San Francisco de Conchos

March 11, 2007
Sunday
A pleasant surprise: while we slept, our bus was washed and vacuumed, a feat accomplished by Luis. We board quite early this morning. Our first stop is the mining town of Santa Barbara, where one of our group, Dan, looks up his boyhood home. He finds not only the house where he’d been raised but also the swimming hole and ball field of his childhood. New ninos are now playing in the latter. Hal tells us that the silver ore in Santa Barbara is of a lesser quality than elsewhere in Mexico. Nonetheless, it was still a very active mining area.
By noon we cross the Rio Florida and enter the state of Chihuahua. By 1 p.m. we’re eating lunch at a cafe in Ciudad Jimenez: hot flour tortillas wrapped around beans, chicken or beef. Large pitchers of ice cold lemonade accompany the simple repast. Back on the highway, we view extensive areas of pecan groves and listened to talks by Hal and Luis. Hal expounds on Hidalgo and Mexico’s War of Independence. Luis explains the custom of korima, acts of kindness “from the heart.”
We stop at San Francisco de Conchos and walk uphill, by a pen of noisy goats, to the town church. Unfortunately, the keeper of the church key cannot not be found. We settle for a look at the surrounding plains, which are lovely. Back in the bus, we continue north. We pass through a toll booth staffed by school girls, who are apparently working there to obtain funds for their school. At 5:30 p.m., we reach Chihuahua and check into Hotel Tierra Blanca in time for dinner. After the evening meal, Inez and I walk to a massive Wal-Mart type store to buy appreciation gifts for Hal and Luis. After much searching, we settle on business card holder notebooks. Our last night in Mexico is quiet. The hoped-for “grand finale” celebration does not materialize, but by now it is enough to be almost home.