About mid-January we realized that it was time to turn around and head north. After the butterfly sanctuary, we went north to San Miguel de Allende. This is a beautiful colonial town with a magnificent cathedral and old architecture. Here we stayed at an RV park to get the basics, a shower, laundry, and internet. We met some great people here, a couple from Oregon, Dr. Wayne and Arline. They adopted us and showed us around the town and gave us some great travel info. One night we headed down to the main square for the festivities. It was a celebration of the birthday the person the town was named after, Ignacio Allende. It was amazing! When we arrived, an orchestra was playing under a large white tent right beside the cathedral. The music was so beautiful. Suddenly, fireworks began going off from the top of the cathedral, huge fireworks. This beautiful display went on and on, more fireworks shooting into the sky highlighting the cathedral while this magnificent music played. I have never seen something so beautiful and, I don’t usually like fireworks. People had tears in there eyes it was so moving. Then, to end the concert, more fireworks were going off of several other buildings right next to the square. In true Mexican style, you had to be careful of the little hot embers that were raining down on everyone. If you were under a tree, you were pretty safe. However, the chance that you could be burned only added to the excitement of the light show.
From San Miguel, we found some other great cities. We only stayed one night in each one, but they were wonderful too. The architecture of these colonial towns makes you feel like you are in Europe not Mexico. The history is so interesting here and the Spanish influence still is very strong. Here are a couple of pictures from these towns.
Near a town called Durango, we camped out off a dirt road in the campo (country). A large farm was near by but we felt that we were ok where we were, not trespassing or anything. It was a beautiful spot and a great sunset and it was nice to not have to be staying in town. We slept soundly and enjoyed the tranquility. In the morning, we woke to the sound of Bozeman growling. He only growls if someone is approaching the truck. Ozzie looked out the window and a lady was walking around. She began yelling, “Senor, Senor”. Uh oh, we thought that we were in trouble. So much for parking in the country, we must have been on their property. Reluctantly, I went outside. People are not as intimidated when they see a woman. So, I approached the lady with a friendly smile and buenos dias. She smiled back, a good sign. I asked if it was ok that we were there. She said that it was and that she was just coming to say hello and see if we needed anything. She invited us to her house and gave us coffee and fresh baked bread. Her name was Rebecca and she also showed us the farm and all of the animals they had in the back. We visited for a while and she was so nice. She told us that we should have stayed at the farm and that we were welcome back anytime. Wow, how generous.
Next, we headed from Durango to Mazatlan. The road through mountains is crazy. It is about the curviest road in Mexico, but the views are spectacular. Here a few shots from the road.
It was not the safest road either. We saw two semi-trucks nearly hit head on a sharp corner. One had to back up around the corner for the other to pass. I still am not sure how they didn’t crash into each other.
We decided to head back to Mazatlan to meet our friends again, Dr. Wayne and Arline. They helped us to make a little bit of money by taking some time share tours, the time share people will actually pay you cash to just listen to the spiel. They had done a few before and showed us the ropes. We had fun hanging out with them again and they helped us out a lot. We spent one night walking around the old part of Mazatlan which is much more interesting and charming than the hotel area.
We are slowly making our way north. Both of us are not quite ready to go back to the cold, but inevitably we have to. Maybe one more week and then we will head across the border. As usual, we don’t really have a plan.
Hope all is well up north,
Lyndi
