We left off in Melaque.
We debated staying in Melaque another day as we were enjoying the warm weather. On the other hand, Guadalajara was calling. Keith and I debated doing a side trip on our own to Mexico City, but it was a long bus ride and if you haven't gathered from the tone of my writing sometimes, we are actually growing weary of the travel life. So we decided Guadalajara (the second biggest city in Mexico) would suffice as our big city experience.
If you are not following along on a map, Guadalajara is north. Keith and I have our backpacks and have been prepared to part from mis padres at any moment and continue our journey on to Central America (since we couldn't convince dad to drive to Panama), but after thinking hard about it, we have decided to finish this trip through Mexico with the folks and call the traveling good for now and find a home.
So, north we went, officially halfway done with Mexico (from a distance perspective anyway). We took the scenic route to Guadalajara, which was nice. Rolling hills, greenery, and lots of potholes. On one of the greater descents, Keith hopped on one of the bikes and coasted down (after making a nerve-wracking pass of a big, stinky truck). We got into Guadalajara without any problems and settled into a nice, big secure room....almost too secure - you had to call someone to get out of the building. Glad there wasn't a fire.
Guadalajara is a grand colonial city and the attraction for us was to check out all the old architecture, the big market and the all important Sunday craft market. We wanted to see a showing of the Ballet Folklorico in the grand and famous Theatre Degollado, but despite the promises given in our silly guide books, it wasn't too be. Our first night there we did get a free concert in one of the plazas - sitting on an old iron park bench listening to the symphonic band while watching the kids chase the pigeons and the crazy cowgirl lady dance.
In the main Guadalajara plaza with the government building behind me waiting for the free concert to start.
The Gudalajara market. I spared you and didn't post the picture from the meat section.
The next day was spent walking in and out of the lovely colonial buildings adn churches around the centro. Some of the most impressive parts of the architecture are the massive doors, the iron work around the windows and as dad says, how it is all made of the same pyroclastic rock. We also ventured into the central market which was like most other markets we have been to. It had its meat section with buckets of cow hearts, stalls lined with hooves, snouts, tripe, and god only knows what else. And then the fruit and veggie area that is always refreshing and the rows and rows of junk (watch bands, plastic toys, sunglasses, cowboy hats, cheap crafts, etc.), and finally the prepared food area which Keith and I love. I had my first Mexican burrito here and it was fantastic (up until now, just tacos, tacos, tacos).
Food here in Mexico has been good, but we are growing weary of the tiny little tacos. The best taquerias are the ones that give you a variety of sauces (most of them hot) the best being a runny guacamole that we've all come to crave. After meat tacos, the second staple of our diet has been pastries (um, yeah, no weight loss here). Every new town we go to, we have to know where the nearest panadaria is so we can stock up and have something to eat with our coffee. It was a hard word for these guys to learn how to pronounce, but now they've got it and they won't hesitate to ask anyone where the nearest one is. We like the pastries mostly because they aren't too sweet (and they are pastries, duh), but the experience of buying them is fun too. A store full of open shelves of all kinds of interesting breadware. You walk in, almost get knocked over by the amazing smell, pick up a big silver tray and tongs and start loading up. We always go in with the intention to buy one or two and usually come out with at least ten. We are lacking in veggies though, so whenever we can cook for ourselves, it usually ends up being a big veggie stir fry.
Our second to last day in Guadalajara, we took a public bus out to a suburb called Tlaquepaque. It was an incredibly rainy day, so we didn't linger. This suburb is known for its pottery shops and quaint city center. We looked around for a while and then after some confusion got the bus back to the hotel. That evening (it was a Saturday) Keith and I wandered around the plazas, watched a band, some street dancers, then went into a bar and tried to dance a little salsa with the locals.
Our final day in Guadalajara was market day. In another suburb called Tonala every Thursday and Sunday there is a HUGE craft market with an emphasis on pottery. Dad sat this one out as his attitude about markets is starkly different than ours. So mom, Keith and I set out. We learned a valuable lesson. When you know you are going to buy a lot of stuff and you find one you like, buy it. We spent our first two hours walking the endless rows pricing items we liked. Then as we went back, ready to buy, the rain hit. It had been a perfectly sunny day and then we were pummelled by one of the worst thunderstorms I have ever seen. We had made a few purchases already and tried to push through the rain, but eventually took refuge in a storefront with the scores of others.
As it started to ease up, we decided to move on. Just as I stepped out, the nearest vendor picked up his broom handle to dump more water from his tarp roof and stuck his stick out right in front of me. Down I went. With two bags of pottery. Damn. Embarrassing and frustrating. I lost three plates and the tip of a sun. The good part is that they were the cheapest things we had bought, so not a great loss. The rains did stop and we were then just left with literal rivers of nasty brown, dirty water running in between the stalls. We hurried and made our remaining purchases and staggered home hungry and exhausted and buying way more than planned. Then we had to carry everything up to the room where dad was waiting. The look on his face was classic. You see, he is very particular about a clear line of vision out of the back of the car and we were already packed tight. So the rest of the night was spent packing pottery and the car and thanks to Keith's packing genius we got it all in and it looks like we didn't buy a thing. Now, will it all survive the horrendous topes (speed bumps) that are everywhere in Mexico.....now, instead of screaming "Tope!", we scream "Pottery!"
We left Guadalajara on a holiday, so the streets were deserted and everything was closed including dad's favorite coffee shop where they make "the best coffee in the world". It was a nice drive along which we passed many impressive rock walls used for property markers and crop rotation. These walls are amazing in that they stretch on and on up steep hills and off into the horizon and are perfectly stacked and quite pleasing to the eye. Before reaching our final destination of Zacatecas, we stopped at the La Quemada/Chicomostoc Ruins. There are many theories as to who lived here, but they know the date ranges of existence were 400-800 AD and they may have been the predecessors to the Aztecs. It was quite an impressive site covering a vast area.
Cool lighting at the ruins.
Another ruin shot. Neat columns.
Then it was two nights in Zacatecas, elevation 8,000 feet. Crisp, comfortable days, but cold at night. Zacatecas is a cool town. Built on the silver mining trade, it has more impressive colonial buildings, but this time the rock (yes, still pyroclastic) is predominately a lovely pink color, and the roads are narrow, hilly and confusing. What a maze of cobblestone chaos. But a great townfor wandering and gazing. We did some sight seeing the next day, taking in an old silver mine that operated for 400-500 years. The tour was nice, but it was in Spanish and my translation capabilities were way below par....I think I obtained three or four facts over teh course of the hour. Then we took a cable car to La Bufa (top of a hill overlooking the city) and walked down and into a couple museums.
The streets of Zacatecas:
The next day was a driving day....about 700 km with the last 70km or so in the dark - something we swore we'd never do - because mom and I were too scared to stay at the dark, dank $12 motel we found in a very random hotel. Not too adventurous.
Our next stop was Creel and the Copper Canyon. We stayed three nights in Creel, a not very impressive town (dusty, dusty, dusty and lots of smog because of the cold nights and many wood fires), but the jumping off point for the canyon. We spent one day on a long bike ride through small Tamahamara villages looking at interesting rocks and the next day on a day hike down into the canyon. The hike into the canyon was a highlight for sure. What a massive canyon. There is a great vantage point where three canyons merge, and that is close to where we did our hike. We had a late start so it was only a half day hike, but it was great. Peaceful and beautiful. We are all regretting not planning better and getting all the way to the bottom (it takes 5 hours to hike down, so you have to sleep over at the bottom). At this point, we had already purchased a ticket from El Paso, so we were out of time and had to move north.
On the bike ride outside of Creel. The Valley of the Monks:
More bikes and rocks:
A view of the canyon at sun down.
More canyon view.
From Creel, it has been pretty much just driving. One more stop at a small ruin site (adobe buildings) and then on to the border. What a fiasco our border crossing was yesterday. We bypassed the smaller border crossing for fear that they wouldn't have all the offices we needed to get the car properly "checked out" of Mexico (there are huge fines if you don't), so we proceeded to Ciudad Juarez that crosses the Rio Grand into El Paso. Before we knew it, we were on the bridge and into US soil without ever seeing a Mexican immigration or customs building of any kind. We found out (after being grilled about and searched thoroughly by the US Customs for all our contraband oranges) that mom and dad's only option is to drive back into Mexico and recross the border, this time surrendering their paperwork first. They will have to do this at the smaller border that we intentionally bypassed. Stupid. You would think crossing the bigger border would be failsafe. Instead we waited in much longer lines and still didn't do it right!
With one day to kill before our flight, we drove East to Guadalupe National Park and camped. It was a cold windy night and today for our short day hike it snowed on us. Back in El Paso now, catching up and flying out to LA tomorrow where we pick up our car and head towards Oregon.
On our hike today after the snow started.
Nice things about being in the US? Throwing toilet paper in the toilet, not worrying about tap water, no topes, not nearly as much litter, and nice wide roads with shoulders!
It hasn't been easy to look at our pictures on these slow computers, so I don't always know if I'm picking good ones. So when we get settled, I am going to pick out the really good photos and post them for you all to enjoy....
