This may be the tastiest meal I had in my trip to the states of Guanajuato and Michoacán during the autumn of last year. It may have been the least expensive, as well, purchased from a roadside stand on the outskirts of Pátzcuaro.
Just pork, rice, beans, tortillas, and a glass of Jamaica (hibiscus drink).
Each year I travel to a different part of Mexico to observe and photograph Day of the Dead activities.
This year I returned to Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, which has an especially strong tradition.
Over the next week or two I'll share photos taken in Patzcuaro or its neighboring communities.
One afternoon I had a meal on a lovely side street near the town square.
I had my camera ready in case anything of interest transpired in front of me.
This trip was different from previous trips in that a high percentage of my shots were taken with my iPhone (15 Pro).
I found that, aside from the ease of using the phone as a camera, the quality of the pictures is much higher than those from my previous phone (the 12 Pro). While I'm not replacing my high-end Nikon for bird and sports photography, the phone's quality as a camera (especially at night!) means that many travel and food photos posted here are iPhone pictures. The small, compressed images in this blog, of course, make if hard to discern the differences, anyway.
A delicious tortilla soup:
A passerby:
Another:
In late October I spent an all-too-short 24 hours in San Miguel de Allende.
Upon arrival I headed to an Air BnB "Experience," a dinner with mezcal pairings at the Pavo Real Winery/Bed and Breakfast.
It was truly wonderful, and capped by this lovely Pan de Muerto dessert:
Random shots around the colorful town:
Outside an art gallery:
For a town of only 3000 inhabitants, Bernal has no shortage of dining choices.
Though only there for two nights, I enjoyed plenty of good food!
A rooftop breakfast of huevos divorciados, with the Peña de Bernal monolith in the background:
A different rooftop restaurant, with a wonderful pasta dish:
A decadent ice cream and brownie desert at Arrayán Restaurant at the wonderful lodging I stayed at:
All Pueblos Magicos in Mexico have a colorful sign such as this one:
The last stop on my week of birding in northern Baja California was the Estero Beach Hotel, south of Ensenada.
It is one of my favorite spots anywhere. It's a lovely hotel with a relaxed, non-pretentious atmosphere, and to top it off, it has a huge estuary (thus its name) full of birds.
A week of birding did not tire me out, but a week of driving did! Arriving at the hotel at sunset, I skipped birding and headed for dinner!
A margarita is always a good idea!
Though I have stayed at Las Palmas Hotel in San Felipe many times, I never realized that its restaurant, Alfredo's, was founded by Alfredo Bellinghieri Conti, the inventor of Fettucine Alfredo!
The story goes that he invented the dish while a chef at his busy restaurant in Mexico City.
Eventually he wanted a quieter existence so moved to San Felipe and opened a restaurant there.
The restaurant has recently been gorgeously remodeled.
Of course I ordered the fettucine!
The next stop on my tour of Colima and Jalisco was the town of Mazamitla, Jalisco.
Mazamitla, while perhaps unknown to Americans (as it was to me), is a popular weekend mountain resort for visitors from Guadalajara and elsewhere in central Mexico.
It is full of cobblestone streets, rental cabins, hiking trails and excellent restaurants.
My nice cabin:
While there, I searched for a restaurant that served Bote, a local specialty soup made with pulque.
I found one, Casa Magna, a block away from the town square.
Of the countless meals I have had in Mexico, this was one of the very best. It was a treat from start to finish. I would gladly return to Mazamitla just to eat in this restaurant!
Bote, the traditional soup of Mazamitla. Though I couldn't taste the pulque, it was delicious!
The birding highlight of my trip to Sinaloa and Nayarit was an overnight visit to the Tufted Jay Preserve in El Palmito, Sinaloa.
The Tufted Jay was unknown to ornithology until 1934, when the highway connecting Mazatlán to Durango was constructed.
The bird has a very limited range in the mountains of Sinaloa, Durango and Nayarit. The only feasible place for an outsider to see the birds is in the town of El Palmito.
In 2004 a preserve was established there to help maintain at least a small area of suitable habitat from encroachment of logging and other activities.
The caretaker of the preserve is Don Santos Vasquez, who served as my guide.
Don Santos has lived in El Palmito his entire life, and has learned the birds through a lifetime of observation.
Approaching the preserve:
There are rustic cabins for rent, which have gas stoves, hot water, and enough solar electricity to power a few LED lights:
Staying in these cabins is a treat. There are few places now that have no outside noise or light. This is one of them. The silence and darkness of the night was a unique experience, and I slept like a log!
Don Santos knows every inch of every trail on the preserve:
Besides the birds, the highlight of the trip was two lunches prepared by the family of Don Santos. In all of my hundreds of days traveling in Mexico, I have never tasted food so good!
Tortillas made from a local variety of blue corn, cooked on a wood-fire stove:
Chicken Mole, sabroso!
The birding highlight, was, of course, the Tufted Jays.
At the preserve we saw only a few, from a distance.
Driving back to preserve after lunch, however, I noticed a flock of birds alongside the highway. Some of the birds were Tufted Jays!
Tufted Jays are communal birds, traveling in flocks of around 12-15 birds.
An adult Tufted Jay:
A fledgling waiting to be fed:
A visit to the preserve can best be arranged through Onca Explorations, with the assistance of Oscar Guzón Zatarain, a naturalist in Mazatlán.
Over the next few days I'll be posting photos of some of the other birds seen at the preserve, most of them life-birds!
Like Santa Rita Lodge (see previous post), Ramsey Canyon Inn is a must-visit, idyllic spot for birding in Southeast Arizona, located near the town of Sierra Vista. Birds are attracted to the numerous feeders in the front and back yard, and you're likely to meet birders visiting from around the world.
To bird there, it is necessary to stay there, but you won't be disappointed with the lodgings (or the wonderful breakfasts, or the scrumptious desserts!)
Start the day with huevos rancheros ala Ramsey Canyon Inn:
A few highlights from two days of birding in August of this year:
Rivoli's Hummingbirds (formerly known as Magnificent Hummingbirds) were numerous:
White-breasted Nuthatch:
A female Rufous Hummingbird with its tail nicely backlit:
A Painted Redstart, showing all of its field marks in one photo:
When Painted Redstarts search for food, they flash their white outer tail-feathers. This picture nicely shows how the outer tail-feathers fold underneath the inner tail-feathers, like a fan. (It's that way in all birds)
The Blue-throated Hummingbird is also known as the Blue-throated Mountain-Gem (what a nice-sounding name!) It is the largest of all hummingbirds found in the United States, found primarily in Southeast Arizona. It looks big in the picture, it looks big in real life!
Black-headed Grosbeak, female:
Violet-crowned Hummingbird:
Honeybees are also attracted to hummingbird feeders:
The female Lazuli Bunting looks nothing like its male counterpart. There is a bit of lazuli on the tail-feathers, that's all! I think it's a lovely bird. Unfortunately, when this bird posed for me, a fencepost hid the tip of its tail.
Lesser Goldfinches, male and female, bathe in the backyard water fountain:
The handsome Hepatic Tanager:
During my visit to southeast Arizona, I saw a number of Arizona Woodpeckers, but from a distance. Leaving Ramsey Canyon Inn, heading to my car, I noticed this one, a fitting end to an idyllic visit to Ramsey Canyon.
Dalia and Leslie, in the kitchen of their restaurant, La Prieta, just south of Cataviña, Baja California. We had just finished delicious bowls of birria made of deer, and mother Dalia clowns around posing for my camera, as her daughter Leslie runs away in shyness.
Here my friend Peter shows them his pictures, to their delight.
