Driving south: Saltillo and Zacatecas
July 10: we left Cuatro Cienagas for Saltillo. We found an old
hotel in town (Hotel Urdinola) with a delightful lobby, curving
staircase and stained glass windows.
We were very optimistic until we opened the door of our room, scraping
one of the beds as we did. The room was tiny, dark and the toilet
had no seat. It reminded Don and Helen of some of the hotels we
had stayed in in San Jose, Costa Rica decades ago. . . . The kids were
a bit surprised! But what can you expect for $40? It was
quiet and safe (and dark) - who needs a toilet seat?
We walked into town to look at the
cathedral (Catedral de Santiago), which is what one does in every
Mexican town. Built between 1745 and 1800, this cathedral
exhibits one of Mexico's finest churrigueresque facades:
We met a family from Texas - the kids were doing a dance camp for a
week in Saltillo. A man approached us and offered to take us to
the top of the church tower - I accepted immediately, while the Texan
family looked a bit scared. Off we went - he led us to a small
door (held open with a piece of cardboard) and up a skinny spiral
staircase to the bell. There was a real person there - the bell
ringer - who rang the bell every 15 minutes. He sat in an
upholstered chair and whittled between ringings. He let the kids
ring the bell at 5:15.
This is the bell-ringer with the kids.
Our guide then told us about a magical thing that can be seen in
this tower. The window had big wooden shutters and one of the
shutters had been damaged so that there was a hole it in. He
closed the shutters and the door to the staircase so that it was
completely dark in the tower (now the Texan family was really worried!)
and told us to wait a minute. As our eyes adjusted to the dark,
images started to appear. Like a pinhole camera, images from the
street were being
projected on the wall. We could see buses go by, pedestrians
walking down the street.
Views from the tower of the cathedral:
We descended these stairs to return to street level.
On to Zacatecas: July 11
The drive from Saltillo to Zacatecas was the most desolate of our trip
- miles and miles of cactus and Joshua trees and ocotillo, no grazing cattle and
horses. It was hot and dry. We wore wet bandanas around our
necks in an attempt to stay cool. We drove from mountain range to
mountain range. Helen saw a roadrunner cross the road. . . .
We crossed the Tropic of Cancer. Great monument, eh?!
Zacatecas: this city was built after silver was discovered in the area.
Courtyard of some government offices in Zacatecas:
We toured the Eden Mine, an old
silver mine that was running continuously from 1586 to the late 1950s.
In its its heyday, five
people a day were dying in the mines, many of them children. In
the 1540's, native indians were enslaved to work in these mines.
For about 250 years, 20% of New Spain's silver was extracted from
this mine.
As a museum, they had made models of people working in the mine.
All around Mexico are hotels run
by a Mexican chain: Quinta Real. These luxurious hotels exist
even in tiny dusty towns. The one in Zacatecas was built on an
old bullring. We treated ourselves to a beer on the terrace while
the kids ran around (with the camera) in the ring below. It was a
nice taste of how the wealthy travel.
With the aqueduct running nearby, it made for a spectacular scene.
Next file: on to Guanajuato
