Sights, Sounds and Smells of Mexico

El Fuerte Pueblo Magico…..It is so hard to describe the place. It’s more to do with your senses then anything else. Everything is so different and so much more vivid – sounds, smells, sights, tastes if you’re daring. From the time the roosters wake you up till the time the music stops and you go to bed there are sounds. The roosters are all over the city, and they crow all day long. Then from over the fence we could hear the donkey braying. Every once in a while something would really set him off. The little restaurant set up on the dirt shoulder of the street played music at the top of their volume control all day. Once you get into town there is music coming from every little store and passing car, the cars with the speakers are driving all over town hawking everything from pure water to mufflers for sale. And laughter – there is always a background of laughter. From the teenage girls walking in tight groups, the small children playing out front of their parents little store

and the cowboys standing around watching the teenage girls. Some one calling to a friend across the street or in a passing car. Horns blowing. Music coming from a group of good looking young men playing in the plaza.
Your nose is continually working to identify something that smells good. Where ever you go there is chicken, beef or pork being cooked on a grill. Or fried in a deep vat of grease. There is a food stand of some kind on every block in the town. Even if its just a grill and two chairs. The delicious smell of churros being fried then while still hot dipped in sugar and cinnamon.
That great smell of leather as you pass a shop that makes and sells saddles.
Tortillas cooking and from the produce stands the smell of fresh peppers, tomatoes and fruit.
Fresh fish for sale from the back of a pickup. See it hanging there.
As you walk down the sidewalk and pass homes and small businesses you can smell the soap used to clean everything. Mix all these with the ever present smoke from burning trash, motor exhaust and dust and you have a smell unique to Mexico.
We love to just walk the streets taking in all the sights. The children playing, the old people in their chairs in front of little stores. Most of the time they are asleep enjoying the sun.

The colorful piñatas for sale for Christmas.
A quick glimpse behind a door to the beautiful court yard of an old home. The colorful murals that are in unexpected places.
Peaking through the old door
or broken shutters of a newly painted building and seeing – nothing except a very old ceiling.
A cowboy riding his horse down the cobblestone street and then he pulls his cell phone out of his pocket.
A satellite dish on top of a building that hasn’t been painted in 100 years. The beautiful flowers that everywhere.
The school buildings painted with Disney characters. The children all in their school uniforms. Mary and Joseph and the Three Kings in a Christmas pageant.


And even ZORRO

I could go on and on but I think you get the idea.More about our time in El Fuerte next time

First day in El Fuerte

Just a quick shot of us as cow herders.
It’s hard to describe El Fuerte – so I think I’ll just ramble on about it. We were going to stay one night and ended up staying five nights. That should give you a clue.
El Fuerte is an old mining town, first settled in 1564. Now it is the supply center for a large agricultural area. The tourists haven’t really found it yet so it is a “real Mexican” town.
The first day we were here we got settled in the RV park which is actually the lawn of a small hotel. We’ve got electric and water and dump are available. The internet is working fine so what more could we ask for. There is a little problem with the electricity though – if we are running the air conditioning and they start up a vacuum to clean a room – poof – not electric. Everything in the hotel and campground runs off of the same breaker.
After settling in we drove into town, parked right at the plaza and walked around for awhile. Found a good restaurant and had a delicious lunch.
Back out to explore more. The plaza is typical, lots of plants, palm trees and a white painted iron gazebo.
On one side of the plaza is the municipal building. It is all red brick built around a big tiled open area with a fountain in the center.
At the back where the stairs go up to the second floor is a fantastic mural telling the history of the area. (This is just a very small part of it - it is three sided.)
As we were leaving we noticed brown specks all over the light orange walls. Couldn’t figure out what could have caused them so Bill asked one of the ladies working in an office. Turns out it is bat shit!
Look closely - remember by clicking on it you can make it larger.
The bats live up in the rafters of the ceiling and come out at night and make a mess on the walls. They told us they couldn’t get rid of them. But later a guard told us they don’t want to get rid of them. Part of the folklore of the building.
Across the street is the church. It was built in 1854. It is rather plain looking inside and out more like old churches we’ve seen in southern California and Arizona.
Inside it is plain too.
Since we’ve been here we’ve seen a funeral, with two pickup trucks loaded with flowers waiting outside and tonight a Mass for a girl celebrating her Quinceañera (fifteenth birthday.) She had on a beautiful long red prom type gown.
An interesting note about the church and municipal building. During the revolution the peasants dug a tunnel under both buildings – three miles long to another church outside of town. They would rob the Spanish gold carrying wagon trains and hide the loot in the tunnel – wagons and all. Then they would just claim they hadn’t seen any wagons. It is great that Bill can speak the language we learn so much more.
On the other two sides of the plaza are businesses fronted by arcades with big arches.
The sidewalks are from one to two feet above street level. Most have a couple of steps up to reach the sidewalk. All but a few of the streets are cobblestone of some sort.
There is a two block area that is kind of like a big central market. You can buy everything from lunch to shoes there. This time of year lots of children’s toys, leather cowboy boots and belts,
piñatas and even Christmas trees. Inside one building, kind of the main market we found dried snake skins for sale.Need them for hat bands you know.
And delicious looking and smelling produce.
Sitting outside in the street was a bicycle with a milk can strapped to it. It also had a liter cup measure. That’s how you purchase the milk. He pours it from the big can nto the liter measure. Bill pointed out how banged up the measure was – less for your money that way.
El Fuerte has just been proclaimed a Pueblo Magico so a lot of government money is coming into the town to help with restoration and repairs. As we walked around we saw a lot of buildings that had just been repainted in vivid colors. But upon looking through the windows we found they were empty, some don’t even have roofs.
I sure hope they can continue with their vision.
And this is just a beginning of our time here.

El Fuerte, Sinaloa, MX

We left Huatabampito on Monday morning. Only went 110 miles but it took us a while. The last 36 miles on a little two lane road to El Fuerte took us an hour and a quarter. Through pretty country though. Lots of small trees and cactus and farming.
At one point we were herding cows with Jennie. A couple of them, mother and calf, were just strolling up the middle of the highway. The mother had a broken rope around her neck. Guess someone would be looking for them later.
In one little town there were a series of topes that neither of us saw coming. Whoops! Did some pretty intense bumping for a bit. Nothing broken though don’t know why not. Those things are killers.
The RV Park here is on the grounds of a hotel. We’re parked on the grass with an extension cord strung from the building. 15 amps only. They opened one room of the hotel so we could use the shower in there. We get our tanks filled by the groundskeeper from the water hose.
The days are pretty warm up into the 80s and the nights cold. Cold enough that in the morning we fire up the heater for a couple minutes to take the chill off.
The only thing I don’t like about this place is the BUGS. They bite like crazy. Have to wear long pants and long sleeves. That was a lesson learned. Before learning I seemed to be “the special of the day.” They are blood thirsty little devils. In fact we were shopping in the grocery store and I felt a prick on my leg when I looked down there was blood running down it. Nice big hole there. They are more like no-see-ums then mosquitoes – cause you can’t see them. We now have lots of bug spray – I hate using it but have no choice.
We’ve been on a boat trip on the river and walked in a Christmas procession.
Will go into more details with future blogs. Just wanted to let everyone know we are still around.