To the Sea, to the Sea, to the Beautiful Sea



All of the food on this trip was quite good, and the breakfast in El Fuerte stands out among all the other breakfasts.  The sheer beauty of the hotel added to the ambiance, but from the selection to the service, it was just outstanding.  I also had never seen so many hummingbirds in my life.  They had a fresh tortilla station set up on the patio, above the courtyard.  A woman there was pressing and grilling fresh corn tortillas with your choice of filling.  Behind her were four or five hummingbird feeders, and they were -- literally -- swarming with hummingbirds.  At first I thought they were bees, there were so many of them.  It was mesmerizing to watch.

Our Room

Zorro by Daylight

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Breakfast Room

During breakfast, Raul joined us and told us the story of what all had transpired since we arrived.  As I wrote earlier, our bus had been swapped out by the bus company, which was based in Tucson.  Well, after we arrived at the hotel the night before, and all our luggage was unloaded, Arturo went to move the bus and it wouldn't start.  Long story somewhat short, a mechanic came at around 3:00am and concluded that the transmission needed to be fixed.  Another mechanic came around 5:00am and determined that the bus could be driven if it basically was started in gear (like jump starting an old manual car; get moving a little and then fire the engine).  The problem was that once started, if he had to stop or slow down too much, the bus would stall out again.  Yet another new bus had been ordered, and evidently it was already on its way even before the first mechanic came.  Problem is, it had to come all the way from Tucson.  Arturo agreed to "give it a go" and have us leave as planned.  He was going to try and get us to our lunch place, and then we'd rendezvous with the replacement bus.  Raul and Arturo were obviously very tired after their ordeal.

Another of the Hotel's Courtyards

Hotel

Hotel

After breakfast, we explored the remainder of the immense hotel structure, and each area had it's own unique style and design.  The weather was perfect, too, and no bugs in sight -- even though we had sprayed up after leaving the room.  We loaded onto the bus as scheduled, but it wouldn't start.  After two failed attempts, Arturo was able to get rolling enough to gun the engine, and it came to life.  It was a bit hairy, though, as he had to maneuver his way out of the city and try not to stop at any time.  He rolled through a few intersections and at some crossroads we watched collectively to make sure no traffic was coming from the other way.  In addition, the Mexicans use speedbumps, even on their highways, to slow traffic down as you drive through little towns.  We were warned that he would not slow down as much as usual for the bumps, so as to not stall the bus.  It was quite the ordeal.  To compound things, we had to make two mandatory stops, and we knew the bus would stop.  One was an agricultural check as we crossed from Sinaloa into Sinora.  I had never heard of an interstate check on fruits and vegetables, but several people on the bus said California, among other states, do the same thing in the States.  We had to get rid of any fruit we had, which included some amazing apples we'd brought with us from the Tarahumarans.  They grow apples in the canyon valley from seeds originally brought from the Spanish explorers.  They are an entirely different variety of apple, and have not been altered through any genetic engineering.  They are the first and only apples I've ever eaten that were red all the way through.  Anyway, we had to get rid of all those.

Our destination for the day was the town of San Carlos, on the eastern shores of the Sea of Cortez.  We started the day in El Fuerte, which is the capital of the state of Sinaloa, and we'd cross into the state of Sonora shortly before lunch.  The areas all the way from El Fuerte north were agricultural, and we saw all kinds of crops being grown.  There is adequate water and huge underground aquifers, and they've done an excellent job at irrigating huge swaths of land, alongside the desert.  You'd see a couple miles of cacti, and then miles of beans being grown; and on and on. 

For lunch we drove to the colonial town of Alamos, which boasts some of the best preserved colonial architecture in Mexico.  It used to sit on the main road from El Fuerte north, but when the interstate was built, that road was consumed by the desert and Alamos almost got lost in time.  To get to Alamos, however, we had to transit a large town, where we would turn off of the main highway.  That meant that we'd encounter traffic lights.  Arturo did an outstanding job trying to time his arrival at each light, slowing just enough to hopefully maintain momentum and keep going when the light changed.  That worked most of the time, but we did stall out a couple times.  We were all relieved when we made it through and were on the very empty secondary road to Alamos.

To avoid having to maneuver the bus ino the center of the small town, which would take some serious negotiation of narrow streets at slow speeds, Raul called ahead and made arrangements for us to be met just outside town by a man who runs a little train shuttle around the town.  He met us at a place where Arturo could turn around, and we all boarded the train trolley, which provided us a little tour as we rode down to our lunch place, which was in an old convent.  Margaritas awaited us in the beautiful building, which now also serves as a small hotel.  Lunch was one of, if not the best meal we had.  So fresh and tasty.  After lunch, we had time on foot to explore the small town, and we encountered different Indians -- I can't remember the tribe.  We also came across a large outdoor market with rows and rows of chickens in cages.  There were so many.  We later learned that the mayor of Alamos had designated the day for the Indian community, who came down to meet with him.  In exchange, they were all given two live chickens to take home.

The "Trolley" That Took Us Downtown

Cobble-stone Street of Alamos

Another Welcome Margarita

Former Convent Where We Had Lunch

On our Post-Lunch Walk

Alamos Church

Town Square

Free Chickens for All!

One of the Many Large Villas Around Town With Incredible Gardens

Once underway again, we knew we had to navigate the big town again, with its traffic lights, but we took heart when we learned that the new bus was waiting for us.  We made it through and the other bus followed us for about an hour, until we stopped for a bathroom break.  While here, we transferred to the new bus.  We then followed the old bus the remainder of the way, from behind, should he break down.  All went well, and that bus peeled off near to San Carlos, on its way to a repair facility.

The sun was getting low when we first glimpsed the Sea of Cortez.  San Carlos is a small city, and our hotel was on a beautiful bay on the north side.  The hotel was gorgeous, and once again had us wondering why Raul had cautioned us about the quality of the hotels when we were in Tucson.  Our room was enormous and directly overlooked the marina.

View From Our Room Upon Arrival

To help "make up" for the bus fiasco, Raul had arranged for us all to get multiple drink coupons from the hotel, and he arranged a happy hour and Mariachi band to play for us before our dinner.  It was a very nice way to relax and unwind, and the restaurant/bar was directly on the water, with incredible views of the sunset.  It was one of my most favorite nights of the trip.

Happy Hour and Mariachi

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