Quick trip to El Quelite

Tuesday p.m.

Haven’t been doing too much. The Driver is still in the midst of THE COLD. A little bit of activity goes a long ways.
More about the motorhome parking by us. There are 12 pull-through sites in a row back here. We are in one of them – he pulled into the one right next to us. Dah! Togetherness in spades. Then he left at 6 a.m. – of course had to warm up his motor before he left.
Also some about the movies we bought the other day – have to return some of them. They are the “wrong region code.” I guess our DVD only plays US code of 1 and these are Mexico code of 4 – On line there are several sites that list ways to change your DVDs code but ours is so old there is no information for it. Couldn’t find anything on the packaging saying what code – so not sure what we’ll do if we want to buy more. The ones we bought last year in Guadalajara all worked fine.
By late yesterday afternoon we both had bad cases of cabin fever so we went out to dinner at the rib place – Fat Fish. Excellent meal – more than I could eat for less than 20 dollars. Then we headed towards the Malecón to watch the sunset. Passing by Señor Frogs we spied this colorful sight.

Love those blankets

We drove way out to the other end of Mazatlan near the harbor and the lighthouse to watch the sunset. Saw the Ferry to Baja leave. No clouds to make it spectacular but pretty any way.

Wednesday a.m.

Yesterday morning Bill felt pretty good so we decided to take a quick trip to the neat little town of El Quelite. We go there every year and always enjoy being there.

El Quelite is about 30 miles north east of Mazatlan. To get there we have to take the Libre (free) road. Almost the entire distance it has been repaved since last year. Every time we come to Mexico we see massive improvements in living conditions and infrastructure. Did I mention most of the plazas/parks have WiFi available.
The big arch leading into the town has been repainted yellow but the lettering seems to be a little faded. Mexico loves arches – they are every where – even in some places where the arch is the only thing around for miles…..

We were looking for this older man. He cooks pork out front of his house every morning. Gets the kettle of grease boiling and drops the meat in. Looks like he already had a customer.

This is Mexico’s answer to the Hoveround. Does the job. We saw him all over town.

We wanted to go visit our friends – the women who sort the beans – but had a hard time getting to them. All the streets are torn up. The town is putting in new sewer pipes and repaving.

He is the one who told us what is being done. He is putting in new pavers one by one.

Job security

So we had to take a very narrow street to get where we wanted to go. Good thing we weren’t in anything larger than the Jeep.

Do we fit?

As we stopped at one corner I just thought this was a pretty and peaceful setting.

We finally got to the warehouse and all the ladies were happy to see us. They talked about the flowers The Driver brought them last year and the photographs we had taken of them. A couple of the ladies that were there last year have been laid off. The reason “People aren’t buying as many beans.” They got lunch delivered to them while we were there. Tortillas and cheese. Makes you stop and think.
From there we went to eat lunch ourselves. Back to our favorite restaurant. When we pulled up out front the young man who is the host (hawker) came right over to greet us as long lost friends. And as we walked in the door one of the waitresses called out to everyone there “La Señora de la Iguana.” Everyone came running to give us hugs and laughter. Guess I made an impression when that iguana pooped on my head last year. To read about that click here http://mexicobymotorhome.blogspot.com/2010/01/interesting-experience-at-lunch.html
They made sure we were seated under the roof not under the trees. The waitress even pointed out where the big orange iguana was in the tree top. They said they had been talking about us wondering where we were this year. Bill explained that both of us had been sick with colds. Had a great breakfast and conversation (well the Driver had the conversation – I managed to understand a little of it.) Everyone who works there is fine and so are their families.
Bill promised one of the waitresses that when our friend gets here in a couple of weeks we’d bring him up to meet her – she is single!
By the time we were finished eating the outing began to catch up with Bill and he was ready to head back to Mazatlan.
Noticed this on the way out.. Priorities I guess. Teeny, tiny house, big truck and satellite dish for TV. I love this country.

And the wild bougainvilleas – they are growing everywhere – in all colors.

Saw lots of  orchards - I think mangos, corn fields and sorghum growing. And lots of fat cattle.
Didn’t do much rest of day. But watched one of our movies last night. Kind of cute – “My Best Friend’s Wedding.”