Mexico: Zacetecas, Guadalupe

The first place out of Monterrey : Zacetecas
With a bunch of hk friends and Singapore friends, we bought the tickets and set out for the 6 hours journey to Zacetecas from Monterrey. We left late at night to arrive in Zacetecas early in the morning.

Upon arrival, we argued on whether we could walk to the town or should we sit the taxi. After much discussion, we decided on the taxi since it was so early in the morning and no one wanted to lug their heavy bags along. We went out of the station and wanted to hail a cab. When we asked them with regards to the price they stared at us and said its fixed and asked us for a paper. We were puzzled, with our poor spanish translation, we asked from one taxi to the other, all saying the same thing. One finally pointed inside and directed us to a counter.
Well well, who says Mexico has no system. There sat a lady who translated to us in English that we had to look at the map, find out which zone it is in and buy a taxi ticket from her.
After buying the ticket from her, within 10 minutes we reached our destination - I wondered then whether I could have saved my money and walked. But well... haha..

With stomachs growling from the abesence of breakfast,we walked along hoping for some shops that was open at this timing ( it was 8.30am), we finally found one. It was beautiful inside with amazing cutleries and decorations and with reasonable prices food. - Acropolis Cafe-Restaurante Fundado en 1943


Now with stomachs filled and legs ready to do some exploration, we opened up our map and our notes as to where we should head for our hostel. As we headed out of the restaurant, we heared some cheering and pop over to check out what it was. It was a marathon being held! I was thinking to myself O my goodness, its so cold. There was wind blowing and they were wearing their running shorts and singlets. Amazing! hahaha.. good training. The atmosphere was wonderful. And to make things better , we got a T-shirt of the marathon that was held! :) For free! :)


With not much time to lose, we left the event to look for our accomodatuion. After close to half an hour of searching for our hostel that we had reserved online, to our dismay, we realised that that hostel had closed down.
Bouncing from one hostel to another with the hope of staying all together, it seemed like impossible. By God's grace, the guys managed to find a place which was amazingly nice but also not as cheap as we had budgeted but with our weary backs because of our backpacks, we decided to finalize there for the night.

After this, we quickly settled into our rooms and began our exploration.

Heading to our first destination, the monuments which you could get there through a cable car. We strolled and enjoyed the beautiful scenary along the way. The Zacetecas feel!

Being a small town , we should have no problems with the directions but somehow the numerous houses in the area made it a little like a mini maze. haha. It however gave us the opportunity to witness the friendliness and the openness of the people there. They guided us ( okay not the kids, the kids' mother grin)

Up from the cable car, the view was fabulous.

At the top, the wind blew at our faces, traditional women were laying out their bracelets for sale, their children running around and that of us taking pictures.


The monuments were soso~ There was the warrior knight, the buildings, the cactus and all

what I liked most were the shops around it (Tiendas). Some were interesting - having such cute display signs

Next we went to the mines which was famous there.
Putting on the safety helmet, we made our way in with the spanish guide because they did not have an English guide. They explained about the origins of granites and how the walls were made. Not really my cup of tea but might be for some.

A little exhausted,we decide to take a rest and come out for dinner at 7pm. As we were having our dinner, we spotted a big group of people marching down the streets drinking with the small glass cups provided and dancing along with a musical band that was alongside them - we got to know it was religious celebration - we joined along and danced along for the whole night till it was wee hours. Tequilla was also provided and so everyone who could drink was drinking and dancing. It was such an amazing and fun experience. I danced till my feets ached.


It was divertido! we enjoyed ourselves very much :) Zacetecas! :)

The next day, we planned for a trip out to a small town "Guadalupe"near Zacetecas for more adventure and shopping
On the streets

They were also preparing for Mexico day of independence
so they had pins, flags , hat etc

In the open market
My fav fruit in Mexico- Tunas (it grows on the cactus!
My least favourite food in Mexico= Chicharron - Deep fried pig skin

Very oily enchiladas
The mass market clothes 2nd hand selling

There, we had lunch where we had ice cream and pig innards ( I didnt dare eat the latter one)


Lastly we also went to the Museo of Guadalupe which traces the resurrection of Christ

Returning back to Zacetecas after, to catch our bus back to Monterrey, being unqiue Asians, the locals holding their beers (as usual, they really drink it like water), haha, asked us to take a picture with them. This is friendly Mexico, I like! :)