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Thursday, March 15, 2018

Off on a ride to Concordia

We haven’t been to Concordia this year so we decided it was time.  It’s an easy ride now that there is a Mazatlan bypass and we don’t have to go through the city.

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If you draw a line from #2 to #3 that is approximately where the bypass route takes you.  It takes a lot of miles and also tension out of the ride! 

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Heading out to the toll road and there is a bigger bike heading in.

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The first time we used the bypass last year our moto toll was 20 pesos and now it’s 23. 

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We get off the bypass at Villa Union  and make a right before we can make a left to Concordia.  No signs that would tell you what you need to do!

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Up over the toll road and on to Concordia.

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Lots of stinky chicken barns not far out of Villa Union.

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Heading down the highway.

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Wow….new pavement.

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As we get closer to Concordia the pottery starts to appear.  See that red clay….guess what it makes.  Some of it is actually recycled red clay bricks.

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And now the handmade furniture.  Most of the chairs are extremely uncomfortable with their very straight backs.

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Coming into Concordia and they have beautified with palm trees here as well.

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The sign on the gate is raised and painted as well.   The clock says it’s lunch time!   Sinaloa doesn’t go onto daylight savings time until April 1st. 

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We head up the road into centro but we don’t get far before the road is blocked.  No pictures as we were both trying to figure out which way we should go.  They appear to be upgrading services everywhere and all sorts of streets were dug up.  Luckily we’ve been here many times before so it wasn’t as confusing as it could have been. 

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Just passing the square on our way to El Granero where we’ll eat lunch.

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That got a bit tricky too as the sign that you see above the door when we were here last year was gone.  We weren’t sure if the restaurant was even still here so Eric stopped and I got off to take a look.  No problem everything was as normal inside.  A little odd as many gringos eat here and with no sign, no sidewalk tables and umbrellas outside to alert you….no business.  Maybe they just painted and haven’t put it back up….who knows. 

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Tortilla chips, salsa and beans for a gratis appetizer.

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Eric had burritos machaca (filled with tasty meat and sauce.)

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I had tortilla soup and a couple of cheese quesadillas.   I could have done without the quesadillas!  Funny enough the harina or flour tortillas here in Mexico are always a bit sweet which I don’t care for.  At home they aren’t sweet.  Eric prefers corn tortillas but they didn’t give us a choice.

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Lunch is over and a walk around town and the square didn’t work out as there was way too much construction everywhere.  The road out of town was not under construction so there was no problem with that.

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Piles of sand and a cement mixer ready to go.

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Really nice old buildings here in Concordia.

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The huge old church just off the square.  It’s nice to stroll around the square after lunch but…not today.

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What a mess!

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So we’re out of town and heading back towards Villa Union and this bus is right on our ass!  He passed and then slammed on his brakes to let someone off….what a mentality!

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Almost back to the bypass and there’s a little Volkswagon bug ahead of us.

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This sure beats the heck out of the old road back to Mazatlan.

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Almost home and they are cleaning up the road.  If they don’t pick up the bags of garbage fast enough they are all broken apart and all over the place.

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Instead of guys with machetes cutting the brush they have a brush mower on the back of a tractor.  That’s what Eric uses at home to keep our large acreage tidy.  Semana santa (March 25th to March 31st) is coming up soon so I guess that’s why they are cleaning up.  We plan to get out of “Dodge” before that happens. 

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The tell tale sign we are almost home…off in the distance…the Riu. 

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This is the sign on the lot (old trailer park) next to us.  It is announcing the residential housing that will go in around Las Jaibas.  Sigh!

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The second wave of the French Caravan is in the back part of the park with us.    They arrived on Wednesday night and will leave on Sunday morning.  Today they were out on pulmonias for a sight seeing tour and this is them arriving back.  Lots of noise and chatter and then one guy turned on his boom box nice and loud…very polite don’t you think.  This group is much rowdier than the last and not friendly at all.  I hate that they pretend that they can’t speak English as they were all out there talking to the Pulmonia drivers…in english.  Pet peeve!

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This is a picture from last week when Eric and Sandy had a chat with a Quebecer from the caravan who had a big motorcycle lift on his rig.  The guy that was parked next to us last week was also very friendly and nice. 

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A last week’s sunset. 

Tonight was bingo night and I was off with the ladies to the Last Drop at about 5pm.  Unfortunately for Eric the caravan decided to have a party complete with amplified music, guitar and singing right in front of our rig.  It got so loud he had to go and sit over on the other side of the road at Amy and Sandy’s.  By the time I got home at 8:30 all was quiet.  Poor Eric!

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