18.-31.12.2006: Álamos We only spent 9 nights here last year and enjoyed it so much that we decided we would spend at least two months here this time. We drove to the Acosta trailer park which is a lovely, peaceful little campground where we made a lot of friends last time we were here. Álamos is a wonderful small town where facades of colonial mansions line the narrow cobbled streets, concealing courtyards lush with bougainvillea. It is set in the forested foothills of the Sierra Madre and is a serene town replete with beautifully restored colonial buildings. It is already a National Historic Monument and now it is being made into a National Historic Town which means they are busy burying all the electrical wires and telegraph wires underground. So we had to drive along the very bumpy and dusty Arroyo (river bed) to get to the campground because the streets were blocked off. On our first day, we chatted to Larry and Shirley, our neighbours and friends. This will be their last year here. They have been driving down here for the last 8 years from Nova Scotia, loaded up to bursting with clothes and shoes etc that they give away to the local churches and poor. We went for a stroll in the town and got asked if we would be "film extras". At first we didn't understand what they meant but it was obvious that they were struggling to find people willing to help out. They were shooting a few scenes for a film that will be released onto DVD without going into the cinemas. The setting was one of the sloping cobbled streets during a rain shower. It wasn't raining, so they had a water truck and lots of hoses to make the street and building walls wet! Everything was explained in Spanish. We had to run down the cobbled street as if we were hurrying to escape the rain. We had to remember where we started and what we did, so that we could repeat it. And we did have to repeat it - 25 times!!! There was a countdown from 5, and on 2 we had to start moving. When we got to the bottom of the street we turned the corner and waited for a few seconds and then, one of the women shouted "Otra vez" which means "One more time". "Otra vez" was shouted so many times that we will never forget it! It was great fun and quite exhausting even though we were only there for an hour. There were only two actors - one female and one male - for the scenes they were shooting. The woman had to get soaked from head to toe in water. We were wondering why the man didn't have to get wet seeing as it was supposed to be raining. It was probably a Mexican macho thing!!! So now we are film stars!! The film is called "De Lo Imperdonable" and will come out some time in January 2007 on DVD. So keep your eyes out for it!!! There were at least 15 "extras" used for the shoot and were from all walks of life. We were the only Europeans and there was one American who has lived here for a number of years. Helen asked him if he knew of any one who could teach her how to play the violin. He said that there was only one teacher worth going to, and gave us the name. He didn't know the address but he said we could find it in the Gringo yellow pages for Álamos. We went to the tourist information office to see if we could find the Gringo yellow pages and were given a copy to look through. We found the address and walked up there to meet Andrew and Rosemary. We found them sitting out on loungers in front of their really nice house. They have lived here for 8 years, spending 6 months here and the rest of the year at their home in Montana. They are a really lovely couple and Andrew said he would teach Helen to play the violin and wouldn't charge her for the lessons!!! Perfect! Helen's first lesson was three days later on Friday morning. Kirsten came along to take photos and video. Helen is an absolute beginner so the first lesson was how to hold the violin and the bow. That took 90 minutes during which Helen managed to squeak and squawk so much that it was painful!! But Andrew didn't give up and the lessons were arranged for every Friday. That evening we went carol singing around the town with a group of Americans who live in Álamos part time and Debbie showed off her green and pink wellies! Christmas was almost upon us and our friends Deb and Dewey arrived and we helped them set up their Christmas lights. We spent 3 hours trying to get the bikes off the motor home. It has been a long time since we have taken them off and one of the screws, holding the bikes on the rack, had rusted so badly that we needed help. One thing you will always get on a campground is help from other campers. There were two motor homes from Germany, one of them is a huge, 4 wheel drive, round the world, type of vehicle owned by Ingelore and Rolf, and they had all the tools you will ever need. They have traveled as much as we have. So, finally we managed to get the bikes off. There was a Christmas barbeque at the campground and everybody brought food along. We bought some spare ribs and Kirsten made a potato salad and a pasta salad. There must have been over 30 people there. On Boxing Day, we were invited to Deb and Dewey's for a "left-over" meal along with Mike and Joan who have a fixed camping spot here and come down every year. We didn't have much of the salads left, so Helen made a cheesecake for dessert which went down well. It was a very entertaining evening with lots of laughs. We found out that there is free wireless internet here so we could get online. One of the German couples, Jochen and Edi, have lots of computer software with them and told us about "Skype" which you can use to phone home via the internet. So Kirsten set up an account so that we could both phone home for Christmas. It's a great deal cheaper than using payphones but you spend most of the time saying "Can you hear me?" repeatedly. The connection with England was so bad that Helen gave up and went to use a payphone!! Jochen and Edi also have two dogs - Max and Moritz. They are both really sweet, although Max can also be a little terror! Moritz loves to play ball. He is a large red setter and what he loves most is to get you to chase after him to try and get the ball back. He really does not want to give it back. He doesn't seem to have realised that if he doesn't give the ball back, you can't throw it for him anymore and so there's no game!! Andrew, Helen's violin teacher, was really impressed with Helen... Not because of her musical ability! But because she not only turned up for the lesson, but was on time! (He gives lessons to the local children who are renowned for being late or not turning up at all!) Just before New Year, we had a day of rain and our alcove window leaked. So we will have to find some more silicon the re-seal it. At least it was only for one day. On New Years Eve, we gathered around a camp fire along with the other German campers. There was now a third German couple with a young daughter and another dog. When they went to put their daughter to bed, they came back to the group to announce that there was a strange dog asleep in their camper. We went to investigate and found "Perris", one of the campground's owners dogs, asleep inside. It was quite cold outside and because they had left the door of their camper open so their own dog could get water, Perris had just got out of the cold and made himself comfortable!! Kirsten went inside to shoo Perris back out. But he didn't want to leave! He dug his claws into the carpet and Kirsten ended up dragging him and the carpet outside!!! Perris then skulked off into the bathroom and lay in the shower to keep warm!!! We all did our own countdown to New Year, even though everyone's watches had a slightly different time. We sat chatting, huddled around the fire and finally got to bed at 2am.