Day 23

Hot Bread For Everyone

We hopped on our mini bus at 9:00am (a more reasonable hour for some), where we proceeded to head for the hills for a tour of the colonial town of Concordia.  We passed through the back roads of Mazatlán taking in all the sights and sounds of the city, then made our way up highway 40 known as the "the Devil's Backbone", into the mountains. Our first stop was in the town of Malpica where we followed our noses to the local rustic Panaderia “bakery to us”. Where we found warm scrumptious delights waiting for us! Yum-yum!!

So Many Colors Of Tile

After filling up on these wonderful pastries and bread we headed across the street for a visit with a man that makes his living making handmade tile. He had a small operation set up in his backyard where he had a hand operated tile press that makes one tile at a time.  Every time you turn around here it’s like going back in time. The majority of people have such hard lives yet they seem so very happy and hospitable. Anyway, as you pasted through his yard there was a cook fire going with a pot of tomatoes being boiled for making salsa and today’s laundry hanging from the tree branches and children’s laughter coming from the house. Some of use bought a tile or two. On our way back to the mini bus some of us just couldn’t resist the smell wafting out of the panaderia and had to go back in for a last visit and load up on those more goodies! As we were heading out of town the local school kids came running up to the school yard fence and in really good English wished us all a good morning and good-by. It was very nice.
 

Beautiful Hand Carved Furniture

Our next stop was a unique furniture making woodshop along the roadway, with some pottery and jewelry thrown in. It was interesting watching the men working with the wood. How they can make such beautiful furniture with the tools that they have is hard to believe if you didn’t see it for yourself.  Come to find out that Concordia is known as a town of furniture makers. Everywhere you look there are furniture shops. We visit the old style town square and learn a little history of Mexico.  What was interesting was that all the towns in Mexico have basically the same layout. It’s their tradition according to our guide.  They are all built on a square with a gazebo in the center. Surrounded by, a church, government offices, a bank, a post office, and the homes of the wealthy.
 

Pretty Birdie

Next we visited the quaint little village of Copala with its very narrow cobblestone streets. It was an ancient mining town. We had a Mexican lunch at Daniel’s Restaurant.  It opens onto a beautiful view of the valley below. Today it was shrouded in low lying clouds. There was a slight mist which made us feel like we were in a rain forest somewhere in Costa Rica. Most of us wore shorts thinking that it was going to be warm, boy were we surprised! Daniel’s is known worldwide for their famous banana cream coconut pie. We were full of anticipation at getting a piece of this famous pie for dessert. Apparently thirty some years ago Daniel and his mom, with her recipe, moved down here and started selling food. This pie is often given partial credit for keeping Copala from becoming a true ghost town.
 

Fantastic Leather Mask

After lunch we went to an amazing leather mask art studio. Nothing like you have ever seen before. The artist, trained in Italy uses cow, goat, and pig hides as well as fish skins and shells to create incredible works of art in the form of masks.

It was time to hit the road and get back on down the mountain before dark. Again we had a wonderful day in paradise.

Eileen & Paul