Leaving Yuma

Well, since we’re leaving Yuma tomorrow to get jake brakes added to Liberty, I thought it was time to talk about agriculture in Arizona. I know, I know. I thought Arizona was mostly desert, too, but if Yuma is not the lettuce capitol of the world, it should be!

When we were here for a week last March, we just missed the Yuma Lettuce Days celebration, but lettuce production is in full swing most of the time, I think. Water does wonders, even to desert soil.

We’ve seen the whole cycle, from bare ground through harvest, just not always in that order.

Trucks with trailers like these, with all those pallets loaded with produce boxes to the sky, are moving down the roadways all the time. This field was just ready to be harvested. The workers are moved from field to field, crop to crop, in school bus-types buses that pull trailers loaded with porta-potties. And lest you think that they rest at night, some harvesters are equipped with bright lights to let the harvest continue after the sun has set. We’ve been in a little restaurant in Ligurta Station eating dinner long after dark when the busloads of workers stop by just long enough to buy a bag of chips and something to drink.

The colors of growing produce make a beautiful patchwork, especially when you see them from some elevation, like the interstate highway through town. Even driving along next to the field, the colors are striking.

I’m never really sure what’s growing in the fields except for the sunflowers. They’re pretty easy to spot, even in a blurry, drive-by photo!

This week we made a short trip to Los Algodones, Mexico along with a few hundred other tourists. We ate in a restaurant courtyard and had excellent, inexpensively priced meals. How can you go wrong with chorizo and tortilla soup?

Our favorite restaurant in Wichita is El Paisa and so I had to take a picture of this taqueria in Algodones.

Rather than tourism, the focus of this little town is medicine. The sidewalks are an obstacle course of people handing out cards for pharmacies, dentists, optical shops and hearing aids. Many of our fellow tourists were visiting the pharmacies to buy their prescription medications for the year, without a prescription and  at a very low price. Along with those shops are little stall with Mexican jewelry and leathergoods, “Gucci” and other brands of purses. It’s fun to bargain and even if you don’t start to deal, they will cut their prices several times to keep you from walking away! I’m a purse collector, so I came home with a lovely turquoise addition to my stash. This one has enough compartments for everything but the kitchen sink! And the vendor even threw in a gift for me, earrings in the same color stones.

After going back out to the sand dunes, we headed back to Yuma.

We think Arizona is the land of painted water towers and Yuma is no exception.

This week I’ve been going to a Silver Sneakers aerobic class and have really enjoyed the activity and the fellowship. The filing is done for another year and LeRoy has taken out the jacks and emptied the tanks, so we’re ready to head out again tomorrow morning.