Saturday, July 01, 2017

eating el cerrito



Nothing attracts attention like construction equipment.

Especially, big equipment. I suppose Freud would have something to say about that. And it would undoubtedly be wrong.

Federal Highway 200 is the major north-south highway in this part of Pacific Mexico. It stretches in the north from Tepic and runs all the way south to the Mexico-Guatemala border. The highway builders ran into lots of obstacles on the planned route -- including one in Melaque.

There is a large hill just north of town that helps create the largest lagoon of fresh water on Mexico's Pacific coast. But a rock spur along the edge of the lagoon prevented the highway from continuing on its projected staight path.

Rather than go over the top of the spur, the builders blasted their way through the rock leaving a small isolated hill. You can still see the construction marks on the walls of the small pass.

That little hill has always fascinated me. Probably because of the view from the top. It looks out over the lagoon and the bay to our local five-star hotel.

Most people would pay a pretty peso for a home with a view like that. Assuming they could put up with the insects that infest the area. Its current official use is as a tsunami evacuation site for the secondary school students.

About a year ago, a fellow blogger wrote that whoever owns an interest in the hill was willing to part with it -- the interest in the hill, that is. A price was not mentioned.

But something is now afoot. A couple of weeks ago, heavy equipment started pulling apart the rocks on top of the hill and hauling them off in dump trucks. It appears a flat site is being created, perhaps as a building site.



I walk by there frequently on my exercise outings. But I have not seen anyone who was in a position to be cross-examined by Mexpatriate.

It would be nice to know if there is a residence or a business that will top our mini-Monticello.

There is a reason this project fascinates me, and it is embedded in that Monticello reference. In high school, I was part of an American heritage group that visited the east coast. Monticello was my most memorable part of the trip. After all, it was where my libertarian hero Thomas Jefferson lived.

My family would often drive down the Willamette Valley to visit family in southern Oregon. The long valley is dotted with multiple hillocks that reminded me of Jefferson's Monticello. I often dreamed of buying one of those hills and building a house on its summit.

My dream was never realized. I now wonder if someone else is about to have theirs fulfilled.


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