Yesterday’s Tour of The Town of “Valle de Juarez”.

This town is only a mile and a half away from the RV Park,so yesterday after breakfast,I set off to walk the streets and soak up the culture.It was a cool morning in the 60’s but warm in the sun.It had gone down to freezing overnight,so was slowly regaining.Perfect for walking the streets.

This is the main entrance street to the town. Off in the distance,is an archway welcoming everyone.Our park is beyond in that direction.

The first thing I wanted to do was get a badly needed haircut,so without camera,started at the beautiful town square,and walked a different square block at a time from each side of the main square,enjoying looking into the various little shops.I found a couple of funeral parlors but no hairdresser….Yes hairdresser.I was told the local barbershop was a gathering place for the local macho’s to talk politics and not cut much hair,so as in years before,I found the girls in the beauty shops do a nice job usually with no waiting, as it seems every block has a “Peluquero”.

But today I was finding it difficult to find one,so with an opportunity,to practice my Spanish,I approached 4 people standing in front of a shop having a gab fest.As I approached they welcomed me with a big hello in English,and as it turned out all 4 spoke English.One a young lady directed me to the nearest hairdresser and even offered to walk me to the spot.I thanked her and said that it wasn’t necessary.I got a bit of a hard time from the guys as they enjoyed kidding me about my sexual orientation because I wanted a hairdresser instead of a barbershop.Hey! These guys like being MACHO!

So I trundled off down the street still chuckling,made a wrong turn then heard a yell and hand waving as they pointed me in the right direction…I love these people,so friendly here in Mexico.I found the shop,only one block from where I parked the truck.Poked my head inside the open doorway as a pretty young thing was doing the hair of another pretty young thing.I asked,”corte de pelo para me”not good spanish but she understood and beckoned me to sit in the waiting area.After a couple of minutes my waiting area chair became my barber chair as she turned it around facing a mirror, and she asked which I prefer,scissors or razor,I said “ambos”(both) and she flew into high gear doing a nice job.When finished I asked how much,and she said 35p (less than $3.50),I gladly gave her 50 pesos with a big thanks…..Another sonrisa.(smile)

Another view from the main square,(PLAZA)near the hairdresser shop.

Visualize if you will,the street below.This is typical of most of the streets you will find in small towns.Very narrow and usually congested as delivery people will block the road completely to do their business.This is the culture and we must except it if we want to visit.

So you can see what kind of a problem some of us Gringo’s have when we get lost pulling a trailer or driving a big motor home up streets like this,especially when we have to turn from one narrow street into another.I’m just glad that my 7ft wide trailer is about the same width as the truck including the side mirrors,so if the truck makes it,the trailer is free to follow.

It was garbage pickup day.

After walking around and taking pictures,I drove up the hill out of town and took this view of the town and lake.

You can see the church in the plaza on the left and the pressa,(reservoir)I’ll call it the lake.

Here is the start of the malecon around the lake shore.This is right at the edge of town.

This is taken from the other end looking back.That is El Picacho in the background.This tree covered mountain is just under 8000ft.high.I’m not used to seeing such a high tree line back home.

A closer view.

I did more travelling yesterday,but will save it for another blog entry.