had 160 acres, mostly farmed in corn, beans and dairy cattle. They had Mennonite cheese for sale at the stop and several people purchased it, but I think alot of it was eaten before the final flight home. Below a couple of pictures of the farm.



After the farm we drove on through apple orchards. There are peaches and pecans grown in this region as well. We stopped for lunch at a family-owned restaurant in the orchards. The picture below is from the outside of the restaurant.

This is a picture of two sisters that were serving us. They had great personalities and alot of fun. We got back on the bus for the long drive to Divisidero. We stopped once for a bathroom break at a museum in Creel. Although we did not pay admission to the museum, they let us use the bathroom, and several folks also purchased a couple of items in the store. It was our first taste of Tarahumara Indian items. The town of Creel is also known for another feature - drive thru liquor stores.
While driving we also came upon this mode of transportation - not a usual hazard in Claremont.
We finally made it to the hotel in Divisidero at just after sunset, and had a little chance to wander around to see the sights. Tomorrow will be the day for that.

Day Seven

Up before breakfast, and here is part of the hotel perched on the rim of the canyon.

Here is the view of the canyon from my hotel room:


We went on a tour and stopped at the home of an old couple, not 100% Tarahumara, but each half. They let us see their house and the husband demonstrated some of his skills as a curandero. They both also dressed in traditional indian style. This is a picture of Teresa, our guide, and the husband, whose name I did not remember.
When we returned, it was time to take a group shot of the HMC participants at the Canyon.
And here is a cute picture of the instigator of this trip, Bill Hartman, his lovely wife Sandie, and Jim Dewar, hamming it up for the cameras.
And this is the canyon behind the people.
Some of us went on a trip to the Tarahumara village. We had brought pieces of fabric, purchased some ribbon in Chihuahua, and also brought needles, thread and scissors to give to these people. At first everyone was gathered at the church for a weekly town meeting, and Teresa was worried that we wouldn't be able to give away our things. But we approached the church slowly, and Teresa met a couple of the women that came out as well, and soon all the women were crowded around, admiring the fabric, and getting a chance to pick out a favorite.


Two happy customers, above. We then proceeded to walk around the village. Horses, sheep, goats and chickens were scattered around with each other, eating and generally hanging out, as below.
We learned that the wooden structures, which to me looked like bear caches in Alaska, were actually chicken coops. The chickens could walk up the long poles angled out of the door, where the predators could not.
We also saw a traditional Tarahumara adobe dwelling, and got to talk with the owner, a woman.
We returned to the hotel, and had a basketweaving demonstration before dinner. The Tarahumara are known for their baskets. They use the needles of the Apache pine, which are very long, over 12", and one other fiber from a type of agave plant whose name I did not catch. The next two pictures are the start of the basket, and some of the wares for sale.

All in all a very full day, and I look forward to tomorrow.

Day Eight

Day Five

We awoke to a beautiful sunrise over the mountains. It is a perfect temperature in Chihuahua city, dry and warm but not too hot or too cold. Our first outing today was to the local farmer's market. The vendors included the traditional vegetable and fruit vendors, as well as shoe stores, pinata stores and herbal stores. The herb stores also sell all kinds of soaps that are meant to "cure" various conditions or to perhaps make someone fall in love with you. Also available for sale was rattlesnake and ground up skunk. One of the cough medicines had a picture of a skunk on it, and it is said to be very good, although that particular product does not contain anything from the skunk. We then went to the place where Hidalgo was executed. The building is pictured below.
Another short trip on the bus took us to the cathedral. In front of the church were lots of pidgeons and a few vendors selling seeds to feed the pidgeons. Here are just a few of the birds:
Below is a picture of the cathedral.
We then split up for lunch, half going to one restaurant and the other half went to the top of an administration building, approximately 20 stories tall, and had a simple and cheap lunch, although it did take awhile. Cheap, good, fast, pick any two I think is the saying. After lunch a few of us went to one of the 5 fabric stores in two blocks to purchase some ribbon to give to the indians when we go to the Copper Canyon later on. 10 meters of satin ribbon cost 11 pesos, less than one dollar.

The evening meal was a special dinner with local families, six in all. I got to go to Blanka's house for a delicious meal of chile rellano, refried beans and rice, with a tasty lime custard for desert. Two of us, Pat Barrett and I, speak and/or understand enough Spanish to complement the hostesses knowledge of English. It was a very pleasant evening. Tomorrow we are off to the rugged mountains of the start of the canyon.

Day Four

After a hearty breakfast we all headed by bus to Paquime, a small ruin just a few miles away. What is currently left is a little underwhelming, but they have determined that at one time there were four story "apartments" made of simple adobe. The Paquime people also had special buildings to raise macaws, not for eating but rather for their feathers. Here are two pictures of the ruins, one with a cat in the window.

We then headed back to the hotel for lunch and a long bus ride to Chihuahua, the capital of the state of Chihuahua, the largest state in Mexico. Along the way we saw pecan and fruit orchards give way to creosote bushes.We arrived in Chihuahua and went for an hour walk close by. It is much warmer here than in Casas Grandes and quite pleasant outside without a jacket. Below is the view from my hotel room overlooking the cathedral.Tomorrow we will get to see the inside of the cathedral and some of the other historic buildings of Benito Juarez and Pancho Villa.