Dog + Camera = Passport to the World

It seems that all I need in order to have a really great time here in the state of Sonora, is my dog and my camera. Wherever I go with Frances, she is the center of attention. She certainly made my day in Guaymas last week. And folks here seem to love to have their picture taken. With increasing frequency, when people see me with camera in hand, they ask me to have their picture taken. It's kind of funny too, considering they will probably never see the photos I take. A dog and/or a camera seem to be an easy way to strike up a conversation, and language barriers seems to melt away.

Semana Santa is over. The streets and beaches are empty, the town is quiet - almost dead - and all that's left are a lot of trash cans overflowing with empty cases of beer. Late Saturday afternoon I decided to take a walk and see what was happening in town for Semana Santa.

Essentially, it's just people cruising up and down the main drag and drinking beer. Beer stands are about every 50 yards, usually guarded by the police! The drinking and driving laws here are generally ignored anyway, but a complete blind eye is turned by the authorities during Semana Santa.



That being said, it's generally just a big party without too many problems. I walked about 1-1/2 miles each way. The action more or less begins at the reconstructed bridge and the OXXO minimarket, which had a line of people out the door and halfway around the building waiting to pay for their goods.


Then I began my stroll down the main drag. Traffic was very heavy. Folks park their cars on the side of the road, take out folding chairs or lower their tailgates, and start drinking beer. I thought maybe there was going to be a parade or something what with all the people sitting on the side of the road. And while there was nothing formal, I guess in a way there was a parade. It's a hoot sitting and watching all the cruisers going back and forth for hours, blasting their car stereos with Mexican pop music.


Traffic is pretty much at a crawl. My walking pace was just a little slower than the traffic passing me. There were lots of pedestrians as well as ATVs swerving in and out of traffic.




Hundreds of pickup trucks drive by, packed with partiers of all ages in the bed of the trucks, including the cops,




and this Mother holding and infant in one hand and a beer in the other.

When two police saw me taking pictures they wave me over. They wanted me to take THEIR picture. So of course I did. They posed, looking very serious and stern. I snapped the shot and they broke into big grins.


I eventually ended up at a place called "The Edge", which is a shop that rents ATVs, kayaks, jet skis and other sporting equipment. They also have recently opened a Cantina (restuarant/bar) called "Tortuga" and I'd heard it was pretty good so I decided to have dinner there. I ordered their "Tex-Mex Chicken Rice Bowl". It was pretty good and filling, but pretty tame in the spices and "Tex-Mex" department. In the evening there would be dancing at The Edge, and they had some folks outside on a platform dancing up a storm, trying to entice people to come inside.


Three burly bikers strolled in. Apparently there would be a bunch of them there shortly, much to the managements delight. They went back outside to drink their beer. I thought they made an interesting, even kind of cute looking group in their own biker way, so I asked if I could take their picture.


They were so tickled that when I was done, they ran over to their motorcycles and called in all their pals so that I could take a picture of the whole group.


I headed back towards the house now. This time I was walking against traffic. A car full of giggly teenage girls saw the camera in my hand and screamed "photo photo photo," so I obliged and took their picture.


This set into motion a chain reaction of rowdy kids in cars wanting me to take their picture with many cries of "photo photo."




A large Mariachi band was playing on the side of the road, with tuba and accordian player to boot!




Pick-up trucks full of people danced to the music.

I got back home just as it was getting dark. What a great little stroll that was.

The next evening I was able to finally get back for a beach walk with Frances. As we reached our favorite spot at the estuary, Frances - as per usual - looked at me for permission to go running through water. I gave her the signal to go. There were still a few families with kids wrapping up the holiday weekend. A Mother and four teenagers were in the vicinity and Frances went bounding up to a boy of about fifteen years. She wagged her little stub tail and started following him around. He was intrigued, but I wasn't sure if she was being annoying so I called her off. As I started to walk away I could hear him say softly, "Frances, Frances, Frances, Frances." One of the gals - who appeared to be 18 or so - and had better English than the others,handed me her small digital camera and asked if I would take a picture of the five of them - WITH Frances! But of course. And then they posed for my camera as well.


Frances seemed to think that the photo session entitled her to go check out the contents of their ice chest , although she was polite enough not to help herself! We all laughed and then we stuck around for another ten minutes and all played together. The weekend ended with Frances and my camera once again bridging all cultural gaps. I just love it!

Frances has been back to her old self since the weekend. I didn't know how many people were reading this blog until I mentioned Frances being sick!!! Thanks for all the concern and advice.