I haven't been this cold since Blue Canyon*

But, cold as we are, Zacatecas is one beautiful, cultural, historic, and inviting town. It is a town where it is best to leave your car parked and put on your walking shoes ... and walk, and walk, and walk.


After a quick breakfast across the street from the hotel (not at Starbucks ... just didn't seem right), layered in t-shirts, sweatshirts and jackets (but no scarves like the locals wear), we headed out.

Dating back to the 1500s, this was a mining town. In fact, the main mine here, Mina el Eden was active until the mid-1970s. After it closed, it was converted into a tourism spot. Donning our hard hats, then taking a train about 400 meters underground, you get a real feel of what a huge mining operation it was. After the train stops, the rest of the underground excursion is up to you ... wandering through a maze of underground tunnels, the walls still lined with beautiful quartz, silver, and copper. The people who worked in the mines, from young children to people in their 80s went through hell, carrying silver laden rocks in baskets to the surface above.

The minerals that came from underneath this city provided for the many riches on its surface. There are many large parks that line the boulevards. Fountains that look like miniature versions of the Fountains of the Bellagio in Vegas add to the ambiance. There are several Gaudi-esque cathedrals here (including the main cathedral across from our hotel). And the Francisco Goitia Art Museum currently has an exhibit of one of the finest contemporary artists we have ever seen, Armando Belmontes.

It's not just what you see, but what you experience. Zacatecas, unlike Puerto Vallarta and other Mexican cities we have visited, is extremely clean. You don't see dirt, you don't see garbage, you don't see dilapidated streets and busted sidewalks. It is extremely European. At various times today, I thought I could be in Paris, Barcelona, New Orleans, San Francisco.

And the class of people here are different as well. Yes, there are the laborers, but this is the capitol and financial center of the state of Zacatecas, so there is a certain sophistication that you don't find in other towns. And, while the few here who do work in the tourist industry do speak English, most people here do not. You need to speak Spanish here (unless you want to just hang in the hotel).

As for restaurants, this isn't Puerto Vallarta. We found the choices to be somewhat slim. On top of that, most restaurants are not heated. Last night, we went to Garufa, probably the top restuarant in town. The place was empty and it must have been 45 degrees inside. We asked if they had heat, but they said no ... so we sat near the kitchen where the TV was blaring and workers were waiting to shut the place down (at 8:00). The food was good, but when the room it's served in is only a dozen degree above freezing, it doesn't stay tasty very long.

So, back in the room after a long day, we've decided that tomorrow, we will try to make it to Chihuahua. It is mostly toll roads (4 lane divided highways between here and there), but even with that, it will likely be a ten hour day on the road. We had thought originally about going to Durango or Gomez Palacio, but the people here in Zacatecas have said there isn't much there ... and it was confirmed by our AAA tour book.

So probably a short blog tomorrow. Until then .. hasta luego amigos.

* For those unfamiliar with Sacramento, Blue Canyon is the spot in the high Sierra where TV stations would send their reporters to do live shots when it was snowing. I, along with my colleagues from Sacramento and San Francisco, spent many a freezing, wet, snowy, blizzardy, night along Interstate 80 at Blue Canyon, just so viewers at home could say, "Damn, glad I'm not there."