Zacatecas - Mexico 12-30-14

Today was a beautiful day 70 and sunny! Perfect for walking around.  Our journey to find a lunch spot took us awhile as we realized most restaurants did not open until 2:00. Hard to believe that happening back home! But we found a nice little diner and I quickly ordered a couple quesadillas with chorizo were very tasty. After lunch we walked to the Museo de Mascaras Mexicanas Rafael Coronel. It was a museum full of different masks from all the different states in Mexico. It was very interesting and cool to see. (Even for a mask phobe like myself!) The museum also had several sections of marionettes/puppets (creepy) as well as statuettes. It was in an old convent that was converted into the museum. 

After the museum we walked around the city a bit trying to find our way into one of these several churches but they all were closed for some reason. The city is really nice and colorful.  I was able to see the cable cars going to the mountain top which we will do on the 1st.  There was also a temporary outdoor ice skating rink which was interesting. The ice was there but it was also 70, so quite a bit if water as well, but people were having fun.  Tomorrow we are going to La Quemada which are the ruins of Zacatecas which should be awesome, especially since the weather will be great again. 

JEB

Around Town

At the Museum

Monterrey - Mexico 12/28/14

Off to Mexico again! Flights were great and due to a Delta error at booking I was bumped up to First Class! A different style of flying for sure. I arrived and was greeted by David and his friends Max and Mayra who are super nice.  

We proceeded to head to Mirador del Obispado which is high above the city and you can get a 360 degree view of the entire city. There is also a carousel at the top but did not go on.  One of the main views in Monterrey is of Cerro de la Silla which is a mountain that appears to have a "saddle on it." After hanging there for a bit we grabbed a quick lunch and headed to Grutas de Garcia which is in Garcia, Nuevo León. Grutas means caves. It was really neat and for those of you that know what I mean reminded me of Howes Caverns. We rode a cable car up to the Grutas and had a guided tour throughout (in Spanish so I need to really work on that!)

Grutas de Garcia Below

After that, headed to Saltillo to purchase bus tickets for the trip to Zacatecas and get some sleep! Great first day with David and friends. 

We have arrived in Zacatecas and did a little walking around and dinner but more to follow the next few days.

JEB

Monterrey 9/20-9/22

Saturday I arrived in Monterrey which is definitely a lot more humid than the desert air of Saltilo.  As you can imagine, humidity is not my favorite thing. After a quick check in at the hotel and a shirt rest David and I went to Carl's Jr. For some food. Fast food place that is all over the place. Good though!

We made our way over to the Hellow Festival to listen to some music. I was introduced to some new music for sure. Once we got there we heard Is Tropical, Gran Silencio (cumbia style), Cut Copy (electro), Die Antwoord (South African Rap), MGMT & Caifanes (Mexican Rock Band). It was an awesome time seeing so many different bands and I was also able to meet some of David's friends and we all had a great time.  I was definitely tired after standing all night, but of course it was worth it. Didn't take long to fall asleep!

After a little sleeping in, a little journey around Monterrey was in store.  We walked around the main square and park.  There is a cool fountain called "the fountain of life, the water" that I have pictures of below.  I was also able to check out the government palace and then we went into the Museum of Mexican History which although quite crowded as ther was a festival going on today, was really neat and had some cool displays and art. Again, I need to learn better Spanish so I can read the signs! I also learned that Monterrey built a fake river called Santa Lucia. My guess is because the river they already had is dried up! 

After a quick rain, we went to dinner at a really cool place called Trece Lunas (Thirteen Moons) they made great smoothies and I had a crepizza (sort of a crepe style pizza). It had a really neat atmosphere and a lot of wall art including some freaky elephant whales! Too dark for pictures though.

Definitely more to explore in Monterrey on the next trip! 

Saltillo 9/18-9/20

I landed in Monterrey MX Thursday afternoon. I was able to quickly get through customs and into a taxi to Saltillo within 15 minutes of being off the plan. Had a nice ride with some views of Monterrey and some mountains known as Huasteca.  My limited Spanish and my drivers seemingly limited English made for a quiet ride.  I made it to the hotel in Saltillo which is nice (Quinta Dorada) about 5 minutes by taxi to downtown.  David met me and we had a late lunch/early dinner....of Sushi! Very Mexican of course.  We went downtown for a walk around an I saw Plaza de Armas (the main square) which still had some decorations from Independence Day on 9/16.  We also walked around the big park called Parque del Alameda. It was really nice and I commented to David how clean the city was and he said it was known as one of the cleanest in Mexico! It was a lot of fun walking around the city.  We also went to Cerdo Babel which is David's favorite bar and a nice time (although I didn't like his favorite drink there, sort of a Bloody Mary type drink but with beer instead of vodka and some spicy salt around the rim. But I tried and will try again!


Friday we had a great brunch at Los Compadres where I had Gorditas (1 with barbacoa meat and 1 with chicharron). Very tasty! I also had an omelet with beans.  It was all great and if I lived here I think I would live on Gorditas! After brunch we went to Museo del Desierto. It is a Natural History type museum that was really nice and I learned! Also had some live animals (black bears, turtles, rams, birds, tortoises, snakes and lizards). And a lot of varieties of cactus which was really cool to see.  And of octopuses dinosaurs!  Had a lot of fun there.  After that, off to Museo de Katrina. It is all about Katrina who is a representation of death (muerte). The tour was all in Spanish and David was doing some translation for me, so I probably didn't get quite the whole gist, but enough to understand.  It was a really neat place, and I would think unique to Saltillo.

After the Museum and another quick visit to Plaza de Armas for some daytime photos a sneak peek into Cathedral de Santiago we met up for dinner and drinks with some of David's friends and one of his brothers at Pizza Rock. A pizza place that is focused around rock music.  It was a lot of fun and awesome to meet some of David's friends and his brother. I definitely need to work on my Spanish though!

This morning off to Monterrey, more to follow.

Plaza de Armas

Museo del Desierto

El esquilito de oso

Museo de la Catrina

Plaza de Armas 2