Fri, Apr 5, Walking around Álamos

  

Cooler day, high in the 70s.  We’re the only guests here today, although a baby shower is happening this afternoon and all sorts of balloons, Mylar streamers,  table and chairs are arriving.  Mucho alegre later!

We were served breakfast of cheese omelets covered with salsa, tortillas, avocados and papaya, accompanied by Alicia, the hotel cat, who has taken to Bob!

Bob and I visited  Álamos 5 or 6 times in the ‘80s, driving from Santa Barbara,  once flying down in Mark’s plane with he and Mary, and once via a comercial flight to Ciudad Obregón with Ray and Curry, but we hadn’t been here in over thirty years and were a little concerned that it might well have changed.   It certainly has grown somewhat, but happily it still has the sleepy charm, crumbling walls covered in Bougainvillea, church bells tolling.    It is one of Mexico’s famous  “Pueblos Mágicos” and dates back to the 1680s.   There is a lot of tourism and quite a few gringos that live here, bringing money in and enabling the town to  maintain many of the classic old mansions left over from the silver mining days.

 

Hil and I walked down the steep steps into town and walked around the Plaza de Armas, the central square surrounding the church.  We wandered through little shops and down side streets, finally finding La Casa de Los Tesoros, the old convent/hotel where we have always stayed before.  Sadly it  is closed, but it IS for sale….if only we were 20 years younger!!  

Hil and I found the gelatoria connected to Carisma, last night’s restaurant, and had a couple of scoops of coconut and pistachio for me and coconut and mango for Hilary.  We climbed the hill back to Casa Serena Vista and relaxed – a rare event for us on vacation!

 

The baby shower was starting up at 5, so we took off for dinner at Santiago’s, the restaurant at  Hacienda de Los Santos, a massive hotel complex that covers six acres of land, was developed over 24 years, and consisting of four private homes and a sugar mill, hidden from the street behind walls. 

 We had great margaritas, surprise tiny chili rellanos, crème de cilantro soup, little loaves of bread, and were pretty full by then, but our mains of chicken with poblano salsa, pasta with shrimp, and fish cooked in paper finished us off!   We have to learn to order less, as the portions are huge!  We even finished with a “Chocolate Explosion” as we couldn’t resist the name which turned out to be chocolate cheesecake .

We rolled our way up the hill just as the baby shower was coming to an end and collapsed into bed.