A view of the river, surrounded on both sides by lush greenery.
We began the day with a boat ride on the Fuerte River:
A view of the river, surrounded on both sides by lush greenery.
...for which we needed to put on life jackets:
The life jackets are bright orange. Mine is too small. Or maybe I'm too large.
Our "driver" was Armando:
Armando sits in the back of the boat, rowing. Lucia and Blanca sit on a bench in front of him.
We rowed leisurely up the river, while Juan pointed out various wildlife. Eventually, we pulled up to a landing, got out of the boat, and began walking up a dirt trail. Along the way, I took pictures of two kinds of cacti; a barrel cactus:
A short, squat cactus, wider in the middle and narrower at the top and bottom. Needles stick out on all sides, and there are a few flowers at the top.
...and an organ pipe cactus:
A cluster of about a dozen slender vertical columns.
After a short hike, we came to Cerro de la Mascara (Hill of the Mask), an archeological site:
The site is protected by a fence of wooden stakes and barbed wire. Inside are several large rocks.
...where we saw some petroglyphs:
Closeups of two of the rocks reveal geometric designs carved into the rock faces.
I expect they were more clearly visible when they were new.
We hiked back to the boat and started back the way we came. Along the way, we passed La Galera Park, which featured this pedestrian bridge across the river:
A wooden suspension bridge with several people walking across it.
...with this interesting artwork at the base:
The concrete base at one end of the bridge bears a mural with flowers, trees, birds, and a boat.
A little farther on, we stopped for lunch at an outdoor riverside restaurant:
The restaurant consists of several tables between a road and the river, with a thatched roof overhead, but no walls. A roadside sign advertizes Coca-Cola, and says "Restaurant La Galera."
Lucia, Esmond, Juan and Terry sit around a table.
...presided over by Jose Luis, who was in charge of the grill:
Jose Luis watches over a small charcoal grill, on which are cooking several strips of meat.
...and his wife Marta, who was in charge of everything else:
Marta stands at a large table loaded with pots, pans and dishes.
Marta prepares food at another table with more dishes, as well as cans and bottles.
After the boat ride, we drove back to town. As we drove in, I was impressed by this mural. Note: the curvature in the picture is due to my using the panoramic feture of the iPhone's camera.
The mural is large, covering the entire side of the building. It includes three musicians in white suits and red scarves, several butterflies, a bell tower, and at the far end, two giant legs and feet.
After we got back to the hotel, we had some free time, so we walked a few blocks to a hotel that did have a bar, and hung out there until dinnertime. Then after dinner at a very nice seafood restaurant, we strolled around for a while. In the town square (every town in Mexico seems to have one), I was interested to see this display of civic pride:
The name of the town spelled out in large letters, each several feet tall, and each painted a different color.
Actually, signs like this seem to be a thing in Mexico - I noticed them in several other towns that we went through.
In the square, we also met up with this interesting fellow:
A very large face mask, painted in red, black and white, with large teeth displayed in a wide grin. It's suspended a few feet off the ground, so as to be about at eye level with passers by. Several strands of "hair" hang down from its forehead, almost to the ground.
I hope that didn't scare anybody... Juan identified this as a Mayo mask. Not Maya, as I thought he said at first, but Mayo (w), an indigenous people who live in the region.You may have never heard of the Mayo people (I hadn't), but I'm sure you have heard of at least one of them - former L.A. Dodger Fernando Valenzuela.