Tale of Two Cities

The longest river in Mexico, called Rio Grande de Santiago, starts from Lake Chappala. This lake is found outside of Guadalajara. The site is supposed to be beautiful and the weather ideal. Probably for that reason the area is said to be home to some 60,000 American citizen residents. The river moves through several Mexican states in a northwesterly direction for almost 250 miles. It gets dammed a couple of times along the way, most notably at Aguamilpa east of Santiago Izcuintla. Despite the dam, the river overflows regularly leaving a number of residents of Santiago with wet feet. From there it continues to flow slowly downhill to the sea above San Blas.
Santiago and the area around it has over 80,000 people in it, at least so says the guidebook. Yet surprisingly, I've seen only two other gringos here. Santiago Izcuintla is off the tourist track. It also has the feeling of a pueblo. There's not much to the place. However, it's a good jumping off point for Mexcaltitan, which I've reported on. It has an interesting market. It also has a "cultural center" for the Huichol people, an indigenous group. I went there and watched a woman weaving one of those large cloth bags carried by both men and women with wonderful designs on them. I also watched a man and a woman applying TINY beads to two different masks. They apply wax to the masks and then apply the beads, an incredibly laborious process. Attached are some photos of the Huicholes doing their thing.

The next city I went to is Tepic. Tepic is the capital of Nayarit and is a righteous big city. It has all the noise and heavy traffic to prove it. It also boasts a large two story shopping mall, complete with a huge Sears, Liverpool, Sam's Club, Sanborns, Radio Shack, multiplex theatre, Starbucks, Burger King, Subway, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Chili's, all the trappings of advanced civilization. However, there were way more empty parking places in the parking lot than occupied ones, and the mall was definitely not crowded. Signs of trickle down from American economic woes??? I don't know. I, of course, went to the mall by public bus. When I came out, it must have been change of shift time, because all the other passengers waiting at the bus stop were salespeople that worked in the mall. I thought it was kind of ironic. The men wore spiffy suits and ties; the women equally well-dressed. The customers in the mall, who had arrived in their late model cars or taxis, were dressed like me: in t-shirts and pants.
Despite the heavy congestion, Tepic is at about 3,000 feet elevation, so the sky is clear and blue, and there seems to be little or no pollution. How refreshing for Mexico! The main plaza is very pretty, with lots of shade trees and park benches and nice views of the Presidential palace (state government building) on one end and the cathedral at the other. I was also very surprised to find out, wonder of wonders, Tepic boasts a vegetarian restaurant! Not only that, the food was great; and not only that, there were lots of customers and I was the only gringo in there! For a minute, it felt like I wasn't in Mexico!

I must confess I am rather biased AGAINST cities as opposed to small towns. Even though there might be some nice restaurants, etc., the traffic noise, traffic cops blowing whistles, loudspeaker trucks, loud music from all directions. I'm writing this in the evening in my hotel room and the background noise is remarkably loud. I'll take crowing roosters anytime!

All that notwithstanding, there remains one constant throughout: the friendliness of the people. It is truly remarkable.