Tis the migration season for the wild Canadian snowbirds, so time for one more adventure. This one was to explore the area NE of Colima, better known as "las rocas estan cayendo, las rocas estan cayendo".

Actually it was to search for the mythical (it turns out) paradise known as San Antonio - no, not Texas, not the one two blocks west of the casa, nor any of the twenty or thirty spread all over Mexico - this was a specific one near Colima, which by the way was an early capitol of Mexico. It's unclear as to why the capitol was moved, possibly due to it's proximity to the volcano, so they moved to the other side of Mexico and built Mexico City, yes, right next to another volcano and on ground that is settling, go figure?

Enough "history", back to the adventure. Colima is a nice city and a place my trusty navigator (?), neighbor, friend, artist, cook and especially etc. has considered living, but there is one small problem - it's HOT HOT HOT! So, this guy at the beach said San Antonio was up in the mountains and much cooler and houses were cheap, so for a year now the siren call for the promised land has called from a distance and we decided to make one last pilgrimage before she migrates back to Canada for the mosquito/bear season.

Unlike the early explorers we have a GPS, so with Earth Google satellite images and coordinates of the possible site we launched out of compound early tax day (with the unearned income I've been promised by the IRS?) heading for Colima/San Antonio? The first hour is a waste of time because you have to go W through Joco, then N over the pass to go S on the quota. Then there are about 60 miles of lovely dry lakes punctuated by the occasional roadside mini-shrine built in memory of someone that apparently didn't make it across the dry lake (probably died of thirst).

Then you head into an area of cane fields and then rather rugged mountains. The new quota, toll road, shoots you through the area and out the other side to Colima which is only about 30 miles from the coast. Everything here is green and quite nice with a distinctly different look than where we live. But, the GPS wanted me to turn at Tonila where I was at Christmas? - turns out I forgot to complete the programming, so the GPS went from being a leader to a passive bystander.

We turned short of Colima and motored through the cobblestone streets of Comala, a neighbor city and then into the hills. The area is lush and the road was good, so the trip was looking great. My navigator has a habit, as we're careening along, she'll suddenly shout "stop, stop the car" and you never know why, it might be to prevent driving off a cliff, it might be to save the life of an errant canine, or more likely to explore a shop, or vendor selling something (gourds for instance) or some other point of interest. I've learned not to panic and cram on the brakes and have developed a multi-faceted response, I simultaneously gently remove my foot from the "full speed ahead" pedal, placing it gently on the "whoa up" pedal while rolling my eyes in preparation for whatever it is we should explore.

So it was as we approached the turn into the village of Suchitlan whose streets are "reverse" cobblestone paved. By that I mean (apparently) hundreds of years ago when the streets were paved with the ubiquitous cobblestones they carefully examined each of the millions used and when they found the flattest side they placed it on the bottom, the logic being the ground underneath was flat, so this was the best match. Of course they hadn't really thought this one through and the law of unintended consequence kicked in because the top side we drive/walk on, and now protruding, is NOT flat, it's sharp, knobbed, totally unmatched to any other cobble in close proximity, so you are banging along, vibrating every nut, bolt and tooth in your head.

We bumped around town a bit and soon found a little single lane path winding through walled properties and overhanging trees until we eventually got to what appeared to be the end and an old rusty bent-in gate which is where we elected to return the way we came. Once back in town it was "stop stop" and this time it was to get a lime squeezer from a guy whose merchandise was all lined up out front on the sidewalk.

I was working the GPS looking for the plaza, every town has to have one with a church you know, but the lime squeezer salesman directed us back down the hill and sure enough they have a square, a church etc. So, take some pics, look around and beat your way back to the highway and the quest.

All the time we're driving we're getting closer to the active volcano and it had puffed a time or two, but we were never in a place we could stop to take a pic. We stopped by a stream and took some pics and were close enough to see some old lava flows, but no burps. We continued on getting closer to where we thought "San Antonio" was and the road became very much like one in the mountains of Colorado, winding switchbacks, up and down and totally overgrown with trees etc. We also began to meet large truck totally overloaded with harvested sugar cane stalks which were falling off on the road, I suggested we might want to stop and pick up one or two to "chew" on as we drove. I figured if we found one without too much road rash we could brush off the asphalt - the navigator declined, so we motored on, now also in search of the mythical cane fields because at that point there wasn't enough flat ground to grow a turnip patch, much less a cane field?

It was somewhere around there, as we skirted the backside of the volcano, I suggested I didn't think I'd be interested in living in that remote an area, or that close to an active volcano. The navigator said not that many years ago it erupted spewing hot rocks the side of your head which landed all the way down in Comala, 15 miles away? - and by this time we were at the base of the volcano looking up? As we drove we began noticing large volcanic rocks laying all over the place, silent testament to one of the pitfalls of living in the area known as "las rocas estan cayendo - the rocks are falling"! - and I might add they were also very hot so it should be "las piedras calientes estan cayendo".

We finally emerged on a small high plateau and sure enough, there were the cane fields. We continued a bit further, but were well beyond the place San Antonio should have been, and the proximity to a live, hot rock/lava spewing volcano had taken the shine off living anywhere near and the houses we saw were definitely "cheap," but cooler? - not much as by this time it was noon and around 82 and climbing.

We had passed a village named San Jose del Carmen and decided to turn in to find the plaza and church - what else? The town was basically a one street town (but at least the street had two concrete paths that were smooth to drive on. There we were, two gringos bumping along in our SUV, definitely out of place and as we passed two guys sitting out front of a house we decided it was probably Mo & Joe and all they had to do in the whole town was to bet on how many gringos would come past in a day. At the end of town was a nice square and church and of most note, a big yellow sign with red, yellow and green lights - which was of course (when translated) the volcano warning system accompanied by a large air raid siren in the square. This definitely put a sharp point on NOT living there.

As we took pics around the square which was a colonnade lining 3 sides of the square, nicely painted and tile roof covered walkways, I realized I was looking through one of the windows at blue sky beyond. I chuckled and pointed it out to the navigator who was taking a pic of a mostly buried, by dirt and maybe some lava rocks, police truck (yes) who also laughed. Apparently at some point in the past they built this facade with a nice uniform front wall with doors and framed window openings assuming stores would build behind each doorway - well, mostly it didn't happen. One side had a couple of stores and another had a single structure which appeared to be a house and one had a small roof out back covering a cow or horse stall. It started out as a good idea, oh well, it would make a nice Hollywood set.

Now, I had checked the gas tank before we headed into the hills, but hadn't taken into account how far we'd go, or how bad the mileage is when your climbing mountain roads with the AC on and sure enough the "low gas" chime and light suddenly added a new challenge to the adventure. But, we were mostly heading back into Comala by then and it was downhill.

In Comala we stopped at the town square which is very nice and bustling with activity, not like del Carmen. We parked and decided to eat at a restaurant right on the square. Of course as soon as two gringos sat down we were immediately fresh meat for every salesman on the square, hammocks, CD's, bread, bags etc. We ordered something to drink and fended off salesmen with the usual "no gracias, no hoy" (no thanks, not today) and waited for the waiter to bring menus while I told the navigator not to encourage the salesmen (to little avail). Shortly the waiter arrived with two sizable plates of food, tacos, small taquitos, guacamole etc. and we both looked surprised to say the least. A passing bread salesman said when you order drinks the food is automatic and free? - wow, what a concept (unless the Pepsi's were $10 each?).

The navigator couldn't resist admiring the hammocks for which the guy wanted $45, I laughed and said when they get down to $30 come back. We need a hammock like another cat? But, she persisted and eventually got a nice one for $35 which is stored in her car for the summer because we don't have a place to put it here and there isn't room in her suitcases for it to take home to Canada - but it was a heck of a deal.

I also noticed a map on the square showing this is also a coffee growing area and there is a circle route you can drive to see the coffee growing industry - now that the quest for the mythical San Antonio has now been quenched and is definitely off the table the next trip will explore that. Who knows, maybe being right next to the volcano they grow "roasted" coffee?

After walking the square and taking pics the navigator bought a nice bottle of Rompope for me. It's a vanilla bean based drink, sort of like melted vanilla ice cream, very good.

We filled up with gas and headed to Colima, a large city and made a loop around the square, but didn't spend any time as it was getting into the afternoon and I wanted to do a bit of "off roading" on the way home.

We turned off the quota at Tonila and took the old libre (free road) which winds up and down and trough some very scenic country and the navigator, who was on the cliff side, reported it was straight down a long ways in many places, and not once did I hear "stop stop the car" - so, guess it was nothing interesting down there? At the end of that road we stopped by a little industrial village which sits in sort of a large hole in the ground. It's a paper plant so not a very pleasant smell to the area.

Finally I managed to make a wrong turn on a round-about and missed the quota, so we did a parallel on the libre and ended up just seeing the edge of Guzman before finally catching the quota for home.

It was a fun day trip, about 300 miles and opens the door to more trips to the area for specific things we didn't see, and the navigator? - she's packing her bags to depart for the great North tomorrow, then it will just be Max and the guys and me for another season.