During the heyday
of westerns, films showed cowboys riding through
the Great Sonoran Desert from Arizona to what
is now the State of Sonora in Mexico. The desert
is still there and so are the cowboys.
Sonora is Mexico’s wild
west. In some ways, it reflects the Old Mexico
of the by-gone days of yesteryear. In others,
it reflects the new Mexico–the Americanized
Mexico of Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, Pizza
Hut and Burger King.
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Beginning
in Nogales on the Arizona border with the
U.S., I decided to make a trek into an area
of Mexico that’s often left off of
the main tourist beat. The main roads through
the State are well-marked and maintained.
Unsuccessful early Spanish
attempts to settle what’s now the
state of Sonora left the area nearly invisible
until the 17th and early 18th Centuries.
But the discovery of gold in Alamos brought
a steady stream of settlers from the south,
and by 1824 the former province of Sonora
y Sinaloa had become the State of Occidente.
Eventually, the Mexican government divided
Occidente into the States of Sonora and
Sinaloa. |
The Road South
As I drove south on Mexico Route 15, I saw signs
for some of missions founded by Jesuit missionaries,
most of which stand near the border with Arizona.
The missions encouraged the growth of haciendas,
which became productive units and the social organization
of the Sonoran countryside. During the 1880s,
railroads helped spawn growth and by the 1920s,
the Sierra had become the most prosperous region
of Sonora due to the boom in mining, cattle and
agriculture.
The road to Hermosillo, the state
capital, runs through the heart of the Sonoran
Desert, more than two-thirds of which lies in
Mexico. A young desert, it’s less than 10,000
years old. But it’s one of the most complex,
since subtropical deserts, such as this one, tend
to have more plant species. Occasionally, I passed
a cattle loading station, since Sonora is known
for its fine beef, but not much else.
Tall Palo Verde “trees”
dotted the landscape along with plants with names
like creasote and Indigo bushes and mormon tea,
and all forms of cacti–pencil cholla, barrel,
Christmas and prickly pear cactus, as well as
velvet mesquite. After a nearly four hours of
desert, I arrived in Hermosillo.
Hermosillo
Hermosillo, Sonora’s capital, is a clean,
well-planned town carved out of the rugged desert
terrain. It’s set amidst sweeping plains
of golden grasses and green-tufted hills with
taller, serrated peaks rising abruptly in the
background. This bustling city is the only town
in Mexico in which all water is purified before
it’s sent to homes.
Though the Spanish tried to impose
a settlement called Santisima Trinidad del Pitic
on the existing indigenous settlement called Pitic
in 1700, confrontations with the Pima and Seri
Indians forced them to wait nearly a century until
they considered the area safe for habitation.
In 1828, the city’s name was changed to
Hermosillo in honor of a general from Jalisco
who was a hero in the war for independence from
Spain.
A pleasant mix of modern Mexico
and old Sonora, Hermosillo today is a common stopover
for North American visitors, like myself, heading
down the coast.
At its heart lies Plaza Zaragoza,
a spacious plaza, built in 1865, featuring a lofty,
Florentine-style kiosk built in the early 1900s.
At either end of the plaza are the Palacio de
Gobierno and Catedral de Asuncion.
Originally constructed in the
neoclassic style in 1859 using Yaqui Indian labor,
the Palacio de Gobierno is one of the most impressive
government buildings in Northern Mexico. In 1881,
Gov. Don Carlos Rodriguez had it rebuilt to serve
as an institute of fine arts, but he was forced
to leave office before his term ended. The next
governor converted it into the Palacio de Gobierno
in 1884. Unfortunately, it was almost completely
destroyed in 1948 by fire.
The twin-towered cathedral with
its striking white, tiered facade stands opposite
the Palacio at the other end of the plaza. The
original adobe chapel on this site, completed
in 1778, had decayed so much by 1877 that 800
local women petitioned the Catholic diocese to
have it replaced. The current neoclassical building,
constructed in 1908, had a single bell tower.
The south tower was added in 1912. Between the
two is a huge cupola, with tiered columns, niches,
and arches, giving the effect of an elaborate
wedding cake.
I thoroughly enjoyed exploring
the Museo de Sonora, a 19th-century stone building
that once served as a state prison from 1907 to
1979. In 1985 the city converted it into a museum
with exhibits on Sonora’s history, geology,
natural history and anthropology.
About two dozen maquiladoras,
assembly plants, call Hermosillo home. A well-trained
workforce assembles everything from Ford cars
to Barbie dolls in clean, ultramodern facilities
set in fancifully designed industrial parks. But
though industry has moved in, Hermosillo is still
an agricultural center for wheat, cotton, soy,
grapes and oranges.
After overnighting, I continued
driving south towards Guaymas on Route 15 along
a modern four-lane highway for about an hour and
a half to the seaside resort of San Carlos.
Bahia San Carlos
The names San Carlos, Bahia San Carlos, and San
Carlos Bay, all refer to an area about seven miles
northwest of Guaymas which includes Playa San
Francisco, a long stretch of stony beach paralleling
the coastal highway, the yacht harbor at Bahia
San Carlos formed by two rocky peninsulas that
jut into the Sea of Cortez, and the curving, sandy
beach of Playa los Algodones on Bahia de Sonora.
Backed by the 2,000-foot Mount Tekakawi, the area
is one of the most scenic along the coasts of
Northern Mexico.
Mostly American retirees live
in settlements that dot the cactus covered hills
above the brilliant turquoise Bahia San Carlos.
Prime real estate is available for sale and there
are motels, hotels, RV Parks, condominiums and
private home rentals to fit every group and budget.
Prices start at $45/night or $450/month. While
the resort has 2,000 year-round residents, the
population swells as high as 6,000 during the
peak tourist season.
The community hosts an 18-hole
championship golf course, tennis courts, a bowling
alley and numerous gift shops and galleries for
shopping and browsing. For the boater, two marinas
with 700 boat slips offer paved launch ramps,
dry storage facilities, complete marine repair
and maintenance services, fuel docks and reasonable
rates for slip rental. San Carlos boasts numerous
restaurants featuring seafood, Sonoran beef, Mexican
dishes and American cuisine.
San Carlos offers one of the
finest sailing venues in the Sea of Cortez. Magnificent
mountain vistas, secluded coves and bays for anchoring
out and deep water combined with complete marina
services and storm safe anchorages make it a sailing
paradise.
With more than 800 varieties
of maritime species San Carlos ranks second in
the world for sport fishing. The summer is best
for exotic big game fish like marlin, sailfish,
dorado (mahi-mahi) and tuna. From late fall into
spring, there’s excellent bottom fishing
for red snapper, sea trout, yellowtail, and sea
bass in and around the many islands.
Diving is one of the most popular
passions of visitors to San Carlos. Crystal clear
and constantly calm waters, plus two artificial
reefs, a sunken ferry and several smaller wrecks
make San Carlos an ideal place to learn and visit
repeatedly.
As I sit on my balcony at the
San Carlos Plaza, I watch a pelican as it skims
across the still morning water. The sky glows
lavender and pink. Suddenly, a small flock of
cormorants appears, floating in unison on the
surface of the water, disappearing to fish and
again reappearing, repeating the process over
and over. The warm air hugs the coast of the Bahia
San Carlos where desert meets the sea. As the
sun reaches ever higher, it shines strong, reflecting
off still waters. Perhaps, I’ll head over
to Playa Algodones, or “Cotton Beach,”
as it’s known by the snowbirds, because
of its fine white sand. Perhaps not.
After a couple of days soaking
up the sun in San Carlos, I head down the autopista
(Route 15) south of Guaymas towards Ciudad Obregon.
Stately Saguaros appear once again. The landscape,
covered with low scrub, mesquite trees and a few
cacti, rolls flat to the horizon. Cattle and horses
graze randomly along the road. These are the Plains
of Sonora.
Yaqui Country
I drive through Yaqui country. Over 50,000 of
them live in seven towns with names like Becum,
Bacum and Belim. Ciudad Obregon lies at the entrance
to the Yaqui Valley, a fertile farming region
where man makes the desert bloom through drip
irrigation.
Along the way, I stop to visit
Tres Marias, a big-game ranch. Here five or six
people can stay in the cozy rancho and hunt eight
species of animals, including red and white-tailed
deer and antelope, which are raised for hunting,
Texas Dall Sheep, Wapiti elk, and pheasant, as
well as mountain sheep, which roam over open ranges.
All for $125 per day, including room, board, transfers,
and beverages. I found out this is a big industry
in Sonora.
Leaving the big-game ranch, I
follow the mountains past orange groves and mesquite
into the wide open spaces before the turn-off
to Alamos. I arrive about five hours later in
the late afternoon. Cowboys on horseback jockey
for position with cars and 4x4s in the town’s
narrow, cobblestoned streets. There’s a
quaint peacefulness here that seems to be missing
in Hermosillo and San Carlos. Maybe it’s
the Old Mexico atmosphere of thick adobe walls
and a clanging church bell.
Alamos
Spanish conquistador Coronado visited this Sonoran
colonial town set in the foothills of the Sierra
Madre Occidental in 1531 but settlement didn’t
occur until silver was discovered in 1663. It
was originally named ‘Real de los Frailes”
(Mining camp of the friars), referring to two
nearby peaks that resemble monks.
At its peak, Alamos was the wealthiest
town in Sonora–miners extracted over $500
million worth of silver from nearby mines over
200 years--and attracted immigrants from all over
the Pacific, including a number of Chinese and
Japanese, who founded a silk factory and were
expelled in 1916 for having too much economic
power.
The town prospered between 1750
and 1880. A series of rebellions by Yaqui mine
laborers, followed by the 1910-20 revolution,
brought all mining to a halt by the 1920s–the
town quickly declined.
Today, Alamos has about 6,000
residents, 250 of whom are expatriate North Americans
who have restored the charming Sonoran-style casas
wrapped around interior courtyards in the center
of town. But Alamos has managed to hold onto a
traditional feel partially because of, rather
than in spite of, the gringo presence.
I found the expat group in Alamos
different from their San Carlos counterparts.
Although most gringo homeowners reside only in
winter, many take the time to learn Spanish and
support the town’s cultural events.
I decided to go for a walk before
dinner. Homeowners sweep the streets of Alamos’
cleaner than anywhere else in Mexico. Declared
a National Historic Monument by the Mexican government,
it has no billboards and no neon. Every sign or
exterior renovation, in fact, must be approved
as stylistically compatible before being displayed.
Though the entire town can be seen on foot in
less than two hours, I decided to hold off on
a more in-depth exploration until the following
day.
But for now, hunger drove me
to Las Palmeras, a cozy restaurant overlooking
the Plaza de Armas. I sat outdoors under the portico
and watched life on the plaza while I slowly savered
a bowl of molcajete stew, a mixture of beef, onions,
cheese, and green pepper boiled in a pot–a
Sonoran specialty.
The following morning I began my tour of Alamos
at the Plaza de Armas, a wide-open square crowned
by an ornate, lacy wrought iron gazebo surrounded
by an extensive rose garden rimmed with royal
palms. Old houses, since converted into inns and
restaurants, line its perimeter. At the far end
stands La Parroquia de la Purisima Concepcion,
a large stone church completed in 1786 after the
Yaqui destroyed the adobe original in a 1772 uprising.
At the opposite end is the compact Museo Costumbrista
de Sonora, a small museum containing historic
exhibits on Alamos mining, including a room plastered
to look like a mine interior.
Adjacent to it stands Plaza Alameda
a lovely square shaded by alamos (cottonwood)
trees. The traditional evening promenade usually
takes place here.
The City of Alamos is over three
hundred and seventy years old and one of the best
preserved. In the mid seventeen hundreds, King
Carlos III of Spain sent a surveyor general to
map out the city streets. Mansions were built
by prospering silver barons.
I found the many restored homes
to be simple, imposing, block-like, single-story
structures with grand entryways and tall, iron-grilled
windows–at least from the outside. The most
elaborate of them feature portales, sheltered
walkways featuring Doric columns, topped with
Roman arches. However, behind the facades, the
houses follow a U-shaped or L-shaped plan around
flower bedecked central courtyards. Since all
of these houses are private residences, the only
way to view them is to purchase an $8 ticket for
the weekly House and Garden tours given each Saturday
morning.
After soaking up the Old Mexico
atmosphere Alamos, I headed over to Ciudad Obregon
to drop my rental car and fly home.
About the Author:
Bob Brooke, owner of Bob Brooke Communications,
is a professional writer, who specializes in writing
about Mexico. To read more of his work, visit
his personal Web site (http://www.bobbrooke.com)
or his specialized Web site TheRealMexico.com
(http://www.therealmexico.com). |
