19 … All of Alamos is a little bit country, a little bit old world…
Mid-morning at a Barrio La Compana store. Parrots can be heard.
Minutes from the central Plaza and Alameda life slows. Here, almost everyone is walking or on a bike. Clothes are being hand-washed and hung out to air dry in the Sonoran sun. Smells of wood- fire cooking dance on a light cooling breeze. This is the life rarely seen on Mexican TV. These are the rural suburbs surrounding southern Spain’s Andalusian design influenced downtown.
Here we are – a ten minute walk from the Colonial Plaza.
This is near the top of the hill on the road leading southeast out of town. Walk a couple of hundred more yards and one can turn left and hike up to the top of El Mirador road. It is a summer morning. Looking at the hillside one can spot a local resident out for their own breakfast.
We have been seen and we see. A peaceful rural tradeoff.
The cool air refreshes the spirit, today’s heat has yet to arrive – it will be here soon. The cloud cover will burn off and the rising sun will begin to cook the earth’s crust. This is a wonderful time to be out and about. During late spring and through the summer it is best to travel when the sun is low.
So you think you can out stare a sheep do you? Give it a try.
All is well on a walk from the Plaza to take in the Mirador’s rewarding 360 degree view. In my mind’s eye the best way to see Alamos is go walking in any direction for an hour. One will always be rewarded. And, one will always find their way back to where they started. Look, or listen, for the Cathedral, it is a compass. Animals wander freely around Alamos. They know where they are. And they know where home is.
A dog at rest near the western edge of the airport runway.
At the other end of town, maybe a twenty minute walk from the plaza, the Cook’s dog rests in their driveway. She recently had four pups who are now struggling to survive. This is her time. This is Alamos, Sonora, Mexico.
Watch-guard goats patrol land surrounding their house
These are goats who do what they do when they want to do it. They patrol and protect. They weed, strip and fertilize. They, like the resting dog, are part of the Cook’s property. All for one, one for all.
The conclusion to a Short History of Alamos, Sonora, Mexico embraces the Sierra Madre.
Here, Bishop Reyes’ Cathedral in the Plaza, a three-tiered belfry, shines gold in morning light. Here, looking east, one’s imagination is stirred by the forbidding beauty of the Sierra Madre Occidentals. Together, they shape the Alamos experience. Video…
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