Today we hired a car, and navigated our way out of Mazatlan heading for two recommended towns to visit Concordia (founded in 1565) and Copala (also founded in 1565), these are located in the Sierra Madre foothills, about 60 miles from Mazatlan. We wanted to see the country and on a Sunday see the local people and culture. The drive out I kept pinching myself as I could have been heading out of a town in Zimbabwe in Africa, or Kenya, the road, the people, the animals along the side, and the range of cars, trucks, buses. They are all so similar, and the vegetation is similar, semi dry but green, and palm trees and then low vegetation as we went up into the hills. The temperature dropped so even in the height of the day the sun was not too hot. We arrived in Concordia in the middle of morning mass, so decided to go onto Copala which has about 400 people living there, and looked more inviting as it nestled about half way up on the side of the hills. It is an old mining town for gold and silver (see photo of boys looking down the mine tunnel), and now is a local farming town. The hills rose out of the plain with scattered orchids all around, we turned off the road, and headed to the village and immediately were on cobble stone road, not like Europe, these are river rounded stones, laid in a tight pattern. It made for a rough but solid ride, certainly these roads would work in the rains. We arrived at the town square with the cathedral at one end, and set of small stores around the square. Sitting at the square were the local men talking smoking after mass, on the other side were the ladies and kids also catching up. Out Sean got with a soccer ball and looked for players which he found a couple and he and Alex played with some locals on the street around the square (note there were only 3 cars passing in the 3 hours we were there), but under the towering cathedral above them. Sean is starting to engage with the kids in Spanish and enjoys making new friends, which usually opens up people and allows us to more easily engage with the community.

Lunch as at the mine entrance, which is now a tunnel, as we came back down we dodges cows, donkey’s and trucks, arriving at Concordia to  find it coming live with people milling again around the main square talking some markets and stores opening up, but it was a very lazy atmosphere “how it should be on a Sunday”.

We enjoyed the freedom of the car to see the country side and then do some sites around town, before returning to marina for a swim.

The people of Mexico are just so inviting and nice they all take to the blond boys so we engage very quickly.

On leaving we will see tomorrow with parts, but we may have lost the weather window for 2 to 3 days as the seas maybe too mixed for Isabella which means we may stay on here for a couple of days to let it sort out, but that is cruising (I am getting it!!!)