ZacatecasPartOne

It is about 9 a.m. in beautiful Mexico and Vicky, my companion in adventure and my partner in our bed and breakfast business in Rincon de Guayabitos, are just leaving Tequila for Zacatecas. This trip started yesterday when I picked her up at the hospital in Las Varas; she is a nurse and has worked there in the emergency room for nearly 20 years. This started her first day of a two week vacation. Our car is a 2002 Nissan Platina, standard transmission.

We drove as far as Tequila and decided that we were both a little tired. I had dropped off two of our B&B guests at the airport in Puerto Vallarta earlier and Vicky had come off of a 12 hour shift. First stop there was at one of our favorite hotels, Posada del Agave, Sixto Gorjon #83. $17 U.S., clean, neat, new looking and very accommodating. Unloading our ice chest, which contained tequila, wine, soft drinks and snacks, we relaxed and had happy hour. Later we wandered over to the plazas, which were only a couple of blocks away. Tequila is a must visit for us a couple of times a year. Not only to stock up on tequila, which we use for margarita happy hours at our B&B, but because this is one of our favorite little colonial cities. I never tire of these two neat plazas. One is where the young and old gather and walk around. The other is where couples sit here and there on benches and the lights are dim; both young and old.

This morning we rose early and I ground up some coffee beans and prepared coffee in my portable machine. These beans come from our Nayarit mountains; delicious and nothing like it for a wake up. I make enough to put some in a thermos, which we will enjoy later. Now we are on the road again. We take the free road toward Guadalajara. Unless in a hurry, we always take the “libre” for two reasons. We like to stop in small villages and other places of interest, like old haciendas, etc. You can never do this on the toll road. Also, there is the matter of economics. Tolls have gotten out of hand in recent years and are beyond the budget for most Mexicans and also have been a deciding factor in reducing foreign tourist travel.

It is a two lane road. There is a little more traffic than I would like but it is only about 40 kilometers to Guadalajara. We pass a lot of little villages that we would not see if we were on the “autopista”. Here is a sign that says Guadalajara 25 kilometros; the highway is now divided. The road is a not the smoothest in the world but, never the less, it is divided and we are making good time. The countryside is green, it is a great day and I have a pretty traveling companion. How lucky I am. Guadalajara is getting near and we are looking for a gas station. We will soon be leaving the main highway and we have no idea what the gas situation is on the way to Zacatecas. As it turns out we need not have been concerned. There are numerous stations along the way.

We reach the Guadalajara perifico, which is the by pass highway around the city. We see a sign that says Saltillo and we head in that direction. This is a four lane divided highway. We see the turnoff sign that says Saltillo on the right side of the highway so we get in that lane. Wrong! The turnoff is in the left lane, so we quickly change, after almost playing bumper cars. We notice a gas station right after we turn so we pull in and fill up.
We take a coffee break. Coffee is still hot from this morning. Then on the road again. There are lots of tract houses, many roadside businesses, lots of trash – not a pretty sight. I like old Guadalajara and many of the suburbs are nice, but not this area. It sure makes me appreciate living in Rincon de Guayabitos. Suddenly we are out of Guadalajara and in the mountains. I mean high rugged mountains. There are deep canyons and a river far below. There is a beautiful large white church on our left. All alone. I wonder what the story is here. We are not all that far out of Guadalajara so I better make note of the kilometers.

The odometer reads 73945. We pass little settlements now and then. It is hard to see them until you get right on top. Wow! An even bigger canyon. Unbelievable. Vicky is excited. We start winding down to the canyon floor. Everything is so green, nice rock formations in the canyon walls; very colorful. All of these little villages, you would like to see them all. It sure would take a lot of time; probably be worth it. Now we are crossing the river Santiago. Here I am reminded of a real adventure of a couple of years ago when we crossed this river at a different place, on the way to Palmillas.
In the middle of the night, the water was starting to come over the floorboards and we …… Enough of that. Back to the story at hand. There is a village on the other side. Starting to climb now. On our right, a long ways away, a very high waterfall. 73964k. We stop and take a photo. I hope it comes out. This whole thing is hard to describe. This must be almost on the scale of our Grand Canyon. There is almost no traffic. Since leaving Guadalajara we have only encountered one vehicle. Now we are coming into Ixtlahuacan del Rio. It is 10:33. A good size city. A couple of cathedrals. We stop and take a couple of photos.