Zacatecas

Trip Start Oct 15, 2008

Trip End Jul 15, 2009

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Flag of Mexico Zacatecas, Mexico
Friday, April 3, 2009

Trod the whole of the colonial centre of Zacatecas in one day looking for a furnished apartment to rent - the centre sits in a dip, surrounded on 3 sides by steep hills and the cobbled streets wind around numerous plazas, fountains and, of course, churches, many of which are built of the distinctive local pink stone. Met some really nice friendly people while searching, including a local guy also apartment hunting, so we pooled information - he even suggested we share! Asked everyone I met and scanned the small ads but only found two places, the first being full & the second not worth the huge amounts of money - the city is not set up for this type of tourism.

Back up plan was to find a hostel with kitchen - when staying somewhere for 2 weeks plus food costs soon add up if eating out all the time, but the preferred place, for vibe, value and location, was booked up so ended up in 3 different places over the period

!

The first hostel had a weekly magarita session on Thurs, so I was dragged away from uploading my photos to down a few, with tequilla shots to get it all going - nice crowd of people - they went on to a bar after but I ducked out.

We agreed to meet the next night to go to the famous local disco down the disused mine - had to take the pit train to get there & all the waiters wore helmets, but otherwise was just a regular disco except bleeding freezing - had to dance to keep warm!

Saturday I finally got a proper look around town, going up the teleferico (cable car) to La Bufa, the big hill where the first church was built - the nuns were flogging their version of egg nog, called rompope, so had to have a sample, before rolling back down the hill. Tonight was the opening concert of the International Cultural Festival, the main reason I was here for so long - Ricardo Arjona tonight, other big name acts every day until the 18th. This week the main stage was in the Plaza de Armas, a really pretty spot next to the cathedral, but a bit cosy for the popular acts. I didn't get there early enough & they'd closed the gates, so had to sweet talk one of the security guys to let me in

!

Wanted to see what all the fuss is about re. Semana Santa so went to check out Palm Sunday activities, blessing of palms, singing, procession, etc. Evening saw some jazz - The Sicilian Project.

Mon I saw a local group called Huayrapamuska as a warm up to Benny Ibarra - heard of him but hadn't realised how good he was - certainly popular, especially with the girls!

Tues went for some chamber music in Fatima church, another big pink one, but with multiple large stained glass windows, then on to see the old aqueduct & the old bull ring, which is now a 5 star hotel. In the evening, the famous Brasilian Gilberto Gil played to a small house, so I was able to get right up front - a real character!

Weds saw Aleks Syntek - he was like a straight multi instrument playing Elton - fun!

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