Our first stop was at the Ajo Chamber of Commerce, where we met the director, Ms. Lloyd Dane, and Ms. Margaret Lister, one of the many volunteers who keep the office open from 9 to 4, 6 days a week. The office is well stocked with brochures and leaflets advertising the town itself and its many attractions--Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, the Open Pit Mine Lookout, Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge, the Greenway Mansion, the Ajo Historic Museum, and others. One of the leaflets tells the story of the town's name. It comes from a Tohono O'Odham word au'auho that means paint; the early residents used to collect red oxide and green carbonate copper ores to use for body paint. When the Spanish arrived here, they hispanicized the word to ajo, which means garlic. It was easier for them to pronounce, and it was easy to remember because of a wild desert lily growing in the area that was reported to taste something like garlic.

Ms. Dane told us that the Chamber gets calls and requests for brochures from all over the world. Some of the countries they have heard from are Canada, Iraq, Ghana, France, and England. Many Germans and Italians come here for inexpensive winter vacations.

But Ms. Dane and her volunteers do more than just answer the phone and hand out brochures. They have been active in community projects. A few years ago they helped to secure a community development block grant for new street lights. More recently they have participated with the Council for the Fine Arts to attract concerts and artists to Ajo, to sponsor festivals, and to have murals painted on public buildings, including one on their own building. As outside visitors, we were impressed with what Ajo has done to make the town such an attractive place for residents and visitors alike.

Our next stop was at Olsen's Marketplace, a large and well- stocked supermarket on the main road from Phoenix that goes through Ajo. It's much like any supermarket anywhere, but there are two things that make it unique. One is the large section devoted to Mexican specialties--an entire aisle full of such items as canned jalapenos, canned hominy, dried chilis, cornhusks, spices, and other ingredients for traditional dishes. The other is the butcher shop.

We talked briefly with Tom, the manager, who is always very open and friendly. Then we had a chance to meet Ron Whitley, the butcher. One of us (John) had worked in a butcher shop years ago and was impressed by what he had seen of this one on an earlier visit. Ron took us behind the scenes for a tour of his cutting room, the meat lockers, and the storage areas. I had always assumed that a butcher shop would be messy, stained with blood and spotted with scraps of fat and flesh. But this one was entirely different from what I'd imagined. It was scrupulously clean--not a speck of anything anywhere. The display case held cuts of meat all laid out with obvious care and attention.

Ron told us that he's been a butcher for 22 years. He loves his job and thinks of it as more of a hobby than a chore. He grew up in Wellton and now lives here with his wife Donna and his 3-year-old son Kyle. He likes the small-town atmosphere and has never wanted to live in a city.

We bought some steaks that looked (and later proved to be) delicious. We also got some chorizo, which Ron told us he had learned to make from a Frenchman. It too was delicious, hot and spicy, but very lean, not at all greasy. The Frenchman must have had some Mexican in him.

Olsen's has a wholesale meat plant in Yuma, which provides the meat for this market and also wholesale service for the nearby Marine base, hotels, and restaurants all along the border. Here in Ajo, Olsen's also operates a wholesale delivery service. I learned more at this store in one hour than in all my years of shopping in big-city supermarkets.

Farther along the road to Phoenix, we stopped at the home of Russ and Naomi Black, who operate Peņasco RV Tours. Our readers will recall that in last month's issue we published an article by Naomi about Puerto Peņasco.

Russ is the modern equivalent of a wagonmaster, taking caravans of RVs south to Mexico where they can camp on the beach and enjoy the local culture. He takes care of all arrangements for them--reserva- tions, insurance, itineraries. Additionally he can recommend restaurants, sightseeing, and places to shop. Russ is as enthusiastic and knowledgeable about Puerto Peņasco as anyone we've met.

The Blacks live out on the outskirts of Ajo with nothing but desert and mountains behind them. Their house is one that they bought as a fixup and have almostly completely redone. It is certainly beautiful now.

Russ and Naomi made us feel right at home. They are full of enthusiasm for Puerto Peņasco and what they are doing there. As we talked, their three children Benjamin, Bethany, and Braden, ran in and out. Benjamin had been selling things at a yard sale down the street and came back several times to report on his progress. Bethany went off to help him. Later she introduced me to her cat. Braden was shy at first but later began bringing some of his toys over to show me. They are a delightful family!

From the Blacks' we went out to the Ajo Country Club. It's an attractive but unassuming frame building painted white with blue trim, facing the golf course and the pro shop. We went in through a dining room set up for dinner. Several people were socializing in the bar. John had eaten breakfast there once before and remembered that the hash browns were made with real potatoes. At the back of the building is a large ballroom. Apparently when Ajo was a company town, the executives from Phelps-Dodge gathered here for their business lunches, and large social functions were--and no doubt still are--held in the ballroom. The golf course itself is lush green against the green-gray desert, with a mountain backdrop that the clouds and shadows rendered spectacular.