Last post from south of the border!

It was sad to say goodbye to our cozy apartment and new friends in Guanajuato and we can't recommend the town and Casa Bertha highly enough. But after our usual wistful musings -- "We could just stay here and teach...", we decided to keep going.

Zacatecas is a few hours north of Guanajuato and similarly located in a high sided valley with little streets running up the hills. It is a mining town and was one of the richest cities in New Spain. Two rocky outcroppings rise high on either side of the valley and a teleférico or gondola runs between them. On our walk up to the gondola we met Antonio Zelaya, a very young looking 84 year old who sat on a corner enjoying the chilly but sunny day. He stopped us to find out what we thought of Zacatecas and told us the secrets of his youthfulness: wine, cigars and beautiful women.

On the gondola we met Jose Luis and Angelín who were visiting from Mexico City. After chatting with them for 10 minutes they extracted a bar of Zacatecas chocolate from Angelín's purse and insisted that we accept it from them. On Cerro de la Bufa at one end of the teleférico there are equestrian statues of Pancho Villa and two generals of the revolution, Felipe Ángeles and Panfilo Natera. One of the revolution's bloodiest battles took place here in 1914 when Pancho Villa's troops stormed the federal stronghold on La Bufa.









We did a lot of walking through the city's neighborhoods, exploring parks and churches. In the Iglesia San Agustín we encountered an exhibit enjoining Mexicans to Know Your Military. In the Museo Rafael Coronel we ran across a great collection of masks from all parts of Mexico and housed in a beautiful old convent.





























From Zacatecas we set out for Monterrey, our last stop in Mexico. Monterrey is wealthy and modern and quite close to the U.S. border. However, a big Mexican folk dancing festival and the delicious roast baby goat (a local specialty) kept everything feeling more Mexican than not.






















On our last day in Monterrey we explored the Parque Fundidora. This is a huge city park built on what was once industrial land. The designers kept some of the old smokestacks and other industrial structures giving the place a vaguely apocalyptic feel. Fortunately they also arranged for lots of grass and fountains and the park is a lovely place in which to wander.











On our last morning in Mexico we had a convivial breakfast near our hotel at the Cafe San Pedro. Rosy, Linda and Alicia served us good food and were eager to hear about our travels. It was bittersweet to sum up the past 14 months on our last day but our friends' enthusiasm and wonder were good reminders of what a remarkable journey it has been.