sonora-curios

Sonora Curiosities:

-all the border is fenced, in some places more gracefully than others (alternating 1m/0.5m height brown metal poles vs. solid metal fence and barbed wire on top at 3 meters high)

-on mexican highway-2 in el gran desierto de Altar near the US border, atop of an isolated hill (volcanic crater) accessible via an unpaved maintenance road for a radio antenna, we meet with two members of the Guzman maffia of the Sinaloa cartel

-very casual about being drug traffickers; after we have been around for a long while taking pics they appear walking from behind some boulders and retreat; we only hear them at first but we approach them practicing the “best defense is an offense” tactic; we introduce ourselves and shake hands and they tell us their names (forgotten by now, sorry); they seem unarmed carrying a walkie-talkie to be in touch with the next “patrol” located at the top of a mountain visible from our position; they have been stationed on this hill for the last two months, day and night; a pick-up truck brings them food everyday; they say: somos de la mafia de guzman; no hacemos nada feo; si estamos aqui es porque lo necesitamos; estan bajo nuestra proteccion; nuestros compadres nos han informado ya que ayer estuvieron en las misiones haciendo fotos; alli si que esta feo; la migra maltrata a los que encuentra con drogas incluso les rompen costillas; nosotros sabemos donde estan los agujeros con agua en el desierto para poder cruzar la linea; es un placer poder platicar con alguien; vayanse con cuidado a no resbalar; no son periodistas verdad?; seguid tirando fotos

-in the end, they removed their headscarves for a shot together we even discuss when the desert flowers will finally blossom this winter; they encourage us to visit sinaloa for its natural beauty and remind us that last week it snowed in the mountains there; on our way out the food pick up truck appears and waves at us...

-We think that when drugs will be legal, these guys will become businesmen and instead of being on top of a hill they will be behind a computer.

-sunday mass at 8pm in caborca with a full house and plenty of young families; even the churros stores are in synchronicity with the celebration (“no hay churros hasta el final de la misa”, we are told); padrecito’s sermon is delivered while walking the central corridor

-plenty of families in pto. penasco driving to the pier boulevard (malecon) on a pick-up with an ensemble of instruments to play live while kids dance

-many pto. penasco houses with glass cupola to let light in?

-some bizarrely luxurious houses next to run down shacks

-a bit of water from the colorado river trickles south of the border to irrigate fields in s. luis

-a very civilized (no honking, no loud music, registered vendors only) 90 minutes queue to cross the border at S. Luis-Yuma point (except that, at 3pm and under a 75F solid sun, an american pick up truck tries to jump the queue and his fellow americans denounce him to the mexican police that dutily removed him from the line, serve him with a ticket, and escorted him back to the end of the line to the cheers of the rest of us!)

-1240 miles driven in 4 days + 4 lbs gained (2000 km driven = 2 kg gained): ay chihuahua!

-driving in sonora is surprisingly very courteous; they even respect the “pare” sign like in CA

-plenty of dulcerias with orejas de chocolate

-no coffee joints opened in the morning hours, damm!

-la posada, a nice 1927 hotel in pto.penasco ($25 double room). otherwise, this place is a sad but classic example of balearization (perhaps el golfo de sta. clara is a better spot to stop o el desemboque further south)

-the tour guide from caborca informs his compatriots that germans and japanese come all the way to see the colorado crater in el pinacate (?!?)

-el pinacate reserve has a very well kept unpaved road, clean, with informative panels posted along the way and wise only one direction traffic route design (worth the 100 pesos entrance fee)

-some flowers (purple, orange and yellow) but no full blossom yet in the sonoran desert

-a nice but expensive ($40) italian restaurant in pto penasco’s malecon

-la ley is the best supermarket in sonora; la soriana a strong second.

-gasoline @ 10 pesos per liter (1 USD = 12 MXN) with many Pemex stations everywhere

-the mission route is well sign posted but most of the churches are closed even on sunday.

-caborca’s mission has been reconstructed. a well meaning police man tries to dissuade us to move further east.

-pitiquito has a set of peculiar wall frescos in black&white about death painted by natives

-altar’s main plaza is populated by ready to go immigrants and the church displays sobering facts about the illegal border crossing deadly risks (as the policeman said: esta feo)

-atil’s mission is surrounded by a well kept cemetery

-oquitoa’s mission has only the bell tower intact; the rest are adobe walls badly standing

-seric’s mission does not exist (?!?)

-tubutama’s mission has left standing the facade and nothing else

-magdalena de kino is the finest with a beautiful square and father’s kino remains in full display, truly gross!

-s. ignacio de caborica is well kept although the surrounding plaza is not.

-cocospera’s ruins (abandoned after an apache attack) will have to wait for another visit. -tumacacori’s ruins north of the border in arizona will have to wait too.

-very annoying the traffic checkpoints on all routes by either police, army or sanitary authorities

(only in one case we had to step out of the car; they never bother to check the trunk and we had to swear we were not gringos more than hundred times: “habla muy bien el espagnol”)

-visa card mostly UN-accepted in many of the places tried; hard cold cash rules, even dollars

-the chinese restaurants have arrived to caborca town

-could not check the active erg (sand sea) on the sonoyta-pto penasco route (next time)

-highway-2 on the way to become a very fast route connecting sonoyta to san luis once the re-pavement is finished