Visiting Guaymas

Yesterday we went into Guaymas with one purpose in mind. Getting the Jeep washed, I don't think I've ever seen him so dirty. We always got him washed in the Walmart parking lot. There were several guys there with portable car washing machines. As we pulled into the lot we saw the three machines lined up in a corner and nobody around them. Hum?  So we parked and Bill asked the lot security where the washer guys were. Come to find out they no longer worked that parking lot because Walmart wanted money from them to use the lot. Nuts. So we went in Walmart and got a couple of things we needed then headed into the center of town. There were always men around the main plaza who washed cars. 
We parked across from the church and were soon approached by a young man with a bucket and rags. I think when he got a closer look at Willie he wished he hadn't come over. But he went to get a couple of buckets full of water from the plaza and we started walking around the area.
A Mass was in progress in the church so we didn't go in. Bill stood and listened for a while.There are soccer fans everywhere. The guy next to Bill is a fan of Messi as are we. Messi plays for Barcelona in Spain. And Saturday Barcelona won - they have not lost in 34 games. They are tied for longest streak ever. 

 Across the street from the church is the plaza. This man was setting up a table to sell hand made jewelry. We stopped to look at it and he and Bill started talking. Surprised?

 The pieces closer to the bottom of the picture have leather chains.The pendants are rocks and semi precious stones. They have silver wire around them. The pieced closer to the top of the picture have more metal worked into the designs. 

 I liked the piece second from the end. It is polished sand stone. 

 Bill bought it for me. The front of it. 

 The back

While waiting for the car to be done we just wandered around the area  - needs some TLC.

 A magnificent old building. The bottom floor is being used, don't know if the upper floor is. I hope it is taken care of it is starting to show it's age. [for anyone who has followed the blog for some time - this is the House of Shells we spent so much time hunting for one year while we were here.]

 Two priests patiently waiting for something. 

 The gazebo in the plaza. Such intricate work on it. Every time we are here I take pictures of it it is so pretty. 

 Across the plaza from the church is this building.l It kind of gives the impression it at one time might have had something to do with the church. Just the shape of it and the interest doorway. 

There is some kind of carving on the two square corner pieces, but it is to worn away to really tell what it was. 

 Interest restoration - it is a doctor's office. Notice the corner pink building.  

 Here it is - It is a museum - or was - on the door is a notice of how much it cost to go inside. Tried to find something about it on line but all I found was a Facebook page from 2012. 

 Another building across the street had this plaque of hands and a notice above the hands. It is about a mutual society for something. 

 The lettering on the door. 

 Just another interesting building. Only one I've ever seen like this in our travels here in Mexico. Wonder when the wooden second floor was added. 

We took a stroll through a parking lot as I saw some murals. The original walls were hand made adobe. 

 Bill cheeking out the walls. Can you read the sign next to him "Just Having Fun"

One of the murals

A closer look at the wall. See all the sea shells that were in the adobe. The little white bits. 

More of the murals - Asian men?

On the opposite wall . Lot of work in this one. 

Then we looked down. The lot at one time was a house. Some of the tile flooring was still there. On a closer look we realized it too was hand made. We have seen this type of tile made in Malpica. The light colored top is poured into a frame, the color or design is added next then the cement. It is pressed and then air dried. 

You can see the distinctive layers here. 

Just another look at the wall. It seems to be melting with time. 

And Willie is now sparkling clean. Bill talking to the guy who washed him. Ended up giving him quite a bit more than he asked for. 

We have been carting around a couple of bags of candy in the car to give to kids when we see them. As we are now on our way home and wouldn't dare give kids candy in the states we wanted to give it away. So Bill gave it to the priests to give to their perish children. 

Back in the car and road around town some more. But that will keep for another day. 

I cannot get over how full Totonaka RV Park is. There are only a couple of spaces empty. And even the town of San Carlos is full of people. Never seen this many people here. Traffic is terrible and every restaurant we see is full. Good for the town.

Almost forgot. We stopped at McDonald's in Guaymas to eat. Bill was hungry. Anyway while sitting there eating I saw a couple come in and they were carrying full coffee cups from another restaurant. Don't see that in the states. Then another group of five came in. They ordered a few things and sat down at a long table. In a few minutes a woman came in to join them. She had a big bag of food from another restaurant. She proceeded to distribute it to the others at the table. Then she sat down to eat. What? A we were leaving Bill went up to talk to them. They said they do that every Sunday. 

Order some things from McDonald's and bring other things from other places. Can you imagine McDonald's in the states allowing that...I think not. 

Oops forgot to mention. My favorite NASCAR driver #18 Kyle Busch who started from 39th ended up 3rd at the end of the race and he now is leading in points. I know it's only two races but...