You Have to Love the Name of this State and City...

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The last stop, Zacatecas, couldn't have been any better. This was one of our favorite cities in Mexico and also a favorite by many others as it is a Unesco World Heritage site. The state of Zacateces is actually one of Mexico's largest, but smallest in population. The city of Zacatecas has an altitude of 2445m, which is 5m higher than Mexico City, which makes for some hot days and cold nights, even in the summer.

Zacatecas is approx. 4 hours from Guadalajara, with good weather and good traffic which we had. The scenery quickly changes as we traveled further north. This is actually the farthest north that we had traveled during our time in Mexico.

Once again, as you can see from the photos, Zacatecas is quite an impressive Mexican city, but it is much better in person, of course. There are not many tourists visiting either, which again is a plus. We only encountered a handful of tourists at the hostal we stayed at. This hostal was more like a four star hotel though. Hostal Villa Colonial is a family run operation. It offers dormitories and private rooms with bathrooms, hot water included as well. There are two kitchens, one on the main level and one on the rooftop terrace. Internet is available along with a bar/sitting room. The hostal is actually divided into two separate buildings, which worked to our benefit because we had access to two rooftop terraces with some of the best views. The main building terrace was usually full of travelers, but our building was empty which was nice for peace and relaxation.

The highlight of this trip...actually there are a few...was the local Zacatecas Fair/Feria, which is held the first three weeks of September. Upon arrival the first night we took a cab over to the fair/feria. The fairs/ferias in Mexico are better than any street festival that I have been to in Chicago. They are full of...well...everything you can imagine: music, dancing, food, shopping, bull riding, pony rides, fireworks, concerts, cowboys, reptile exhibits, etc. We did our share of eating and drinking at the Zacatecas Feria.

Another highlight is the teleferico, the swiss built cable car. The teleferico is the easiest way to summit Cerro de la Bufa. The teleferico crosses above the city from Cerro del Grillo and provides breathtaking views of the city and surrounding areas. The Cerro de la Bufa was the location for a famous battle back in 1914. One of the main forces of the 1914 was Pancho Villa.

And another highlight was the tour we took to the Mina El Eden, which was one of Mexico's richest at a time. El Eden was worked from 1586 until the 1950's. We entered at the street level and took an elevator to the other levels of the mine during and we exited a different route by train. There are seven levels, but only a few are open to the public because the rest of the levels are flooded. The tour of the mine is quite impressive, especially with the light and sound effects that have been added to put the visitors back in the time of the working mine. We found out that this is not a government project, but an independent one. A Mexican invested 2 million dollars into Mina El Eden. There is actually a disco in the mine as well, but it is only open Thursday-Saturday. We didn't get a chance to party in the mine disco this time, but a possible trip in the future could provide us with the chance.

The food and drinks in Zacatecas were also a highlight for us. On two separate occasions the mole was some of the best we have ever eaten and of course, the tacos are always tasty. Most mornings you can find some men on the street with their donkeys selling glasses of aguamiel (honey water), which is a nutritional drink made from the maguey cactus. It is quite a scene to see donkey and horses walking the streets of a modern city. It is a scene that I just love! Carlos is much more accustomed to it. Oh, and the aguamiel was good too!

This was the last stop of our four month adventure in Mexico and it was the best way to finish the trip!!!

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Photos

Las Tunas
The tuna is from the nopales, a paddle cactus which is the must nutrient rich food in the region.

Tradiational Food
It may not look like much, but it was delicous. The right hand lower corner is meat with a mole sauce. It was some of the best mole I have ever eaten.