Trip to San Miguel Comondu and San Jose Comondu
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| Ciudad Insurgentes |
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| Mex 1 Construction |
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| Driving in the ditch while the road is being built. |
We will stay here for three nights and do a one-day trip to San Miguel Comondu and San Jose Comondu.
After San Miguel Comondu and San Jose Comondu we will continue up north to San Juanico on Scorpion Bay and Bahia San Juanico.
Today then, we have a leisurely breakfast and pack some lunch and fill up our water bottles and coffee in our travel mugs. The trailer will stay put at RV Misiones for two nights by itself.
We stop at the first gas station and fill up diesel and ask the gas station attendant how the roads are going north from Ciudad Insurgentes.
He said with a smile, some good, some not so good.... and he was spot on.
Between Villa Ignacio Zaragoza and the turn off at Ej Francisco Villa to go to Comondu we encountered: narrow roads full of dangerous pot holes and wash outs.
We found about five km of new road "Mex 1" and then another five km of trail in a sandy ditch while they are working on the Mex 1.
Apparently the Mex 1 will come through here from San Ignacio straight down rather then going over Santa Rosalia, Mulege and Loreto.
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| Finished Section of Mex 1, North of Ciudad Insurgentes |
It will take some time to get all this done, but when completed it will be great.
We turn off the Mex 1 to the east at Ej. Francisco Villa heading east into the Sierra la Giganta mountains. This road is mostly paved and is in good condition.
As we come up to the foothills, we encounter a good size creek that even has fish in it.
We climb up towards San Miguel Comondu and the scenery is just wonderful. San Miguel Comondu is a sleepy little town in a beautiful oasis.
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| Drive up to San Miguel Comondu and San Jose Comondu. Watch for washouts. |
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| Creek crossing the road |
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| Small Oasis on the way up to San Miguel Comondu and San Jose Comondu. |
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| Incredible scenery |
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| Oasis with palm trees close to San Miguel Comondu and San Jose Comondu. |
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| Ruins in San Miguel de Comondu |
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| A newer small hotel in San Miguel de Comondu |
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| Liz walking the cobble stoned streets in San Miguel de Comondu |
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| A renovated home. |
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| Another ruin. If only these walls could talk! |
Some of the ruins in San Miguel de Comondu are from 1709; and from a Jesuit Mission that is probably from 1750.
Some of the ruins have been incorporated into a later dated church.
We observe old men and women walking and sitting around town. They seem to be enjoying a slow paced lifestyle.
Two young teenagers in tight pants walked by throwing candy wrappers on the sidewalk.
A loud Juke-box is playing Latin music for the benefit of half the town.
On a side street we find a sign indicating a wine cellar. We had to check this out!
A wonderful old man, I think called Mr Morales came out to greet us.
He asked if we wanted to taste his wine? Hello..... do I really need to think about this!!
Inside we went, passing the bedroom into the inner grand room completely open to the garden.
Mr Morales disappeared to his wine cellar and came out with a ¼ bottle of wine.
He gave us a taste in some small plastic cups. It was great, a bit like Port or a Sherry.
Since 100 years they have produced wine up here. Mr Morales said the vineyard is quite far away up in the hills.
He has been producing wine since 1960 under the Shangri-La, Vinto-Tinto Artesanal 100% UVA.
I asked if I could purchase a bottle and he said YES.... made my day.
$130 Pesos later, I now had a wonderful bottle of wine.
We chatted a little in his main living room.
The table was stacked with stuff, the old Singer sewing machine was standing in the corner, and the laundry machine was beside it.
The back wall is open to the beautiful garden with flowers and fruit trees.
One of Mr Morales daughters came for a visit, very nice lady.
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| Shangri-La Winery |
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| Mr Morales pouring some wine. |
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| Anders with his priced bottle of Shangri-La wine. |
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| Mr Morales and Anders in deep discussion about wine. |
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| Anders with his priced bottle of Shangri-La wine. |
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| Drive through the oasis to San Jose de Comondu |
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| Wonderful landscape on the way to San Jose de Comondu |
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| Mision de San Jose de Comondu |
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| Village of San Jose de Comondu |
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| Mision de San Jose de Comondu |
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| Liz in San Jose de Comondu |
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| Inside the Mision de San Jose de Comondu Very special. |
We said good bye as new found friends. Mr Morales, you are a wonderful man.
We found our truck and drove through the palm forest further up into the mountains on a gravel road full of pot holes and rocks.
After about three km we arrived in San Jose Comondu.
Here there are some ruins left and a nice old church.
On the church wall are some old photographs of 1901 showing old colonnades and a bell tower which still existed from the 1750's.
Many inhabitants of this area are still fair skinned descendants of early Spanish pioneers, though by now many are inter-mixed with Mestizos from mainland Mexico.
We were eating our packed lunches in San Jose Comondu and were people watching.
One can not imagine living in some of these homes or running one of these so called businesses.
I think we have to shift paradigm, people are happy, they laugh, they talk, they sell gas out of a 45 gallon drum. If you own a pig, you tie him to the tree...
People are very happy with what they have.
After lunch we returned back to San Miguel Comondu and drove back down the mountain to Ej. Francisco Villa.
What a fantastic day we have had, just love the friendly folks and the wonderful country of Mexico.
From Ej. Francisco Villa we headed north for San Juanico and Scorpion Bay.
More on this in our next blog post.
Here are some more pictures from San Miguel Comondu and San Jose Comondu
Cheers,
Anders and Liz
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