But I guess I should back up.
From LA, we cruised east to Joshua Tree National Park. A climbers mecca and a very cool place. We got there late in the day and intended to camp, but we all wimped out from the quite brisk and fierce wind that was whipping through. We scrambled around on the rocks until dark, then found a hotel back in town. The next day was devoted to just exploring and driving through the park. We did a nice walk up to the top of a mountain, had lunch and did some bouldering, Keith and Dad explored a mine, and then took the scenic road out of the south part of the park. Meanwhile I had developed a fierce cold and by the end of the day even had a low-grade fever. By this time we were in Blythe, California, just on the border with Arizona.
Dad and I on our dusk rock scramble.
The coolest Joshua tree.
I was feeling somewhat better the next day in that my fever was gone, but now I had somehow managed to throw my back out! What a damper I was becoming on this crowd. So instead of rushing right down into Mexico, we stopped in Tucson, found a reasonable hotel, and I spent a day just hanging out in the room while the rest explored one of the canyons in the area. Feeling better with each new day, we then realized that it was the weekend, and before crossing the border, we wanted to purchase the Mexican car insurance that everyone so highly recommends. None of the offices (the reputable ones that is) were open until Monday, so we had two more days of kickin around Tucson, which is really quite a nice place. A bit on the cold side for us (a freak storm, we know), but it was nice nonetheless.
A short walk at one of the state parks nearby to our hotel in Tucson. Lots of saguaro cacti and nice mountain scenery.
Finally, on Monday we crossed the border. It is very easy to drive into Mexico, but the lines going the other direction indicate that coming back into the States might be a more time consuming affair. Nevertheless, with our premium car insurance in hand we cruised across the border and on down to "Kilometer 21" where you do all the paperwork. Not a very well set up border post, and the people could have been friendlier, but with my choppy Spanish we got through it and are legal as we can tell.
There is not a lot to see in the northern part of the country, so that first day we just went for miles and pushed to a large city called Hermosillo. The advantages of having your own car are obvious - you can go where you want when you want. One of the big disadvatages is that you cannot necessarily park wherever you want. So, while Hermosillo had a lively and bustling downtown, we could not stay at the quaint hotel we found downtown as we did not want to park on the street overnight. Oh well, we found something outside of town, but not for very cheap. We are learning quickly that Mexico (this part anyway) is not all that much cheaper than the US. We paid $50 for a middle of the road hotel and were woken at midnight to the recycle truck coming to empty the dumpster followed by lots of shoveling of concrete (do you know how loud the sound of shoveling concrete is?). We all got a little grumpy - mostly because of the poor value for our money.
So, on south we went the next day, stopping in San Carlos, which is quickly becoming the next resort destination for those coming in from Arizona. It sits right on the Sea of Cortez and has some very nice surrounding scenery. We drove out to a beach for lunch, and it was cold, so we ate and ran. The Highway 15 that runs south to Mazatlan is a toll road and in fairly good condition. It moves along real fast, but there are literally NO shoulders, so you do not really feel like driving all that fast. We saw one caravan of gringos that passed us at high speeds and with trailers full of toys later on down the road with their toys (ATVs and the like) spread out everywhere...they must have lost control and become disconnected from their trailer. Yikes. We bypassed one of the toll booths for fun and to see some of the more local roads, but it ended up adding way too much time (we are all quickly growing weary of the Explorer!)
Here we are. A Motley crew.
It was a lot of hours in the car yesterday, but we eventually got to our current detination of Alamos just at dusk last night. Alamos is a small town of 8,000 and is itself a national monument. It is an old silver mining town and has many Spanish colonial buildings that many rich gringos have purchased and restored, turning them into either their private winter homes or very cool hotels. We stumbled into being able to stay at one such place at a much reduced rate. When we arrived in town last night, all the budget options were full (and not so budget) and everything else was way overpriced (there is a big music festival starting tomorrow and it is high season). Our only budget option was 500 pesos (about $50) and a dump. Debating our options, I stopped a passing gringo to see where we could camp, and he ended up being the owner of one of these haciendas and invited us to stay at a reduced rate as he could see we were frustrated and lost (and he had rooms to spare). It is such a beautiful place. These homes look like nothing but cement walls from the outside, but when you step inside, you are in a lush courtyard with deluxe, refurbished rooms surrounding it. So we took his offer and settled in for a cool, but comfortable nights sleep.
Here is our 'hotel'. This is a look at the inside courtyard. Our room is just off to the right. As our host tells it, this house was one of the first buildings in the city and used to be the original fort and then government seat. The city was settled in 1693 or so. That makes this building about 300 years old!
Today we are taking a day off of driving and just looking around the town and at the various buildings and will stay one more night and leave just before the throngs really arrive for this festival starting tomorrow.
And, by being delinquint and traveling, I have missed the birth of yet another of my friends' babies! Welcome to the world Baby Jordan! Congrats Andrea and Jason!
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