Postcard from Mata Ortiz- March 7, 2015

We loved Alamos,  enough to look into the possibility of renting a casita some winter.  Seems to be doable and affordable, and that’s as far as we got. 
Monday we set out for the Sierra Madre Occidental.  It’s now Friday afternoon, and what a week it has been.  We are currently in the small town of Mata Ortiz (south of Casas Grandes, Chihuahua), staying at a small posada, with just five guest rooms.  $64 a night, including three meals!
We pulled into town just after dark, and were guided here by a gentleman who heard me making inquiries of the clueless liqor store clerk.  “Sigueme,” he said, then guided us through the dark streets, and hooked us up with Lallo, the owner.  Just in time for enchiladas.
From Alamos, we drove back through Navojoa and Ciudad Obregon, then headed north towards San Nicolas and highway 16.   It was a paved road, but a bad paved road.  100 miles (5 hours) of continuous washtub-sized potholes, recent landslides, steep mountain grades, and rain. We reached Highway 16 at dusk, and broke our rules by driving the final hour to Yecora in the dark.  The van’s wimpy headlights were not an asset.
It was raining when we checked into our less-than-basic hotel and raining when we left. The highlight of our visit to Yecora was an amazing bowl of albondigas soup at a little restaurant barely heated by wood-burning stove.  From Yecora we drove over the crest of the sierras to Basaseachic.  Despite the steady rain, the occasional views were fantastic.
Basaseachic was worth the drive.  Although this is normally the dry season for the falls, the rain made for a spectacular display.  We got soaked (by rain, not the falls) at the first viewpoint, then retreated a half mile to Rancho San Lorenzo where we set up camp for the night.  We hunkered down, and despite freezing temperatures and 2+ inches of rain,  had a good afternoon and night.
In the morning, we took advantage of a brief break in the storm, and walked down to two viewpoints.  The canyon was particularly beautiful due to pour-overs and little waterfalls everywhere we looked. The big waterfall was huge, with for a brief moment, a double rainbow.  As we hiked back up the well-constructed trail, it began to sleet.  A brief cafecita with rancho caretaker Eliasar, and we were on our way down the Chihuahua side of the sierras, then north to the logging town of Madera. 
This was a beautiful drive through high ranchland that looks a lot like Yavapai County.  After a chilly night in a Madera hotel room with a tiny propane heater, we headed to Cuaranta Casas, one of many ruins in the canyons around Madera and Casas Grandes.  As we understand it (ask us more tomorrow, after we visit the museum at Paquime), the people who occupied these caves and Paquime are closely tied with the Mogollon and Anasazi cultures.  Although they are now well-protected (visitors must be accompanied by a guide), the caves are terribly looted, making it hard for archaeologists to get the data they need.
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The supposedly two-hour drive Cuaranta Casas to Mata Ortiz took us four.  This is a village of potters who combine ancient and modern designs with beautiful results.  It seems everyone is a potter, and you can’t walk down the street or even out your door without being invited into someone’s home to view their pots.  As we are not in the market for pots, this feels a bit awkward to us.  So far we have been too busy to accept the invitations.  Tomorrow we will visit some potters, making it clear we are only looking, before leaving for Paquime and Casas Grandes Viejo.

Today we drove an hour and a half to Cueva de la Olla, a cave with dwellings and a huge bowl-like granary. This is something we have never seen before.

It’s time for Toby’s walk, and we’ve been told there is cell phone reception on the hill.  Enjoy the photos.
Love, Toni

Postcard from Alamos- March 1, 2015

Mary and I are off again, once again in Mexico, with Toby and the van. We left Prescott February 21, and expect to arrive home on the 24th.  Our planned route is Tucson, San Carlos, Alamos, Yecora, Basaseachic, Madera, Casas Grandes, Banamichi, Caborca, Gonzaga Bay, San Felipe, home. 
So far, so wonderful.  This comes to you from Alamos, where we have been since Thursday.  We leave Monday, heading up into the Sierra Madre Occidental just as a storm blows in.  Per Weather Underground, we’ll get plenty of rain (maybe even snow!) no matter we find ourselves.  So more lodging, less camping, and we’ll be wearing all those just-in-case warm things.
In Tucson, we had a fun weekend visit with Hal and Liz Kingslein, friends from our recent trip to Vietnam. Monday we crossed the border at Nogales. After acquiring visas and a vehicle importation permit at Kilometer 21, we headed south to San Carlos, and set up “camp” in the carport of Bill and Katie Kluchko’s casita.
Highlights of San Carlos were the views,  Napule canyon, the Estero El Soldado, and the great food and conversation served up by our hosts.
Thursday morning we drove through Ciudad Obregon and Navajoa (home of the Martin factory that made Mary’s backpacker guitar!) to Alamos, an old town in the foothills of the Sierra Madre.  From the 1700’s through the early 1900’s, the Alamos area was one of the richest silver mining districts in the world, and was for some time, the capital of Sonora.  After the mining ended, the town shrank, and the old colonial mansions fell into disrepair.  These lovely old buildings are now mostly restored and owned by wealthy Americans.
We are staying in a little casita at a place called El Pedregal.  Our hosts David and Jennifer McKay lead birding trips all over Mexico. If you’re interested, check out Solipaso on the web.
In Alamos, we have enjoyed relaxing at El Pedregal, walking the cobblestone streets, morning birding outings (one guided), taking in the weekly Home & Garden Tour, and driving back roads with skimpy directions. This morning’s search was for the sewage ponds (agua negra), generally a great place to spot birds. 
When the ponds weren’t where they should  have been, all the ranch families hurrying to mass understood my questions. I didn’t catch the finer nuances of their very helpful answers. I got clues like arroyo, huerta,  and finca, but didn’t put them together right.  Kind of like the Sunday puzzle.  After three conversations, and three turnarounds, we found the ponds.  This always happens when I’m a bit lost  in Mexico, and is for me, one of the enjoyable and memorable parts of most trips.
That’s it for now.  Although we’ve had great WiFi so far, I’m guessing we won’t have it again until next week, when we reach La Posada del Rio in Banamichi.  Until then, we’ll be in the Sierra Madre, on both the Sonora and Chihuahua sides, watching for birds and topas, swerving around potholes, and trying to stay dry.
Love, Toni
Photos (if you’ve been following us on Facebook, you’ve already seen most of these):
Liz, Mary, Hal, Tina, Stacey
Napule Canyon
Roseate Spoonbills
Katie and Mary
Toby
Bill and his boys
White Ibis
Casita at El Pedregal
Rufous-bellied Chachalacas
Female Elegant Trogan
Violet-crowned Hummingbird
18th century Alamos church
Streak-backed Oriole
Looking for agua negra
Amapa

Postcard from Sai Gon- January 8, 2015

It’s 5 p.m.Thursday in Sai Gon.  Tomorrow we leave the hotel at 8:30 a.m.. 27 hours later, we’ll be home. Because of the 14-hour time difference, it will still be Friday. Long day.
We will have spent three nights in Viet Nam’s largest city. Take away the millions of motor bikes, the tropical climate and the relaxed atmosphere, and Sai Gon could almost be any big international city. 
Almost. Guessing Sai Gon would still feel pretty exotic if we hadn’t already been in Viet Nam for over two weeks.
Although we saw the mandatory sites in our first few hours here- the cathedral, the post office, the opera house, the Continental Hotel, the War Remnants Museum, we spent two full days on trips out of Sai Gon. 
Yesterday we dipped into the Mekong Delta and learned a bit about the life of the people there. Visits to family workshops taught us how to make a different kind of rice paper, how to make Vietnamese fish sauce, and how to make something very like Rice Krispie Treats, including popping the rice in very hot sand.  We spent some time on a branch of the Mekong River, which starts in Tibet, and purchased fruit from the floating markets. On the way down we stopped at a type of cafe that offers a hammock to go with your weet iced coffee. These are called Ca Phe Vong. 
Today we visited the Cu Chi area, where we visited the tunnels at Ben Duoc and later had lunch with two former Viet Cong and the oldest man (91) in the village. The Viet Cong had an extensive multi-hundred kilometer network of tunnels. The tunnels we visited were used to stage and execute the 1968 Tet offensive, and at that time, sheltered 10,000 troops. The map in one of the photos is from an underground meeting room, and is the actual map used to plan the action.  Most everybody went through a short section of the highest level of tunnel, and a few of us duck-walked through a tunnel at the lowest level.
The main message the vets wanted to get across was that the war was over and they bore no animosity to the American people, including soldiers who fought in Cu Chi.  This message has been pretty consistent from north to south, and is reinforced by the way we are greeted wherever we go. People smile, wave, ask to have their photos taken with us.  It feels genuine.
This has been a pretty amazing trip, and we still have a lot to digest. For us, the best experiences are always people-to-people, and that’s where OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) shines. We enjoyed a surprising number of home visits, with people from different classes, and with different histories. Plus there were always completely unplanned, unscripted interactions with folks we met along the way. This level of interaction is something we could not have easily created for ourselves. 
If you plan to visit, allow time. Although Viet Nam looks small on the map, travel moves at the speed of a 100cc motor bike in traffic.  Thanks for travelling with us. 
Love, Toni 

A bit more from Da Lat- January 6, 2015

Da Lat is a popular summer retreat from the heat of Saigon, and, even for new construction, the architectural style is French colonial villa. Yesterday afternoon we took a short train ride from the art deco train station to the over-the-top Minh Phuoc Pagoda, which includes a dragon constructed from 10,000 beer bottles and an enormous bronze bell which can be rung to take your wish to the Buddha. We sent ours for the family of Lisa Trevor, our beloved sister in law, who will be buried today.

Postcard from Da Lat- January 5, 2015

Da Lat City is in the Central Highlands, at an elevation of 5,000 feet. It is the fruit, vegetable and flower capital of Viet Nam, and the only place where strawberries and artichokes are grown. The area is also the source of most of Viet Nam’s wine and coffee. FYI, Viet Nam is the world’s #2 coffee exporter.
Tomorrow we leave the hotel at 6:30 a.m. for our flight to Saigon, so this will be brief. Today’s big outing was an agricultural tour of the Da Lat area. Stops included a flower greenhouse (there must be thousands of acres of greenhouses here), a coffee farm where we sampled weasel coffee, perhaps the most expensive coffee in the world (look it up!), and a silk factory, where we saw the process from worm to final product. The highlight was a tractor ride  to  a dusty K’ho Chil village. Look up the Montagnards, and their pre- and post-1975 history. That’s it for tonight.
Love, Toni

Postcard from Nha Trang- January 3, 2015

Think Las Vegas meets the beach, and you have Nha Trang, a glitzy city in a gorgeous setting. One big difference. Most of the foreign tourists are Russians. Nha Trang and Da Lat, our next stop, are also Viet Nam’s top honeymoon destinations. Interesting, and two nights are plenty for me.

Today we visited Xom Gio Village for what OAT calls the “Day in the Life” experience.  Since 2009, Grand Circle Foundation has been helping support this small community.  They have built homes for four of the poorest families, built community toilets accessible to the whole community, and recently helped electrify the dark lanes. OAT brings groups here to experience daily life in rural Viet Nam. 
Daily life started with shopping at a bustling local market between Nha Trang and Xom Gio. Hank divided us into four teams and gave each team 30,000 dong (about $1.50) and two items to purchase. The trick was we didn’t know what the items were. We just knew how to pronounce them. The food was to be used to prepare our home-hosted lunch in Xom Gio. This exercise was surprisingly fun. 
After considerable interaction with customers and vendors, we discovered our two items were tomatoes and lotus seeds.  You would be amazed how many tomatoes your can buy for $1. Four or five pounds at least! The teams got seven out of eight items right. Turns out radish can sound similar to cauliflower.
We moved on to the village, where we were greeted by the local chief. Think small town mayor. The main “industry” of this village is bamboo basket making. We watched one family group making cradles, another baskets and the mats used to dry the rice paper, a third making bamboo chopsticks. 
It’s all hard work, and on the positive side, it can all this be stopped and re-started at will, like when a kid needs attention, and since everyone knows how to do it, family members with jobs away from the village can pitch in when they’re home.
We ended up at the village chief’s house, and the ingredients we had purchased were turned into a multi-course meal served alfresco, accompanied by the creaking of the bamboo trees surrounding us. 
After lunch, the chief, his wife and a cousin sat with us to tell us their stories, answer our questions and ask theirs.
The chief was a university student in the 60’s. After graduation, he was drafted by the South Vietnamese army. As we travel south, we have come to realize what should have been obvious. Just as in the U.S., no matter what their side, the draft was the reason men of our generation served as soldiers. After 1975, the losers didn’t have an easy time of it. Our host was sent to reeducation camp, which he explained, was more like school than prison. School to forget old ways and learn new ways of thinking. After six months, he was allowed to return to his village.
Despite his background, the local Communist Party eventually invited him to stand for election as chief. He has now served four three-year terms. When asked what the biggest issue the village faced, he and his wife both said, “Trash!” As in littering. The village has a trash service, but people need to bring their trash to a central location. Many don’t bother.
Their questions for us: In the U.S., who takes care of the elderly? Is it the husband or wife who manages the money? What happens if you have a big farm and want to sell it?  Here agricultural land, redistributed by the Communists after 1975, cannot be sold. It must remain in agricultural use.
We purchased a couple of small baskets for $2 each, and 10 sets of chopsticks for $1.
After we got back, Mary and I walked along the beach to the local brewery, and later joined half our group for barbecue at a local hangout.  You choose your meats- we had squid, prawns, tuna and beef- then grill them yourself over a small hibachi.
This was such a great day, made better because I’m finally feeling myself again. 
Tomorrow we’re off to the mile-high city of Da Lat.
Love, Toni
P.S. No photos tonight. Despite many attempts from various locations, something in this hotel’s WiFi does not want my camera to communicate with my phone. Hoping for better luck in Da Lat.

Post Card from Hoi An- January 1, 2015

Happy New Year from Hoi An, where New Years Eve was every bit as big as in the U.S. Can’t imagine Tet, the upcoming lunar New Year.
Hoi An was a trading center, a seaport from the 16th-19th centuries, with Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese influences. It’s is the #2 tourism destination on Viet Nam (#1 is Ha Long Bay) and the old center is a living UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Today we left the hotel at 7 a.m. to drive to My Son. This Hindu temple complex was built be the Cham people in the 4th-13th centuries. In 1969 My Son was carpet-bombed, and largely destroyed. 
Arrived in time to have the place literally to ourselves, and left as it was getting crowded. Mary’s best birding day so far- drongos, barbets and bulbuls.
Not writing much as a cold or flu has laid me low, and a really sore throat makes it hard to sleep.  
Hoping the “Cures Sore Throat and Calms Cough” tea I drank at lunch will help.
A few tidbits-
– Yesterday afternoon we visited the small and simple rural home of elderly friends of Hank’s . At the top of the large altar, a statue of Ho Chi Minh.  Of course, says Hank.  They’re both members of the Communist Party.
– Ever wonder why we spell “Vietnam” and they spell “Viet Nam?” Most Vietnamese words are very short.  The longest word in the language has only seven letters.  Seems when Western journalists started filing dispatches from the wars, they were still using the telegraph, and putting Ha and Noi or Viet and Nam together saved a space!
– On the drive to My Son, we passed many wedding ceremonies. The timing of these is set by shamans, and today must be an auspicious day.  As we passed one, Hank asked the driver to pull over, and we piled out to congratulate the bride and groom.  They and the family took it in stride.
Tomorrow we leave Hoi An, and fly to the beach town of Nha Trang.
Love, Toni

Postcard from Hue- December 29, 2014

Today we end our brief stay in Hue (pronounced with an upward Valley-girl inflection Hue?) and drive to Hoi An.

On the tourist front, yesterday included a boat ride up the Perfume River to a 17th century pagoda, Thien Mu, a visit to the immense Forbidden City (Hue was the imperial capital until 1945), lunch at another pagoda where Buddhist nuns served us a delicious vegan meal, then sat down for Q&A about their lives, and finally a visit to an orphanage (another pagoda) where more nuns care for almost 200 orphans, ranging in age from 1 month to late 20’s.
The orphanage visit was surprisingly fun. The nuns and children clearly see themselves as one huge family, with older kids helping the younger kids,  all in a state of what felt like happy bedlam with structure. After one unhappy placement, the nuns abandoned the idea of adoption.  Instead the kids stay as long as they like, often into adulthood, and the nuns are their proud parents. The orphanage receives ongoing support from the Grand Circle Foundation, ranging from new dormitories to washers and dryers to a computer lab.
At some point this afternoon we will sit down for a round table discussion of “controversial topics,” i.e. issues Hank is less comfortable discussing in public. Hard to say just what these will be, as Hank has been very open about what he sees as the #1 challenge in Viet Nam- corruption, which Hank attributes to the one-party system, followed closely by territorial disputes with China, Viet Nam’s once and future enemy.
I have succumbed to a cold making its way through our group, probably helped in its progress by the damp, cool conditions we’ve encountered so far.   
Hope to send photos later today.
Love, Toni