Gonzalo Figueroa and Nina Maria Eidheim...LA to BAUPDATE 3, Dec. 17, 2000, CENTRAL MEXICO |
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We got on the boat in La Paz sorry to be leaving Baja California. As I said previously, it's a place to come back to. The crossing to Mazatlan on the Mexican mainland was rather uneventful, on an old German boat from the 70s. You can expect anything but the love boat. Once we got to the other side we left the coast and started climbing up the mountains towards Durango. The road is beautiful, full of turns and eventually takes you up to 2000 meters. After the Espinazo del Diablo you drive on the cool and more barren plateau. Here begins silver country. The cold financial heart of the old Spanish empire. Not wanting to spend the night in Durango we found the small silver mining town of Sombrerete. It used to be a bustling center and not wanting to offend God so he could keep making them rich, the Spanish built no less than 11 colonial churches. Sombrerete once rivaled Zacatecas (todays state capital) but has now kind of fallen into oblivion. A very neat place with not a tourist in sight. Next stop was Zacatecas where the world's biggest silver mine keeps pouring out its riches. It's a wealthy, well kept city. Nice place to relax, drink tequila and visit the abandoned mine Mina del Eden. If you cut the hill in half it would look like an ant hill full of tunnels. And I guess the analogy is not too far from the truth considering that the Indian slaves started mining for silver with the tip of their lances. Guanajuato was the next town on the silver route. On the UNESCO heritage list and a moving university town, it was here that we felt inspired to start taking pictures for some of the articles we hope to publish upon return. In this way we hope to prompt others to bring themselves over here. A truly wonderful sight. Since then we've been continuing our Mexican cities tour with San Miguel de Allende (another silver beauty) and are now in Patzcuaro. None of the cities I mentioned have been disappointing. In fact, they get better and better. However, we are yearning for another dose of beach so after visiting Taxco (silver heaven) and Oaxaca we plan to head for the coast for Christmas. For New Year we will hopefully be found in Chiapas or somewhere along the Guatemalan border. We are in good health, the motorcycle is working very well and so is the rest of the equipment. And Mexico is fantastic. Merry Christmas everybody and a happy 2001. Gonzalo and Nina, Patzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico, Dec. 17, 2000. |
