Patty and Marv

Patty and Marv arrived at noon on Thursday. I met them at the Captains Club for a quick lunch before coming to the house. Once at the house, everyone changed into shorts and sandals and we took a little walk in the neighborhood to see some of the houses and hang out a bit at the small beach below the house.


Marv loves the sun and it's been a long cold winter back in El Dorado County. Frances and Patty explored the shoreline.


The four of us went out to dinner at Los Arbolitos - er, five of us including Frances - and Patty and I order the Molcahete. That is the fish stew/soup served in the hot volcanic bowls. And guess what! The stew included Octopus so finally I've had some. I can't really say what it tastes like because the verde sauce that was the base of the soup (and yummy) sort of took over the tastebuds. My fear was that the texture would be rubbery or icky but it wasn't. I'd get it again.


Saturday morning we all went out on the Nature cruise again. It's my third time and well worth it. I won't bore you with more photos of blue footed bubis or pelicans. We saw a Osprey (fish hawk) war. One had a fish, two others wanted the fish. They had a mid-air fight and the fish fell from the air and landed on the roof of a house so no one got it. We saw the dolphins, the fault lines, the blue heron nests an the frigates. As always our tour guide, Donna, was excellent and answered all our questions.


In the afternoon Patty and I ventured out with the goal of seeing the Pearl Factory, the Village of San Jose de Guaymas, and the Giant Cardon Cactus Forest. As is usually the case when Patty and I venture out, we stumble on a few other sites of interest.

First was a squatters beach. Some fishermen and their guard dogs and their run down boats and homes provided some interesting vistas. Patty went in for some closer shots and was hustled off the property by a pack of dogs. haha





Next we went to the Pearl Farm or "Perlas del Mar de Cortez" as it's properly called. It is located at Tec de Monterrey, a technical college located inside the beautiful and tranquil Bacochibampo Bay. The tour is charmingly unpolished, untechnical and unspectacular. It was very simple and we liked that. It is nothing more than a palapa hut. A young lady from the shop gave us a 10 minute lecture on the cultivation of the pearls, showing us samples of various stages of the pearl development from a small plastic tub she carried down to the hut.


The workers were repairing some of the nets.

Mexican pearls are born out of two native pearl oysters, the “Panamic Black-Lipped Pearl Oyster and the “Rainbow-Lipped Pearl Oyster”. Implants are surgically placed inside the oysters when they are babies - about the size of nickel. After receiving their “implants” the oysters are suspended at a depth of 6 to 7 feet from the water's surface in pocket like nets or rope chaplets. The black balls you see bobbing in the water in the photo are where the nets are attached. This way the oysters receive their natural nutrients. They are transferred to various different kinds of net as they grow, with the final one looking kind of like a net shoe bag.


After three to five years, the oysters are harvested. Only about 10% will produce cultured pearls. Various estimates put the yearly production of cultured pearls from this farm at around 2,000. At any given time there are up to 250,000 pearls in various stages of development hanging in the water.


An outdoor sink is decorated with oyster shells and houses a shrine of a female pearl laborer.


Next we headed to San Jose de Guaymas, the small, poor village that was originally the site of Guaymas. We parked next to the large village square in front of the church and social hall.


The stained glass windows are made largely from broken beer bottles. Interestingly, when the sun catches the glass, they glisten and glitter quite a bit. Palm trees and a statue of Jesus are to the right side of the church, as well as a few rose bushes.




The church itself was locked. I understand it is an active church although with no regular priest assigned to it. Nonetheless, I found a large open keyhole and could see the inside. It was pretty, including what appeared to be large bouquets of fresh flowers in the front of the church, so it appeared that it was going to be used soon.


A station wagon pulled up in front of the police station. Four school girls in their parochial uniforms got out of the car and began walking home, up a dirt lane where a skinny cow strolled down the street to greet them.

Two small crude buildings, each white and square - not more than 20x20 feet - housed the doctor and the pharmacy.


And now to find the Cardon Cactus Forest, sometimes called The Enchanted Cactus Forest. I had failed in my attempt at locating it a few days earlier My new information was that there was a dirt road behind the church in San Jose de Guaymas that would get you there in about three miles. There are no signs. So we headed out.

I had been told that the area around the cactus forest was used largely as a local trash dump. After two miles we could see a large group of giant cactus ahead. Here we came to an unmarked fork in the road. We chose to go right. This was the wrong "official" choice as it turns out, but we made a first stop at a few of the giant plants. I took pictures with Patty and Frances so you can see how big the cactus really are. This is supposed be one of only two natural cardon cactus forests in the world, the other being somewhere in Africa. The plants are several hundred years old.


We knew we weren't in the "official" forest yet so we continued on, and turned down a couple of wrong roads but with very interesting sites. This is the kind of stuff Patty and I are notorious for doing when we travel, with our cameras always at the ready.

We found several large piles of conch shells. We could only guess that maybe they were dumped there from local restaurants? But who knows. Patty gathered a handful to take home.


After awhile the road got too sandy for driving, so we parked the car and wandered around to see what we could see. I found the rib cage of a large animal. Frances sniffed garbage to her heart's content. Patty photographed some interesting blue bottles.


Occasionally tall and often thin cows crossed our path or were eating whatever vegetation they could find amidst the trash.


Eventually, after many "exciting" discoveries and much laughter, we drove on and found the "real" cardon cactus forest and took photos of the prickly giants against a backdrop of large puffy white clouds. Many of them were in bloom with yellow flowers.



We got back and the four of us went to dinner at a Greek Restaurant on the beach called "The Palapa." I think Betsy enjoyed her meal but the rest of us thought it bland and mediocre. It's definately not on the "go back to" list. We came home and Patty and I played the board game called "Tayu", something my nephew turned me on to. It's addictive and we play at least a couple of games every night. We called it a night and went to bed, with the plan to get up and kayak in the morning if the water looked calm.

Exploring

Patty and Marv will arrive tomorrow (Thursday) sometime around noon. Yay! So this afternoon Frances and I headed out. There are still a few places I would like to visit before leaving next week, and I've been saving a few of them for when Patty and Marv are here. The problem is, some of these places aren't necessarily easy or obvious to find. There may not be any road signs, the roads may be washed out or dirt roads. Websites - if they even exist - give vague directions. Things like "look for a lot a garbage on the side of the road just before you get there", or "follow the blue signs" but when you get to a fork in the road there is no blue sign!


So I talked with Frances and we agreed it was a good day for a car ride and hang your head out the window. We agreed that we should try to find a couple of these places before Patty and Marv get here so that we don't waste a lot of time looking for them. Frances and I often agree on things.

First we went looking for the trailhead to Nacapule Canyon. I've been told this is an easy and beautiful hike. I tried to find the trailhead when I first got to San Carlos, but thought I was on the wrong dirt road. Now that I am more familiar with the area I thought I'd try again. All the info I had to get to Nacapule Canyon was to "follow the blue signs."

This worked up to a point. Nacapule Canyon is in fact only about three miles out of town. But it's a dirt road that gets rougher and rockier and more rutted the further you go. Here and there, indeed there was a blue sign. But just as often I'd come to a fork in the road with no sign of any sort. I made a decision to always veer right unless a sign said to do otherwise. That way I'd remember how to get back.

I had learned that the trailhead is unmarked but that it's obvious. Hahaha! Well, to the best of my knowledge I think I found it.


Even if that's not it, it's interesting enough for some easy hiking, and the scenery truly is pretty.


There are supposed to be lots of bird varieties, as well as the usual desert wildlife - everything from cougars to rattlesnakes - all things I'm used to being on the lookout for back at home. We didn't see too much wildlife today. A lizard, a chipmunk, and a roadrunner that darted in front of the car once. I clocked the distance and it's only a five mile round trip on the dirt road. You know how it always seems so much further when you don't know where you're going.

We stopped for a much needed water break. Frances and I had a drink and then headed out to find our next destination, the Enchanted Cactus Forest North of Guaymas.


But first I got lost and stumbled into the tiny village of San Jose de Guaymas and the historic church built in 1685. I was not aware of it's history until I got back home and looked it up. Although I got there because I was lost, it's actually easy to find, and I think I will include it in a trip with Patty and Marv and explore it further. In the meantime here is some of the history that I have cut and pasted from the internet.


Although unmarked and little known to the casual tourist, this is one of the earliest of the Jesuit missions in Mexico (1685). The church standing there now, though old, is not the original construction. It is an interesting looking church, a good subject for painting or photographing. Some of the colored windows are made of beer bottles, and through them sunlight shines in golden patches. This church is still active, but there is no resident priest, so the church will be closed unless the local children are there receiving religious instruction on Saturday morning.

The village of San Jose de Guaymas marks the site of the original settlement of Guaymas. When the seaport at Guaymas was first settled, Guaymas lacked water and it was considered to be too hot a place to live. So early settlers built their homes in San Jose de Guaymas, 10 kilometers away, where there was an estuary and streams to supply the settlement with water. Because there is water in this valley, there are several ranches, vegetable fields, orange groves, and pleasant shady homes in present day San Jose.


This rather poor village is developing into a popular home site for Mexican families and a number of pleasant shady homes and gardens can be spotted along the roads.



Not until 1769 was the city of Guaymas built at its present location at the seaport.

Judging by the blue porta-potties outside some of the homes, I'm guessing that running water - or at least indoor plumbing - is still missing from the area. The very small white square building that houses the police station and city registrar also had a blue portalet on the side of the building.


I have to admit that I sometimes feel a little self conscious when I photograph the homes of people living in poor situations. But now that I know it's a "historic site", I will feel a little more comfortable returning. Besides, past outings have taught me that my dog and my camera are often welcome. I'll see if anyone is up for visiting on Saturday morning when the church is open. It's so exciting to just run across this kind of thing.

Well as long as I was lost I might as well take a couple of side roads that are obviously NOT going to lead to the cactus forest. I came across a large condo complex under construction. New little boxes - and I do mean boxes - perfectly square in shape, one after the other. I plan to go back into some of these neighborhoods in the next couple of days and explore a bit more.


We finally headed out in the direction of the town of Empalme. It was mostly a good road and there was an area that looked like a dump, - which is a landmark to look for on the way to the cactus forest - but here and there the road was washed out and rugged and after awhile I turned around. I'd done enough "four wheeling" in my Corolla for one day. It was getting late and I felt I had enough information to come home and look it up on the internet again. I have done so and it appears I just need to follow the washed out road a bit farther to get to the cactus forest. I will give it another whirl in the next couple of days.

Frances and I rewarded ourselves with our daily stop at the estuary beach. BIG NEWS! For the first time in her life, Frances swam in water over her head voluntarily - HER CHOICE! And liked it!!!

Our last stop was at a Greek beachside restaurant called The Palapa,


...where of course, dogs are welcome.


Oh, and in case you're wondering, I solved my "carnivorous dragonfly problem" this morning.

Bonus Day at the Beach

The beach was good to us today! Frances and I arrived at the Estuary Beach at 10:30 just as the entire pod of dolphins were swimming by about 50 yards out. Yippee! We walked the beach and kept pace with them for about fifteen minutes. We could see where the baby dolphin was! I saw a snorkeler swimming aggressively out towards the dolphins, and then he began swimming in the opposite direction of the dolphins at which point I lost track of him. I wonder where he went.

The frigates were out this morning too. They are those large villainess looking, black thieving birds. They allowed me to take some photos of them soaring high above the condominiums. That's where they seem to hover in the mornings. Given that they eat fish, I wonder why they hover over the buildings.


As Frances and I began our usual stroll toward the estuary, we witnessed one of the Frigates give chase and attempt to steal a fish from a gull. A second gull appeared to protect his pal and the frigate backed off. I always feel like I'm watching a Nature documentary whenever I get to see something like that.

On the walk back I saw two of the frigates look like they may get into a hassle with each other, although nothing came of it. Frigates are considered the robber barons of the local bird world. I had to wonder if there was honor amoung the thieves!

It was very overcast and muggy today, but it was nice having some clouds to change the usually sunshiny scenery a bit.


Blue herons, pelicans and all the usual birds made there appearance as well. It seem Frances and I should be coming to the beach twice daily. Once in the morning for the dolphins and frigates, and the evening for the pelicans, jumping fish, and sunsets. We like that beach!

We got home around noon. Workers at the house were preparing the back of the house for painting tomorrow. Everything was under control so Betsy and I went out for lunch at the Marina Cantina. It's comparable to a deli you'd find back home. It's probably the first time I've sought out non-Mexican food since being here.

Betsy ran off to run errands and I came back to house to do some writing. If my story outline and synopsis doesn't change, my story will have 27 chapters. I began working on Chapter 3 this afternoon. The first two thirds of my Coyote story already has much complete about it. Back in November I wrote 50,000 words when participating in National Novel Writers Month (NanoWrimo). Having ironed out the first two chapters yesterday I thought Chapter 3 would be fairly easy. In Chapter 3 I introduce the character of "Dragonfly."

Several years ago I photographed a red dragonfly in my garden. It allowed me to take many close-up pictures of it, and by the time I was done it even let me touch it's wings numerous times. I have a lot of pictures of it and have shown it in galleries a few times. When I photographed it, it was hovering around and lighting on some Shasta Daisies that had gone to seed. So I assumed that Dragonflies like Daisies and probably other flowers.

So! The Dragonfly in my story loves flowers, pollen and nectar and I built a portion of the story around that fact. Today I did some research to find out exactly what kind of flower they favor. Imagine my surprise when I found out that they don't like flowers at all. They are carnivores! Their favorite food is mosquitoes. Well you can't fault them for that. But they'll other insects as well, and will even eat small fish!

So I'm momentarily stuck as I try to fix the portion of my story that depended on Dragonfly liking nectar. I guess I'll have switch over to something like a mosquito burrito!

And on that note... it's time for dinner!