El Quelite - December 18, 2008

Today we took a "Vacation from our Vacation". We were feeling water bound and wanted to explore inland. So with our friends, John and Debbie, we hired a taxi for the day to explore some local colonial and historical spots in Sinaloa.

Our first stop on our tour was Vinata Los Osuna. We had a tour on how blue agave (Tequilla) is distilled. The distillery was in operation. We saw the plants from start to finish. One would not want to be there if they were allergic to bees as they were everywhere. The grounds were beautiful with flowers.

Our next stop was Hacienda Las Moras, a restored authentic Tequila Plantation about 150 years old. Currently it is a secluded resort. The decor was in true Mexican flavor. Again, the grounds were beautiful and peaceful. Many peacocks roamed freely through the grounds. Definitely would be a nice place to stay.

Our last stop was El Quelite, a colonial town, with cobbled streets, and colorful tile roofed homes.
It is about 20 miles north of Mazatlan across the Tropic of Cancer. It was a very quaint town. Most of the little stores were in the porches of homes. We ate at a local resturant with homemade tortillas and the local meats. We also visited the local church, cemetary, Cock Fighting Ranch and local bakery. One definietly felt like "Old Mexico".

The countryside was rolling hills, with some agriculture areas of corn, and some papaya tree groves. It was similar to driving up to Ojai, CA.

Wednesday night we had the opportunity to join Friends of Mazatlan, a local charity organization which supports 5 local schools in the area. We toured the city Christmas lights on a trolly. We went through the old historical town and also El Cid which has acreas of beautiful HUGE homes. The lights and decorations were everywhere on the homes. A beautiful display. We had Chrsitmas songs going as we toured. It made us feel a little like Christmas.