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The end of an era

 

The end of an era

Remember the charming little church I sent out photos of; Guadalupe Toreros; the bullfighters church, constructed of adobe and completed about 1920.  It served the small community of San Luisito, which no longer exists, for decades.

 

map view

 

street view

 

 

It was already crumbling when I first saw it.

 

Last time I passed by I saw that now the bell tower has fallen down too.  Time and weather have had their way with it.

 

There are people that still care about the church, but by they got around to a campaign to renovate, it was too late.  There are plans to rebuild it on the original footprint though.

 

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Year bird!

 

 

 

A three screech-owl day.  Daytime sleeping eastern screech-owls.

 

 

Yes, I had help knowing where to look.  They were all on the same property, each within a few hundred yards of the other.

 

 

The one in the thatched roof palapa was particularly tricky.  I never would have found it if I hadn’t had the heads-up to look there.

 

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Did you see the boat crash?

 

All hands survived and they kept the boat from sinking, but it was a real mess.  In the leadup to the America’s Cup, there is a Prada Cup sequence of races between three boats to determine who the challenger will be.  The American boat hadn’t been doing well in light winds the previous two races, and hadn’t accumulated any points, but this day the wind was up.  American Magic was way ahead and screaming along at about 40 knots, but rounding the final mark before the downwind dash to home, they ran into a puff; the windspeed suddenly doubled, they couldn’t depower the main fast enough, the boat went airborne then crashed down hard and broke.  The American boat couldn’t make it back for the remainder of the round robin part of the Prada Cup.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I595VdiBLRo

 

American Magic is not totally out though.  They think they can be back in the water for the Prada Cup semi-finals at the end of January.  If they’re the fastest boat out there, they could still be the challenger to New Zealand for the America’s Cup.

 

Stay tuned…