Roadtrip Days 7-9

25/03/08 Roadtrip Day 7

We got up early. Hung out with Octavio for another minute, then drove back to Zacatecas for the Bob Dylan concert. He was playing a free outdoor show for their cultural weeks party. I think he was the grand finale. We knew it was gonna be packed, so we wanted to get their early. We got to Zacatecas and found a miracle parking spot at 2:30. We were a little surprised to find out that the line was already like 4 blocks long since he wouldn't go on until 8:30. We at some super spicy gorditas at Dona Julia's and got back in line. We killed time by reading and playing cards. Some Mexican guys were there from DF making a documentary and they interviewed me apparently because I'm a gringo and therefore automatically interesting. Whatever. Well, they said cameras weren't allowed in the concert, so I left mine in the car. Of course, when we got in, we were the only two there without cameras.

We did have really good spots. On the floor about 10 rows back and dead center. Bob Dylan played for almost 2 hours, I think. Honestly, it's probably a lot cooler to say that you saw Bob Dylan play for free in Zacatecas than to actually be there. The show was ok, but his voice is shot and worn-out. It was definitely enjoyable though just for the experience and to see all the other stupid people like us camping out all day for it. After the concert we went back to Wendy's for enchiladas then went to Juan Pablo's office and crashed.

26/03/08 Roadtrip Day 8

We got up and went out for tortas de bistek y queso with Juan Pablo. They were really good, but it was funny because his girlfriend Valeria refused to eat them because she calls it the typhoid hut or something. I kept telling her how good it was and offering her bites of mine and she would refuse and I'd act really confused until she got red and announced that she didn't like it loud enough for the workers to hear. JP, on the other hand, swears by this place. He told us a story which I think is great, but will likely offend most of my friends. He brought two of his friends there and they don't eat beef for religious reasons. JP wouldn't let them miss out though, so he told them not to worry because the meat was actually horse meat. They happily indulged then and loved it. JP you sonuvabitch, I love you. We left Zacatecas at noon for Real de Catorce which is rather off the beaten path. It was mostly highway, but then we had to drive 40 minutes on the worst roads we've encountered yet, more rough cobblestone. It was very scenic though, winding through mountains. The road ends at a tunnel which you pay $2 to drive 2 miles under the mountain and end up in Real de Catorce. It's another old mining town. I guess it used to thrive, but since they shut the mine down it's just a beautiful, dead, isolated town. It's gained recent fame as the Brad Pitt film the Mexican was shot there.

We parked and found a hotel for like $17 which was really nice except it smelled moldy something. We walked around town and found a small diner where I got puerco asado and Gaby got chili reyenos. It was a really small place, but it had a super high ceiling, so they had built a loft and stuck the cook and dishwasher upstairs by themselves. They would raise and lower dishes and food using a tray and pulley. So great. We went to this really cool church which is actually the church of Francisco de Isisi. It's kinda funny because in Italy our whole family was looking for stuff with this guy on it, because my mom's friend Robin is obsessed with him. Then I accidentally stumble on a church dedicated to him in the smallest, hidden town in Mexico. Jeff had told me that this guy became so frustrated with preaching to the public because no one would listen to him, so he kinda went crazy and went out into the wilderness to live and preach to the animals because at least they would listen. I think that's great. After the church we explored the rest of the small city including the bull ring and graveyard and main street full of vendors selling tortillas, t-shirts, and ugly jewelery. We went back to the hotel and showered for the 2^nd time of the week and slept.

27/03/08 Roadtrip Day 9

Gaby told me there are two things you can do when you visit Real Catorce. 1) Go into the dessert and take peyote or 2) Take a horse ride. After much debating and several games of thumb war we decided upon the horse ride. We found a guide who said he would take us for an hour and a half for $10 a piece. We made sure that it would be $20 total as I have read stories about guides who will take you on the tour and then afterwards say that you must pay the rent for their horse as real. He said $20 total and of course we could tip him if we enjoyed it. We started out from the center of town up small, winding horse trails that led up the mountain. Riding a horse is pretty amazing. You feel it lunge when he's going up and you feel every little stutter step when he's shuffling his way down the rocky terrain. We made it to the top of a small mountain and tied up our horses. Then the guide took us in an old mining tunnel. He warned us that people can camp in the cave and often try to explore on their own and fall in deep pits and die. It was pretty great and he gave us some little geode rocks that he found and offered to help us find peyote. After hanging out at the mine for about 20 minutes we started our way back and stopped at another little place with a great view of the city. We returned to the city and tipped the horse guide as he was really stellar. Ate some more little tacos and started our drive back to Monterrey. Oh yeah, we were really low on gas again, so we asked where the city's gas station was. They don't have a “gas station”, but there's this guy who has big jugs of gas in a shed, so we bought some gas from him. It was fun, because he stuck a big tube in and had to suck on it to get it started. Then we made it back home safely and life is back to normal.

To summarize the trip: 9 days and 8 nights, 2 showers, stayed in 5 cities, and a total of $150-175 a piece. My favorite part of the trip is how we had an original plan, but everything changed. We had 3 cities we wanted to go to, but when people recommended other places for us, we were very eager to change our plans and had an incredible amount of flexibility that allowed us to do this. If things hadn't played out this way, I would have missed 2 of my favorite cities – Tamasopo and Real de Catorce.