The happening Hermisillo

On arriving at our first Mexican destination Hermisillo, we were somewhat surprised to see a man emerging from the luggage rack underneath the bus when we went to retrieve our bags. It was the replacement driver getting some shut eye before his shift.

Our hosts in Hermosillo - Juan Carlos and Mariana both work for Naturalia a Mexican charity promoting conservation of habitats and species.  They have been involved with re-introduction of Mexican Wolf and Bison.  http://www.naturalia.org.mx

Straight into the Mexican culture with a trip to the beisbol, (baseball) Hermosillo (coyotes) vs Mexicali (eagles).  It was a very noisy affair, the guys next to us had one of those swing round rattles and a loudspeaker.  Our favourite part was the coyote mascot and his dance routines, he even had a quad bike with  stabiliser for doing wheelies.  We sampled a local hot chocolate brew Champurrado which was made with corn flour so was thick just like a chocolate soup.

The coyote had the moves

Juan Carlos pleased with his catch from the stands.

Mmm Champurro

The home team won out

the gangs all here

Acosted by a coyote, Ralph didn't want to get too close to save me as he hadn't had a rabies jab!

Death by chocolate, celebrating Juan Carlos and Mariana's colleagues birthday with cake and hot chocolate, Ralph can be seen slipping into a diabetic coma.

Juan Carlos and Mariana were pretty much the Mexican version of us and we felt very at home surrounded by a lot of the same books, films and animal trinkets.  They along with some friends and Marianas sister have bought plots of land and are planning to build very cool  Earthbag houses www.earthbagbuilding.com/.  This is us visiting their plots out in the desert on the outskirts of Hermosillo. 

Palo verde - a green tree.  The bark contains chlorophyll too so it can continue photosynthesising during hot weather when it has shed its small leaves.

Their plots are empty at the moment and they were measuring up for their house plans.

Their back garden...the Sonoran desert complete with Saguaro cacti.  Us with Mariana.

Fi made friends with this super cute pup

Lilo, Juan Carlos and Mariana's very clever dog.  Her tricks included turning the lightswitch on, opening the cupboard door and selecting the correct toy, high five, spin and kiss.  Below is a high five demo.

Cody has some competition for smartest dog

Helka was best friends with Ralph (typical cat much to my annoyance, any chance she would sit on him even though he didn't like her) until one morning things got slightly out of hand (I let her sleep in the bed), affection turned to something more sinister and she inexplicably decided to bite Ralph on the nipple!

She looks a bit like a mountain lion (who bites nipples)

For a great view of Hermosillo we drove up the hill in the middle of town with Gisella Mariana's sister, at night it looks a bit like a cake as its lit up, its called Bell Hill Cerro de la Campana as supposedly if you strike two rocks together they sound like a bell.

Hermosillo as seen from the hill.

Top of the hill

Gisella also took us to the art museum in town

The museum had a number of kids drawings in the auditorium - we thought this one looked like something from Napoleon Dynamite

This piece was also in the auditorium supposed to represent the desire of Mexicans to reach America (the lady leading to heaven), the car itself was Mexico (meaning they were already in heaven)

There was an exhibition of illustration for children's books

There was also some stuff by a couple of modern artists, some was quite good but we weren't mad keen - make up your own mind........

Even as a photo of a photo the 3D effect still works

When Marian was cooking delicious biscuits the gas ran out - to get the replacement cannister we had to move this wheel barrow containing a black widow spider, Fiona braved her fears and wheeled it away.

Elmo pinyata

Marian and Jan Carlos invited us to come with us to their friends baby's birthday - the parents had nicknamed the baby "little eyes"

Back on the bus - again...........this time to Culican

Mexican buses are super comfortable

Fiona the dutiful wife washing my smalls in the hotel.

After we went back to the hotel in Culican we heard a commotion outside, it was critical mass (where cyclists take over the roads) - we wished we had our bikes with us.