Terrasse Hotel Zacatecas

... hit the country. Haley made the executive decision to go via the Libre route (free route) and follow the map. Well to cut a long story short we took about a 150km detour. We went through a lovely little town called Viesca and through the main street that is about as wide as most peoples driveways. We got all sorts of funny looks by the people and bicycle lined street. I guess they don't get many tourists down that way. We were supposed to cross a ...

... leaves "Guadalupe", a name that I associated with Mexico for a long time due to the connection with the "Virgen de Guadalupe". That was pretty exciting. Had we stumbled on the place made famous by the "Virgen (Virgin) de Guadalupe"? Well there was only one way to find out and that was to go there. So it was with great eagerness that we descended from the bus that makes the short run between Zacatecas and Guadalupe. Our ...

... scroll down so you can see the full image - in the bottom right hand corner, click on the "rectangle" - click on the "+" repeatedly if you want to speed up the slideshow or the "II" button to pause - now if I could only connect it to a flat screen TV for viewing that would be great --------------------------------------- ------------------ Mexico: 23 Destinations to Spend the Winter Months ...

... in the centro - Avenida Hidalgo that brought us to the Mercado Gonzales Ortega. Remember in Mexico, if in doubt, head for the nearest "mercado" - good things are going to happen. Firstly, in the process of getting there you will automatically discover more of the "centro" as the markets are always located near the middle of the town. Secondly you will end up in a hub of interesting market activity that I described in detail in the previous blog ...

... some street tacos I got really sick and have been paying for it ever since, but once again more cheap prescription drugs and im right as rain (almost) again. Took our first batch of malaria pills last week too in preparation for heading to southern mexico. Apparantly these are known to have a few side effects, mostly psychological, and can induce quite extreme highs and lows. So im eagerly awaiting...

... a bus out of town around 2pm. We had to catch a bus to Leon first, and then to Guanajauto. The bus to Leon was the worst bus we´ve ever been on. It smelled, and the ******* driverkept stopping. He´d tell us that we were stopping for like 5 minutes, but we´d be sitting there for close to a half hour. And I think there was something wrong with it as well, cause we were going REALLY slow up some of the hills on the highway. Anyway ...

... Callehones or "small streets". I really enjoy exploring this colonial city and in some respects have a similar scale to Cinque Terre in Italy. After several hourse of walking around we decided to take a ride on the Teleferico, which is a swiss engineered gondola that crosses above the city of Zacatecas. The teleferico goes to and from a fmous rock above the town called La Bufa. The site from above is pretty cool, you really get to see how the city was ...

... his mount around the ring a second time before disappearing into the corral at a canter. A third rider came out on a skinny black beast with long curved horns. The animal bucked and writhed awhile before ceding control to its rider, who guided it effortlessly around the ring a couple of times before entering the corral with plaudits ringing in his ears. I began to think that rodeo was easy. Then rider number four appeared. His mount was a more formidable proposition ...

... sweet sicky stench of decaying bovine and canine flesh polluted the air at regular intervals encouraging me to pedal faster. A myriad of roadside memorials topped by white crosses bore testament to the human toll exacted by Mexico's highways. I recieved my own personal warning on the subject of moratality when I looked up to find an overtaking bus hurtling stright towards me. The strange chimney-shaped formations of the Sierra de Organos were certainly eye-catching ...

... all the right bits of uniform in all the right places. I have all the right books in my pristine satchel. And I don´t spend my lunch money at the iccy van. So, whilst the bed is extremely cheap ($9 usd) and the facilities are fine - I am not spending much time at the hostel. Instead the cheap lodgings mean I can eat meals out, drink beer and not worry too much about it. There is a set of wooden locker cupboards, big enough for luggage, which I lock my ...