Guaymas and the Pearl Factory

Today we took a road trip with some of our new found friends. We were all going to Guaymas. Guaymas is a large city in Mexico. It took us about 3 hours to travel the back roads to the city from Kino Bay. Clarey and Lynn road with us as we followed Suzanne and Len and Pat, Bill and Kelly. They were taking Kelly back to the airport that afternoon, so it was a good time to take a little detour and see the sights.

Our main goal was to see the the Perlas Del Mar de Cortez or the pearl factory along the Sea of Cortez. First, it was lunchtime and we found a very popular Mexican restaurant just within the city limits of Guaymas. It was an open sided structure with a thatched roof. Peg and I had shrimp that were cut into a circular pattern and then wrapped with bacon. It was great! Of course we had chips and salsa and guacamole! Since the lunch was taking quite a while, the restaurant owner said he was going to give us crab tostados, on the house, so we can munch on something while we waited. That was the least favorite thing we ate there.

After lunch, we drove across the city to the pearl factory. As you can see, the factory sat up on the side of a hill right on the water. It was a very modern building. We heard a talk on how the pearls are cultivated by the workers when they are babies. This picture shows the workers looking for these minute oysters and removing them from the nets.

The color of the oyster shell determines the color of the pearl. There are two different processes, one to get a round pearl and one to get a rounded front and flat backed pearl. It takes less than a minute to implant the pearl with a plastic bead and put them in a retaining net so they can grow and mature. It takes about four years and a great amount of care to get a full sized pearl. The bouys you see here are hooked to the nets that hold the inseminated pearls. This factory is known world wide. Of course Peg had to get a "sample" of their wares! A beautiful pearl for in a sterling setting for a necklace.

Next, Peg and I and Clarey and Lynn went to a local hotel. Lynn had been here before and really liked the grounds and wanted to show them to us. We ended up at the Hotel, Playa DeCortez. It too was on the water across the bay from the pearl factory. We walked the grounds and enjoyed talking to a few of the guests there.

From there we headed to a very popular mall in Guaymas and then the three hours drive back to Kino Bay. It was a long day, but it was nice to see a little more of Mexico.