After gathering up our generous donations from our Paraiso neighbors Steve and I met up with our travel group and group organizers (Conrehabit) at the Office Depot in town. After introductions we loaded the van and started out for the village of Tauitapa. Interesting group: we had a 2 Lawyers, 1 Geologist, 2 IT people, an ex-military, A gentleman who has sailed around the world numerous times in his 38 ft. catamaran, a health care specialist, our driver, trip organizers, and Steve and I.
The first stop was in the colonial town of San Ignacio; it's a beautiful rural Sinaloa town of nearly 5,000 located on the edge of the Los Frailes Range in the Sierra Madre Mountains about 60 miles north of Mazatlan.
San Ignacio was founded by Jesuit Missionaries in the 1600's. We visited the lovely walled Catholic Church on Constitution Square in the heart of town where you can also see views of the giant Christ Sculpture poised majestically on the top of a hill.There is also a monastery at the base of the sculpture, but
we will have to wait for another trip to actually visit it.
We met back up with our group at Taco Richardo just off the town square and had lunch and then were surprised with a tour of a beautiful historic home just off Constitution Square. The ornate beams were fantastic, all made from local wood. We also noted how thick the concrete walls were, probably why the house was so cool inside.
Following the home tour we reloaded the van and headed southeast into the foothills of the Sierra Madres to our final destination, the village of Tacuitapa.
Tacuitapa is home to about 70 people and has been lived in for several hundred years. The name of the village means "cover your tacos" , because the Spanish would raid the local villages for food. Conrehabit (the group we were with) first became involved with the people of Tacuitapa because of the local bramador; the jaguar caller. The jaguars would be called in close and then shot to protect the cattle and goats. Over the past 7 years Conrehabit has worked with the people of Tacuitapa to change their attitudes toward wildlife, especially the jaguar. For the last 4 years no jaguars have been killed around Tacuitapa and several of the villagers have become government sanctioned wildlife rangers working to protect the area (and getting a small salary). Our trip to the village was to serve two purposes; provide income to the village from tourism and a help to build a greater awareness of the unique ecology. According to our group leaders, Bodie & Martha the self esteem and confidence of the people of the village have showed great improvement since they have gotten involved. They are becoming more and more proud of their village and what it and the surrounding areas has to offer. They no longer have garbage in town and have become aware of recycling. I guess that is what it means when they say "One Village at a time".
After arriving in the village we drove directly to a home in the village which has a large veranda and acts as the village community center. We were greeted by a number of the village women, men & children.
The excitement & anticipation of what we brought for them was like the feeling we had as kids on Christmas morning. They waited patiently; the women on the porch, the men outside. We laid out clothes, food, staples (flour, oatmeal, oil, etc), tooth brushes & tooth paste, soap, cosmetics, and dozens of pairs of brand new shoes donated by our next door neighbors, Shawn & Vic.
The process of choosing their items was slow & controlled. Looking over the items, holding them up to each other, and trying on the shoes and clothing for size. I must mention that it was interesting to see that the men remained on the outside of the porch the entire time and just pointed to the items they wanted.
Not sure if they were too proud to come on to the porch or if that is just a universal guy thing. However,the joy you saw in their eyes when they received something was priceless and something I personally will never forget. The children's favorite items seemed to be the tooth brushes, tooth paste, and a brand new pair of shoes.
They held them close and were thrilled with their new treasures.
Once everything had been distributed and bags were full, much to our surprise one of the village woman brought us fresh made pumpkin filled empanadas. Yummy! And a wonderful surprise. Another village woman brought us fresh made cheese to go with our homemade tortillas at dinner.
We then ventured on to the Hacienda where where we would stay overnight, we were not sure what to expect. Much to our surprise we had running water, a bed or a cot, (we of course bee-lined our way to the bed and stacked claim), and indoor and outdoor kitchen, and a very large veranda. After a walk along the river bed the veranda is where we spent the late afternoon and evening swapping stories and getting to know our new found friends, rocking on the leather chairs, sipping on a few adult beverages, and enjoying beef tacos, homemade corn tortillas, and Gorditas de Harina (a sweet warm dessert tortilla).
The evening finished up by watching the night vision motion camera screen for a glimpse of the famous Jaguar. We saw a number of different animals including Mexican Bob Cats. We ventured outside for a little star gazing and then turned in for the night hoping that the serenade of the dozen folks with us would snore in symphony.
The morning came for me personally with minimal sleep but enough to take on the day with excitement. Around 6:00 am we heard this grinding noise outside our bedroom window, not sure what it was, we went to investigate. It was our cook, the Bramedors wife (her husband had passed away recently and she now supports herself by cooking for visitors at the Hacienda), in the outdoor kitchen actually milling and grinding the blue corn for this mornings breakfast.
I proceeded to ask her in my finest hand gestures if she would teach me to make the tortillas, she said "Si" and motioned me over to the grinding stone. I proceeded to grind away by pressing the corn against the stone with this large rectangular stone.
Then taking a small amount of the dough, I put it on a wood tortilla press brought the handle over, pressing the dough out to form this perfectly shaped tortilla. You then peel the dough away and slap it on the steel cooking pan over the wood fire. Sounds easy right? Not so easy, she was very patient with me and after a few failed attempts my friend and I were sharing a taste of my first homemade fresh roasted blue corn tortilla.
Following breakfast the group gathered up and we set off for a hike through the Sierra Madre mountains, starting off following a beautiful river bed with incredible foliage. We were being guided by one of the gentlemen from the village, he would point out things to us along the way, such as wild boar droppings, luckily we didn't see one. Also one of the gentleman that was with us was a Geologist so that was interesting having him point out some different features to us as we moved through the undercover.
Once we crossed the riverbed for the final time we started to climb in elevation and the temperatures started to rise but we had plenty of water and everyone did great. The views of the Sierra Madres Vistas were beautiful and well worth the hike. We ended in the village of San Juan where lunch and Ice cold Cerveza's were waiting for us.
A quick trip back to the Hacienda to pick up our bags and then back to Mazatlan and civilization. We are thankful for blessing we have, the new friendships we have made, and the memories of this trip that we will have for a life time.
We want to thank our neighbors and friends here in Mazatlan for being so generous and helping us with the donations for the Village of Tacuitapa.
Steve and I had an amazing time this year in beautiful Mazatlan and were extremely sad to leave. Great friends, Great food, and Great experiences. We feel very fortunate that we were were able to spend the last 2 1/2 months in sunshine, ocean breezes, cultural activities, and in the company of wonderful people. I am posting pictures of our beach view that we had for the last few months, the pool, and our last sunset view.
We have arrived home safe and sound to a abundance of snow, cool temperatures, a slight glimpse of the sun, but a few home issues due to the harsh winter. No burst pipes, thank goodness, however, one of our Geo-thermal units is not functioning correctly, hot water tank struggling, and the road to our home is almost not drivable due to the number of ruts in the road. However, we are fine and thinking of Spring and moving forward, purchased two kayaks today and ready to hit the water (when the ice thaws) on Oxford Lake. To our Mazatlan friends thanks for a great year and the Door is always open here in Michigan.
