Our day starts with an expanded trip briefing and Mexican
Bingo. I know I will knock the beans all over the place before I can claim a
prize, so I marked up my card in pen and saved the beans for our next pot of chili.
Then we need to fill and treat our fresh water tank, as well
as buy some drinking water from the little watering hole in the hotel. This is
our first experience of the process, but it goes smoothly. A young woman is
selling embroidered clothing in the dusty parking area. I get a pair of cool
white Capri pants, which should come in useful later on this trip. None of the
shirts fits Felix’s gorilla length arms, so he does not get anything.
At 1 pm we carpool into town to meet our walking tour guide,
Emiliano, for a two hour stroll around the classier parts of town. Emiliano is
witty and informative, but it is sometimes disconcerting to watch him talking
while his voice comes from a speaker carried by Ken somewhere behind us.
Alamos
is celebrating the Alfonso Ortiz Tirado festival, which seems to a 10 day
classical music event, with associated crowds, decorative carriages, food
vendors and the like. Emiliano describes the towns silver mining history, the
profits from which funded the proliferation of mansions, the church and other
fine buildings in the main square. It’s a good tour; my only disappointment is
that we never see a stop light with a pedestrian crossing. Driving in
yesterday, I had noticed while waiting at stop lights, that the walking man
icon actually walks, and then speeds up to a run as the walk time left goes to
zero before the lights changes.
Dinner is at La Casa Aduana, a restaurant in La Aduana, a
small former mining town. We carpool, giving me a chance to study the local
plant life as a passenger in the back seat. The huge cactus here, which are
often taller than the trees, are senita and cardon, but I don’t know which is
which. We are now too far south for saguaro and organ pipe cactus. I spot a
large vulture which I am pretty sure is a caracara.
The restaurant building is the former customs house dating
back more than 350 years, and the proprietor is Sam Beardsley, a US expatriate
who entertains us with local silver mining history and anecdotes. He is focused
on mining and the unfortunate miners, and provides an interesting counterpoint
to the more politically correct Emiliano who described what was done with the
extensive wealth produced from the mines. We had seen the huge brick chimney
above town, which seems to be the only visible relic of the mines.
Interestingly, there are no mine tailings, unlike at Green Valley in Arizona,
where we started our Adventure. There, massive piles stretch for miles to the
west of town.
Dinner is pretty good, and we get to chat with Lynda and
Jack, 5th wheelers from Canada. They have done other Adventures and
we have a good time listening to their experiences.
 |
| Felix and Rose |
Batopilas is at the bottom of the Copper Canyon. After a seven hour drive (on a road even I cannot describe) everyone was tired, but eager to continue our adventure. Dinner was great. 
On our last night we were treated with musicians. A GREAT time. I wish I could share all my pictures. I wish you could see the beautiful silver town with such a rich history. A good decision to be here. 
