Boy, the time and the days fly by. People have been wondering what on earth we do all day, every day.
First, Garry goes walking almost every morning for 2 to 3 Miles. During his walks he has met many people and now will frequently have a cup of coffee with a group of men at a small cafe by the marina. That gives me all morning long to be be lazy.
This being our 3rd year here we have learned another more about the town. For example, every Monday night is Silent Movie Night at the Captains Club restaurant, with Omar the piano player providing the music. Tuesday morning are Rotary at the golf course. Garry went once and almost joined! Wednesday’s there are lots of choices for the evening. Next door has good food and Mark Mulligan singing. But we could go to the San Carlos Yacht Club and for 150 pesos have burger and movie night. A couple weeks ago they showed Dunkirk. Or we could go to a new restaurant that does 2 for 1 burger and margarita night. On Fridays you can sign up for a kayak adventure out of town a ways. I did it once and it was lots of fun. $500 pesos for kayak rental and lunch. Not a bad deal. On Saturdays you can go to the Saturday market by the local thrift store. I bought grapefruit and squeezed them for delicious juice that went nicely with vodka.
We have met Mike and Carol, a nice couple from Bellingham, who are staying right by us and one day we hired a boat and the 4 of us went fishing and sightseeing. No fish that day but Mike and Carol have been wintering here for year so we learned lots about the history of the area, the neighborhoods, the best kayaking and diving areas….lots and lots of good stuff.
Garry seems to want a boat down here so he is actively looking but is thinking probably more like next year since we will only be in San Carlos a little longer. It is pretty funny though because he has people calling him all the time with boats to look at. Jack, Craig, Omar, Danny, Roberto…Are just a few of those who call him about boats.
We are currently in the town of Álamos which is about 3 1/2 hours south east of San Carlos. There is an annual international music festival here every January for 9 days so we came for 3 days. The town was founded in the late 1700s heavily influenced by Spain. It was a wealthy silver mining town until the silver dwindled. Many of the original beautiful haciendas fell into ruin until after WWII when Americans, Canadians and some Mexicans started restoring the haciendas. A 4000 ft airstrip was built and many of the home owners fly in on their private jets after clearing customs in the city of Obregon a short hop away.
We are staying in the Hacienda de los Santa’s Resort and Spa. It is owned by the Swickard family from the U.S. we have met the owner and also his daughter who is the general manager. Over the past 20 years they have restored 5 colonial mansions and connected them with bridges and walkways. It is fabulous here! It is warm during the day but really cool at night because we are at a higher altitude in the Sierra Madre mountains. If we ever come back I will know to bring warmer clothes for the nights.
The music festival is interesting to say the least. We attended last nights performances at the Municipal Palace featuring a tenor and a pianist. It was nice but also entertaining in that the tenor sang all German songs but they showed on a screen the lyrics in Spanish. If people didn’t like exactly where their chair was they just moved it elsewhere. Every night after the 8:00 performances in the Palace there is a mariachi band waiting outside. You can follow it as they wander the town streets, along with an elderly man and his donkey that has a pack carrying wine if you want to sample some during your walk.
Tonight in the town plaza there is a free performance by the Sonoran Philharmonic orchestra. Over the 9 days there is everything from Indie folk rock to opera to classical guitarists to swing and to hip hop and rock. Some of it lasts until the wee small hours. We pretty much are done by 10 or so but can hear lots of it in our room. Most is free but even the performances that are not, the fee is small… less than $10 per person.
I just realized I haven’t talked about the Rotary Cow Plop we went to one Sunday. I will do that later because I am heading to the Indie folk rock performance.
Stay tuned!