Zacatecas

We had a lovely Christmas, went out and ate the worst Japanese food we have ever had, and nearly got ripped off by Oscar but all that is possible when you are in Mexico. We left Durango on Tuesday 28/12/10 and on our way out of the city met Fred, a fellow biker who was 12 days out of Milwaukee giving himself 100 days to get down to Ushuaia. We slowed him down a lot as we spent the next 3 days enjoying his company. The ride to Zacatecas was in convoy with Fred and uneventful but on entering the city things went a bit pear shaped. Unlike Durango, Zacatecas is surrounded by hills and the roads are at times very steep and beautifully laid with stone, which when wet becomes very slippery. Having gone up and down a few times and asked lots of people where the Hostel Villa Colonial was, we finally made it and ended up in a nice room away from the main Hostel with the bikes parked underneath the room. Ernesto, the owner is very friendly and helpful and the views from the roof terrace are amazing. The Cathedral has very decorated doorways a modern altar. Over the next few days we went down a silver mine which has been worked for 400 years under appalling conditions, went on the Teleférico with amazing views of the city, went on a zip wire which was about 400 metres in length and Jill thought walking the bridge was the scariest part, saw statues of Generals and Francisco Villa, the hero of the revolution, went to the Museum Rafael Coronel in the ex-convent of San Francisco with interesting interiors and pleasant grounds and 3000 masks, miniature clay models and puppet displays. Visited the Templo de Santo Domingo the most elaborate we have seen in Mexico, and spent some time in the museum Pedro Coronel that had a very good collection of 20th century art along with artefacts from around the world. The former Church of San Agustin empty with lovely carvings in rose coloured stone. Found an amazing vegetarian restaurant run by a Texan called John Daniel Collins called the Restaurante La Oieja on Juan de Tolosa who fed us and Fred for 2 night the most amazing 5 course meals that were really delicious. The cut glass and fine porcelain made for some special times and all for only 140 pesos a head. Thank you John and worth travelling to Zacatecas just for that. Saw the New Year in on the roof of the Hostel watching fireworks.
Zacatecas has been a great city to stay in and we both wish everybody a Happy New Year .