Jan 28 Day 7
This is to be a full day. At 9am we took a walking tour of downtown Alamos with a little bit of history of the town and area as well as visiting some of the restored mansions. Alamos was founded in 1500’s. Houses have Spanish Colonial design and most have been refurbished. Silver was discovered here and at the height of the boom the population was 55,000. When the mines closed up, the town nearly became a ghost town. Then snowbirds from the US started coming to this area and buying up the old mansions to refurbish. Most of the street we walked on have beautiful cobble stone streets. Many of the properties cover an entire block and most all are just one story. We were able to tour one inside and a couple in the court yard. Most have an outer wall and an inner wall with a court yard called a portico between. They are really quite nice. Most have trees and flowers growing in the inner portico. Some have divided the home and live in a part of it and make apartments in the rest. A few movie stars owned properties here at one time or another. Other homes originally were a full block long but now have been divided into apartments. We spoke with an owner of one of the very nice mansions. He said his house had no wood products in it except the cabinet doors. Even the doors and windows are metal and metal frames. Some years ago the city of Alamos was declared a National Monument by the U.N. So now all refurbishing has to follow the original Spanish Colonial design. The Catholic church is very large and very old. It was built in 1796 at a cost of $51 pesos or in today’s US dollar approximately $5.10. It is run by the Catholic Mission. It is in the center of town and is the center of activity in Alamos. Located next to the church in most towns is a plaza where many of the towns activities are held. When the church was built tunnels were constructed under the street to the houses so that the people could escape to the church if the city was attacked. We did mucho walking and were very tired by the time we arrived back to our RV a little before 1pm. We ate lunch and rested a while before taking a bus tour. The first stop was to the high hill overlooking the town of Alamos. It is an awesome site to see those very long narrow homes built around the church and town square and with the very narrow streets. It looks very different than other cities. For more information and pictures of this neat little town go to: http://alamosmexico.com/ Next we went into the country to the Aduana village artisans and pottery makers. The pottery makers were not there because they were selling their wares at the Festival in Alamos. We were able to go into a small store where artisans sold many different products they made. We also went to an area close by that makes bricks. There procedure is very primitive and it was interesting to learn how these were made and have been made for more than 5 generations by the same families. They have the most meager existence that you or we could imagine and seem to be very happy. We also drove to another village that used to have a smelter for the silver mines in close proximity. The smelter is still standing and we could tell it was a fairly big operation. We walked by some more mansions that have been refurbished by snowbirds. We watched a lady make tortillas from scratch. She cooked them on a farm implement disc for a griddle which was sitting on an open fire. We were able to sample them and they were quite tasty. This family has no kitchen, no bathroom and a very small and meager home. She cooks on a wood fire outside and they eat in the backyard behind their house. They had a roof over the kitchen area made of branches and thatch. They have an outhouse and attached to it is another stall that seemed to be a shower. We were not sure if they had lights or running water. We ate a very good meal at a 5 star restaurant out here in this little village where there are almost no conveniences as we know them (except for this restaurant and the refurbished mansions of the Snowbirds who live here in the winter). The culture here in the Alamos area is very interesting and quite sad to see people in such poverty with no way out however most all seemed quite happy. This day was an “eye opening” experience. We feel very fortunate and are thankful to God for such an easy life. Oh yes, one other thing. The RV park we are staying in has a beautiful parrot who speaks to us. I do understand Hola which is pronounced oh – la and is Spanish for hello. We love it! They also have some very colorful chicken and roosters who woke us up early this morning. We did so much enjoy our time here in Alamos and if you are every in Mexico be sure to visit Alamos.