Sonora 3

Sonora--Mexico's Wild West
by Bob Brooke

The Charm of Alamos
Spanish conquistador Coronado visited this Sonoran colonial town set in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental in 1531 but settlement didn't occur until silver was discovered in 1663. It was originally named ‘Real de los Frailes" (Mining camp of the friars), referring to two nearby peaks that resemble monks.

At its peak, Alamos was the wealthiest town in Sonora–miners extracted over $500 million worth of silver from nearby mines over 200 years--and attracted immigrants from all over the Pacific, including a number of Chinese and Japanese, who founded a silk factory and were expelled in 1916 for having too much economic power.

The town prospered between 1750 and 1880. A series of rebellions by Yaqui mine laborers, followed by the 1910-20 revolution, brought all mining to a halt by the 1920s–the town quickly declined.

Today, Alamos has about 6,000 residents, many of them expatriate North Americans who have restored the charming Sonoran-style casas wrapped around interior courtyards in the center of town. But Alamos has managed to hold onto a traditional feel partially because of, rather than in spite of, the gringo presence. Around 250 Americans and Canadians have houses here but fewer than a dozen live here year-round.

I found the expat group in Alamos different from their San Carlos counterparts. Although most gringo homeowners reside only in winter, many take the time to learn Spanish and support the town's cultural events.

I decided to go for a walk before dinner. Homeowners sweep the streets of Alamos' cleaner than anywhere else in Mexico. Declared a National Historic Monument by the Mexican government, it has no billboards and no neon. Every sign or exterior renovation, in fact, must be approved as stylistically compatible before being displayed. Though the entire town can be seen on foot in less than two hours, I decided to hold off on a more in-depth exploration until the following day.

But for now, hunger drove me to Los Palermos, a cozy restaurant overlooking the Plaza de Armas. I sat outdoors under the portico and watched life on the plaza while I slowly savored a dish of molcajete stew, a mixture of chicken, onions, cheese, and green pepper boiled in a pot.

The following I began my tour of Alamos at the Plaza de Armas, a wide-open square crowned by an ornate, lacy wrought iron gazebo surrounded by an extensive rose garden rimmed with royal palms. Old houses, since converted into inns and restaurants, line its perimeter. At the far end stands La Parroquia de la Purisima Concepcion, a large stone church completed in 1786 after the Yaqui destroyed the adobe original in a 1772 uprising. At the opposite end is the compact Museo Costumbrista de Sonora, a small museum containing historic exhibits on Alamos mining, including a room plastered to look like a mine interior.

Adjacent to it stands Plaza Alameda a lovely square shaded by alamos (cottonwood) trees. The traditional evening promenade usually takes place here.

The City of Alamos is over three hundred and seventy years old and one of the best preserved. In the mid seventeen hundreds, King Carlos III of Spain sent a surveyor general to map out the city streets. Mansions were built by prospering silver barons.

I found the many restored homes to be simple, imposing, block-like, single-story structures with grand entryways and tall, iron-grilled windows–at least from the outside. The most elaborate of them feature portales, sheltered walkways featuring Doric columns, topped with Roman arches. However, behind the facades, the houses follow a U-shaped or L-shaped plan around flower bedecked central courtyards. Since all of these houses are private residences, the only way to view them is to purchase an $8 ticket for the weekly House and Garden tours given each Saturday morning.

After soaking up the Old Mexico atmosphere Alamos, I headed over to Ciudad Obregon to drop my rental car and fly home.

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