NOW IN CULIACAN



Men of a certain age wear the HAT.



 As we have traveled south it has become warmer and warmer.  I think I left us heading to Hermisillo where we stayed for one night.  Headed out for Guaymas.  Along the way the scenery is much the same as it has been for hundreds of miles - desert and mountains - sometimes very beautiful but .... now we are into more smoke and smog.  Since the landscape is generally the same I will note some things that I saw which are a little different than what we usually see along the highway.

• parakeets in cages for sale at toll stops
• bicyclists on highways
• cattle and goats munching on the median with men on horses (cowboys) guarding so we won't run over them
• people wearing surgical facemasks (are they sick or do they not want my germs or is it the air?)
• man selling eggs with a trick egg where a chick came out
• old men in the median gathering grass or hay
• large farm machines on the highway
• jacaranda trees blooming purple on the mountain sides
• crop dusting planes

So lots of different ways of doing things. 
On we went to Cuidad Obregon a modern manufacturing busy city.  More smog.  Agriculture fields go on for miles and miles growing maize, corn, strawberries and sugar cane.  In the parts that are dry (most) they have some irregation. 
We passed thru Navojoa and went to Alamos, a very small town in the mountains which is supposed to have a large population of anglos but we were the only ones in town that day.  Some beautiful restored homes and some new condos but mainly a nice very Mexican town with the narrow streets.  By the way, the first man we talked to in Spanish was the shoe shine guy who spoke English.  Of course he spent some time in the US.  By this time, it is about 84 degrees but the locals are really cold and wearing coats and hats.
Entered the state of Sinola which must be like the Emperial Valley in California.  So much growing and a long growing season.  We spent the night in Los Mochis and I would recommend the Hotel Plaza Inn. 
Today we made it a short drive from Los Mochis to Culiacan.  Along the way more sugar cane and farms so large we couldn't see the end of the planting.  Then, of course, there were the plastic farms growing along the road side.  Mexicans are very dependent on plastic bags so I guess that is the reason they are blooming everywhere. 
That's all for now.