Alamos, Sonora Mexico

View from La Mirador, viewpoint above Alamos

One of the places Dr Elizabeth Petit goes to provide health care to Guarijío natives in Sonora and Chihuahua Mexico requires two days ride on horseback.  We didn’t do that ride, but our little group feels a bit battered after driving just two hours (and maybe 45 minutes of it on an eroded dirt road) out of the lovely city of Alamos, Sonora.  Burapaco and Mesa Colorada, our destinations, are the most easily reached of the places “Dr. Betsy” and her team are committed to serve. 

Church Clock Tower, Alamos.

Dr Betsy is rather well-known in Alamos, where her base camp is located.  Barbara Kiernan, a member of the Catalina (Tucson) Rotary Club met her during her extensive travels in Mexico and is writing and fundraising for a Rotary Foundation Grant to provide supplies for the Clinic’s work in these remote villages. Barbara, too, is a determined sort, and the two of them make an impressive combination.  These grants provide matching funds and have strict criteria for approval.

Dr. Elizabeth Petit

I was there last weekend in my capacity as Grants Chair for one of the two Rotary Districts in Arizona and, if I’m honest, because this trip sounded like a rare adventure.

Guity and his Paella

Rotary Global Grants require that clubs in at least two countries collaborate.  The “Host Club” for this project is the Rotary Club of Navojoa, about an hour’s drive from Alamos.  We were hosted by this 22-member club for a Paella lunch (Guity, shown here with his creation wins contests with his secret recipe) and to hear about their work in the community.  While many service clubs volunteer and donate money to good causes, these guys (for they are all men, common in Mexican Service Clubs) run a first-rate day care and are building a Boys and Girls club, one of only 6 in Sonora so far.

Women warming the tamales, Burapaco

We gringos followed Dr Betsy in her Toyota FJ into Burapaco.  She drove a little faster than we, but each time we’d catch up with her talking with a couple of cowboys on horseback or a mother with her daughters.  She invited them to join us for tamales she’d brought, and by the time we arrived, there were 80 or more people there to enjoy the 40 tamales.  Not to be deterred, we cut each in half and the Americans deferred eating to the locals.   

Meeting under a tree, Burapaco

Dr Betsy draws a map

Elizabeth took advantage of the captive audience (gathered in the shade of a tree) to explain her plans for the rural health system, complete with a map drawn in the dirt with a stick and with an emphasis on community ownership of the project.  

Curandera Cornelia, Mesa Colorada

Among the audience is Cornelia, the local Curandera (traditional healer) who is an integral part of the health plan for this village.

There’s more to say about this trip, like good cheap street tacos and sunset on the beach in San Carlos, but you’ve heard the important part.  Please let me know if you’d like to get involved.

Consolation Prize

Winter storm coming through Powell Point, Grand Canyon

 When the skiing is not good in Utah, my husband and I have some of the best adventures as self-imposed consolation prizes.  Once when we were there already we spent a day on Antelope Island.  Another trip we canceled altogether and hit the road for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

After last week’s cancellation we camped at Grand Canyon’s South Rim in anticipation of a small snowstorm Tuesday night.  South Rim can be prohibitively busy in the warmer months, but much quieter this time of year.  I especially enjoy the opportunity to drive my own vehicle on Hermit Road, which is accessible only by bus March-November.

El Tovar Hotel Fireplace

As much time as I spend here, I forget that my husband has only experienced the South Rim twice.  So, when the light was not great, we took the opportunity to do some non-photographic stuff like ranger programs, museums, and what we called the “Fireplace Tour;” Bright Angel Lodge, El Tovar Hotel, Desert View, and Hermit’s Rest.  Great places to warm up, and three of the four Mary Colter designs.  I think his favorite was the Kolb Studio Tour, an opportunity to see not only the photography studio and art exhibit, but also the residence of the Kolb Brothers (and ultimately Emery and family), who took photographs and showed a movie about their Grand Canyon adventures for 61 years.   Emery died in his 90s in 1976.

We also enjoyed a visit with photographer friends from California and Georgia, who were in to do a workshop with Adam Schallau.  I admired his work, and it was a pleasure to meet this gracious guy.

All three sunsets this trip were grey.  That’s the nature of this kind of photography; you never know what you will or won’t see.

Sunrise light, undisclosed viewpoint, Grand Canyon

One sunrise was spectacular, though; worth the hike in the dark to a place where no one else was.

And then it snowed.  I was so excited that I woke at 4:30, opened the door, and tested the snow depth on the camper’s back bumper; only about 1 ½ inches, but I knew we’d have a show once the light came up.  People tend to hope for sunshine at the Canyon, but really there’s nothing like these rare storm conditions to show it off.  Snow changes everything for the better.  It is, as my Ranger friend says, like winning the lottery.

Clearing winter storm, Grandview Point, Grand Canyon

We spent the morning driving and walking the rim, and it was over an hour before we saw another soul, a man riding a bicycle on Hermit Road.  He must have been going to work – there’s no way he’d be doing that for fun!

The ebb and flow of cloud and fog was beautiful for hours, and I stayed much longer than I had planned.  Weather like this trumps all but the most important appointments back in the city.

More images from this trip are in the Winter 2017-18 Gallery on the website.