Never Get in Trucks with Strangers

Nogales, anyone?

A doorway in Rayones - we're not in Monterrey anymore...

Another Saturday means another adventure for us kids out here in Monterrey. Jamilla, Kris & I took off in our little Saturn to the town (or rather, village) of Rayones. Why? Because we had read that they were having a Walnut (Nogales) Festival. Plus, it was only 90km from us. Or so we thought.

Near Rayones.

We start driving and driving, and turn off the main highway onto another "highway." Basically, we were in no-man's land. It was all bushy and jungly, and the only cars we saw (which were far and few between) were all going in the opposite direction. We kept going up and up and up the mountain. It was beautiful, but also scary - lots of "Falling rocks" signs, and indeed, there was a lot of evidence of it actually happening.

Winding road to Rayones

Gorgeous mountains

We managed to finally get through the 50km of winding roads (taking a long, long time to do so), and ended up in the town of Rayones. After our long journey, we then discovered that we were once again too early for the party - the Walnut Festivities weren't starting until October 14!

So we parked in the centre of town by the square, and walked around.

Little girl who lives by the square.

People still ride horses in Mexico (just not in Monterrey!)

While Jamilla was taking a photo of some flowers, two guys in a huge pick-up "picked us up." They were two brothers from Monterrey who come to Rayones for the weekends. They took us to their place, where they entertained us with brandy, beer, freshly-made tortillas and avocadoes straight from the trees in their yard (with their skins on!) smushed in them. They were great. We met their aunt and uncle, and they gave us a tour of their gardens - orange trees, avocado trees, and of course, walnut trees.

Jamilla smelling the flowers.

The two brothers and their friend
(and Kris with Brandy & Marion with an avocado-filled tortilla)

Getting some fresh avocadoes for us.

As we left town, we bought some walnut treats at the "Dulce" store, and some awful fruit liqueurs that are now decorating our shelf.

We took a lot of photos of everything - but forgot to take a picture of a walnut.

Giant grasshopper in their yard.