Terrific Tuesday 27th January…

My first sleep in Ramona in over 2 months was a good one and I woke up at 7.30am.  The usual blue, clear and sunny skies were  greeting me again.

I wanted to make an early start so I packed up a good lunch with lots of drinks and walked down to the main road and waited about 5 minutes for a local bus to take me into the city centre.  5 pesos, 5 cents for the ride.  I have noticed this strange custom that people have in Mexico when it comes to sitting on a bus.  They don’t sit next to the window they sit on the outside seat so if someone comes along and wants to sit down they just move their legs around and the person has to slide into the window seat.

I know a long paragraph of really useless information but it is after all MY blog!!

I was in the town centre and to be truthful not really that impressive.

 

I did like the two murals on the high walls of the altar.

Some city scenes…

ooppps

Two of these will now be my sandwiches tomorrow!

I walked the main plaza and then went and found the world’s second narrowest house.  The narrowest house at 1 metre wide is in Amsterdam the one here is 1.42metres.

My next stop was an old textile factory built in the 19th century and now restored and is a convention centre and gallery. 

  A very beautiful building with immaculate grounds.

I then made my way to the Parque Nacional Eduardo Ruiz.  This park is only 8 blocks away from the main square and is set in a tropical rain forest.  The trails are beside the Rio Cupatitizio with neat fountains and water falls.

The trail starts at the or devil’s knee.  The white arrow marks the spot where Lucifer knelt.  Legend has it that anyone that sees this imprint will get married and return here with 7 years.  Any marriage proposals??

Enjoy the trails and views with me.

I really enjoyed these trails and it was very serene and quiet with no tourists just local kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Managed to find the right bus back to the RV park and then spent a couple of hours sunbathing by the lovely pool.

At 4pm I headed out on what can only be described as an adventure.  30 miles away is the very small Purepecha Indian town called Angahuan.  This remote town is the starting place for trips to see the Paricutin Volcano, Mexico’s famous volcano.

On 20th February 1943 a farmer was working his field when right in front of him rumblings emanated from the earth and soon the earth started to open up and smoke and ash came billowing out.  Lava and ash was spewing up into the air and two villages were evacuated.  Both villages were subsequently buried by lava but miraculously part of the church steeple remained uncovered.

No one was killed and the villages relocated 30 miles away.  The cone of the volcano reached 1391 feet.  It is classified as a monogenetic, meaning it will never erupt again and in 1952 all activity ceased and it is now considered a dormant volcano.

The Paricutin volcano bears the honour of being listed as one of the seven natural wonders of the world.  It is the only volcano on the planet born in modern times.  Eruptions from volcanoes are common place occurrences but the birth of an entirely new volcano are genuinely rare.

The paved roads to the town were good but I knew from the information I had read that roads in the town were cobbled, dirt and narrow and that this would be a challenge.

I like challenges…………and this would be a good one.

There is a 

park where I needed to get to where Ramona could spend the night and when I turned onto the cobble roads about a dozen guides on horseback came to me.  One stayed with me for a while and we talked, he spoke a little English, I spoke even less Spanish.  He said he would show me how to get to the Centro Turistico.

It was a good job too because not only were the streets very narrow and dirt filled but they were laying new cobble stones down and half of them were blocked.

  

My guide had to make this car back up.

All the people that had to move were friendly and after about 20 minutes of “hold your breath I am sure I can get through here” driving I arrived at my destination.

 

 

 

 

 

My guide, Anastario and I negotiated and he is coming back tomorrow at 8am with a horse for me and will take me to the bottom of the volcano, where I can hike to the top of the cone.  Then to see the church buried in the lava.  He said this would take 6 hours, cost me 600 pesos and give me a sore bum!!!!  I know I vowed after my last horse ride in Costa Rica, never again will this boy get on another horse but……

Where I am parked there is a mirador(viewpoint) to the volcano The twin peaks in the distance is the volcano where tomorrow I hope to be on the top of.

It is very hazy but the church steeple is in the photo above and if you follow the top branch of the fore ground tree up, there it is. Another shot of one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, no silly not my legs,  although they are wonderful I have been told……Ok it was my Mum but she was always right!!!!

I went for a walk into town

The inside of the church was so bright

Meet 9 month old Olivia….I know the Mexican Indians do not like their photo being taken but I asked permission and I think her Mum is just a tiny bit proud of her wouldn’t you say? This lady posed for me too.

The main form of transportation in the town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An interesting door each panel from the bottom to the top depicts the history of the eruption.

They start the workers here young!! There was music blaring out and this worker decided it was time for air guitar!! It sure felt like walking through this village was going back a couple of centuries and into a different civilisation.  The people spoke their own language and loud speakers were blaring out what I think was invitation to go to the church.

I made a cup of tea got out my chair and sat and watched the sunset.

It was another of those special moments, being so close to an event so spectacular and immense and feeling quite small and insignificant.

Now there is absolutely no one around, it is pitch black and very quiet and I feel very comfortable.

This Ramona girl is something else, had a great supper, shower and tea and watched some TV.  I have no Internet hook up but I can write this and save it then will post it when next connected.

How about that for a day??