People of La Noria

Sunday morning we had unexpected visitors. Roberto and his wife and son came by. We met Roberto Rodriguez 2014 when he was working with a woman running for mayor of Mazatlan. Click here to read about our time visiting small towns with them. (There are two or three bogs about our travels with then.) Roberto mentioned he was going to be in La Noria during the afternoon and did we want to go there. So we went there. Roberto is now the Director of Social Services for the new mayor of Mazatlan.
The guys with the machetes are slowly getting the weeds along the side of the road cut. Sure glad they put the orange cones out to warn oncoming traffic. As they are hard to see until you are right up to them. 

These pink trees are in bloom through out the hills. So pretty. 

Los Osunas Distillery has planted a lot more agaves since spring.

Arriving at La Noria.

This is from the dash cam, from right after we went through the arch until we parked next to the town plaza. 

There were already a lot of people at the tianguis. I wrote about being there a couple of weeks ago too. 

A beauty shop I've never noticed before on one side of the plaza. Fancy decoration. 

 A lot more work has been done on the hotel and restaurant project.  

Bill talking to Jessica, she is the manager of the Los Osunos Tequila Distillery and also the wife of Roberto who owns one of the leather shops here in La Noria. He is asking her when the distillery will be grinding the bulbs of the agave plant. 

Oh my gosh we made the paper. The Mazatlan Post. Click here to see article and picture. It is a long article with lots of info and pictures. Here is the picture from the paper. We are talking to Jessica from the above picture. 

The sign for one of the leather shops in town.

In the place worked

 the last fifty years

 of his life the Master Leather worker 

Alejo Salas Aguirre

1909 -1999 

Good man, good friend

This is the inside of the leather shop. The older man in the white cap is the son of the man mentioned on the plaque. The man in the middle with the glasses is the grandson who now operates the shop. 

 A machine for cutting shapes out of leather. Pull the handle down to make the pressure to cut the leather.  

 One of the shapes it cuts. 

 Back to the tianguis. Watching the children paint little plaster objects.

She is selling dulce de leche - a very sweet pudding like caramel sauce.

 Lots of dulce de leche for sale. It is especially good spread on bread or between layers of cakes.

 Listening to a friend explain something.

Fried dough with cinnamon and sugar. - bunuelos. The bottle has honey in it, she pours a bit into a plastic bag to go with the bunuelo.

 All kinds of things here - smelled good. She also made tortillas.

 She makes the tortillas and cooks them on top of this barrel. The heat from the fire radiated out a good five feet - And the temps by then were in the low 90's. Notice the long sleeve shirt on the other lady. 

 Watching everything that was going on.

 Tending to her table.

 Having lunch.

 The older men sit together and discuss life in general.

 Must be making an important point.

You spend two or three hours in a town like this with people like these and it kind of makes you mad when someone says, "Aren't you afraid to go to Mexico, you might be killed." This folks is real Mexico. Wonderful people going about everyday life. And they are very friendly and helpful and just plain great people. They go out of their way to welcome you to their town.