Zacatecas

Our favourite town so far...

View of Zacatecas from the hilltop.

Zacatecas is an old mining town with beautiful architecture. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site, sitting at 2445 meters (8000 feet) above sea level. It's also famous for its silversmiths - the silver was really nice and cheaper than anywhere else we've been thus far. We walked a lot, but I think this time, I'll let the photos tell the story.

Man selling chicharron (fried pork rind) on the road.
Please cover mine in red salsa, mayonnaise, cream, and chili powder!

Zacatecas street scene.

Monique by the Teleferico (cable car).

Marion & Kris overlooking the city.

Innovative use for a toilet - prop up those clotheslines!

Another use for the toilet - holds down your roof!

The telefericos from a distance.

Marion, Kris & Monique at a little Italian restaurant.

Hotel Emporio - the courtyard of our hotel.

The central cathedral - one of the more intricate ones we've seen -
and the first we've seen with the "icing"-type of design.

Look closely - the guy on the left is pouring "mezcal" (a drink more
potent than tequila) from a jug that looks like it once held Cranberry Juice,
into a clay cup that's tied around the other guy's neck!

Marion and a cute donkey with his little sombrero. The donkey
transports the mezcal during the "callejeonada," a parade of sorts with
the donkey and a mariachi band leading a group of drunk, singing
folk through alleys around town on Saturday nights!

Kris the King atop the aqueducts.

"Rise, water, RISE!"

The old city aqueducts in front of the old bullring.

This old bull-fighting ring was turned into a hotel - La Quinta.

Kris and Marion at La Quinta - on the spectator seats.

I thought this place was just gorgeous!!

Ruins of a cathedral in the centre of town.

Typical storefronts in downtown Zacatecas.

On the highway home - no horse and buggies, please.

We also don't like farmers.

Beautiful scenery - including these gorgeous mountains.

At a rest stop - the guy running the toilet paper distribution
was camera shy.

We were also stopped at an army outpost on the border of Zacatecas
and San Luis Potosi, I think. They are looking for drugs. They searched
our trunk, and Kris talked to the army guy for awhile in Spanish. But he then asked
what we were doing in Monterrey (and we still don't have our FM3s!), and Kris
immediately said, "No entiendo."
They let us go.

We went through some strange weather - first some beautiful,
but eerie clouds amidst the mountains.

It got eerier and eerier... We were in the mountains with
strange fog and clouds and rain - it was bizarre!

Goodbye Zacatecas!