Originally posted by Mulegena
Yes, the western slope to/from La Purisima is open, and AKg., you're gonna have so much darn fun up there you may want to stay overnight. You can do
so in San Isidro. Gas is also available in San Isidro as is wifi and telegraph.
Stop in the little towns, go to the church in San Isidro, walk around and view the old adobe houses.
Enjoy the view of the flat-top mountain called El Pilon rising out of the river valley.
In La Purisima you'll see cinderblock houses alongside cottages of petate and dirt floor. Petate is a hand-woven mat of the cane bamboo that grows
wild on the riverbank. It's harvested in the dark of the moon. You may see families weaving them. Stop and say hello-- you may be speaking to my
husband's family who still live up there. They're nice people.
Take your camera because you'll find yourself in a natural oasis of orchards where mangos, citrus fruit and avocados are cultivated that you'll find
nowhere else on earth!
You'll follow the aquaduct "asequia" (ah-SEK-i-a) that meanders through the whole of the villages and transports the fresh water that comes right out
of the mountain.
Stop in one of the stores and ask to buy some goat cheese. It's made by the rancheros who live in the olden ways 'way back up in the mountains.
Return some time in the spring when they're grinding the cane on the gristmill by mule-power. Watch them boil it down and pour into the wooden molds
to make the sweet piloncillo.
If the mountain life that is in the villages up there appeals to you, you'll return again and again. |
