Adventure in Álamos

You know a place is exceptional when it is difficult to describe what makes the location so unique. It’s an incommunicable feeling that you have just to dive in and experience the place to understand how it makes you feel to be there.

This is the case for Álamos, Sonora, Mexico. It’s so many things contributing to a special sense about the southern Sonoran community but always the best answer for this pueblo magico is just to go and experience for yourself.

To attempt to paint a picture of this feeling, here are some examples of how Álamos draws you in:

By: Alex La Pierre / October 1, 2023

 

Architecture

Walking in Tucson’s adobe El Presidio or Barrio Viejo neighborhoods and then walking the streets of Álamos is a revelation for civil use of space, how the environment can impact that form, and how clever the people of the past were to not only survive but thrive in these arid lands.  And how we can learn from the past and from our neighbors on how to best live in the Sonoran Desert based on rooted architectural traditions?

Nature

Traveling from nearly sea level at Navojoa into the hinterlands of the dry tropics of Álamos you emerge into a stunning landscape of Amapa trees and cardon cactuses. If you are lucky to make this trip during the blossoming season of this hardwood species, you will be delighted by fuschia, white and yellow flowered trees interspersed dramatically with the columnar cactus. 

People

The people of Mexico are reason alone to visit our neighboring country. You will not encounter a more welcoming, hospitable culture of people who are quick to invite you over for coffee without blinking an eye or look you in the eye with a smile and wish you a good morning, afternoon, or evening. 

Expect this especially so from Sonorenses. If you take a gander at their vibrant history, you’ll see how this quick hand to welcome the stranger and to help their neighbor was rooted in the reality of living in a place where death was an imminent danger from both the desert and frontier issues. People needed to share and help one another to survive another day at times during the past centuries and this sense persists on in Sonorense culture and tradition today. 

Any opportunity to get together as neighbors and appreciate and share about one another's culture is another domino push forward toward global peace and respect. Participation is so needed nowadays. 

We hope you enjoy this edition of the Destination Guides and are inspired to join us in our next Álamos Tour!

P. S. Not ready for Álamos? Check out other Pueblo Mágico of Sonora, Magdalena. It’s only a day trip from the Border.

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Alex La Pierre is Borderlandia’s cofounder. His professional background includes the nonprofit sector and government, working for the National Park Service in New Mexico and Arizona in the fields of historic preservation and interpretation. A graduate of the University of Arizona, Alex's study and research centers on the Hispanic cultural heritage of the American Southwest and Mexico.