Small town Mexico

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I had one one stop to make before re-entering the United States. I wanted to experience a smaller, typical Mexican town. The Lonely Planet came through with Parras, in the state of Coahuilla. Parras is a bit of an oasis in the middle of a desert. It has a population of just over 40,000 and is a jean manufacturing centre, it is home to the Dickies brand clothing plant. It also has a few vineyards and wineries. Some believe that this was the first winery in the Americas.

The ride there was an easy 400 km on dual lane highways, I used a couple of the toll (cuota) roads. They are operated as private entreprise and run parallel to the public highway. Basically, cuota roads are the business class of the motoring road: wider shoulders, better signage, no livestock in the grassy median and hardly anyone else on the road.

Parras was easy enough to get around in. Found the Hostal El Farol with the help of the GPS fairly quickly. A beautiful hotel with an amazing courtyard that all rooms open onto. Italso featured a great restaurant and bar that is also frequented by the locals. I sat for luch at about 2 PM and noticed a guy with a motorcycle helmet. I had seen a BMW motorcycle about 30 km before Parras and saw the same bike parked at the hotel. My fellow rider was from the city of Torreon and spoke english, he invited me to join him for lunch. Antonio runs a succesful construction company and dreams of riding his GS 1200 to Alaska. I had a few stories for him. We talked about life in Mexico and how it differed from Canada. A very interesting and enlightening encounter.

After Antonio left for home, I set about to walk around the city and snap some photos. Being that it was Sunday, a lot of shops were closed. People were millimg about and there was a big rally near the town square: a local election loomed and supporters of the Parti Verde (green party) were competing with those of the PAN to see who could put the most stickers on passing cars. This was all taking place as music blarred away and vendors prepared food nearby. Mexicans seem to enjoy their politics!

I returned to the hotel tired and hungry and sat down for some supper at about 8 PM.

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