Ride to Cosala

 It's about 9:30 am on Wednesday February 27th and we are on the road and heading north. We'll head up the free road until we hit the turnoff to Cosala.  Today's journey will be about 110 miles each way.  We had hoped to do this trip with Frank and Sandi and stay over night but...they have company until the 8th and are leaving on the 11th so no time for this little trip.

 Heading north.

 Passing over the Rio Piaxtla.  The land around the Piaxtla is green and covered in crops.  It has been incredibly dry this year and the landscape is dry and grey.

Coming towards La Minita or the mine. 

Last time we came by it looked like nothing was happening but today there is a bit of activity.

Passing the turn off to La Cruz.

Where there is water there is corn.

Turn right for Cosala and El Salto the bass fishing lake created by the dam on the Elota River in 1986.  It is arguably the best bass fishing habitat in the world...hmmm I wonder if that's true!  Maximum depth of 140 ft and 80 degrees F which is apparently good habitat for bass.  I do know that our friend Fred traveled there to fish on a regular basis a few years ago.

Heading towards the Sierra Madre mountains.

Dry, dry, dry.

Grass at the edge of the road and the cattle roam free.  Do not drive at night!

Moo!

The fields look like they have been harvested and there are little clumps of standing grass.

Off in the distance you can see El Salto lake.

We are starting to climb now and it is very twisty turny!

A little town and more corn.

Slow going and lots of concentration for Eric.

Coming into Cosala and you can see the lovely sidewalk all the way in.  I wonder if anyone ever uses it.

Cosala is a pueblo magica.  The requirements being that it has strong symbolic attributes such as history, culture and nature.  There are a whole list of other requirements which I won't go into.  Needless to say Cosala meets the requirements.  There are 121 Pueblo Magicas in Mexico as of 2018.

On display as you come into town an underground rock drill used in mining.

The buildings are painted up and there is no garbage anywhere.

Town square.  We were going to go around but the road was blocked by some sort of carnival. 

Luis Perez Meza was a Mexican singer and songwriter of banda and ranchera music who also appeared in several films during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema.  Born in Cosala in 1917. 

Here we are walking up the street to the restaurant that we like to eat at.  Last year we rode the bike up but ended up having to bring it into the hotel complex as they said it couldn't be left on the street so this time we just walked.  It was very hot about 90F and we were in motorcycle gear.  Very sweaty. 

Hotel Quinta Minera Cosala.

Huge history in Cosala related to mining which you can read on the internet if you wish. 

Having chips and salsa in the courtyard restaurant.   The swimming pool is under renovation.

It is a lovely quiet spot and today we are the only ones here.

A timed photo with the camera on the table.

I had chicken mole after a Sunday concert in Mazatlan and decided to try it here.  Very good!

Eric had grilled fish which was also very good. 

Blue corn tortillas which Eric really likes.

I rested in a lawn chair after lunch while Eric went up the stairs to check out the roof.

Lunch is finished and we make our way out to the front door passing the formal dining room.  Boy do those chairs look comfy....not!

Reverse journey back down to the bike.

Bye bye Cosala maybe next year we'll stay overnight.  If Frank and Sandi come we can travel around in the Jeep and have a look at the town.  Too hard on the motorcycle with all the narrow streets and cobblestones.

Twisting and turning our way back down.

Lots of opportunities to catch a bass at El Salto.

There we are.

Turn right for home.

Terrible picture but you can see the Riu so you know that we are almost home.

A long day as we left at 9:30 am and returned at about 4:30.  A journey of about 220 miles...not bad for a pair of geezers!   Good day!