Back in October , Blogger Wayne in Isla Mujeres came up with the idea to help the kids in Ursula Galvan in Veracruz State. This is the community that Blogger John and his wife Anita live. The plan was to knit hats for the kids there, where it gets cold in the winter. I jumped on board, as I enjoy knitting and wanted to give something to these kids, too.
But my son and his wife are expecting a baby at the end of the year and I have been knitting my little fingers to the bone working on projects for their little one…and have not knitted one thing for the kids in Veracruz. I decided I needed a different approach, and I hope it will be ok. Wayne knitted a bunch of hats.Blogger Theresa sewed some wonderful caps out of polar fleece, and a friend of Wayne’s sent some adorable dolls. People donated money through the PayPal link on John’s blog.
One of my passions in life is reading, and I know how important it is to own your own books at an early age. So I went out to the children’s bookstore, Casa Caracol in Mazatlan, and bought a bunch of books for the kids. I’ll be mailing them off tomorrow. I think I got some really interesting books for a variety of ages.
I realized that I hadn’t really said much about Colima in my last post. It is really a wonderful city. Son Adam moved there in 1990 to attand college at Tec de Monterrey. He lived there for about eight years, so of course I visited him frequently and the city feels familiar and friendly to me.
It’s only an hour from the coast at Manzanillo. It has a bustling, urban side, with malls and large boulevards, and recycling bins. It is also an agricultural community, with lots of sugar cane, coconuts and bananas. As we drove, we were next to miles and miles and miles of sugar cane. It’s beautiful right now, taller than a man and bright green. When they get ready to harvest, though, it’s another story. They set the fields on fire and the black soot and strips of burning and burned cane cover everything. All I can say is don’t sit down without looking, don’t wear white, and if you get some on you, blow it off, don’t rub.
Everyone in Colima says the town is the cleanest, most progressive town in Mexico. It could be true, too. It is very clean and well run. One special thing about Colima -- the city of palms -- is that it has wonderful parks. The main park in Centro is absolutely gorgeous. Wrought iron fencing surrounding palms and boxwood and a gorgeous kiosko in the center. And everything is clean, with fresh paint. You can tell they really care in Colima about how their city is perceived. Below is a picture I recently came across from (I think) 1994. Adam is in one of the parks at Christmas-time. The nativity display is in the style of Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo.
There aren’t a lot of gringos in Colima. Some come to study at Tec, and there are a few retirees, but aside from tourists at the hotels, you won’t hear a lot of English. People are friendly.
The weather in Colima is hot and humid in the summer, and moderate the rest of the year. So, I will encourage you to check it out. When you’re there, be sure to go to Comala and Suchitlan. There’s a lot of information on Colima on Sparks-Mexico if you’re interested.
So, finally, we’re back on the road heading back North to Guadalajara. We bought our salt and settled in for a couple hour drive on the cuota. I didn’t take pictures on this stretch of road, but if you’d like to see some, here is a link to Mile by Mile, a map with attached pictures.
The next time we go to Guadalajara I think we’ll take the bus, especially if we stay downtown. It was a crazy, chaotic mess to navigate through. We ended up taking a tunnel when we should have stayed on the surface and it cost us quite a lot of time and we ran through most of our swear words by the time we arrived at Hotel Morelos, a restored historic hotel downtown.
Part of the problem is that they are replacing most of the sidewalks downtown all at once. It is insane. And it is Christmas shopping season, besides! They’ll be beautiful when they’re done, but jeez! Here’s a picture.
We loved the hotel, right down the street from the main cathedral and all the plazas. They have Christmas decorations up across the streets but they weren’t turned on while we were there…maybe they wait for December?
We walked all over downtown that afternoon and evening. Like most Mexican cities, everyone goes to Centro on the weekend. A band was setting up, and people everywhere were carrying parkas and wearing boots and scarves in preparation for evening. Uh-oh, shorts and skirts with sandals were not the right things to bring! (I always pack wrong, I should just pack the opposite of what I think I should)
Below is a picture of the horse and carriage setups waiting to take people off for a ride. They’re waiting next to some of the Christmas flea market booths.
Saturday we got up early and headed to Café Madrid for coffee and pastry, then walked down to the Mercado. It was just waking up, but it was immense! My only purhcase was some great gomitas -- we mostly wandered around amazed at the size and the diverse shops.
Then we grabbed a taxi and headed to the English language bookstore Sandi Books. They have their address on their website but no catalog, so I wanted to see what they had. $2,400 pesos later, we had two bags to shlep back. Here’s what we got:
A few details -- a bird identification guide (319 mx), Ornamental plants & Flowers of Tropical Mexico (332 mx), a Spanish/English parallel text book (217 mx), and a bunch of novels (120-217 mx). These prices are high, but probably the same as buying them from Amazon and paying shipping and duty. We don’t have an English bookstore in Mazatlan so I was happy to pay the price. Sandi’s selection is not fantastic but I enjoyed myself and will go back next time we’re in town. The magazine El Ojo Del Lago is the English monthly magazine from Aijijc/Chapala and is a fun read and free.
We then took a taxi out to Telaquepaque. We were getting hungry and we wanted to eat and then wander some shops. We had a wonderful meal (I had cornbread with a poblano sauce over it) and enjoyed wandering through all the shops. We found a pair of rush seated chairs for our patio that are being shipped here to Mazatlan. I also bought a corn husk wreath for our front door, below.
When we got back to Centro we walked around some more, sat on benches, etc. We ended up back in the bar in our hotel, having a drink and relaxing. Here’s what you see when you look up from the lobby.
The boveda ceiling has blue glass bricks in a pattern at the top that makes for interesting spots of blue here and there.
Later, we headed across the street to a large Christmas fair-type sale. The video below is what Paul bought for us. Pretty cool, huh?
Paul and I and son Phil and his family piled into our rented minivan for the drive to Colima last Thursday. We headed out of town to catch the cuota to Tepic, and before we had a chance to feel like we were on our way, what happened? Another Revolution Day parade – this one in Villa Unión! Sometimes it seems like parades are a daily event here, and since we had watched one in Mazatlán the day before, I guess they are.
We finally hit the cuota and started making good time. We saw a lot of mango trees. I mean a lot!
We saw lots of birds, egrets especially in the marshy areas. There was a lot of beautiful scenery as we drove through Sinaloa. I love the scene below.
The mountains are all around us. The small farms are beautiful.
Near Tepic there is some evidence of volcanic activity. Then you head up into the mountains.
The nearer we get to Tequila, the more agave we see growing. I love the blue tint it gives the hillsides.
Below is the town of Tequila, taken from the view point on the cuota.
Driving through Guadalajara to make the connection with Highway 54 to Colima was an experience I won’t forget! There was some sort of road work and I got caught driving the minivan through the craziest merge I have ever done. I felt proud of myself but it was pretty hairy.
By the time we got to Guadalajara we had been on the road 5 hours, or maybe a little more. We’d packed sandwiches, apples, and soda so we were pretty much able to drive, only stopping for gas.
After Guadalajara, Paul and I were in familiar territory as we’ve driven the road before and so had son Phil. The cuota is an excellent road, and before we knew it we were seeing this familiar sight:
This is the active volcano El Volcán Nevado de Colima. Many times you see smoke coming out of the top, and sometimes its eruptions are very dramatic. (By the way, that’s one of the reasons we decided not to retire to Colima, even though we love the city…coming from the Pacific NW we have had enough earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to last us.)
Shortly we arrived at the city of Colima. We headed to Centro to deliver Phil and his family to their hotel. But Wait! We hit town right as another parade is getting ready to start! And not a little parade, either. We saw dozens of riders on horseback and other queued up participants. Of course Centro was gridlocked and it was now dark so we headed back to our hotel and put them in a cab. What a way to end a pleasant car trip and visit – with a frantic trip through unfamiliar detours – but oh well, it was still fun.
The next day we had breakfast with our other son Adam and his wife Martha. We had just seen them a few weeks before when they came to visit us in Mazatlan, so this was a treat! After breakfast we headed out to Comala to see some artists that make furniture, rustic chairs and chaises similar to the one below. (I forgot to take picture while we were there.)
There is an art cooperative outside of Comala called Sociedad Cooperativa de Artesanía Pueblo Blanco that makes this type of furniture, and also tables. Some of it is painted in the style of Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo – some of which Paul and I like (like the fruit) and some kind of scares us (the faces.) You can buy the furniture painted or not. We’ve been looking for furniture for our almost completed patio and these are really nice.
The cooperative is in this complex of buildings that at one time was a large home. The buildings are wonderful, with exposed vigas and large light fixtures. See the grass growing on the tile roof? The large tree to the right is a parota tree – also known as huanacaxtle. The wood is very hard and termite resistant and I think they are just beautiful. The furniture here is made from parota.
We all needed to hit the mall for a quick shopping trip, but on our way I snapped a picture of the dancing Colima dogs, below.
We said our goodbyes, checked out of our hotel and hit the road for Guadalajara. We stopped at the side of the road just a few miles outside town, though, to stock up on the wonderful sea salt from Colima. Three bags for 25 pesos, if you can believe it.
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