San Ignacio - El Quelite Part 2

Tuesday p.m.
To continue our tour of San Ignacio we walked around the corner of the green house. As I mentioned the side of the house wasn’t painted – just raw stucco. We see this a lot in Mexico – The Driver calls it “The Mother-In-Law Syndrome” only what she will see is fixed up.
We could see the original adobe blocks where some of the stucco has fallen off.

Right behind this was another building without any stucco.

Three different types of adobe blocks

A close inspection of it reveled at least three types of blocks had been used in its construction. The upper left corner is the newest section.

The blocks on the right are made of grass, tiny pebbles, sand and mud. The blocks on the left are made using larger pebbles and rocks. They have a courser texture. Don’t know why

We got back in the car and started looking for a road up the hill to the statue. Saw this nice building on the corner.

I think it was a home.

Then past Constitution Square – the main plaza – with its big gazebo, white ironwork benches and trimmed trees. The cobblestone streets around the plaza are all one way - need to pay attention when driving there.

Around the next corner was one of the government buildings.

Always, everywhere you go there is the presence of CocaCola – on the sides of buildings, billboards in the middle of nowhere and even on street signs. The Coke in Mexico is much sweeter than what we drink in the U.S. and it still comes in glass bottles.

The streets are mostly cobblestone or flagstone or where the stones are missing just plain dusty dirt. I think this guy has been sitting here too long.

This building is occupied – a small home.

This is a two way street - see the double sided arrow on the side of the building

This one is small and probably without air conditioning but it does have satellite TV.

Watching the world go by

This truck was sitting out in the street waiting to be worked on by the mechanic who lives in the house. He also had several vehicles in pieces in his yard.

At last the road up to the statue.

On top of the hill in addition to the statue was a big park with a nice playground, basketball courts and of course a soccer field.

Could be rough on the knees!

We parked and looked down over the town. Quite a nice view. And the flowers! The Church

The Church and Constitution Square.

All the red tile roofs

And just another view.

And at last the statue Cristo de las Mesas. It is 65.5 feet tall and was built in 2005.

Cristo de las Mesas

Another view

And a close up of his face.

There is quite a bit of detail there.
We thought we had found another way down the hill but the little road we were on dead ended at this house. Did enjoy getting a glimpse of the huge oven on the back porch.

The Driver keeps saying he wants to build one of these at our house. He loves the bread they produce. He says when he was just a little boy his Mother used to send him inside the oven to clean out the charcoal.
It’s always laundry day in these small towns. Sunday or not.

Looks like it might be a big family

Once back into town we passed this loaded truck. A little bit of everything on it. Hay, sacks of probably corn or beans, boxes of canned goods and beer.


Wonder what he is looking at.

 The Driver always says he admires the people of Mexico because “They can do so much with the little that they have. And they sure have almost nothing.” A couple of examples of that. This neat mural on the upper patio of this home.

Pretty setting.

Decorations on the side of a house

A pretty little shrine

And painted rocks on this wall.

Our short visit to San Ignacio over we headed back over the long bridge.

Our short visit to San Ignacio over we headed back over the long bridge.

I learned something about San Ignacio and El Quelite today that I didn’t know before. They are both called Pueblos Señoriales – noble towns. As opposed to the Pueblos Magicos – magic towns.
A noble town is one step lower than a magical town…….but is aspiring to become a Pueblo Magico.
To become a Pueblo Señoriales the town has to meet certain criteria. It must have a population of less than 30,000, be more than 100 years old, have a colonial arch at the entrance to town, an historic church and vintage architecture, a community museum and cobblestone or flagstone streets — no asphalt. These towns also must have a hotel, inn or other lodging for visitors and at least a couple of restaurants
So we learn something new every day.
And I guess I will have to do a part 3 to this adventure - it will cover El Quelite. Till later.....