Tis Tuesday morning - our last day in Aticama - supposed to leave tomorrow for Guadalajara - but things can always change. There might be some rain ...Today the sun is bright and the sky is clear and it is already heating up.
Anyhoo - The other morning I took a short walk on the beach - was practically alone only saw an atv and another man walking to work. This is looking south east towards Tepic.
Later that day our friend John took a ride in the ultra light - here he is waiting for the pilot Chip.
And there they go - taking off up the beach. They flew up over the new Autopista to Tepic -
Before they got back the sun started to set. No clouds in the sky but pretty none the less.
On Sunday we went into Aticama to the tiangis [I finally got it spelled right] to buy our coffee. It is held in the Community Center - this little sculpture is out front.
There is a lot of art for sale inside - mostly by local ex-pats who help support the center.
This one I fell in love with - and met the artist - a very nice young woman named Jane. This picture of it doesn't do it justice because it is under glass and the light was reflecting off it. Would love to buy it but didn't. Two reasons - we have run out of wall space at home and it was kind of expensive 6000 Pesos. About US$410
Just some more work there - like the colors here.
Found this interesting - a BIG spider - about four feet across made entirely out of dried plants pieces.
A few other things for sale - always food - cooked and raw.
Bread fresh and smelling delicious. She sold out right away.
Pastries - some of the people milling around. Mostly gringos who live here. They have a very active Gringo community here
The reason we've come here - to get some delicious, grown and processed here coffee.Bill watching, The owner and wife behind sample carafes.
Bill talking to the owner. The rains from last week ruined most of this years coffee crop. We had wanted to go up to where it is processes but there are no beans to process. They all "split" from the rain. What a shame. Here is the link to when we went to watch the process.
We especially like the mocha coffee - when you add milk or cream it almost tastes like hot chocolate. He adds the flavor by coating the beans in a chocolate oil. Here he is doing it by hand in a bowl. Pouring the oil over the beans and shaking the bowl to evenly coat the beans.
Here his wife is grinding them. We bought 10 half kilo bags. Should last for a while. It is also available on line.
The bags they are put in if you are going to use them right away. We got our is sealed heavy paper/foil bags. The name of the company is CaPulin.
The back of the bag with some information about the coffee on it.
On the way to the car we passed this guy - kind of cute.
I really like these trees - the pictures never do them justice - the trunks are bright red. Really pretty.
After dropping the coffee off at home we decided we'd see if we could drive up the new Autopista to check it out. The guard was happy to let us through the gate. Especially after we gave him a 50 Peso gift. About 3 dollars and 50 cents.
The Autopista is in red. Will be about 16/17 miles long. It will cut many miles of twisty curvy narrow road off the trip from Tepic to this area. Already the beach area is adding hotels, restaurants, a wharf and a malecon. [It will have a few curves in it but the ones in the red line are from my shaking hand.]
Just getting on to the road (above pic) It even has shoulders. This part has been done at least three years so the brush is starting to take it back.
In this part they have cemented the cuts through the hills in hopes of preventing landslides. Some cuts just have chicken wire - maybe in preparation for cement and some have retaining walls.
Those are the trees with the red trunks on top.
Just looking out over the view. The trees in front are mangos. Also all the mountains in the back ground are planted with mangos.
A bridge that must go somewhere - Actually there is a small town about in this area. It is supposed to have waterfalls and is in the coffee growing area. Good road - going up hill fast.
Another scenery view - bananas in the foreground, Mangos in the back.
Oh Oh a land slide from the recent rains probably. It took the retaining wall right out.
We drove up it a little over six miles. Lots of construction equipment around here. There is a tunnel in the background and the road continued beyond it - but for how far??? So we turned around here. It is supposed to be completed sometime in March.
Looking at the landslide going down.
Sign saying the road is going down hill is not kidding. Coming up we didn't realize how steep it was. Be nice to use if we come back here.
After getting back down to the beach we went to look at the new malecon by the wharf. Will write about it next.
Hum looks like it might be raining in guadalajara for a few days...
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