Postcard from Banamichi- March 10, 2015

Believe it or not, we purchased no pots in Mata Ortiz.  It's not that we didn't see beautiful work. Just that we're no longer into acquiring things.  

We loved wandering around Mata Ortiz and the Casas Grandes area, and our stay at Posada de las Ollas in Mata Ortiz.  Posada-mates Fabiola Silva and Sterling Trantham were interviewing six or more elder potters each day, so we heard plenty of stories about the old days in Mata Ortiz.  As we came to see it, the village where everybody makes pottery is less the result of divine inspiration on the part of Juan Quesada and more a communal outgrowth of pot-looting after the real pots ran out.  This doesn't make the current products any less beautiful or valuable.  A controversial topic.

Paquime (the ancient Casas Grandes) was once a Chaco-like center of what the Museo del las Culturas del Norte calls the Gran Chichimeca. At its height, this fascinating site was the largest mud-walled city in the Americas, with an impressive system of water collection and distribution, that brought settled water to individual buildings via stone-lined ditches.

Sunday morning we purchased queso menonite in Casas Grandes Nuevo, then headed north and joined Mexico Highway 2 at Janos.  It being Sunday, the sotol distillery was closed.  No matter.  Here in Banamichi, I've been able to sample the local (and very smooth) bacanora.  As I understand it, tequila (Jalisco), sotol (Chihuahua) and bacanora (Sonora) are all essentially mescal (i.e. distilled from agave).  Other than aging and purity, the differences are like the terroir differences between Syrah grapes grown in California or Arizona.

Highway 2 travels through beautiful open grasslands, back over the Sierra Madre (less daunting this far north), past Agua Prieta (just across the border from Douglas, Arizona), and into Cananea, a busy copper-mining town, where an early 1900's miners' rebellion contributed to the 1910-20 Mexican revolution. 

We made an early start Monday, leisurely picking our way down the beautiful Rio Sonora valley.  The Rio Sonora was the route of explorers and missionaries, who left a string of 17th century towns and churches.  Juan DeAnza (famous to those of us who grew up in Riverside) founded what is now San Francisco, California, was buried in Arizpe.  You can still see his bones through a glass panel in the church floor. Arizpe was once the capital of northwestern colonial Mexico, which included Arizona and New Mexico.

We settled in for two nights at La Posada del Rio in Banamichi, just across the plaza from where Linda Ronstadt's Mexican grandparents were married.  Not only are these easily the swankiest and most charming accommodations we've had in some time, other than a couple of long-term guests who are consulting with the local silver mine, we are the only guests.  I am writing this from the rooftop patio, with views of mountains to the east and fields to the west.  In Banamichi we see as many horses as cars.  Both move at a leisurely pace.

Today we headed south to picnic at Agua Caliente near Aconchi. A lovely spot where scalding spring water is directed into pools of various degrees of heat.  The pools were clean and inviting, and we were the only people enjoying them.  Great birdwatching too!

After leaving Banamichi tomorrow, we'll likely be camping for the rest of our trip, mostly in San Felipe and points south, and this may be my last postcard until we get home March 24.  Be well, and consider visiting northern Mexico.  If you can handle sometimes iffy accommodations, there's much to see and experience.  We'll be back!

Love, Toni 

Photos:
Late afternoon Mata Otiz
Late afternoon Paquime
Curious roadrunner Paquime (today we saw five roadrunners!)
Early morning Paquime
Church in Arizpe
Church in Banamichi
Early morning vultures in Banamichi (there were hundreds, mostly Turkey Vultures, some Black Vultures)
Banamichi street scene
San Felipe de Jesus from Cerro de la Cruz (260 steps)
High water Sonora river crossing to San Felipe de Jesus
Canyon Wren at Agua Caliente
Mary in agua caliente
Red-tailed Hawk near San Felipe de Jesus