Exploring El Saltre

I’m in heaven for sure! I jog up the road that I came in on. When I drove across the river – without getting stuck, thank you – the road deadened into another road that I turned right on to enter the park. Now I see as I jog down that road, if I had gone to the left there is a little, sweet pueblo.

There are children hanging out at the beginning of the pueblo. I hear them speaking english but I address them in Spanish.  They respond in Spanish and english.

As I enter the pueblo is see it is merely a single row of homes on either side of the road. On my left side, the homes all face the little river so the backs of the homes face the street.

On my right side the homes face the street but tend to be set back from the street and snuggled under the mountain.

Where there is no wall of a building, there is a continuous brick, rock, or cement wall on both sides of the street, either marking the edge of the properties or adjoining the houses together. Through gates and on tippy-toes I can see lovely open dirt spaces with vegetation, horses, chickens, some children and dogs.

And of course, the road empties into a large, empty plaza with a tall lone tree growing just off center. Across the way, there is also the omnipresent but tiny church and a larger tienda with another omnipresent beer sign welcoming you!

There are two little roads off the plaza, both continue to be lined with a few houses and one road leads to the 3 tiny school buildings and another meadow in front of the school where children can play.

Now I understand Hector’s words saying there are 60 people who live here. I thought he meant on the ranches that I saw driving in, but he meant this sweet, little town.

My run from the park to village and back takes me 30 minutes. Time to soak in the hot spring and read a little more!