We walked into the main square that night and were blown away by the stunning church there. It's one of the loveliest we've ever seen. It's built from a rose-coloured stone and the top of the building is just a series of stunning arches. It's not solid.
Gorgeous old renovated buildings were draped in beautiful plants.
At one place that we walked past most days, they had a huge wall topped with glass and six rows of electrified wire! Considering we saw no sign of trouble anywhere here, I'm supecting someone's a bit paranoid.
Even the place we stayed was brightly coloured and colourful plants filled the garden. I love this look!
There are bright, colourful plants everywhere, including spectacular jacarandas.
Like most Mexican towns, the main square was the place to be in the evenings. These very tall people were posing for photos. We think they were promoting tourism.
I love the hat sellers who wear all their stock at once.
One night we sat in a restaurant right on the square. Those church bells are so loud!
It was wonderful watching the colours of the church change as the sun went down.
We went to a few bars and they were fun. We didn't go to this one but we loved how long their happy hour was!
We actually didn't see much during the first couple of days as we were madly rearranging our travel plans. Our original plan had been to spend about three months in Mexico then a month in the Caribbean somewhere, finishing in Jamaica for Carnaval. We had just booked our flights and a hotel when we realised that Carnaval didn't sound that great at all. It sounded a lot like the one at Veracruz but a lot more expensive. We decided to just stay in Mexico instead. There's so much to see here!
We went out each night though and had some fantastic meals. We even found an organic cafe and topped up on much-needed salads.
On our last day we headed out to explore. In one square we got chatting to a shoeshine guy who spoke fluent English. Like so many other Mexicans, he had lived in the US for a while. He was a really interesting guy. He was obviously a very intelligent man, yet here he was, shining shoes for a living.
Shoe-shining is serious business here. Check out how many colours of polish he has! Western boots often have multiple different coloured leather on them.
A guy sitting beside me on the bench had amazing boots! I snuck a photo.
Other people sat underneath the cool pruned trees in the square.
There must have been some sort of dance performance nearby because all these dancers suddenly appeared. It was funny that they all piled onto a local bus to go home.
A photo for Bernie!
Due to a booking stuff-up at our hotel, we had to move to another hotel on our last night. It was in an old brothel! The rooms had names like "Working Girl" and "Kiss Me Quick". It was pretty funny. It was located on Organos Street but we promptly named in Orgasmos Street.
Our destination was a town called Jerez. We stay in a variety of accommodations when we travel and this hotel was a real budget one but it was clean and comfortable. The view from the window wasn't too great though!
Gordon - this photo's for you. It translates to "Happy Hens"! Sorry, but we couldn't resist it ;)
We had read that Jerez was a real cowboy town. We stepped out of the door of our hotel and immediately saw some horses going down the main road!
In keeping with the cowboy theme, we went looking for a local bar when we arrived. It had to have swinging saloon doors! We found one called El Tigre Negro (the Black Tiger) so we ventured inside.
It was a tiny bar - about 4 metres long and two metres wide. We were immediately inundated with really drunk guys wanting to get near the gringos. Within a few minutes I wanted to leave. It was just too much! There were two very drunk guys in particular. The older one (who was 82!) kept holding our hands and trying to talk to us. The other one was about our age but they both just yabbered on very drunkenly and we couldn't understand a word they were saying. Luckily, there were a few women and one of them took us under her wing and stopped them hassling us too much so we stayed a bit longer.
As the evening went on, we danced with them to juke box music. Most of the music was classic Mexican stuff with lots of brass, but 'Despacito' got a showing at one stage.
Betty (we think that was her name!) and I.
The two main guys and the three girls.
A few new people came in as the night progressed. One guy walked in, took one look at us and immediately started dancing with me. He wore a basball cap which kept his face in the dark and all I could see of him was his front tooth, which was lined with gold, shining at me from under his hat! Whenever I tried to not dance with him and dance with John instead, he'd give a big whistle to get my attention. It was exactly the kind of whistle someone would use to call their dog or round up the cattle. Every now and then he'd reach out and touch my hair in amazement. I got very concerned at one stage when he started taking his belt off on the dance floor! He handed it to me and I really didn't know what I was supposed to do. Nobody's ever handed me their belt on the dance floor before! I just said it was lovely and gave it back to him. He seemed happy with that.
Meanwhile, we noticed that the three girls there were all in their 30's or so, while all the men were our age or older. As everyone got drunker, the girls, including the one behind the bar, started dancing more and more seductively with the men. They would turn around and wave their bums at the guys. The guys seemed to know how close they could get without getting told off. These girls danced very seductively on the floor, on a chair and on the bar! Before long, old guys had their arms around the younger girls and everyone was getting very friendly. It wasn't until a fourth girl walked in wih her boobs pushed up around her chin somewhere that the penny dropped - these girls were probably working girls! Not a single one of them was with a guy anywhere near her age.
The next day was market day. On our way there we heard music coming from a beautiful old hotel. We poked our noses in the door and were immediately welcomed inside. Before we had even said hello, people were offering us food and drink! It turns out that the people were a family from LA. Their father was from this area and this was the first time he had been back in 43 years. They were dancing and celebrating in the morning then heading out to the family's ranch in the afternoon.
We checked out the town. There were entire shops dedicated to cowboy gear. These belts were highly decorated.
There were enough boots and sombreros for everyone.
This saddle was amazing.
In an antique shop.
An appropriate name for a barber shop.
I love the cantinas with the swinging saloon doors!
There are large shoe-shine seats around the square.
Like cowboy father, like cowboy son.......
The market itself was like most others in Mexico. Cactus leaves are standard fare, in fact they're one of the few common greens that Mexicans eat regularly. They strip off the spines then cut the leaves thinly and use them like beans.
The military or police are everywhere, even at a market.
There were a few of these really cool stretched American cars around.
We came across a boy on a back street rolling up a lassoo. We asked if he could use it. Look at what he did!
We might not have found any horses but we found heaps of bikes! We have seen no town in Mexico with anywhere near the number of bikes that this town has. It's a bit weird to see guys in sombreros on bikes instead of horses!
We also came across this mass bike ride. We have no idea what it was about!
We enjoyed sitting around the town square in the afternoon watching all the goings on. The area was lovely.
Three guys at a table next to us bought us a round of drinks and it was fun talking to them. They had one of those barrels of beer at their table and they paid a mariachi band to play a song for them.
Mariachi bands were everywhere - on the street corners......
........ and even in the bars. Now that would be loud! We were standing outside and it was blasting us!
I love Mexican colours!
There were many beautiful churches here. We've never seen a pink one before!
Our next destination, Zacatecas, was only an hour down the road but the two towns were worlds apart. While Jerez was a bit of a wild west town, Zacatecas felt so European that we could have been in Spain. Churches and grand buildings lined the streets and the people here were predominantly white Mexicans. They seemed more sophosticated and maybe even aloof. It's amazing how things can vary so much between two towns. The difference I suppose is that Zacatecas is a town built on the wealth of silver mined in the area.
We stayed in the most amazing hotel here. It is built around an ex-bullfighting ring! They've done a great job of converting something horrible into something beautiful. It's also right beside an ancient aqueduct. It's so photogenic!
Spot the wild bull!
It was even more spectacular at night.
We even got a full moon!
The bar was located in the very bottom rooms. It was very cool!
One thing John loves about the mezcal here is that it is always served with orange slices which have been sprinkled with chilli and sometimes salt or ground grasshoppers!
The aqueduct was pretty cool too. The main road ran through it.
We then caught a chairlift down. We explored the town and found some amazingly decorated churches.
Most of the churches were built from stunning rose-coloured stone. This caught the different lights beautifully.
The churches were all closed on our first day but were open on the second. It seems that the ones that are plainer on the outside are generally more spectacular on the inside and vice versa.
The walls of this church with lined with gold and the floors were made of wood and squeaked with every step. You wouldn't want to try to creep in late to mass!
Stained glass windows threw beautiful light inside this church.
We visited a museum that had an amazing art collection that included artists like Dali and Picasso. We then made our way to another museum. Signs at the start of the property led us through some amazing ruins of a monastery. When we finally found the right building, it was closed! We had a ball wandering through the ruins though. They were so atmospheric!
Statues were scattered through the gardens and ruins. Spot the Aussie one!
We found another mural that shows Mexican history. This one had great carvings at the bottom.
Another long bus journey brought us to Durango. Our whole family spent a fantastic white Christmas in Durango in the USA almost 10 years ago, so it was funny to visit Durango, Mexico.
Most importantly though, it was John's football team's first game of the season! He got up early, donned his Mexican footy scarf and watched the Tiges win their first game of the round. Yay!
Durango is famous for being the film set of many westerns. The fim set has now been turned into a tourist attraction. They do shows there which are supposed to be pretty good, however they're only done on weekends and we were here on a weekday. We went out anyway. We had the place all to ourselves and it was so bad that we loved it!
The main street was lined with the kind of buildings you'd expect, some real, some just fronts. The wind picked up dust and blew it over everything!
There was a fake cemetary with graves of famous actors who filmed here. Some of them weren't actually dead in real life though!
There were a number of adobe buildings. The colours were so cool.
Just horsin' around!
As we wandered around, a loudspeaker played rocked up western music - a lot like the Fargone Beauties, Mark and Fads!
There was a separate "Indian compound". It's here that things went downhill. Teepees, complete with fake entrances (black holes were just painted on) sat among cactii.
A couple of really badly made horses were tied to poles to keep them more or less upright. They were terrible!
We waited outside the park to catch a bus back. The park may have been fake but that desert scenery was very real!
We later went to a museum that covered lots of topics including Durango's film history. As all the information was in Spanish, I can't say we learned a lot but we did recognise people!
Weirdly, in the same museum were tanks of scorpions! They had blue lights on them which made them glow a little. It was all very strange.
For dinner we had a local specialty where they flame the dish in mezcal in front of you.
The restaurant was full of antiques. If you got bored with the food, there was plenty to look at!
On our way back we walked past this cafe. It specialised in selling cereals! You could buy a bowl of cereal and add topppings like lollies! You could also have a cereal milkshake! Somehow, I don't think this idea is going to catch on.
As dusk set in, the churches looked lovely.
As we walked back past the museum we had visited earlier in the day, we heard music coming from inside it. We walked in and an operatic tenor was singing. It was obviously a free concert and many people were there. Mexico is such a cultural country!
Today we packed our bags and caught a bus down to the coast. The drive down was actually part of the attraction. We wound our way through something like 40 tunnels and over a number of amazing bridges, the famous one being Baluarte Bridge. Sadly, we didn't have great views from our bus but what we saw was spectacular.
Crossing the bridge.
Here's an internet shot of the bridge.
We arrived at the coast and it was like we had arrived on a new planet! Tourists were everywhere along the boulevard that runs along the coast. Weird little buses, like large golf carts, take tourists up and down the beach road with music blaring. It's great to see the sea though!
We had time to fill in as we were catching a plane late at night. We camped in a cafe for a while then explored the old part of town which was nice. Many buildings had been renovated beautifully. It's a weird place though. The malecon (seafront boulevard) was full of people for many kilometres yet the lovely old part of the town seemed empty. We found one town square which was completely lined with restaurant tables and kiosks selling tourist trinkets. It didn't feel Mexican at all! We did find an ice-cream stand though which has been selling ice-creams since 1938. They were yummy!
We walked for kilometres along the waterfront. Gary - we saw these frigate birds eating fishing scraps.
It was lovely watching the sun set as we walked along.
We arrived at the airport for our 11pm flight, only to find that our flight was the only one going out and the airport was almost deserted. We couldn't even get any food! That won't hurt us though. Our plane was the only one sitting on the tarmac in the dark.
Til next time.
Heather
