Tuesday morning the upholster came by to bring the cover for Willie's hood - for when he is being towed. Here it looks strange but it is just laying on the hood. When it use it will fit tight and be tied down.
His old blankie is the lining, nice and smooth.
He also brought the mirror covers for the RV. Need them to keep the birds from pecking at the mirrors and pooping all over them. I've already written about the windshield wiper covers and hitch cover. Every thing was done for 1600 Pesos or approximately US$ 85.
After he left we gathered up our brood - John and Shirley and Doug and Pamela and headed for the little town of La Noria. It is about 25 miles northeast of Mazatlan.
La Noria was founded in 1565 as a mining outpost. In fact there are still three active mines in the area. However the town is now known for its leather workers who produce saddles, sandals, belts and machete sheaths.
The road out there has been repaved within the last couple years so it is a pleasant drive. As always we passed someone with a machete trimming the weeds along the road. The growth is really high this year due to all the rains over the summer.
The arch honors the leather workers of the town. It is now designated as a Pueblo Artesanal.
Since we were here in the spring several of the buildings have been repainted and the aqueduct is working again.
It is only a small portion of an aqueduct - don't know if there was ever a real one here or not - but this one is now working with water being pumped up and flowing down into a small pool. Again the little museum on the corner wasn't open. Some day I hope to catch it open.
Looking into our friend Roberto's leather shop. He makes mostly saddles - can see a couple between Bill and the older man leaning on the wall - also makes belts.
He is working on pieces for a saddle.
Here is Roberto putting John's name on the belt he bought. He is stamping the letters on it. He uses metal letters and hold them down with a metal dowel then pounds the dowel with a hammer type instrument.
A sewing machine for stitching the saddles. He does not make the sandals hanging there.
Just a look at some of the buildings outside on the corner. See the tope made of half metal balls. Slows you down.
This building is just a shell, there is no roof and the walls inside are covered with vines. The sidewalks are tile squares.
Walking up the street to another leather shop. A memorial to a man who worked here the last 50 years of his life. He lived to be 100.
The son carries on his fathers work. Here he is working on a couple of pairs of custom sandals.
The father working on tiny machete sheaths.
He is cutting soles for sandals with a big press and metal sole mold.
The different size molds.
Leaving town. One side of the street.
The other side of the street.
Oops guess we won't be leaving for a while.
He goes where ever he wants to go.
For more about La Noria click here. We have been here many time. That particular blog we went to the sandal factory too.
After leaving La Noria we stopped at the Los Osuna tequila distillery. It is a family owned agave distillery. The Osuna family started growing Weber blue agave plants and in 1876 they began making 100% blue agave liquor.
To get to the distillery we had to drive through the Weber Blue Agave fields, the plant used to make tequila. The agave plant takes between 7 to 8 years before they are ready to be harvested.
Just one of the huge trees on the grounds.
This is the building where the tequila is bottled and readied for sale
The brand new shredding machine. To see the old one at work click on the link to the blog below.
We were here once when they were shredding the pinas - the bulb of the tequila plant - to get the juice out. I posted a blog with videos you can check it out by clicking here. It was pretty interesting to watch.
From there we continued on to Puertas de Canoas to see the dancing horses and go to the candy shop. Will write about it later. This morning we are going into Centro to get some cinnamon rolls.
