Click on a photo to enlarge it.
On Monday, we chatted for about 4 hours to Larry and Shirley who are staying at the campground for 5 months. They are missionaries from Canada and
are helping to build an orphanage near Navajoa (about 40 miles away) along with Bob and Annette who are English but now live in Canada. Bob and
Annette were also staying at the campground for 5 months.
On Tuesday, we walked into town and after doing some shopping we found a rental shop with DVDs. So we rented "The Manchurian Candidate" and then
had our first cinema evening on the computer in Winnie. It is a very good film with Denzel Washington and Merryl Streep who were both excellent.
Great entertainment for only $1.
On Wednesday, we wandered around the back streets of Álamos to take a look at some of the restored colonial buildings and then rented another DVD -
"The Forgotten" with Julianne Moore. We had "forgotten" that we had already seen it!!! But it's a film you can watch again.
On Thursday, Helen opened the first day of her Galaxy chocolate advent calendar that she had managed to find in San Diego at a store that sold
English goods! Then we walked up a very steep rocky path that is obviously a waterfall in the rainy season, to get up to the lookout for great
views over Álamos.
We decided to take the road to get back down into the town and then watched a man climbing up the tall palms in the square to wrap christmas lights
around them for the up-coming festival. It was a lot of work because the palm trees where so tall and there were a lot of them!
Back in Winnie we watched another DVD - this time it was "Fahrenheit 9-11". It was quite disturbing but also funny in places. We found out that
Bush spends 42% of his time on holiday! Maybe that shouldn't surprise us! But it was also disturbing to find out how strong the ties are between
the Bush family and the Bin Ladens!
On Friday, we went into town again and met Debbie (also staying at the campground) at the local bakery. We had to wait for the bread rolls to be
baked and Debbie persuaded us to buy a number of different cakes which she was raving about! Of course we ate them when we got back to Winnie!
Later we went over to chat to Debbie and Dewey and pored over our maps to get a lot of good tips about the coast that we will be travelling along
when we head south. They both know lots of people and places in Mexico and we might meet up with them later on in January or February.
Our last film was "Out of Time" - another excellent Denzel Washington performance.
On Saturday, we did some tidying up and some hand washing which we hung out to dry before walking back into town to return our DVD. We didn't get
another one as we thought 4 films in a row was enough for now!!
At 6pm we got a lift into town with Debbie and Dewey in an old VW volkswagen that they had borrowed from the campground owner. They dropped us off
in town and then we walked along the dark back streets to find a small restaurant that advertised a live female singer performing Mexican folk music.
The live music turned out to be a young girl playing guitar and singing songs we didn't recognize. Unfortunately she was not very good. But we found
a table and ordered BBQ chicken. It turned out to be slices of bread and butter with cold chicken and cubes of cheese sprinkled on top. Certainly
not what we had expected!!
As we were eating, Helen could suddenly smell what was distinctly the smell of a mens toilet!! Then Kirsten told her it was someone on the next
table who had ordered fish!!!
So it wasn't really a very successful evening especially when we were given less change back when we paid! But all was not lost! Debbie and Dewey
joined us and we sat chatting whilst the girl on the guitar repeated the songs she played at the start and still made the same mistakes!!
When we'd finished our drinks, Dewey took us all on a guided tour around the town in the Beetle. He drove around one of the squares three times
because he couldn't decide whether he wanted a hot dog or an ice cream!! In the end he didn't have anything and we just drove back to the campground!
Then we were invited to have a look at their RV which is 28 feet long and very spacious inside. They even have a washing machine! We ended up
chatting for hours and we didn't go back to Winnie until after midnight!
On Sunday, we finished the books we were reading and paid the owner for the extra days we had spent there. At 6pm we walked into town as it was
the beginning of a one week festival. We watched a lot of children on the rides that had been set up in the square - miniature versions of theme
park rides and only for small kids. But they all seemed to enjoy it.
We sat in the square and bought a piece of chocolate cake to eat whilst we did a spot of people watching. Everyone seemed to have dressed up for
the occasion and a lot of the girls were wearing very short skirts and high heels - not something you see very often in Mexico. The lads, of
course, were as scruffy as ever!! The youth of today!!
After waiting 90 minutes the opening ceremony finally began. Unfortunately we were treated to very long introductions of numerous people on the
stage who had obviously helped organise the festival. Then we had "Miss World" with about 8 young girls and the winner was announced.
Next came traditional dancers wearing sandals with large wooden souls doing a kind of variation on River Dance, banging their heels and feet onto
the stage. They were dressed in white, with the ladies wearing white dresses that were embroidered in colourful silks.
We didn't stay long though as we'd had a long wait. We walked home and could hear the music back at the campground which is a mile away!!
