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Rory's new boots
Rory was captivated by the shelves of boots in Chihuahua. These are the ones he is bringing home. Sunday 3rd July - To Chihuahua
Went to a different cafe for breakfast. Ordered porage. Without prompting they served it with a banana. Cost twice as much as at Estela yesterday. Further Rory poured coffee creamer on his banana porage thinking it was sugar. It was inedible.
Off to the bus 'station' at 10:00, bought tickets for the 10:30 to Chihuahua, first class according to the ticket. Phoned the Hotel Plaza in Chihuahua and think I booked two rooms for the night.
Only a few people on the bus but it filled up as we passed through settlements and villages with locals who seemed to be wearing Sunday best. Had they been to Church or were they visiting rellies, or both ? I did not ask.
We passed through dramatic landscape of soaring hills, pine woods, pink, white and cream rock formations. The woods were attractive, not like the gloomy Forestry Commision pine woods in the UK.
After a couple of hours we reached high plains, farming country. A curious mixture of bare ploughed fields and patches of well-cultivated fruit trees covered in netting, with the occasional cluster of cattle and solitary cowboy.
The only
Dreaming spires - who needs Oxford ?
Actually these were a little lonely in the run-down, relatively modern centre of Chihuahua. two things spoiling the journey were:
1 Some of the windows would not close, rendering the aircon ineffective.
2 The WC had no aircon and no ventilation. Towards the end of the journey it combined with 1 to occasionally permeate the rest of the coach with its decidedly pungent aroma, i.e. every time someone was desperate enough to open the door.
After a ten minute stop in Cuautehmoc we continued to Chihuahua, arriving around 3pm. It is quite a sprawling city with many new roads and developments, including a superb-looking baseball stadium.
Taxi to the Nuevo Hotel Plaza. What a place. For once the Lonely Planet guide is accurate. It is cheap but also tired and shabby - and it has aircon. It will do at least for tonight.
Off to find food. We walk around near the hotel and many places are closed, after all it is Sunday and the hottest part of the day. We find our way to a pedestrianised street, reminiscent of Portsmouth or Watford before the indoor shopping centre appeared. Chain stores, snack bars, Domino's Pizza, KFC, Burger King etc Deb and I are not impressed. Owen cannot decide so we continue
Cathedral LHS
The cleared but undeveloped areas reminded me of Oldham. looking as I am sure there is a veggie restaurant nearby.
We find the Tourist Information Centre and I ask if there any hostels in town, explaining it is more convenient for us to have the use of a kitchen. No is the reply.
We find the Nutri Vida rstaurant but it has moved to Victoria 420. We ask a young lady for directions. It is on a parallel street but in the other direction. This did not make sense until I looked for it. The numbering on Victoria went from 100 to 200 and 300 then 500,600 and 700 series. It continued in the opposite direction from the 100 end and we found 420, shutters closed. We retired defeated to Domino's and Subway where I had the best cheese salad butty I have had in ages.
To the supermarket for beer and pudding.
Monday 4th July - Washing, plans, sliced white bread and pasta
Went out early alone to have a nosey around, keeping an eye out for a laundry. Could not find one. By 09:30 many places were still not open. I had a look around the market but could not find
Cathedral - morning cleaning duties
Cowboy regalia is not an affectation it is the norm here as worn by the early-morning street-cleaners. a single Mennonite selling cheese.
No breakfast supplied at the hotel so later off we went to a cafe. The waitress gave us directions for the nearest laundry.
Next task is to decide where next, as there is not a great deal to keep us in Chihuahua. Although the hotel is OK we prefer the hostel arrangement where we can cook and meet other people, or just laze around while the boys do some schoolwork. Originally we had planed to head back south-east in Mexico but we've had little success finding accommodation.
Went to the internet cafe which turned out to be one PC in a side room off a grocer's shop. There were four chairs. It was a slow line. In an hour we had established nothing more but are now most likely to travel direct to Houston if possible, then onto New Orleans.
We have no details of buses so I make my way to a travel agent recommended by Lonely Planet for help with bus travel amongst others. Unfortunately they have no bus information but can fly me to Houston for USD537. I make my excuses and leave after confirming that I have
to go to the bus terminal for info.
I have had enough for today. On the way back to the hotel I am determined to buy some yummy wholemeal bread for dinner. I try bakers and three supermarkets without success. The best I can find is sliced white bread in the supermarket. We have jam butties and fruit in the hotel.
Owen disappears to the internet cafe to try and find bus and accommodation info while Rory studies the extraction methods appropriate to metals and their ores.
Later we try teach Owen and Rory how to play Cribbage. (Rory claims he already knew how)
For tea we go to a pizza cafe offering a family special of a litre of pasta complete with Napolitano sauce. Sounds OK, we order plus two fizzies and two beers. I notice that the sauce includes meat. Groan ! No problem, they can exclude the meat. I did not ask how. The spaghetti came and did not look particularly big, but then I do not know what a litre of spaghetti looks like. The boys have their fizzies but we have no beer.
Half way through eating the waiter brought
a giant pizza to the table. We said nothing. From our surprised faces he knew we were not expecting it. He immediately took it away saying 'No problem' (in English I'm sure). The next surprise was the bill which was less than half the amount I was expecting.
Was this the language barrier again ? Did my two beers please get translated as Pizza Mediana con Pepperoni ? We will never know.
Back to the hotel for more card games, starting with Cribbage, then Bastard Noms.
Tuesday 5th July - The bus station
I decide that I'll have to make a trip to the Bus Station to organise some tickets. I'm still not sure where we are going but the favourite is Houston.
Deb and Rory visit Hidalgo's Dungeon under the Post Office. Owen hangs around. I catch a bus.
I ask at the Autobuses Americanos counter for info on buses to Houston. They do not recognise Houston and ask do I mean Austin ? It turns out there are no buses to either Austin or Houston, despite the massive Greyhound hoarding promoting buses from Chihuahua to all over the US and Canada.
They do Dallas.
Elsewhere I establish it will cost 550 pesos to get to Monterrey (Mexico) and estimate another 350 to Houston.
Coffee and lovely cake while I think. Back to AA for info on Dallas. I make an arbitrary decision to go to Dallas and then on to New Orleans. I confirm the costs, departure time and duration but then cannot get any cash from the ATM. Never mind, we will come along early tomorrow.
Back to town on a different bus, past modern out-of-town shopping and leisure centres just like in the UK. Noticed that most individuals on the bus sit in the inside seat of a pair, rather than the window seat. Is it to keep out of the sun or to avoid having someone sit next to them.
Despite the lack of many specific attractions, I am beginning to like Chihuahua - or am I just getting used to it.
Rory declares an interest in the many shops with shelves full of cowboy boots. Why not ? He is now the proud owner/wearer of a pair of Mexican hand-tooled boots.
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Keith
non-member comment
Keep it up Steve. See you in Hong Kong.