Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Another day spent in El Quelite

On January 30th last Thursday we took a quick trip to El Quelite for breakfast and walking and to use the drone. The new road to El Quelite is pretty much done. The is a new exit from the free road 15. It is just before the old road. 
 They sure built this fast, it was just started when we got here the middle of November. 
 Some pictures I just have to take because of the colors - no other meaning to them. 
 I think I take this same picture every time we go here - but the colors are always a little different, either new plants, new paint or different sun conditions. 
Parked by the restaurant and were surprised at how many vendors were out on a Thursday. The painted hats have made their way here. A couple of them had the under part of the brims painted. Can just see on on the top right. 
 Lots of clothing for sale too.
 Baskets and purses and blankets among other things 
 Don't remember seeing this before. The hanging flowers look like morning glories - they are a pretty shade of lavender that never comes out on the pictures. .
 Lots of gourds of every size, shape, and color. 
 After ordering I was wandering around. Out the back door by the wash. The burros are now fenced down at the end of the property,
 Looking across the street. Not enough paint? not enough time to finish? Will have to watch it for a while when we come back. 
 Tiny baby chicks under mothers wings. Only a day or so from hatching. 
 They were in a hard place to get good pictures of. 
 The mural leading to the stairs to go up to the top level. 
 The stairs leading up. I went up because the whole time we were eating there was a ruckus between some chickens going on up there. I went to investigate. 
 There were two roosters up there but both flew away as I came closer. Looking down on Bill and Mark still at the table. 
 Look what I found - the chairs are stacked on the tables when this are isn't in use. The egg was just sitting there. I wonder if any one goes around collecting stray eggs.
 Never noticed this before either. 
 Finally a half way decent picture of this junction of walls and sunlight. 
 Lost Bill again, he stopped to talk to a couple of the waitresses. 
 A very short door on a home across the street. The plaque above the door gives the families name. 
 Oh my gosh - here comes a cow running down the street. He was soon followed by a young boy with a rope. 
 Finally caught him when he got on the side walk. But not before he left a very large deposit there. 
 Walked over to the plaza. Just a view looking out under one of the arches of the plaza. Laundry on the roof drying. 
 The gazebo in the plaza. 
Walked around to the back of it and was surprised to find a library under it. 
 Another look the beyond the arches. 
 Walking up the street - now this is a true Tiny House. 
 The home next door is faced with tile. 
There is a home in El Quelite that is called "The House of the Writer." It was owned by an American. Several years ago it was put up for sale due to illness in the family. We inquired about it at that time. The building itself is two rooms - a living room and a bedroom with a bathroom. Outside under an over hang is the kitchen, more living space and the laundry room. On one end of the outdoor area is a chapel like structure. We never looked at it because kitchen outside was not our thing. But I always wonder what it was like. While walking around we passed the home. Bill had stopped to talk to a lady we have known for years. I'm sure I have pictures of her as she sells candy in front of the restaurant. We haven't seen her the last couple of times we were there. Any way we passed her home and Bill stopped to talk to her - she is recovering from a brain aneurysm. Seems to be doing good. 
While he was talking to her Mark and I were standing outside the gate of the writer's home talking. The gate opened and the new owner was wondering who was talking outside her gate. She had heard me mention we had been interested in it at one time. She invited us in to see it. I did not want to be too intrusive so didn't take many pictures of kitchen and living area. But then she old us about the chapel. Come to find out it isn't a chapel, just a wall with big doors and a bell tower. 

She opened the doors to show us the mural she had painted on the wall behind them. 
 We talked to her until Bill finally caught up to us. Very interesting.
And look who we found as we headed back towards the car.  He is securely tied up now. 
 A plaque on one of the homes - with some history of the area.  
More or less translated it says, “This house belonged to Don Saturnino Gonzalez Zatarain a Spaniard.  He opened his house to be used as a stage coach stop. Every third day a coach came through. The coaches were pulled by eight mules. They were driven by one man who  had a helper who carried a shot fun – that man was called Sota. The big coaches carried 12 people, the small coaches carried 8 people.
In January of 1881 the first telegraph in the area was installed in this building.

There was a robber named El Rayo de Sinaloa who was dying so he took over this building to hide. Everyone wanted to kill him. He destroyed the telegraph so no one could find him.  While there he still tried to talk the Osuna brothers into giving him money for the poor people." 

When we got back to the car Bill got the drone out. Pictures and video next blog. 
Weather here today can't decide what it wants to do. Very windy - in fact almost a cold wind. For a few minutes the sky is blue and cloudless and then it is overcast with dark gray clouds. Rain or not? No idea. We do need to go to grocery store some time today though. 
Yesterday we went to town - to get out of house and to go to ATM. The day before we'd gone to two different banks with ATMs and both were out of money??? It was a three day holiday weekend here.

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