Down Mexico way, Vol. 4

We got up the next morning for our trip out to a friend's ranch for a couple of days. Her name is Stephanie and I found out when we got to her house that her thing is not getting in any hurry. I'm glad we had stopped in the plaza on the way over to Steph's for some breakfast fajitas. Smoking!
Anyway we finally got on the way in her SUV. I can't remember what kind it was but there were some well worn seats, a lack of A.C. and some shocks that had reached their limit long ago. It made for a bouncy, dusty 4hr.s or so getting to the ranch. We took a gravel road for the 7 mi.s or so with a stop at a small village on the way. Stephanie has been trying to get the villagers into selling arts and crafts so they can make some money. I ended up paying 20 pesos ($2.00 north 'merican) for a clay duck. Even though the pesos are 10 to 1 in relation to the dollar, I had trouble the whole time I was down there with looking at a 200 peso bill, for an example, and remembering that is only $20. It just never clicked.
After some time in the village, that's a picture of David bargaining away, we got back on the road for the rest of the ride. There is a place on the road called a "ramada" where Steph keeps a few burros and a couple of horses. We hung out for a while, took a little walk, and ended up at this covered shed for a break. That's when I went over and laid hands on this one burro. It was the frendliest of the bunch and now it's been healed. It was time to get back on the road, so we headed back out. There are some real nice vistas along the way including this flat-topped mountain called "cerro rodondo" (round mountain). This is the focal point of the trip that I remember. We finally got to the ranch building where we spent the night. The ranch hands pictured are, (from their right to left), Amalio, Pancho, Mingo, Tavo, and Dario. They took good care of us, feeding us supper that they made in the seperate cocina (kitchen). The whole meal was cooked over a wood fire and consisted of machaca, (shredded beef), rice, and veggies with tacos. That picture of David and the dogs shows the kitchen to the left and our sleeping quarters behind him. Before we hit the beds, which consisted of a frame with latticed ropes between and a sleeping pad thrown on top, we strung up mosquito netting, as much to keep any bugs from falling out of the thatched roof as any mosquitos. Sleep came pretty quick and I think the only noises were Stephanie chasing away a skunk before the dogs got hold of it. We had another day to go at the ranch, but I'll get into that next time. Toodles.