Zacatecas, Guadalajara, and Pàtzcuaro

Hola amigos, an update of our time between farms...

Last Wednesday we traveled from General Cepeda to Zacatecas for two nights. The first afternoon we saw a parade right by the hostel, some combination of indigenous dance and the Catholic church, interesting:

Dancers in a parade in Zacatecas

There was a lot going on, as there is everywhere we`ve been, due to the upcoming bicentennial. The hostel in Zacatecas, Hostal Villa Colonial, was in a cool old building and the people who worked there were cool, but other than that it was unimpressive (i.e. the bathroom in our room had not been cleaned since the last guest, the toilet barely worked, etc.). The fact that the bus ride to Zacatecas totally sucked did not help the experience overall (again, serious bathroom issues, like they really shouldn´t even pretend they have one on the bus!). On Wednesday night we went to the fiestas, going on from 2-19 September for the bicentennial. It was kind of like a patriotic state fair, not really my cup of tea but it was fun. We heard many local mariachi bands and other singers which was great. While we were enjoying the music and a Corona Familiar (yes, apparently there is such a thing as family-sized beer), a guy from a local newspaper took our picture (we never did get the actual paper, oops) - here it is:

Feria Nacional, Zacatecas

Appreciating art outside the cathedral in Zacatecas

On Thursday, after getting our picture taken at breakfast by someone from another newspaper (didn`t get that one either), we rode the telefèrico (gondola/cable car, built by the Swiss) over the city to the park Cerro de la Bufa. Our time there was definitely the highlight of our Zacatecas experience, it is a beautiful place, full of nature and history. We did some birdwatching and waited out a big storm. The cable car was cool, except for the obnoxious `driver` (really `door opener/closer) who, as soon as I responded that I was from the US, proceeded to ìnform` me that in Mexico there are United States, too, and that Mexico is part of North America, too. Yep, I know all of that, which is why I hadn`t said anything to the contrary. It made me realize that its not just other gringos that perpetuate the US-centric stereotype, there is definitely some prejudice that forces the stereotype on some of us. Anyways, Zacatecas is an interesting city, lots of square, colorful buildings in between the hills, and of course lots of churches (interesting architecturally, but not something that entertains me all day).

The Telefèrico and part of Zacatecas, with Cerro de la Bufa in the distance

At the meteorological station on Cerro de la Bufa, overlooking Zacatecas

On Friday morning we traveled from Zacatecas to Guadalajara, another crappy (literally) bus ride. The taxi we got to the hostel had some Soda Stereo and other rock (in Spanish) cranked, a really wonderful change from banda and norteña, which are fine in small doses, but that`s all we`ve been hearing lately. Oh, speaking of music we hear all the time, there`s some sort of marching band with what sounds like 500 cornetas going by at the moment. We checked in at Bed`n`Travel Hostel, southwest of the center of Guadalajara. The staff members were awesome and the place was clean, but there were a few weird things: people steal stuff, so there were no lighters for the gas stove in the kitchen (which is on the roof - cool), no toilet paper unless you ask for it, etc. The clientelle they have received so far apparently don`t understand the hostel etiquette, too bad. On Friday night we went to Tlaquepaque, a suburb of Guadalajara, and heard some live mariachi music and saw a ballet folclòrico. On the way there a bus driver slammed the door in my face and almost ran us over, but after that people were very helpful in guiding us to the three buses it took to get there. On Saturday we went to downtown, saw La Catedral and Mercado San Juan de Dios and walked around, then hiked what felt like a million blocks to Parque Agua Azul. It was pretty lame, we were hoping to do some birdwatching but the only birds to be found were in cages or grackles in the various exotic trees. After that we walked what felt like two million blocks to get back downtown (wrong turn, got to see the auto parts zone of Guadalajara, though, woohoo) and hear some mariachi music at the Plaza de Los Mariachis.

La famosa Catedral de Guadalajara

Mercado San Juan de Dios, Guadalajara

Yummy food from a taquerìa in Guadalajara
(cheaper and better than the fancy restaurants)

On Sunday we went to the nearby town of Tequila and toured the Las Alboradas distillery (on Facebook). This is a small distillery which uses a more traditional process than the larger distilleries like Cuervo and Sauza. They use organic agave but it sounds like there are some things they could do to be more sustainable, at least its a step in the right direction. We wanted to visit their agave fields but weren`t able to. We learned at the tequila museum that one of the problems associated with the way almost all the distilleries do things is that they don`t allow the agave to flower, because once it flowers it is no longer good for making tequila. This means that there is very limited sexual reproduction and that the bats and hummingbirds that depend on the plant for food have much less to eat than they could if more agaves were allowed to flower. The plant produces clones which are used to plant the next crop. The blue agave only flowers every 7-9 years, so it takes planning ahead to have a crop ready for tequila production. We ended up buying El Gran Jubileo Reposado. We learned on the tour that the lime and salt tradition started to actually hide the taste of crappy tequila and that much more appropriate companions are orange (for tequila blanco, the youngest), strawberry (for reposado), and chocolate (for añejo, the oldest). We tried their tequilas with oranges and chocolate and it was definitely a million times better than Cuervo with lime and salt! They also make cookies with some of the agave sugar and fiber. The distillery has won prizes over all the big distilleries, not surprising. We also visited a very old distillery, their tequila wasn`t as good but they had some interesting, impressive equipment. I wish I could have brought my chemistry students on a field trip to a distillery when they learned about distillation!

Tequila!

Blue agave

Yesterday we traveled to Pàtzcuaro, a small town in the state of Michoacàn. It is a very picturesque place with lots of interesting, pre-columbian and hispanic history. We might come back here after our time at the next farm, which is about 30 km from here. Last night we stayed at Hotel Valmen, a very sweet (and clean!) little hotel in the historic downtown. At noon today we`re going to the bus station to meet Luis, a new friend we met just before we left NC through one of my oldest and dearest friends, Jess. Luis returned to Mexico about the same time we began our journey after living in the US for half his life. He and his family are about to begin an agricultural undertaking they have been planning and working towards for some time now. The three of us will work on the farm near Erongarìcuaro together for the next week or so.

Hotel Valmen, Pàtzcuaro