Friday, December 29, 2023
This morning we woke up early and went for a hike. One of our goals for these winter months is to go hiking as much as possible so we be in shape for the Camino. Well, it’s been so busy just visiting friends that we haven’t had much of a chance. So today we decided to change that.
There are a couple of tall hills just behind the Ayala’s houses, and on the first of those there is a statue that looks like Jesus, but it’s San Judás (Judasito) -- also known as Judas Thaddeus, possibly a brother or cousin of Jesus. As Saint Jude, he’s the Patron Saint of Hopeless Causes. In the US we know him best as the inspiration for Saint Jude’s children’s hospital. I’m sure I’ll have a chance to write much, much more about the veneration of saints, but I will just say here, that I’m grateful for the inspiring and faith-promoting stories that surround the saints. Jude in particular, as the patron saint of the impossible, seems like a great companion on our Gran Aventura.
The hike was not long (about a mile up and back), but it involved a lot of scrambling over rocks and boulders -- which is hard for River’s tiny legs. I ended up carrying her during much of those parts. In the end, she and the rest of us ended with a smile.
The hike wasn’t long, but it definitely helped some of us worked up an appetite (which I thought might never come back after the dogos last night). Personally, I was not in the mood for eating a ton, because my digestion just wasn’t up to snuff. After I confessed this to the crew, Valentín made a steaming cup of what he called “Té Divino” (Divine Tea), which Vale (who is a medical doctor) swears will make “even the bad spirits” come out of you.
I took the tea with some trepidation, and decided to go with the team to get some tacos de birria.
Birria has an interesting history . When the Spanish conquistadores came to the Americas, they brought with them a bunch of goats, which soon overpopulated -- creating a problem for the Spanish because they didn’t like the meat. So they gave the goats to the natives, who proceeded to marinate the meat in all kinds of spices including vinegar, dried chiles, garlic, and herbs to make something truly scrumptious. The Spanish called it birria, which is a word used to describe something ugly or of little value.
Clearly, those conquistadores either didn’t taste the meat, or they gave the name as a joke. Birria is awesome, and these tacos de birria were amazing. In Sonora, it’s pretty common to eat birria for breakfast, and the birriería where we ate on this morning has limited seating. If you don’t make it by a certain time, you just have to wait until tomorrow.
One unique thing about birria is that they give you on the side a cup or bowl full of broth to go along with your tacos. At this birriería they called the broth bichi, which is a Mexican word for “naked” because it’s just the broth -- nothing else with it. You can doctor up the bichi with cilantro and onions and lime and salsa, and it’s just perfect on a cool morning like today.
After birria, we went back to the Ayala Córdoba house and played a bunch more games and visited. It was so much fun! River especially enjoyed playing with the Ayala Luna “boys with the hair” Hyrum, Heber, and Helaman -- great LDS names. And it was so cool to meet someone in Mexico who is named after my great great grandfather :)
After a while of playing, we had to eat again. This time it was tortas, which are sandwiches with cochinita pibil (slow roasted pork marinated in citrus and vinegar and achiote), and dressed with lettuce, tomato, guac, and spicy onions.
Then we loaded up the car and headed down to Guaymas for the next stage of our journey. The sunset was just finishing as we drove into Miramar, Guaymas. We’re so excited to be here.
In Guaymas, we are staying with Betty’s cousin, David, and his wife Irene. They also have two young daughters, Dairén, and Mía.
At some point in the afternoon, my plumbing started working again (Té Divino indeed!), and I was so grateful. Despite the late hour, David was hungry, and kept inviting us out for dogos, but after what I’d been through it was a hard pass for me. We’ll eat more in the future, but today is not the day.
As I get ready for bed tonight, I’m thinking that things are going to be good here.
Hours in the car today: 1.5
Total travel hours in the car: 48.5
Miles Driven: 84
Total Miles Traveled: 2,757