Hotel Filher San Luis Potosí

... work to try to raise funding and so on - this is their home.

Now that I've got my bearings, I intend to do some sightseeing this week - the Botanical Gardens here in SMA, the Sanctuario de Atotonilco which is a destination for Mexican pilgrims and penitants about 14 km northwest, and a swim in the Gruta, a hotspring on the way to the Sanctuario. Apart from that, I'm finding my study of Spanish quite rewarding and I seem to be able to string the odd ...

... area is interesting with the Plaza de Aranzazu behind the church as well as the Museo Regional and several cool restaurants along the adjacent Calle Galeana. Also in the area is the impressive Templo Presbiteriano - yes, an impressive non-Catholic church in Mexico! Our final outing from the centro was west of Plaza de Armas along the classy Avenida Venustiano Carranza. That brought us to another jewel of San Luis Potosi's plazas ...

... as in "Spain". When it comes to menu items, Mexico of course has its own cuisine that has little similarity with the cuisine of Spain. Therefore it was somewhat of a surprise on Christmas Day as the "sabroso pozole" was put down in front of us. The "sabroso" means 'tasty". That is a good start. Let's try a spoonful. Yikes, tasty! - no way. This is a Christmas Dinner I shall remember for a long time but for all the wrong reasons. I have ...

... Pour le deuxième, ce fut plus sérieux ; c'est sa pompe à essence qui a lâché. Heureusement pour lui, nous avons un serre-file dans la caravane qui roule toujours en dernier et dont le rôle est de porter secours aux caravaniers en problème. Ils se sont donc arrêtés en bordure de l'autoroute et avec sa femme qui parle espagnol, ils ont fait venir des mécaniciens qui ont remplacé la pompe à essence sur place. La pompe était dans le réservoir d'essence ; alors imaginez, une femme m ...

WEATHER: sunny and pleasantly warm TOTAL MILEAGE: no driving. All currency is in pesos. We decided to spend another night at this hotel and spend the day as total tourists, going out three times. In the late morning, we went to the Alameda- it had fewer gardens then the one in Queretaro but did have a pretty pond with geese and other birds. We also wandered around the train yard- not as attractive but, as this is an old mining ...

WEATHER: mostly overcast, few sprinkles, pleasantly warm. TOTAL MILEAGE: 132.1 miles All currency is in pesos. After running a few errands (including a camera stop- $50 each, a decent price- at the drugstore across from the hotel), we were on our way, to San Luis Potosi. We traveled through my favorite kind of scenery- high desert. There were a couple of burros and quite a few sheep, including one especially cute ...

... Spanish speaking gringos! Next pit stop the same thing no luck with truckers **** **** Bollocks what are we doing were really in the middle of nowhere now! A Guy in a tiny tiny tiny car pulls up and offers us a ride to Minatitlan Yes please mate! Now this guy was a gem , he was a retired oil worker, quite old and you could see all the mischief and fun he had in his eyes, he was joking around with Sam about all his women and knaggy girlfriends and talking about his first love - Mexico ...

A short day trip. Delores Hidalgo is the home of the church from which on September 16, 1810 padre Miguel Hedalgo y Costilla issued the Grito de la Independencia spawning the Mexican Independence movement. Subsequently excommunicated and eventually beheaded, Hidalgo is a national hero for whom countless streets & plazas are named throughout the country. Despite its' historical significance, the town ...

... have some important things to say and I would rather say it in the following log. Don`t worry, I am not going to leave you empty-handed. I have loaded some photos of the first week of my trip. I hope that this photos can speak for themselves and show you a part of what I saw. I will be returning to the States in a couple of days and I shall send my next log very soon. I promise... Jesus Torres

We took a one day side trip to neighboring Queretaro, a city of about 1 million people with a light industrial and distribution base for good employment. It has a historical town center that is very flat and easily walkable. It was also a center of the Mexican Independence in 1810. You can get there easily from SMA by bus and it is worth about 1/2 to 3/4 of a day. Various tour groups also do day trips from SMA and you could hire a driver/ guide but going by ...