mexico part 5: mazatlan

mazatlan is a coastal town in sinaloa. the ways it's divided up is pretty interesting – there's the zona dorado, which is basically the tourist zone and all those things that go along with that (i.e. senor frog's), and then there's the historical center, which isn't overrun with tourists and has that same colonial feel to it – colorful homes, plazas, outdoor restaurants, etc. and to make it even better, it's right on the ocean.





we decided to splurge and stay in a beach front hotel near the historical area. and after that hellacious drive, it was fabulous to wake up the next morning to this outside our window:





it's a great little town.



[cathedral]


[interior]




probably the best part though, is it's malecon. we have a malecon in peñasco too – it's something like .5 km long. the malecon in mazatlan though is 16 km, running all along the beach for basically the length of the town. and all the time, there were people walking, running, riding bikes, sitting and watching the waves, vendors, et cetera along it.





that's what i would like eventually in my life (add it to the forever growing list) – to live in a place that has a public setting for walking, for family time, for enjoying the outdoors.

out near the harbor is a little hill with a lighthouse on the top that you can walk to, so one morning, iván and i climbed to the top to get a view of the city. here's two of those photos:







i always enjoy picturing myself living wherever i might be visiting when i travel, and i like this place. colonial feel, beach, culture. probably too many tourists though ...

so from mazatlan, we had to reluctantly return back to peñasco. this trip was much needed for me. peñasco is slowly starting to drive me a bit crazy, and this is the longest i've been anywhere for a really long time. i am getting that itch, that bug that it's time to leave, that i need to go see more of the world. and these travels were helpful, even if they didn't quite quench that bug.

mexico part 4: san miguel, dolores, zacatecas

after guanajuanto, we stopped off at a number of little famous towns as we wandered our way back to the north. this is the beauty, of course, of driving.

san miguel de allende:

san miguel de allende is a little colonial town that's become a bit of an american escape town. it's adorable ... lots of little artisan shops, and that same colonial atmosphere, cute streets etc.



[cathedral spire]




what i've really enjoyed about these colonial towns is the revolutionary history of them. it's nice to be in a place with some history, and a history that is appreciated.

dolores hidalgo:

i had no huge desire to come to this town an hour or so down the road from san miguel, except that everyone says you have to come, just to buy an ice cream (or nieves, actually, which is more like a sorbet since they're water based ... helados are milk based). the ice creams are famous here because they come in all sorts of weird flavors.




[flavors of ice cream]


so a few translations – angel's kiss, rose petal, beer, octopus with shrimp, mole, rice with milk, corn, cheese, avocado, et cetera. there are "normal" ones too like pineapple (but this one's with bacardi), strawberry, lime, chocolate, vanilla, mango, cappuccino. we tasted a number of them, including beer and the shrimp one which was quite awful to be honest.

i'm fairly boring – i had guanabana with lime. the guanabana is like one of my favorite fruits from the philippines and i was was excited about it, and he suggested to pair it with lime. ivan got tequila and pinesapple with bacardi. so we're a bit boring, but really ... does anyone order octopus ice cream??

zacatecas:

to drive back to mazatlan, i thought it'd be fun to go a different way and stop in the city of zacatecas, which is famous for it's silver mining.

this was a bad idea for a number of reasons. we arrive fairly late, stayed in a shady hotel, and iván's car got broken into and they stole his stereo, a bottle of tequila, and other various knick knacks we had in there. thankfully, they were obviously idiots and didn't pop the trunk, where all our souvenirs were located. i was more pissed about it than iván was ... there were a few things that really creeped me out. they went through the interior of the car with a fine tooth comb – found a bottle of tequila under the seat, took things from the center console and glove compartment, took the pack of gum we had. i don't know ... it was just weird to sit in the car and think about those creeps being in there.

so ... bad start.

the rest of the town is fine. it's small, not touristy, but has those same pretty colonial buildings and churches.





and we also went on a tour of the mt. eden mine which is quite literally in the middle of town. the entrance to the mine is behind a hospital. a pretty cool tour, although our tour guide was fairly dull. but it was interesting to hear about the history of the mines, the people who worked in them (what a crappy life that was), and see this indoor museum of minerals found in the state.





a huge amount of silver comes from this state and mexican silver is known for being of a good quality.

and then ... we had heard that the new highway between zacatecas and mazatlan was open. the old road drives down the "spine of the devil" and is supposed to be quite beautiful and scenic, but very long and windy and takes forever. you do have to literally cross a mountain range to get from zacatecas over to sinaloa.

so. we get on the road and pay our toll and get a ways down the road and they announce a detour. onto the other windy scenic road, which was very pretty with flowers and cliffs and passing through little pueblos, etc until after a while we notice that we are not actually getting back onto the toll road. because it isn't done. and they just don't tell you that.

i was driving and getting more and more frustrated with this little two-way windy road because it just kept going. you would think you'd gone 50 k, but turns out you'd only gone about 15. like we drove 30 km/hour the entire way. definitely called the spine of the devil for a reason.







now this would be a fabulous drive if you expected it to take the six or seven hours that it does. but not so good when you're tired and all you want to do is reach mazatlan and go to bed.

but we made it to mazatlan just fine and didn't kill each other (although i made iván drive when it got dark ... just couldn't handle it anymore).

mexico part 3: guanajuato

guanajuato.

iván had told me that i would love guanajuato. and he was right. i could live here, really. [and i will admit that sometimes (often) i find myself wondering what i'm doing with my life and why i don't just forget it all and open up a bookstore/cafe a la the book loft in solvang. i would love to do that here.]



[overlook from the pipila statue]




it seems to me like this is what i think of when i think of mexico. colorful houses nestled amongst the hills. plazas and street vendors. little allies to wander through. churches everywhere. culture.



[the univeristy]


[cathedral]


ahhh the culture is the best part of being in the center of mexico. i love museums and art and music and dance and theatre and all of those fine arts that i just find so lacking in peñasco. and even though i was sick and we didn't go to any performances or anything like that, those cultural things just permeate through the streets, and fill that void in me.



[muses atop the theatre]


[interior of the theatre]


two of details i love about the city. because it is so small and crowded with cars, they dug tunnels underneath the city for transport. [think a big dig program that works]. so the streets are fairly empty of cars, and there are haunting, dark tunnels below.





and the little allies. one, i love cobblestone streets (ahhh boston) and colonial cities and then these allies are so narrow and tucked in amidst all the houses. you could get so lost exploring all these little streets.





and what i love about the above one is that there is a hole cut into the building because it's so narrow and they have to make sure people can get through.

so basically, guanajuato is near the top of places that i insist you visit. we were not here long enough to do all the exploring which needs to be done, to enjoy all the little plazas and restaurants and shops. love, love it.

mexico part 2: ciudad de mexico (aka DF)

mexico city.





i had heard so much about mexico city . my dad has been there a few times and always said that it was probably the most impressive city he has been to. the things you hear - about the sheer number of people, the pollution, all of it makes mexico city sound like a bit of a mess, to be honest. people talk about it a bit disdainfully, almost.

but i didn't really find that. for one thing, the pollution was not even CLOSE to that of manila. it was hugely cleaner than i expected. it's huge, yes, and there are a ton of people, but ... i liked it. granted, i didn't see very much - didn't see half of what i wanted to, to be honest, which was quite disappointing. and that's because this is where i got really sick, slept a lot, and became very familiar with the ceiling of our hotel room. and finally had to give up and go to the hospital. where the doctor drilled into me that this was "very very serious" and to take ALL the pills he gave me. whoops.

so let's see. in prep for the trip i read a lot about mexico city. and my first list of things i wanted to do was ... let's just say a bit unrealistic, considering we had only five days to spend there. the city has hundreds of museums. tons of plazas. little barrios that have to be visited. shopping. streets to wander through. it is completely overwhelming. so i had narrowed down my list considerably ... and then hardly saw any of that. more reasons to go back ...

but. my first day there, i was alive enough to go to the historical center, called the zócalo. it's basically the heart of the city, and has been since the aztecs ruled there. it's where the cathedral is, the national palace (closed!), federal buildings, etc.



[federal buildings]


[cathedral (left) and templo de santo domingo (right)]


the federal building has the mexican flag colors on it because we were there right before mexican independence day (16 september). next year is the bicentennial and there's a big clock counting down to it right there in the square as well. haha how fabulous. i love it. i would love to come back here next year to see that celebration.





but the churches. i mean, they are all beautiful. everywhere i've been, i have enjoyed visiting the churches, lighting a candle, admiring the artwork and decoration. i thank ms. mccrory back in high school for instilling that appreciation in me. and these two churches were gorgeous. the beauty of churches really is awe-inspiring.



[altar in the cathedral]


[facade of templo de santa domingo]


and then, there is of course the aztec history. i remember when i was kid back in colorado, my family went to an exhibit about the aztecs at the denver art museum. we rented those audio tour things and i distinctly remember (i must have been ... 8? 9?) the description of the human sacrifices at the templo mayor. and it scaring the shit out of me.

and then i got to go and see it.

it's amazing - the ruins of this aztec temple right there next to the spanish ones ... the spaniards literally came in and built right on top of the aztecs' city.





and they let you walk through the ruins. there are paths and all of that, but it was really, really cool to walk through the temple grounds. impressive. and freaky. the place must be f-ing' crawling with ghosts. i was just blown away by the whole thing. god the aztecs are fascinating.



[temple steps. that is seriously steep]


[i'm pretty sure those are real skulls]


[original color paint ... and check out the intricacy of the carvings]


and then there, just to the side of the temple, are aztec dancers performing.





p.s. i took like 100 photos at the templo mayor. i'll post more on facebook if you want to see more.

that day we also went to the palacio de bellas artes, the opera house. absolutely gorgeous beautiful building. and it was where i saw my diego murals (including man at the crossroads, but no photos allowed).





and then that night was when i really started to crumble. the next day we went over to coyoacán, a little suburb to the south, with a beautiful plaza. typically (apparently), the plaza is full of artists and vendors, but apparently the city has banned them, and moved them into an inside market. and the place was absolutely crawling with police to keep the vendors out. hundreds of them. a bit ... excessive, perhaps?



[and they were all over the place!]


this is also where frida was born, and where she and diego lived. so we went to her house as well. again, no photos allowed inside, but here's one of the side of the house looking into the garden.





on the metro ride over there, we got off at one of the metro stations ...





... which is decorated with 20 or so hand-painted, beautiful murals. for no apparent reason. and i would like to also mention that the metro costs 2 pesos. do you hear that boston and new york city? two pesos.

so. that was what i saw. the next day we went to the hospital, and then we left. like i said, missed a ton, which is a bit disappointing, buuuut it just means i have to go back.



[bellas artes with vendors]