Wednesday, April 8, 2015
We finished packing up our stuff.
Mostly we packed the night before. Ken paid our tab and let the staff at the front desk know that we enjoyed our stay. We had one last, rich breakfast before we left. This day it had huevos ahogados, meaning drowned eggs. They are poached eggs in tomato salsa with strips of poblano peppers. I found a recipe on the internet and would like to make these wonderful little treats. This is a city we will have to return to. We drove passed the Archeological Museum, passed lush parks which remained us of more great things to investigate here.
We drove for about an hour out of Xalapa all the way seeing lush forested area on rolling hills - just gorgeous. It was similar to Vancouver Island. In front of us we could see the volcano near Mexico city. As we got close to the Arca Norte it got less lush, with less trees.
Driving through that beautiful area we came across an unfortunate event. A huge semi had driven through the cement guard rails. There were policemen, both state and federal, along with officers of the army. All were heavily armed. There had been an ambush of police officers near Puerto Vallarta by the cartel. The police are quite sensitive right now. At any rate they were cleaning up the pieces of both the cab of the truck, the trailer and the crumpled one kilometre of cement mess. We do not know about the driver but I am sure it was not good for him.
We ate lunch at a Pemex. The Arca Norte, the road that acts as a ring road for Mexico City, is not very developed and kind of goes through the middle of no where. We knew we had to bring some kind of food with us. Really we only had cut up mangos and little more. That is ok because we have been eating too much lately.
After about six hours of driving we did end up at our goal of San Miguel de Allende. Wow, wow, wow, what a beautiful, colonial, well preserved city. This is at least our forth visit be every time we are blown away by San Miguel. We were so taken with it I had to review my reasoning for not wanting to move here.
We camped at the Weber's RV park. Wonderful place, within easy walking distance of downtown. This place has the cleanest restroom for an RV park. We got to go out for a late supper at Hecho a Mexico. We had to walk downtown and walk around the square. The church on the square in one on the nicest in Mexico that we have seen. San Miguel rocks.!!!
Thursday, April 9, 2015
We had to leave San Miguel de Allende and not stay another day.
This was unfortunate because San Miguel is such a gorgeous example of a colonial city. We have to be out of Mexico by about April 18th and we do not want to cut our exit any closer than we already have. If something went wrong with our vintage van (1992 model year) we would might not be able to get out in time.
The landscape is more desert like then lush, sort of scrub bush and cactus. Some of the cactus is blooming. I got out on the side of the road to take a picture but was unsuccessful. I could not get close enough to do the flowers justice. We saw a few donkeys along the way and shepherds with herds of sheep or goats. We saw lots of cattle as well.
We took food to eat on the way. We stopped a few times for small breaks to walk and drink some water.
Once we arrived in Zacatecas we had to drive through the city to arrive at our destination - Hotel Baruk (used to be Hotel Bosque). The price went up and the bathrooms and lobby seem to be showing their age. The grounds appear well kept but mostly that is trees and cactus with a few roses.
We had already planned to go to either La Grufa or "No Soup for You" (unsure of the real name). The Argentinian restaurant, La Grufa, won out. We had vino tinto (red wine) and the most delicious homemade ravioli. Topping the ravioli were veggies, mushrooms, asparagus and spinach in olive oil, simple yet amazing. We were given a bowl of cheese, perhaps Parmesan. We split the dish luckily, but because it was so good we wanted more.
Before eating and upon our arrival into the downtown we soon realized an event was happening and the downtown main street was cordoned off to traffic. Zacatecas was hosting some kind of event or celebration (never did find out exactly what the celebration was about). They had out new street art and the big letters of ZAC (loved it), Venders were everywhere under marque type tents selling jewellery, candy, religious items, liqueors, etc.
Then it started raining. Wow, did it pour. We ran under the closest marque tent and stayed put with other people taking advantage of shelter. It does not rain like that even in BC, well not often. It was still raining lightly when we made a beeline up the hill to the hotel. Most of the way up the hill were rivers of fast flowing water rushing down the hill. Odd to see and tricky to cross over. A bit damp but really none the worse for wear. Glad to be up the hill and back at the van.
Friday, April 10, 2015
We decided to do our shopping first thing because we thought it could rain later on in the day.
Off we went to the Liverpool Mall. If I have not said this before, items at Liverpool are quite pricey. They seem to be as expensive as NOB or more so. Kitchen pots for example, at about six thousand pesos. That would be good stainless steel pots for approximately $550. Canadian. That seems like a lot because NOB there are at least sales and there is eBay or Craigslist. That is my opinion anyway. Back to what we did this day, we did not find anything we wanted.
Next was Walmart for groceries and a few other items. We had to drive clear across the city to get there and across the city to get back up to the hotel. That was ok because Zacatecas is very easy on the eyes, a beautiful city.
Once back at the hotel we were very ready for lunch. We knew of a great lunch spot downtown so walked down the steep hill into centro of Zacatecas. We were going to the place we call "the downstairs restaurant" but in reality it is called La Cabana de la Plazuela. There is an waiter that speaks English and he remembers us when we go there. My favourite food there is a chili relleno accompanied by rice, refried pinto beans and the wonderful red sauce. They serve the worlds best horchata.
Ken walked back up the hill to the Hotel to do some paperwork type things. I stayed downtown Zac to shop. I was somewhat successful in my shopping endeavors. I saw the man we call "the church begger". He was across from the church, sitting, then I saw him spritely walking somewhere. He looked the same, seemed to have not aged, in fact looked healthier.
On my way to the Hotel I saw these steep stairs and chose to continue on and not climb them. I chose to keep going, this path too was hilly. I realized that where I was going did not look familiar but thought I was just going a different way. Different alright! After trudging up some hill, hot and exhausted I realized, I was way off track and sort of lost. The Hotel has the Teleferico (tram cars going over the city on a wire) as a terminal, the other end is La Bufa. I looked up and saw where the tram wire was to guide me back in the correct direction. I was a bit angry at myself for having gotten so off track because I was too lazy to ascend those initial steep stairs. The whole walk was interesting, seeing areas that were new to me. Areas that were well kept and clean with nice homes. I felt perfectly safe.
Back at the Hotel Ken and I booked out airline tickets to Dublin, Ireland. Wow, that was exciting yet scary. We are the type that never likes to book in advance but we did it!
Saturday, April 11, 2015
We leave Zacatecas with some regret.
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| Camping at Hotel Baruk |
Like I have stated before, Zac is special to us because of the wonderful time we had here in summer of 2008. We saw that the city has grown. Last time we saw the big Liverpool Mall that had been built. Now we see that Hotel Baruk has plenty of competition from big chain hotels that were recently built. I hope these hotels do not pose too much completion for Baruk. We want to be able to go there next time we get the opportunity to drive to Zac.
Back on the highway we notice that this is a great time to be driving in the desert. It is cool not roasting hot. The sides of the road are actually fairly lush for a desert. There are these spiky, long cactus with red flowers on them (at the tips). There are other cactus with yellow flowers on them. Some of the greenery is more turquoise in color. There are also purple, small flowers. The landscape, therefore, is more colourful and interesting. Actually there are few places to stop along the way. We do try to stop so Ken is able to stretch and rest from driving. I get antsy if I do not get breaks. It is hard to sit for too long. My hip is hurting and spasming.
It is just before dusk when we arrive in Chilhuahua. We have our Hotel picked out using TripAdvistor and Hipmunk Apps. Hipmunk is one of the top fifty Apps according to the app store. We are using it now to pick hotels.
Driving through the Chihuahua because our hotel is just past midway through we are impressed with the city. The media NOB is not kind to Chihuahua and you expect less of it then what is actually there. We see a new salad fresh type restaurant and stop for supper. We have not had salad in awhile so this was a real treat. The hotel we chose and booked on-line looks great and we stay there - State Hotel.
The Hotel is located nicely near some store. We go do some last minute shopping for small gifts for family. It was fun, our last shopping in Mexico.
Sunday, April 12, 2015
The State Hotel (Chihuahua) that we are staying at has a theme going.
It has many antiques decorating the walls of the Hotel on the outside. There are things like old farm implements, etc. Then the common room were breakfast is eaten also has antiques like furniture, a main frame for telephones, an old claw foot tub with glass over it, used like a table with plants under the glass. The motel rooms were really clean. It was kind of chilly for us in the room but there were blankets. There was also a heater but we did not use it. There was a table and chairs and luggage rack in rustica style. It was the cheapest hotel advertised on TripAdvistor, plus breakfast was included. We were not sure what to expect but for one night we thought we would try it out. It was great and we would stay there again. When we first got there it was extremely noisy because of being on a main through city road. The window had been left open to air it out. It was still a little noisy but not bad.
We were off at about eight thirty, not bad for us. The drive through the rest of Chihuahua city was good. The way it is portrayed in the media you would think you needed an armoured tank to drive in. It seemed like any other Mexican city. The scenery changed slightly to very hill, although we really drive through mostly flat areas. The dirt or should I say sand is reddish in colour. There are the tall skinny, spiky cactus with red flowers on the tips. It is actually quite lush considering we are driving through a desert. We only make a few stops. Guess we are getting used to being on the car for hours on end.
Once we arrive at the border, Santa Teresa crossing, we are faced with a few Mexican people attempting to sell us our last blast of souvenirs. We, of course, decline. The fruit we have in our van is given to a woman and her young child, much better than the US border guards. I am quite overcome with emotion over leaving Mexico, I do not like leaving. Just before crossing the border into the US we find Bancercita to show that we are taking our van back across the border. The fellow came into the car and with a blade removes our Mexico sticker. We go into the parking lot and take our Tourist Cards and Passports in to be stamped. The fellow wants to know if we have paid....what? We have to find our receipt for our Tourist Cards. Thankfully we are organized and find it tucked away in an October 2014 envelope.
In El Paso we eat at Rudy's for supper - a Texas classic. Where do they get those giant potatoes from? Ken hooks up our iPad to the AT&/T network. If is impossible to navigate an unknown city with any kind of finesse without Google maps. What did people do in the past, use maps? What a concept.
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