A ride to San Javier and the really nice restaurant is no more…..Boohoo!

This morning we decided to take a ride to San Javier. We had hoped to eat the El Tirito Hacienda restaurant where we had enjoyable lunches in the past.  So….off we go.

http://kathyericstravels.blogspot.mx/2013/03/lunch-in-san-javier.html

This is a link to my March 3, 2013 post. 

Turn left on the free road towards Culiacan.   A very cloudy, but warm day.

Heading down the highway.

This is one of those pink trees that is once again in bloom….can’t see it very well without some sun.

Near El Quelite the fields are green.  On a good note it sounds like the road in El Quelite has been finished and we may be able to visit on the bike.

These mango trees were heavily damaged by cold temperatures a few years ago.  They have been trimmed up and now look happy and healthy.

Not much water in Rio El Quelite.

The turn off to El Quelite….another time.

This big truck was right on our ….ass….he finally passed.  Makes me nervous when they get really close.

It is very dry and bleak right now.

Turn right for Coyotitan, San Javier and San Ignacio.

In the center of Coyotitan is this very large tree with a “pollo” restaurant under it.  Always smells delicious and we’ll have to eat there some time. 

Past Coyotitan and the road isn’t very good in many places although it didn’t last very long. 

Lunch break!  They weren’t moving until the very large “baby” had finished nursing!

The car can now pass and so can we.

They begrudgingly get off the road. 

One honk from the horn and this little fellow was gone.

 

The Sierra Madre Occidental mountains in the distance.

Turn left for San Javier.

  After turning off the road to San Javier there is this very very large, odd, old tree. 

 

Then some agave fields.

So very blue.

Coming into Cabazan.  A pretty little place with cobblestone streets.

You can’t see her very well but on the right this lady was sweeping the street.  She laughed as we went by and said something we didn’t hear….and wouldn’t have understood!

Beautiful bougainvillea.

Lots of sand over the cobbles and very slippery on a heavy motorcycle.  Cobble stones are always a problem with the bike.  

I love this split rail fence.  Most fences here are concrete posts with barbed wire.

Suspicious cows at the edge of the road.  Don’t want to hit one of those!

Coming into San Javier and the ever popular Coca Cola sign. 

 

Still decorated for Christmas!  Right past this casa “was” the El Tirito Hacienda restaurant.

Eric turns the bike around in the square to park.

He heads over to check out the restaurant.  They are still operating but are now on the street and it is a take out with a few tables on the sidewalk.  Eric talks to the owner who shakes his hand and says “Welcome to San Javier.”  He says to return in trienta minutes and they will be ready.  Same as last time.

The  vegetable truck pulled in just behind us and the people flocked to buy.  Funny enough one of the buyers turned around, looked at us and said “Helloooo….how are you?”  It was the restaurant owners brother Felipe whom we’d met two years ago when we ate in the restaurant.  He is fluent in English and many other languages and remembered us.  He took my hand and asked “How are you now?”  He remembered that I was unwell when I last visited.  How sweet is that!   Dare I mention that he is very, very gay!  Sometimes not obvious but in this instance, very obvious.  A very sweet and lovely man.

This is Felipe two years ago when he talked to us and kept us entertained while we waited for lunch.

The little boy in the blue T shirt was really interested in Big Red.  The little fellow on the left with no shoes is the vegetable mans helper. 

San Javier has been a town since the 1500’s so this church is probably that old as well.  Don’t know.

Beautiful old bells.

This is not an ornate church but it has the most interesting wood ceiling.  It was not open the last time we visited. 

 

 

This is Eduardo.  He met us outside the church and speaks perfect English.  Turns out that he worked in San Mateo just outside of San Francisco as a baker until he retired at 61, 11 years ago and returned home to San Javier.  He and Eric had a very long conversation about “baseball” as Eduardo is a huge fan and also very knowledgeable as he would have seen many games while he was in the USA.  He told Eric that when he worked in the USA his boss told him that he had to learn English if he wanted to live there.  So ….he did.   When the same boss visited Mazatlan Eduardo told him that he should learn Spanish!

Square below the church.

Eric and Eduardo are still up there talking baseball while I wait below.  Eduardo knew the names of all the players in the now defunct “Montreal Expos!”

We are seated in the outside restaurant waiting for lunch when two young girls pass by on an ATV. 

Lunch is served.  Rice, some sort of squash stuffed with a bit of cheese, breaded, fried and a sauce added. 

There was also a plate of pickled onions, pickled carrots and avocado.  Mexican food!  Not anything near what we had in the actual restaurant in previous years.  Added to that was the TV blaring in the kitchen and the video games blasting away.  So not really a place that you would head to for a nice quiet lunch.  Too bad as the Hacienda restaurant was just lovely.  It is gutted but as the building is ancient it is unlikely that it will be restored.  We’ll return another time and check it out. 

From the restaurant we could see this old car in the distance. 

With….a burro and some chickens near by.

After lunch we decided to wander the streets of this very small town.  Felipe told us there are 300 people here and it swells to 3000 at Semana Santa when people return home for the biggest religious holiday (and party) of the year.

San Javier is filled with small Chihuahua type dogs.  They were everywhere and this puppy was just adorable.   Eric patted the female at his feet who was very timid and sweet….this little guy just wanted to play. 

If I was in the market for a dog this one would have been just right!

We wandered around the block and Eric spied this free hand chain sawed lumber.  He is checking how heavy it is!  We have many buildings full of lumber that Eric has band saw milled, edged and dry piled.  He also has a very old flat belt planer that he rebuilt and set up to run on the PTO of his 1960’s vintage David Brown tractor.  He loves wood!

Got wood!

This is a small town and since people live on the streets if they don’t have a yard you kind of feel like you are in their living room.  It would feel intrusive if we were a large group of people instead of the two of us. 

 

An old derelict school constructed in honor of Gabriel Leyva Solano.

Leyva Solano Gabriel

Born in the village of Sinaloa (now Sinaloa de Leyva) in 1871 and died in 1910. It was the precursor of the Revolution. He studied at the Colegio de Culiacán Rosales Civil, where he began his career in law, he could not finish. It was a rural teacher. Clerk of Court. Intern lawyer, judge Ocoroni 1st Instance, Sinaloa. It was dedicated to the defense of farmers against land seizures. Maderista, attended on behalf of the State to the Convention Antirreleccionista Tivoli Elysee in cd. of Mexico, in 1910. Head of maderismo in Sinaloa, began to prepare for armed struggle, but betrayed by one of his companions, was denounced, imprisoned, driven to Culiacan and days later killed near the capital, in Cabrera of Izunza, June 13.

Now a martyr of the Mexican Revolution.

This was a Spanish translation.

Some lovely homes in this small town.

The vegetable truck is down here now and there is another burro tied to a tree.

Just waiting and obviously a Jack!

Just across the street this little fellow was watching us pass by.  I waved but he just looked until his Dad called to him in Spanish….and he waved.  Dad had a big smile that I was taking his picture. 

At this point he loaded sister and brother onto the burro for a photo op and then he lead them both around for a ride.  Mexicans love it when you appreciate there children….and we do!

Heading up the street where Big Red far in the distance waits in the square.  The restaurant is on the left, on the corner just before the square. 

I thought this lady was selling pollo on the street but this is just her outdoor kitchen.  Smelled really good!

Back through Cabazan this Gaspasa truck was honking like mad as he passed through the town.  He hardly slowed down so I don’t think he sold much and then…..he was gone!  Up the road he was pulled over for a pee stop! 

Coming through Coyotitan I shot behind me over my head to catch the trucks full of high speed army trucks.  Blurry….but interesting.

Back on the highway heading home.

10km to Cerritos. 

A really nice day in a small friendly town.