Journal entries 51-60
Last modified: April 17, 2012Security devices… dry tropical forest… good cops, bad cops… Sadnah and San… Doug Riseborough… population history… ode to the “mother range”"… human condition, Hotel La Posada… Los Tianguis… reflections from high ground…
60… Security is a concept that has many forms…
Single-minded security and glass recycling converge atop an exterior wall.
Glass fragments cemented to the top of public walls are akin to pre-electronic security patrol signs that dot present day southwest suburbia. The message is loud and clear, “no trespassing”. Would this “green” approach to home protection have stopped Carlos Conant and his 400 men from taking over Alamos in November of 1873 as they battled General Ignacio Pesqueira and his reformist Liberals. Conant collected $36,000 from Alamos merchants, to the victor goes the spoils.
There seems to be something askew with this home security scheme.
One wonders if a key still exists to open this lock? The door is proof that security devices come and go, in the above photo there are tell-tell signs of four previous systems. Would one of these have protected the property on February 8th, 1876 as Governor Jose Pesqueira took over Alamos and demanded money to support his cause and loyal troops? Alamos silver and business profits were a prize to be conquer by all factions in the midst of regional and national uprisings from 1855 through 1879. Today, the lock helps keep out large grazing animals.
Well dressed scare-crow guards dirt and dry brush in late Spring.
This attempt at security-scare-tactics doesn’t really look scary, it is more open arms warmly welcoming visitors. This casa, on the north bank of La Arroyo Aduana, sits on ground that would have been inundated during the October 1869 flood. 50 people died and 100 building in and around the Alameda were destroyed. This scare-crow was the best dressed scare-crow in Alamos. Boo!
59… Cactus and trees side by side in perfect harmony…
There are pockets where desert and scrub forest intertwine.
The Sonoran Desert and Sinaloan deciduous forest coexist in Alamos and surroundings hills. They both are evolving products of a climate that over the past millions of years has become more arid. The desert plants to the north have become accustomed to frost and less rainfall and the deciduous forest, already adapted to less rainfall, continues to adapt to the changing climate. The Sonoran Desert is a dry tropical forest, desert bushes near the border are trees in Alamos.
Sierra de Alamos peeks above dense summer growth on Rio Cuchujaqui.
Organ pipe cactus, competing for light, tower up above the dense canopy fueled by summer monsoons. During the dry spring most of these plants lose their leaves and a jungle becomes a brown stick forest with the only green being columnar cactus. The Sinaloan deciduous forest includes mesquite, hopbush, palo verdes, elephant trees, fig trees, orchids, bromeliads, lianas, acacias, palo blanco, octillo trees, Sonoran guava, torotes, palo fierro, brasil, Montezuma cypress, frangipani, amapa, kapk, octopus agaves, epiphytes and… Diversity abounds in this short tree forest with canopies on average twenty feet high.
Alamos: life above the Tropic of Cancer in a dry tropical forest.
The morning humidity is comfortable, a refreshing air shower punctuated by cries, songs and calls of mammals, birds and insects… In the distance one can hear the sounds of people moving across Alamos: a car’s brakes, a bus starting up, a school bell, voices hitch hiking great distances on summer breezes… As one looks down from Red Cross Hill on what was once a foothold, and support base, for Spaniards moving north to colonize the southwest one wonders has this summer view of the church and plaza, through a small window within abundant flora, changed much since the 1800’s?
58… A night worth remembering, a face never to forget …
Jewell like, isolated by hills and mountains, she sleeps in her valley.
I was on Mirador late at night taking photos and video of Alamos below. A chill in the midnight air offered relief from what had been a long hot late-spring day. I was alone with my equipment, thoughts and a sleeping Alamos tucked in beneath a deep-inky blanket of shimmering Sonoran stars. I could see a pickup truck traveling on streets below. It had left the plaza and turned right off of Calle Benito Juarez onto Calle Tacubaya headed southeast. It continued towards me on Calle Arroyo Barranquita. It was the only moving vehicle I could see or hear. Experience had taught me to use all my senses and be alert to potential danger. The truck disappeared from view but I could hear it was approaching. A minute later I saw head lights coming up the Mirador road to the overlook where I was.
It is quiet, a breeze rustles, and a lone vehicle moves through the streets.
There were two policemen in the small pickup. The driver was a man I had seen across the street from the baseball park. Every time I passed by, with camera bags and tripod, he shot me a cold stare that warned, “you are not welcomed!” Riding shotgun was the man pictured above guarding the Palacio. The pickup drove right up to me. The driver hopped out with that crazy look in his eye, he rushed towards, got in my face and demanded to know what I was doing. I backed away. The mustached policeman stepped in between us, turned to the driver, told him I was OK and suggested it was time for them to leave. There was a moment of silence as everyone considered the potential consequences. The driver said something under his breath, the two turned away, entered the truck, the driver slammed his door shut, started the engine, backed the truck away, turned around and headed down the road back to Alamos. The departing red taillights were a beautiful sight.
Here is someone who stepped forward at a time I needed protection.
From that time on the policeman with the magnificent mustache, I believe his first name was Antonio, and I would always acknowledge each other in passing with courtesy head nods and the realization he had helped me when help was needed. This shared experience made us both happy. From that moment on I avoided any contact with the other policeman. If I saw him driving the streets by himself at night I would duck into available shadows until he passed.
A foot note…
Alamos is straight ahead some 1,500 miles as the crow flies.
Where does the term as a crow flies come from? Have you ever watched a crow fly? The Spring shoot in Alamos was finished. At some point during the bus ride north across the Sonoran Desert, to continue documenting Upper Klamath Basin springs and waters, Timothy McVeigh blew up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. I had arranged to return and film Alamos in the summer. Friends in Alamos gave me advice on what to expect during the monsoon season: Gringos warned of heat, humidity and bugs… Mexicans invited me to experience the drama, vibrancy and color of their favorite season. It would become my favorite season.
Anders on Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge anticipating the moment.
As time neared to leave Klamath Falls and head back to Alamos I started to prepare. I revisited my Alamos work book suggestions of what to bring, what to do, what not to do… I packed protective clothing, mosquito netting, spray bug repellant and a light-bulb-box system to dry my cameras out at night. I started to climb hills and mountains, loaded down with camera gear, to get in physical shape to reach summer views of Alamos from high ground. This day, atop Pelican Butte looking southeast towards Upper Klamath Lake and Klamath Falls, was my last checklist session. I went through how I would approach the shoot as I looked across The Great Basin and Range towards Alamos. One important rule was clear: always avoid the policeman with the crazy stare and never, never, be in a situation where we were the only two people. I was ready to do my best.
I arrived in Alamos and was amazed by how much the countryside had changed. What was brown, dusty and sticks a few months back was now lush, green and overgrown. The summer shoot had begun. For the record… it was easier to document summer in Alamos than it was in the Upper Klamath Basin. Bugs and heat were a wash. Humidity, if you were on one of the Upper Basin lakes or rivers, was about the same. There was a brief period that the days were more intense on all comfort levels in Alamos, but they passed. The summer thunderheads were equally dramatic. It proved the point that Alamos and Klamath Falls, actually Tulelake, are geographically related: Tulelake is the northwest corner and Alamos is the southeast corner of the Great Basin and Range.
The policeman I told myself to avoid was no where to be seen. I learned he was considered by locals to be crazy and dangerous and he was recuperating in the hospital from multiple gun shot wounds. I saw him back on the streets in mid-September. I headed back north on September 30th.
Fore more information on my Klamath River Watershed project
visit tule-lake.com or moviefeats.com.
57… Music in Alamos is a many rhythmic thing…
Thursday night in Barrio Las Higueras, at Sadnah's home, is drum night.
Every inch of Sadnah’s casa was textured, patterned, colored, imaged and emotionalized. Her paintings were everywhere as were her drums. Barrio Las Higueras – The Trees, was on the southern side of Arroyo Agua Escondida. Sadnah’s casa was on the personal side of human expression, a ride into something ruled by the creative spirit, itself driven by a love of humanity. Call it a hippie house if you wish, but it is “hippie” in the best sense of the word and world – Sadnah was more a creator than a consumer. These drum sessions were spirited and brought folks together from different elements in search of the universal one-and-two-and… much like Alamos itself.
Many of the drums at Sadnah's were made by Eusevio Cortez.
I met “Chivo”, Eusevio Cortez, near the cemetery in Barrio La Compana on a bright Spring mid-morning to photograph him with a couple of his handmade drums. “Chivo” was highly respected by Sadnah, they were part of the same set of intersecting social groups. Being a drummer myself, one in a hundred people are, I respected what he was producing, the craftsmanship was excellent and the resulting tone strong and true. We were in the northwest corner of La Compana which is higher up a slope from the arroyo. It was as if I was in another land from where I awoke on Calle Comercio. Alamos Centro has an international – Spanish vibe. La Compana was Mexico. An Alamos experience is defined by where one is staying, who they are visiting, who they are related to and the activities-interests they are pursuing. Serendipity occurs if the spirit is willing and if one wants to shut out the outside world they can, it is their call. One barrio is a world separated by arroyos, roads, and hills from other barrios, they are little villages.
San Sanchez looks up to the mountain he loves, hikes and paints.
San could reach the top of Mt. Alamos faster than anyone else who accompanied me to the highest of high grounds. He flew across the trails, along with his dog, with the grace of the colorful parrots he admired and painted. It was a thrill to see this majestic birds flying across the canyons, a daring red flash of movement with bright rainbows of shimmering accents that caught any eye’s attention.
San lived with his girlfriend Karen in La Compana, lower and closer to the arroyo and cemetery than where I had met Eusevio Cortez earlier in the day. San was living the Mexican existence, life was hard, one had to maximize all available resources and waste none in a modest home with a couple of rooms in a neighborhood of working class casas. When I visited he was working on a panoramic detailed painting of being atop of Mt. Alamos looking southwest. It was a view that few have seen and there, of course, he had his beloved parrots flying.
San and Karen were also getting ready for a band practice with their bass player, T.J. Cook. T.J. had a long walk to La Compana from the other end of town west of the airport. This was serious business. They had a booked a gig to play at a gringo party. San showed me their playlist of ambitious and challenging tunes. It was if they were getting ready to play at Carnegie Hall and they wanted to let the world know they were at the top of their game. The heat of a late Spring mid-day hit me in the face as I left their darken house, dark to protect and preserve every bit of cool they could, on many levels.
56… Art in Alamos is a many splendor thing…
Artists and their studios share a relationship where one becomes the other. I was always interested in the progress a space was making one block off the Alameda on my favorite Alamos thoroughfare, Calle Francisco Madero. The narrow gently rising one-way street leading to the plaza has an old world sensibility, all homes are connected rooms sharing a common hallway, the street. And here on a corner was a place that had colorful trompe l’oeil beach murals on its walls. My first thought was these heroic scaled figures were part of Mediterranean scenes, but on lingering examination I realized it was Southern California. I could see through the partially opened wood shutters that the space’s floor was always empty, as if it was waiting for a business to move equipment in and entertain its patrons. Was it going to be an intimate disco-bar? An upper-end beauty salon? A self-help retreat run by transplanted beach gurus? So quiet. So strange. So… well, Alamos where many worlds can be one. Doug Riseborough, noted international muralist, relaxing at home. Sharon Bernard Harrison, aware of my interest in documenting artists of Alamos, arranged a morning coffee meeting with the painter Doug Riseborough. A dapper gentlemen dressed in white greeted me at the door and welcomed me into his home. His art was everywhere, including a large work on canvas over a couch seen in the photo above. The painting style was familiar, I had documented a couple of days earlier a mural at the Palacio by Doug featuring interaction between Conquistadors and Indians. One of Doug’s famous commissions was a mural displayed on the Avenues of Americas for the 1962 World’s Fair, The Ascendance of Stone Age Man to their Present State…. In it Chief Tarire was depicted severing the umbilical cord that connected him to his past. Doug traveled to the small Indian settlement where Chief Tarire had lived as research for the mural. Born in Canada, living in Los Angeles, Doug is at ease in Alamos. Doug, a small man in stature and a monumental presence with brush, projected an assured confidence. Aware of the camera, he collected his being and created a pose for each shot. I am sure Doug knew his best photographic side. One rule of thumb for an artist is make your money on the road and Doug had done his share of traveling including a four story mural in Hawaii presenting the creation of Maui. Other commissions took him to Rockefeller Center and a Saudia Arabian Prince’s palace. Doug thought it would be a good idea to photograph him at work in his studio. We left his house and walked down busy streets. And there we were. The mysterious space I mentioned at the start of this story was his paint studio. The only furniture was his easel and a table. His studio, with tall walls, allowed his imagination to soar and his subjects to come alive with each transcendent brush stroke. 55… Talking population: past, present and future… Alamos school kids attend Independence Day celebration in the Plaza. When I think of Alamos I think of its history and my first question is how many Indians were in the area when Diego de Guzman, nephew of Spanish explorer Cortes, passed through the region in 1533 on well traveled native trails. Mexico’s Indian population was estimated to be as high as 25 million in 1519, most living in the great valley of Mexico. By 1523 the considered Indian population had been reduced to 16.8 million and further cut to 6.3 million by 1548. The Indian population continued to decline in 1580 with a thought of 1.9 million and one million in 1605. If these numbers are any way close to what actually happened they speak of apocalyptic times for Mexico’s Indians. People from many nations have walked, for centuries, on these cobblestones. The population of Alamos through the years is sketchy at best. The first information I could find was for 1760 when Alamos had an estimated 800 families and a population of 3,400 with 5 – 6 priests. At this time the world’s population was 846 million. The stories of population are the stories of birth, migration and death. Alamos populations fluctuated during the 19th Century as mining and political interests rising rose and fell, came and left.1800, Alamos estimated population was 9,000. Through feast and famine there has been a Sunday promenade in the Plaza. Here is an outline of the population in 1908: 10,000 for the region. This figure is then broken down to 3,000 in Alamos, 1,000 in Aduana, 1,000 in Navajoa, 1,000 in Promontories, 1,000 in Minas Nuevas and 1,000 in Camoa. And here is a thought for the future, the largest migration across the USA – Mexico border may not be south to north, as it has been in the past, but retired baby boomers heading south during the coming decades. Planet Earth is always in motion, always changing. 54… Past, Present and Future come together effortlessly …. Surrounding wilderness serenades a moment of timeless quality. It is. Somewhere in the mountain Indian’s timeless spell, framed by stately 18th century Spanish architecture, and peppered with modern electronic gadgetry is a small quiet town whose women are beautiful and men handsome. This Shangri-La, at the very end of paved road from the west, is Alamos Sonora, Mexico. The sun has risen from behind these forbiding ridges, the silence is deafening. From here, looking east, one’s imagination is stirred by the forbidding, virtually impenetrable Another brilliant sunrise in an endless parade of days turning to centuries. The eye continues to sweep the horizon and returns, as it always does, to the cathedral’s classically proportioned three-tiered belfry announcing civilization on the half hour. Anders note: I went back to one of the first posts to this website to see what a re-edit would produce. The result is seen above. I changed one word. And now, here are these words as read by Bruce Miles with motion control movement through selected 35 mm slides. Enjoy. The conclusion to a Short History of Alamos, Sonora, Mexico embraces the Sierra Madre. 53… On things that make humans human and Alamos Alamos…. La Posada was once a hospital remodeled into a hotel and... Hotel La Posada was originally built in 1850 as a Military Hospital for Alamos by Angelina Almada. In the 1990’s it was remodeled into a hotel with swimming pool, eight bedroom suites and a dining room with 48 chairs. A young girl passes by the Hotel as she returns from school to her nearby family home. She lives in a modest barrio, her home has no arches and little ornamentation. She carries herself with grace and confidence. Our Anonymous shares a thought that I have considered many times, “A Mexican friend told me not to be so concerned about the fact that we have so much and they so little. They don’t think of themselves poor, he explains. Priorities exist even in the rudest of houses. Television antennas poke out of one-room shacks, well-dressed, immaculately groomed youngsters make their way to school having emerged from dwellings with dirt floors and no running water. But the small swept dirt yards of these houses will be well hidden behind a riot of purple, pink and red bougainvillea and petunias in coffee can planters, and I decided it is a matter of perspective, which leads me to question my own.” A remark I will always remember came during a morning coffee break as I was filming in Alamos. An abundantly wealthy gentleman shared that he could not tell if I was rich or poor. We both knew it was a complement. A spirit of community extends yard care into the street. It is common to see someone sweeping the street in front of their house. It is as if their property begins in the center of the road. This practice, the pride of home ownership spilling over onto public property, helps keep Alamos, Sonora, Mexico clean looking. In downtown Alamos official city workers also come by hand-sweeping the streets and public plazas. A portion of the Hotel La Posada remains a ruin. The Hotel’s remodeling remained true to the original historic footprint. In the back, up against El Mirador’s steep western slope, a section of surgery and recovery rooms remains. Today is a reflection of yesterday. The pain, anguish, hope and blessings that these walls have known paints a larger vision of humanity reaching out to humanity. In a way, these rooms also hand-swept out to the center of life’s road, here was care for injured and ill. Blue sky is the roof to the old operating room, both a reminder of good. Here is a comment that arrived from Carloyn Leigh about La Posada: 52… Thoughts from an anonymous source, photos by Anders…. I have always enjoyed creative collaboration. One of my goals is to edit and design a book – DVD intermixing my photographs, and videos, with words from people who know Alamos well. The followingly thoughts were given to me by in 2003 by Kit Nuzum as I was beginning to edit video from Spring and Summer of 1996. I think someone else wrote these words with, or, for Kit, possibly Liliana Carosso. For the time being we will credit the famous Anonymous. Sunday morning is market time in Arroyo La Aduana. “The Tianguis, a Sunday open air market where for four dollars we acquired six tomatoes that smell vine ripened, five avocados in appropriate stages of ripeness for a week’s worth of guacamole, two dozen unwashed ranch eggs, half a kilo of excellent Chihuahua cheese, three bedding plants and the pleasant aftertaste of breakfast at the best fish taco stand in Sonora…” Discerning eyes, aware of quality and bargains, shop for produce. “Like the blast of ranchero music from the adjacent CD stand accompanying purchases at our favorite produce stall, the gentle generosity of the Mexican psyche makes us love marketing and Mexico itself…” A proud face made beautiful by life's challenges and aging wisdom. My notebook indicate that this woman’s name is Alejandico Lopez. I would be so happy if these notes were right. And now back to Anonymous… “Learning to be quick of hand when the Mexican housewives crowd in ahead of you and plop their purchases on the scale while you patiently stand aside, they know you are a gringo. You wear silver not gold, white women wear men’s hats, so you extend an extra effort to be courteous. Never mind, just get these potatoes on the scale, that cilantro looks nice…” They come from all over the region with things to buy and sell. 51… From here one can see forever into the past, present and future…. Mirador, here is a place to see beyond, and within, what is... If I had been a Mayo, Warihio or Basiroa Indian camped out along Arroyo La Aduana and Aqua Escondido before the Spanish arrived in the Alamos Basin I most likely would have spent quality time atop this hill. It is human nature to seek out 360 degree views from high ground. It is late spring, warm dry and dusty, looking south at Sierra de Alamos. The tropical deciduous forest of Sierra de Alamos and surrounding hills provided building materials, burnable fuel, and mine timbers for the first Spanish settlers. This rich resource of short trees including Palo balanco, torotes, amapa, kapok, Sonoran quava, palo fierro and Montezuma cypress provided fire for centuries. Here the miners found protect-able flat land, reliable water sources and wood. They began to build a town, Real Minas de la Limpia Concepcion de Los Alamos, a short distance from the productive Aduana mines. Our eye is panning from south to west to Cacharamba and Aduana. The Sea of Cortez, today, is an easy couple of hours car ride compared to the many days it took mule trains to bring supplies from off-loading Philippine galleons that used Cacharamba as a navigational aide. Looking to the northwest New Spain feared the advancing Russian, english and French expeditions and settlers. There was an urgent to create a settlement in what is now San Francisco. The Mexican viceroy commissioned Lieutenant Colonel Juan Bautista de Anza to establish a Spanish presence in Alta California. de Anza arrived at Alamos in May 1775 with an additional 150 settlers who joined the expedition as he traveled north through Culiacan, El Fuerte and Villa de Sinola. He regrouped in Alamos. He arranged for new mule drivers, and mules, from Hermosillo to replaced those had that brought him from Mexico City. Here in Alamos, he was given 12,000 pesos by the Royal Silver Bank to buy supplies and pay his troops, muleteers and servants. This would be the most important stop on his mission to protect New Spain’s interests. Looking north one becomes all and all becomes one. In recent times, how many have stood here looking towards “Otra Lado” thinking of becoming part of the great northward migration? Back then, de Anza left Alamos on September 29, 1775 with 200 men, women and children including 49 twelve local families. One day in 1985, I watched hundreds of Mexican men, women and children run en-masse north on Highway 5’s southbound lanes. Shortly after, I was visited in San Diego by someone I had met in Alamos, he asked that I not be angry as he headed north to join relatives. The irony is that his relatives maybe be relatives of the first European settlers in California, and I am a first generation American with parents from Canada and Sweden. It is all relative on this small planet, third stone from the sun. De Anza arrived at his destination on March 28, 1776 with 247 colonists and established a presido, military fort, overlooking the beautiful San Francisco, not Little Moscow, bay. Return to Journal entries 41-50 or forward to Journal entries 61-70 ©2011 Anders Tomlinson, all rights reserved. 
6,000 are estimated to have died from the plague in 1770.
1780 Alamos reaches its largest population, 15,000 to 30,000. Can you imagine what the lifestyles of both rich and poor were in this protected valley at that time?
1803, there are some 7,900 folks here.
The world’s population reached one billion by 1804.
1825, Alamos population is an estimated 5,000 to 7,000.
1837, an interestingly specific figure of 2,872 people is noted.
1849, 4,300 inhabitants call Alamos home. At this time many miners have, or are, leaving for the California gold fields.
1850 – 1880, the population apparently remains a steady 5,000.
The first official Mexican census was accomplished in 1895.
The world’s population reaches two billion in 1927.
The population estimate for the region in 1940, official census count, was 21,477: 11,543 men and 9,835 women. I found another from another source that the population of the city at this time may have been 5,369 hombres and 4,848 mujeres over the age of six.
The world’s population reaches three billion in 1960, four billion in 1974, and five billion in 1987.
The census for 1990 has Alamos with 6.132 inhabitants and a total of 13,000 for the municipality.
The world’s population reaches six billion in 1999 and is forecasted to reach seven billion in 2011.
Today, Alamos population estimates are 13,000 for the city and 30,000 in the municipality. 
Sierra Madre Occidentals. This is the legendary “Mother Range” protecting Mexico’s great central plateau. Behold ridge after volcanic ridge, separated by deep narrow canyons, marching on for a hundred miles, and climbing to ten thousand feet where giant hawks and eagles soar. The monumental silence is all powerful. Time is reduced to mere sand, worn off of towering rock faces and airborne on the wind. These endless ridges conjure up stark silhouettes of reclining warriors, upon whose barren stomachs humble life persists. Over the horizon, to the southwest, is the famous Copper Canyon region.
Past, present and future comes together, in a special way, as one walks down hand swept cobblestone streets listening to laughing children behind bougainvillea-crowned walls.
Here, is the eternal blue sky that is Alamos, Sonora, Mexico.
Here, Bishop Reyes’ Cathedral in the Plaza, a three-tiered belfry, shines gold in morning light. Here, looking east, one’s imagination is stirred by the forbidding beauty of the Sierra Madre Occidentals. Together, they shape the Alamos experience. Video…
“One note that might be nice to add about La Posada is that Merv Larson rebuilt from ruined heaps of melted adobes. He was the originator of the realistic artificial rocks and other environment landscaping techniques at Tucson’s Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.
Later he had a private company and when he sold it, he put the money into La Posada. He decided to leave parts of the old building/signs intact. Merv built using the original adobe size, don’t remember the exact dimensions, but quite large. Originally he planned to add a second story to the restored structure. His landscaping was all native plants similar to the Desert Museum’s style. We own the small home across from the Dales, which was originally part of that property. The Dales and Merv were building at the same time, so there was a lot of traffic on our quiet barrio lane.” 
Sunday, north of Arroyo La Aduana, there is an open-air market filled with people and music. Meals, snacks, produce, clothing, toys, tires, bikes, tools and what ever folks bring to sale fill out both sides of a colorful promenade. It is a wonderful place to shop and meet neighbors, family and friends, new and old. These market scenes were filmed during Christmas, 1993. Video…
Instinctively, community survival needs a watch tower in the sky as does each individual searching for their moments of inner refection. Today, Cerro Perico, aka Mirador, is that accessible spot that everyone who visits Alamos should visit to understand where they truly are.
