Another Day of Birds

Church in the Puebla of Cajititlan

This area is a mecca for migrating birds.  We will soon get a bird book to identify these amazing birds, in the mean time I leave it to you our friends.  The area we went to is the Ribera de Cajititlan and the town of Cajititlan.   Lee was hoping to have a launch get us closer to the birds, but the launches for hire stay well away from the bird areas' due to shallow water and the vegetation that would mess up a boats propellers.  Instead, we took a walk away from the pier to get closer at the birds.  We came across some lounging fishermen and Lee asked if one of them  would row us out in their boat closer to the birds for me to take pictures.  They were all happy to help.  I believe they all pitched in to help me board from the lakes edge and kept me out of the water.  Sometimes having to rely on the cane is not convenient.

Map of the area, wish I could tag where it is we live.  It is behind
the red dot(Penafil) to the left of the lake.  

They are so graceful in flight

The birds are out of this world amazing up close.  Feathers that are so fine, I wonder how they fly.  The birds are not very tolerant of humans or their noises. So, we weren't able to get as close as I had wished.(but I won't complain)

Black birds with bright yellow hoods, and raven like black birds. The swarming is eerie.

So enjoy and tag the true identity if you can.

Ibis

This Ibis is sitting/standing/perching (I don't know the correct terminology) upon what used to be the patio and playground of somebodies abandoned Casa.  We don't know what caused the massive permanent flooding.  The red bars used to be a swing-set.

Garza(sp), Heron in America

Our kindly fisherman

The trip towards Tala

Today we headed west towards Tala.  Typical of one of our adventures we took a turn.  This time we wanted to check out this really fancy cemetery, in the Puebla of San Isidro.  Not to disrespect anyone or their customs, but to explore history.  Many of the crypts still had flowers from the Day of the Dead.  Families on that day go to the cemetery to honor their dead loved ones and spend the day remembering.  The family plots are cleaned and flowers are delivered, and many families have picnics and parties right there in the graveyard.  The crypts are elaborate and many are replica's of houses.  Some of the crypts in this particle cemetery are from the 1800's.

 The Town has about 3,600+- people, We met a gentleman in the square who was excited to practice his english on Americano's.  (he took a strong liking to Lee).  The town square was draped in prayer flags and surrounded by flower beds.  It feels so strange to me to see spring flowers in bloom this close to Thanksgiving.

The Church in the Puebla square.

The facade of a really old fort wall or Hacienda's surrounding wall, we never found out which.  The new  casa's are built into the facade below, leaving the upper part exposed and untouched.

 So this isn't our trip but I feel like it needs to be shown.  Thank goodness for all the times we went camping in my early yrs. and learned to wash out my clothes in the lake.  Here it is not that bad but close.  We wash everything (but jeans and sheets/towels) in the sink in our back yard. I throw in a load and let them soak in soapy water for a day, agitating the load several times.  Then I scrub out or at least try to scrub out stains in the washboard side.  I rinse with the hose and then throw the item into a 5 gallon bucket of clean water to rinse further.  I then wrap (say a tee shirt) over the handle of the red dolly and wring out as much water as I can before hanging on the lines.  Our friends here mostly have washer machine's and laugh at me for doing things the hard way.  Gabby in exchange for some home made (hot) cookies will wash our clothes.  We try not to take advantage of her and only take the sheet's towels and jeans.

Our  wash tub, and dryer.  The red dolly is used to drape the  clothes over the handle and squeeze the water out of.  I am not strong enough to do this without help.

Close up of the sink.  The little milk jug is used to empty the  water.

Sergio and Gabby, our friends 

 It is not unusual to see religious icons all over the place.  But to see one posted outside of a bathroom.  Well that was a new one.

This was at a new gas station.  Even the bano's get holey protection.

  On the way home we passed this field with, it seemed, a million birds in the trees and on the ground.  I flipped a "u-ey" and got out to take pictures.  The birds are black with a yellow bib in front and a little red spot under the beak.  We also saw blackbirds(maybe ravens or crows), and an all yellow bird.  We must have stood on the side of the road for 20minutes.     Yes, right past the do not park sign.  When the birds got spooked for whatever reason, there was this swarm heading right towards me.  The site was awesome, the sound scared me silly.

Roadside flowers

Thousands of these birds were in a farm field and perched in trees.  Wish I knew what they were.