Emporio Zacatecas Hotel

... going up the teleferico (cable car) to La Bufa, the big hill where the first church was built - the nuns were flogging their version of egg nog, called rompope, so had to have a sample, before rolling back down the hill. Tonight was the opening concert of the International Cultural Festival, the main reason I was here for so long - Ricardo Arjona tonight, other big name acts every day until the 18th. This week the main stage was in the Plaza de Armas, a really pretty ...

... even the jeans did not prevent scratches. I'm sure that every plant in the area has prickles or spines of some sort. I eventually got to the highest point after about two and a half hours. A beautiful view! On the other side of the hills was the big lake that we visited the previous day. It was huge! Apparently over 65km long and 15km wide with many arms. It looked like Queen Charlotte Sound. After sitting for a while and chilling out I wondered why I ...

... so popular and fun to observe all over Mexico. The attached link has some additional information on "Quinceanos" (meaning fifteen years) and the "Quinceanera Celebration": http://www.mexico-child-link.org/Lucero -15th-birthday.htm Our vocabulary of superlatives already got a good workout at the Jardin Enrique Estrada and the nearby aqueduct but there was more to come. Our search for "banos" caused us to stumble upon a five ...

... Avenida Hidalgo, the main street of the city situated at 7950 feet. We discovered right away that you don't need to go to the gym in this town. Just walk a lot and you'll get plenty of exercise going up and down hills. The huge beautiful Zacatecas Cathedral on Plaza Hidalgo was directly down the street from our hotel, just to the left of the trendy Mercado Zacatecano. The front of the cathedral has elaborate carvings in its red-stone exterior and ...

... at the bottom. I think the road itself was only a few kms long but the bus ride took 6 hours to account for the curved roads down the mountain. For most of the journey the public bus had three wheels on the narrow one way dirt road, and one wheel dangling over the edges of what was a sheer drop into the canyon, a few hundred feet above anything remotely flat looking. After spending the rest ...

... in crazy amount of bugs at night. Even with our bug room we still were getting bit. Needless to say we only spent one night there. Heading inland Colima was our next stop. Not many hotels in town and the one clean one we found wouldn't allow the van to be parked in their private parking area. Didn't want to park on the street for the night so lived it up and spent the night at the fancy place in ...

... I was a bit frazzled and ****** off that my bike broke. After hurredly working the phones I figured out that I would have to have the new shock shipped to Laredo, TX and take the bus on a 1000 mile round-trip to pick it up. Luckily, I had three days to wait before I had to do this. Yet more luckily we found ourselves in one of the most pleasant cities I've been to. Most luckly of all, this all happened ...

... Luckily I have Tomas' as an interpretor and basically it was a betting scene prior to the concert. The chicken fights were interesting, but sad at the same time cause it was bloody. The loser usually dies or gets really ****ed up. After seeing a few chickens die, it was time to set up for the concert and get the music going. Hector (Alvaro's brother) and his wife also joined us for this event. I was feeling pretty good, but my stomach was starting to act ...

... the beast rampaged around the arena in pursuit of some other fool. Alberta Bill was a jovial rustic sort with lanky chestnut-brown hair and a luxuriant moustache. In his younger days he'd worked with bulls, experience which he was about to put to good use. He stood a dozen yards in front of the bull, legs apart, arms outstretched, felt hat in hand. The bull rushed forward and off Bill went, straight through the posts, the animal hot on his tail. Fortunately for Bill, Bobo ...

... at least once a night with the twin aims of improving my Spanish and having a good time. There was usually somebody interesting to be found at the hostel who was willing to tag along. It was Saturday evening and I was sitting in the kitchen at the Villa Colonial wondering what to do when the sound of a brass band came in from the street outside. I stuck my head out the door and sure enough a line of musicians walked past - a trumpeter, a tuba player and a ...