So! Yesterday Frances and I visited the Guaymas Wednesday Market. Even if the cruise ship hadn't been sitting obviously in port, there was no doubt that it was here with the clumps of tourists at Shuttle Buses experiencing 90 minutes of the "real" Mexico. In case you haven't guessed, I'm not a huge fan of the cruise ship experience. In addition to it just not being my personal preference in style of travel, the exploitation that is rampant of both employees of cruise lines and the sites they visit, make me very uncomfortable. Editorial done!
So Frances and I parked right across the street from the Guaymas Open Market. Right next to the car was the strangest, cheesiest little amusement park I've every seen. The rides were very old, and none of the rides would accommodate anyone much older than the age of five. There were no customers at all. The Merry Go Round was very old, very small and even charming.
I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't love carnivals and amusement parks. Frances and I found the owner/operator of this little park. He, his wife and four children live in a teeny trailer on site. Frances loved the kids and they were thrilled to pet the big wolf dog.
So Frances went on the cars you drive yourself,
and on the bumper cars with one of the girls.
Well not really of course. I'm not sure if ANY of the rides were actually in working order. But a good time was had by all.
We went across the street to the open market. I'm not a big shopper, but was hoping to - and did - find a pair of sandals. They were $10. I know you're supposed to haggle, but I've seen the quality of life here. I was happy to pay $10. Besides, earlier in the week I found a ten dollar bill at Soggy Peso Beach. So I figured the sandals were free.
We strolled about. Frances drew a LOT of attention. Here in San Carlos, there are many dogs, mostly owned by the snowbirds who come down with their pets, like us! But in urban Mexico, a dog is a luxury, and the few you see are bone thin and scavengers. Many children were initially terrified of the wolf dog, or coyote dog - which I've heard so much of about Frances since being here - but while afraid they were also fascinated. So were the adults. I ALWAYS stopped and said "perro bueno" and "OK to pet" and Frances got many hugs during the course of the afternoon by children and adults who may have never done that in their entire life. I think I only saw one other dog at the marketplace and it was on a leash and owned by a non-Mexican.
I stopped at one of the food vendors and had a corn-on-the-cob on a stick, slathered with mayo, cheese and pepper sauce. Yum! I think a bit of the corn is still stuck in my teeth!
Frances took a liking to a couple of cute young policemen who were patroling the market. They were more than happy to pose with Frances for the loco senora (me).
Some of the local indigenous women were selling handmade baskets, jewelrey and cooking up a pot of some sort of stew that smelled delicious. They were in full makeup and costume, and later performed some traditional dances. I don't know what tribe they were from.
The "pirate ship" the Rey del Mar, sails around Guaymas Bay. It is a lively boat with skeleton flags flying and the crew outfitted like pirates. Lively Marachi Music plays on board. It's only 50 pesos (about 4 dollars) for a 40 minute ride around Guaymas Bay. Buoyed by our success at the amusement park and with the policemen, I offered to pay full fare for Frances, but we were turned down. I tried again 40 minutes later when there was a staff change... still no go. Argh Matey! Well it was worth a try.
And as in much of Mexico, there is an ever present military presence. A truck of soldiers cruised through from time to time.
On the way home we stopped at the Delfinario. This is a small amusement facility that features dolphins, sea lions and dolphin swims. You may be surprised that I hadn't been there yet. But I have heard terrible things about the treatment of the animals there. Not many people support it locally. Without paying an entrance fee or going inside, I was able to get a snapshot of the pool that the dolphins live in. All I can say is, if I went to my local gym to do lap swimming and that was the size pool they had, it would not be big enough.
The Delfinario is only a 15 minute drive from the Cruise Ship. This is exactly the type of thing that could easily become a popular attraction for the cruisers, thus encouraging the mistreatment of the animals. To some extent I feel a bit of the same type of discomfort as I photographed some of the indigenous women. There is an element of "trained seal" or "poverty voyeurism" . I am currently unable to reconcile this paradox for myself, my mind and heart. For now my personal guidelines will be as long as no one is being mistreated and all participatants are willing, then I will participate.
Frances and I found a Burger King on the way home. When we are on the road, Frances often gets a kid burger as a reward for good behavior while traveling. Today she got an entire Whopper, and finally she broke her fast which was now into about 30 hours. She was happy. She got kid hugs. She went on Bumper Cars. She hung out with cops. She came home and is still sleeping it off.
Everything is good.
The native women are gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteWe had a lot of native women where I lived in Ketchikan, Alaska. Strange that they looked almost identical to those in these photos.