Part 1-Tastiota

Part 1-Tastiota

We left on Sunday morning, headed for Tastiota. We went north on highway 15 until we reached the Kino Bay turn off. The road was paved, some rough patches; but not bad. We were watching/hoping for a sign at the turn off for Tastiota. There was a sign for shrimp farming; but not for Tastiota, so as we went by I turned around and looked back. On the opposite side of the road, going the other direction, was the town sign, so we backed up a few feet and headed off into the desert on a road graded into the sand. The road wasn't too bad for awhile. There was a lot of work going on beside the road, digging ditches, etc., apparently enlarging or making new lagoons for the shrimp farm. We arrived at a narrow bridge over a deep water ditch. It was covered with dirt and full of holes with water in them and the road didn't seem to go anywhere but into more lagoons or holding ponds (I am not sure what you would call them). We stopped and looked around for someone that we could ask. There was a little guard shack; but no one was in it. A vehicle was coming down the road, so I got out and stood by the road, hoping that they would stop. They did, I asked them where Tastiota was and they told me over the bridge and about 2 kms. straight on before turning right. They continued on their way over the bridge and so did we. We crossed without incident, it looked worse than it was, and continued on. The road was hard packed clay now, full of holes and we just looked at each other and laughed. A short time later the SUV that was still in front of us, stopped and waved us towards another path heading right. We yelled our thanks and they continued on in their direction. The road all through here was surrounded by large dry lagoons and there was very little vegetation. A few of the ponds did have a tiny pool of water in the center and there were wading birds catching lunch. On one of the power poles there was a huge nest with a pair of some kind of eagles sitting in it. We kept driving over this rough, holey road and didn't seem to be getting anywhere. Finally we did see some buildings in the distance so kept going. We saw another eagle nest and then on the line of power poles heading into town there was a nest on every pole. I guess the fishing, for the birds is very good there. It must be like their own take out restaurant when the farm is in operation.

We arrived in the town of maybe 10 homes or so. We noticed a place that sold pop, so stopped and got one. There were some tables under a roof in the shade right beside the house where some people were sitting. The old fellow that sold us the pop, told us to come in and sit down in the shade, so we did. We got chatting with the people sitting there. The lady told me that the shrimp farm wouldn't be working again until September. They also said that we couldn't drive to the beach from there; one of the fellows sitting there was from Hermosillo visiting the older couple who are apparently the godparents to his son. His children were riding an ATV around the town. He told us, that if we wanted when the kids came back on the ATV that he would take us out to the beach. Roy declined as he thought that we might not have time then to make it to Kino Bay and there was nowhere to stay the night in Tastiota. We chatted about where we lived and where we were from. The fellow told us that his son had just come back from going to high school in Winnipeg to learn english, we are assuming that it was one of those exchange programs. He said that he had enjoyed it and wants to go back; but in the summer. He said that he had relatives that had been in Calgary and Vancouver. They said that out of the 10 homes in Tastiota, 5 of them were "gringos". They told us that it is a better place to live than in Guaymas, ha, ha and that we could rent a place cheaper there or build and only pay 30 dollars a year for taxes. I asked them where they get their groceries and he said that there is a place about 20 kilometers away with a grocery store. I am assuming that the shrimp farm uses a lot of power and this is why the tiny town has power. They told us to come back and visit during Semana Santa when all of the families come home. We chatted about the fishing and other things and then decided that we should be on our way. On our way out of town I noticed that the porch on one of the houses was held up using enormous bones as the pillars. I am assuming that these were ribs from a whale as they were huge. I didn't get a picture though as I was too busy looking and didn't think of it.

We returned the way we had come and breathed a sigh of relief when we got back onto the rough pavement, it seemed like a good road now. We continued on the paved road until we got to a crossroads where there was a checkpoint. We asked the cop, which way we would take to get to Kino Bay. He started to try and give us directions in english and when I asked if we were to go straight (derecho), he grinned and asked if we spoke spanish. I told him a little and he seemed to relax and started to rattle off directions in spanish, thank goodness we understood him and he waved us on. We laughed as we left as he hadn't had time to even ask us one question. Hmmm.... maybe this is an idea for checkpoints, ask them lots of questions and not give them time to question us. Not that we had anything to hide and I am sure he could tell this by our relaxed attitude.

Away we went again.

Continued in the next post.