Un dia tranquilo.

No photos today.  I stayed close to home for the daytime.  I am not sure why but I just didn't feel like going out.  I took a super long nap in the afternoon and took time to eat some cheese that we got on the ranch yesterday with tortillas.  After a rather boring day, I left the house for my favorite restaurant, Pollo Bollo, for BBQ chicken.  I told myself that I would go there all weekend (they are only open three days a week) but we'll see how I feel tomorrow.

I hit the beach on the river afterwards to visit the hippies.  They are a small group of people living in tents on the edge of the river.  They are all from different places, some in Mexico, one from Spain, and one from Italy.  All of them are very nice, and it seems that only Sanaya (from Italy) knows any English.  With his help, I can understand quite a bit and have a lot of conversation, but plenty of times I found myself completely lost.  They speak a lot of slang, and of course they don't speak slowly for me like my other friends do.  I liked it because I know that when things are hard to understand, my mind is absorbing.

I didn't talk much about yesterday in my last post, so maybe I will explain a little more here.  My friend Brad runs tours for people to visit the ranches and small towns that are in the Cabos Corrientes (kind of like a county).  These are places that tourists usually don't visit and they give you a real taste of how most people in Mexico live (with the exception of those in the large cities).

First we stopped at the Vallarta Botanical Gardens before they opened because they were on our way.  The gardens are amazing and they have a beautiful restaurant and gift shop.  You could easily spend an entire day there just wandering around, swimming in the river, and eating good food.

Next was Tuito, a little town that I am familiar with because Vero took me there once when she needed to visit the town hall.  We ate at a little restaurant that was beautiful and had the best service I have ever had in Mexico.  The food was fantastic and started with a bowl of cheese.  I forget what it was called, but it is a cream, very smooth and subtle.  There was another kind that was like a regular cheese in slices that was stronger and kind of spongy.  They were both fantastic but I prefer the cream.

In Tuito, Brad took us to visit a little hotel where a woman from France has taken her love of design and fashion and created an amazing boutique hotel.  She has a shop where she sells clothing and such, and she has added her touch to each of the three beautiful suites they rent per night.  The rooms are decorated with themes of France and Mexico mixed together.  Each room had a color theme and it's own perfume, a smell to associate with it.  They were beautiful.  There was one in particular that I loved and while I probably won't get back there this trip, I will one day for sure.  It was very cool.  

When we continued, we stopped at Aguas Calientes where there is a great little waterfall we could cool off in.  The other ladies weren't too keen on the cold water but I loved being there.  I could have stayed at that spot all day.

Next up was the ranch, my favorite destination of the day.  There we met Betty, a woman who works very hard on the ranch with her brother and father.  She wore ranch clothes and looked every bit the part.  She had a beautiful smile and loved to joke with Brad about anything and everything.  She laughed easily and it was great to talk with her.  We sat on the porch for awhile just chatting and I got to enjoy a good hammock for a bit.  When I was talking about how hammocks actually make me motion sick if I let them sway and how boats are the worst for me, she explained that sniffing a little gasoline when you feel that way will make all the bad sickness feelings go away.  Who knows if that is true... but I am not keen to try it!

After seeing how they make rope with cow hide (some of the most amazing handmade rope you will ever see), we got to go to Irma's house, a lady who makes cheese and handmade tortillas.  Everyday, she and her daughter work hard to make amazing cheese.  First, they take the curds and squeeze out all the moisture, then they put it into a stone bowl of sorts, where she uses a stone to kind of grind the cheese down, mixing it up.  She does this as she adds salt, continuously pushing the cheese again and again, forward, until it is all mixed and is beginning to hold it's shape.

The moisture/water they squeeze out of the curds is poured into a huge pot on the wood stove where they boil it, and the stuff that comes to the top over time is used to make this cheese called Ricazon (not sure on the spelling, but it is pronounced Ree-cah-sohn).  It is another cream type cheese, smooth and subtle.  They made it dulce (sweet) with sugar, and you spread it inside a tortilla.  It was AMAZING.  If I could buy that stuff back home, I would be SO FAT.  Man I loved it.

The process contines and there are more cheeses they make, and in the end, what is left is stuff they feed to the pigs.  Everything gets used.

I was spoiled with handmade tortillas with cheese, got to taste the cheese they were currently making, and just enjoyed my time there.  Her kitchen was like a little add on to her house.  Imagine if you built a little lean to on the side of your house, with a slanting tin roof and wood slats (like a fence of sorts) for walls.  The floor was dirt.  On one end was the stone/adobe stove with a hole for fire in it and a metal round plate on top for cooking.  There was a sink against the wall where they washed dishes and squeezed out the cheese.  There was a mama cat feeding her almost completely grown kittens, and at one point a hen ran in with three little chicks.  We sat on chairs and laughed and talked while we watched cheese being made in the shadows.  The sun was shining through the gate and in places near the stove, so it was bright enough for work and chat.

When we left the ranch, we made a quick drive through and stop in Chacala where we met one family, and bought sweet breads from a young girl.  She had a full bowl of them and was sent to sell them in town.  Your choice of bread/muffin/cookie for just five pesos... which is about fifty cents.

We also stopped to have a look at how raicilla is made.  Raicilla is the local moonshine, but also the local liquor that does get bottled and sold legally.  It is made from the same plant as tequila, just a different type.  One type of agave plant is green, the other is blue.  One is for tequila and one is for raicilla.  Raicilla is still made the old way.  They fill a huge pit in the ground with coals that they heat.  When they are ready, they lay all the agave leaves in there, cover them with dirt, and let them cook for awhile (can't remember how long).  When they are ready from there, they are put in big tanks with water to ferment.  After a time, this can then be poured into a pot that is above a very hot wood fired stove where the condesation is collected in containers.  It is distilled this way twice and then you have raicilla.  It is the strongest alcohol I have ever had in my life (a long long long time ago, never again, never again!) and most people cannot handle it.  It is like drinking three or four shots all at once.  It burns all the way down, and in about fifteen minutes or so, you are suddenly quite drunk.  If you drink too much of it before it can hit you, you will end up sick.  It creeps up hard and fast.

After that, we headed back to Yelapa, my first time driving all the way in on the road.  The road gets very dangerous at points because it is just one lane and you cannot see around the twisting corners if anyone is coming.  The young people don't have a lot of experience driving and often drink and drive.  Brad says there have been many deaths.  The road is mostly dirt and in places there is water crossing the road.  You need a four wheel drive to get through some places or you would get stuck.  There are hairpin corners like you have never seen (you have to kind of drive around part of it, back up, and drive around the rest of the way) and at times the road just drops off like a big cliff right at the edge, no ditch, no shoulder, no warnings.

The jungle back there is amazing and the bird watching is supposed to be phenomenal.  One day I would love to just walk from Yelapa to Chacala, a four hour hike.  Even walking up the road to Yelapa Tapa (the top of the first mountain where the paragliders launch from) would rock.

And that was my day yesterday on the tour. 

Like I said, no pictures from today or any interesting stories to tell.  Tomorrow, perhaps!