With family/Con familia

January 08, 2014

Up and at ‘em! Light changes perspectives: what last night was a beautiful pool of sparkling starlight today is a green swimming hole that begs you to jump in and be happy! But the trail calls and onward we ride. Up canyons, through canyons and down canyons for most of the morning as we ride deeper into the Sierra San Francisco heading for the ranch of Don Nacho and his family. On the way we stop for just a little, posing as we admire the landscape we have ridden through.

As go through the valley where a few ranching families have put down their roots we start passing some ranches who all belong to parientes of Don Nacho or Chema. We stop at one for coffee and get some delicious pea soup, as well as a blast from the past in the form of a still used and functional fantastic old stove. I think of my stove back home and, while I appreciate not having to cut wood every day to power it, I would love to cook on one of these things. Think how many meals it has prepared in its lifetime and all the places it probably was before settling down in a palapa kitchen in Baja.

Mientras cruzamos el valle donde algunas familias rancheras han echado raíces nos topamos con varios que le pertenecen a familiares de nuestros guías. Paramos en uno para saludar y tomar un cafecito, pero nos birndan una excelente sopita de habas y un vistazo al pasado en forma de esta maravillosa y aun funcional estufa vieja. Pienso en mi estufa en La Paz y, aunque agradezco el no tener que ir en busca de leña cada día, pienso que me encantaría cocinar en uno de estos. Imagina cuantos platillos ha preparado y cuantos lugares a visitado antes de encontrarse en esta cocina de techo de palapa.

We bid gracias and hasta la próxima to our hosts as we head about half an hour more down the trail to visit the family of Don Nacho. By the way, this is Don Nacho Arce, a relative of Chema J, not Nacho Chiapa. As we arrive and are warmly received by the whole family we discover we have a surprise waiting for us. We have two new members for the expedition! I hereby present Coco and Nug. And if you don’t know what that means head to a Mexican store and see if they have any coconugs… go ahead, they are delicious!

Les damos las gracias y la despedida a nuestros anfitriones y le seguimos media hora mas  para visitar la familia de Don Nacho. Nos reciben con calidez y nos muestran una sorpresa. Tenemos dos miembros nuevos de nuestra expedición! Les presento a Coco y a Nug J. Recuerdan esos dulces? Son deliciosos!