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Day trips and tours from Alamos

day trips | guided tours for birding/rafting/riding/hunting/fishing

Day trips

• Trips to Aduana, colonial silver mining village | Arroyo Mentidero to Rio Cuchujaqui hike | Yavaros/Hutabampito fishing villages
• Day trips can be done on your own, but you may see and learn more if you hire a guide.
• Some areas in the hills outside of Alamos are dangerous because of growers guarding their "alfalfa" fields.
• The adventurous can take local buses that leave every afternoon on the Alameda (2) for small settlements around Alamos. Drivers sleep overnight at the farthest stop and return very early next morning.

Aduana's mines made Alamos rich. Its intimate historic church dates from 1630. The cactus growing high on the west wall is considered a miracle cactus whose shadow resembles the Virgin Mary. The stones beneath it are saturated with wax from offering candles. Aduana is quiet most of the time, its old walls crumbling among remains of the mines.

• La Aduana Art and Crafts, Cooperativa Artesanos is staffed by the ladies who open their shop to the left/east of the church when they see visitors in town. They sell local handicrafts, folk art and mineral specimens. We bought a coiled snake made of wood and bottle caps, cornhusk flowers and colorful quilted pillows. A second artisan's shop is below the church and has similar crafts. Both are worth checking out.

The old-style tienda (general store) on the west side of the plaza has a wonderful patinaed wood counter with faded green paint. We were told it came from Spain 100 years ago, but quién sabe?

• Aduana's Fiesta of Nuestra Señora de La Balvanera is in late November. The weekend before the Fiesta, the statue of the Virgin is taken from the Aduana church to the Alamos church in a Saturday procession. Before dawn on Sunday morning, the Alamos bells ring for the start of the quiet religious procession back to Aduana. During the week, pilgrims walk, some on their knees, from all over Sonora to fulfill their mandas or vows to the Virgin. The weekend of the Fiesta, Aduana is jammed with thousands of people, bands playing, food and religious artifact vendors. Take a bus to the junction or park on the highway and walk in as the road is packed with vehicles and people.

• To get there, turn south off the Alamos highway at Minas Nuevas which has a small historic church, an old silver mine and temporary kilns for firing burnt adobes. Follow the winding road across the arroyo and into Aduana, about 2 miles (3 km).

• See also: Our Lady of Guadalupe includes a photo from the Aduana church.

Arroyo Mentidero to Rio Cuchujaqui is a nice hike with a mix of desert and tropical birds, plants, animals and insects.

• Arroyo Mentidero crossing: drive south out El Camino Real towards El Fuerte. Go a little more than 6 miles (10 km) to the Virgin of Guadalupe shrine. It is a morning's hike downstream from there to the junction with the Rio Cuchujaqui and back. We saw bare-throated tiger herons, kingfishers, orioles, a mint green tree frog, wildflowers and butterflies. Watch for families of coatimundis on the banks.

• In the dry, river beds are easy walking, but in the rainy season there are sudden, deadly flash floods. Lock your car and don't leave valuables in it. Take drinking water.

Yavaros and Hutabampito are at two ends of a bay. The long white sand beach and tidal estuary between them is an important birding area.

• Yavaros is a fishing port with a sardine cannery. There is also a salt works. In season, nets of clams for sale hang from ramadas. Shrimp are in season from September-March. There is a shrimp farm in Hutabampito.

  Birds fill the bay and estuary. Look for pelicans, frigate birds, herons, cormorants and assorted shore birds like the blue-footed boobies. See Stephanie Meyer's Sonora coastal bird list.

• Beach houses line a short lane on the sandy bay between Yavaros and Hutabampito. Some can be rented. Look for signs or inquire in Alamos. Seafood restaurants open onto the beach.

• To get there from Navojoa, take the highway to Huatabampo. The road goes through a large agricultural area with small stalls selling produce and a 7th Day Adventist school and store.

  In Huatabampo, pass the Plaza Juarez which has a museum about President Obregõn. Take the road to the coast. At the junction, Yavaros is to the left and Hutabampito to the right.

Guided tours/birding/natural history/crafts/rafting/riding

• Check AlamosMexico.com at http://www.alamosmexico.com/ for current information on group or private tours and guides.

• Hunters fly their planes into the Alamos airport which has a 4,000 ft. (1,220 m.) paved landing strip.
• There is fishing at nearby Lake Mocuzari. Turn north at the junction off the Alamos highway.

• See also: Tours and attractions in Alamos

• Other interesting tours are Sonora's colonial Spanish missions, diving trips from Guaymas/San Carlos and Copper Canyon train rides starting from El Fuerte or Los Mochis south of Alamos. Northern Sonora includes the beach resort of Rocky Point/Puerto Peñasco and the stunning volcanic craters of the Sierra Pinnacate.

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