One of our guides while in Alamos was Stephanie Meyer. Stephanie, a field trained biologist, excellent birder and interpreter of Mexico’s mestizo and indigenous culture hosted a gathering of local friends and our tour group at her home in Alamos.
To help make for a very festive cultural exchange atmosphere,
the Ronstadt Generations played with some of the Estudiantina de Alamos members. (See video below)
As usual, our hands-on guide and party host, Stephen Bernier
(President of South of the Border Tours — above center)
was doing his “Eveready” battery impersonation — he ass constantly on the move.
Good conversation and plenty to drink, of course.Spephanie and her help made sure there was plenty of tasty food. — Images by kenne
Ronstadt Generations — Americano Song Video by kenne
Cardón Cactus in Shades of Blue (Guaymas, Sonora on the Sea of Cortez, January 24, 2016) — Image by kenne
“[…] it is a strange thing that most of the feeling we call religious, most of the mystical outcrying which is one of the most prized and used and desired reactions of our species, is really the understanding and the attempt to say that man is related to the whole thing, related inextricably to all reality, known and unknowable. This is a simple thing to say, but the profound feeling of it made a Jesus, a St. Augustine, a St. Francis, a Roger Bacon, a Charles Darwin, and an Einstein. Each of them in his own tempo and with his own voice discovered and reaffirmed with astonishment the knowledge that all things are one thing and that one thing is all things—plankton, a shimmering phosphorescence on the sea and the spinning planets and an expanding universe, all bound together by the elastic string of time. It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool again.”
Rafael Figueroa Ju, Alamos, Sonora, Mexico — Image by kenne
One afternoon while in Alamos we all met where Tucson’s Ronstadt Generations was staying to listen to a fabulous seventy-five year old harmonica player, Rafael Figueroa Ju. His appearance was a beautiful example of organized spontaneity.
Video of Rafael Figueroa Ju by kenne (January 27, 2016 in Alamos, Sonora, Mexico)
On early morning walks
down the narrow
streets of Alamos I saw the street dog patiently waiting by the door seeming to know her place, her sad eyes piercing my soul occasionally lifting her ears
to my enter thoughts, looking away lost in longing — I wanted to reinvent the moment opening her prison door.
Jim and Nancy Swickard purchased the 300-year-old Hacienda in 1989 and renovation became their obsession. Along with daughter Jamie, her husband Ramon their devotion to details has helped create a truly luxurious hideaway with a genuine flavor of Old Mexico. Without question, Hacienda de los Santos is the crown jewel of Alamos, one of Mexico’s most splendid colonial cities. Once you enter this colonial village, you’ll experience the feeling of a different age, the romanticism of Spain and the sweetness of Old Mexico.
Buffelgrass has taken over most of the left slop of this area in the Esperero Canyon. Even so, Markus has dedicated himself to removing buffelgrass one plant at a time.
Esperero Trail runs from Sabino Canyon, through Rattlesnake and Bird Canyons before entering Esperero Canyon and a series of switchbacks up to a ridge, appropriately called “Cardiac Gap.” This is the second time in a little over a month that we have hiked this trial to the gap. This time, as in January, the weather was beautiful, with an abundance of “Tucson blue” sky, but this time the wildflowers were making an early spring appearance, especially at the higher elevations along the trail.
Even with all the natural beauty of the Santa Catalina Mountains, on this day it was being co-opted by invasive plants species, one of which is buffelgrass. Although much too common to southern Arizona and most of Sonora, it is native to most of Africa, the Middle East, Indonesia and nearby islands, and tropical Asia. A big competitor for water, it weakens and kills larger desert plants, while making it difficult for new native plant growth. Additionally, buffelgrass provides “gas on the fire” for wildfires, which would destroy most desert plants like the Saguaro cactus, but not buffelgrass — buffelgrass would be the first to grow back.
Although there are several southern Arizona organized efforts to rid the areas of this invasive plant, i.e., Southern Arizona Buffelgrass Coordinating Center (SABCC) and the Sonoran Desert Weedwackers, many individuals put in long hours along on the difficult canyon slops of the picturesque Catalina Mountains. My hat’s off to Markus and the many others with his passion and drive.
kenne
Markus removing buffelgrass in the Esperero Canyon, February 24, 2012 — Images by kenne
Spephanie and her help made sure there was plenty of tasty food.
Cardón Cactus in Shades of Blue (Guaymas, Sonora on the Sea of Cortez, January 24, 2016) — Image by kenne
Rafael Figueroa Ju, Alamos, Sonora, Mexico — Image by kenne
Alamos Street Dog — Computer Art by kenne
Mayo Woman in Alamos, Sonora, Mexico — Grunge Art by kenne
Hacienda de los Santos Entrance — Images by kenne
Sunset Over The Sea of Cortes at Playa de Cortes in Guaymas, Sonora. (January 24, 2016) — Image by kenne
Templo — Plaza de Armas, Alamos, Sonora — Image by kenne
Hiking the 
