I was on the phone last night with Alberto Lopez. He was in his home/lodge on the square in the tiny town of Cerocahui. I was all hot to trot about telling him of our arrival there in a few days with our first culinary trip, “The Blue Corn Express”. So I told him the date, and the rooms we need, and we talked about the experience the people will have there with food- making tamales, doing “agua chile”, and much more.

Quickly he interrupted me and asked, ” So Dave, how you family?”

Instantly I remeber that Alberto (like most Mexicans I deal with there) are more interested in family and life than they are about the details of business.

This is what makes Alberto and his family such a valuable part of our business in Mexico.

Alberto and Francia at Gallego above Urique.

!David, mi sombrero es su sombrero!

 I lose my prized hat out the window of the train along the Continental Divide and try to buy a really nice L L Bean type hat from a  Mexican on the train. “How much?” “Veinte” he says (which is twenty), so I go to get 20 pesos (about 2 dollars). The joke is on me as he says, “No, gringo…20 dollares!” (lol from the salesman and his friends.)

At the next train stop I see my buddy, Alberto Lopez, and he has a hat just like the one I tried to buy. In the train stop melee, I yell that I need a sombrero just like his and as the train rolls the rotund Alberto starts running. He bounces onto the train throws the hat on my head with an embrace and shouts, “David…Mi Sombrero es su sombrero”.

Only in Mexico I think…and as I stroll back by with my new hat on I assure my “20 dollares” friend that some of us gringos have good friends in Mexico. Good friends indeed.

I also confirm in my mind that this is the kind of guy I want on our team in Copper Canyon.

Alberto Lopez wearing one of MY sombreros!