Mexico, from the border to Morelia

Santa Teresa, N.M. to Morelia: October 20-November 6

border crossing, Mexico side

The drive from Las Cruces to the border crossing at Santa Teresa took less than an hour. On the Mexico side it's called San Jeronimo. This crossing allows you to bypass the whole El Paso/Ciudad Juarez cluster.

border to Chihuahua, in green

In fact, this was another of those very quick and efficient crossings along the lines of Del Rio last fall. Everything - passport and vehicle - is taken care of in one big room in the building shown in the photo. 30 minutes, tops. Easy peasy!




The only drawback to this crossing is that it is a long, long drive across lots of desert just to get to the Chihuahua area. There isn't much in the way of campgrounds in this area so I thought I'd try my luck driving into the Parque Nacional Cumbres de Majalca (green dot #1,2 on the map). While it's difficult to find any camping information regarding Mexico's national parks on-line, at least for me it is, I assumed it would be similar to the U.S.

view looking east from the P.N. Majalca

The road west to the park turned to dirt, some of it very rough and washed out. The gatehouse at the park entrance was closed and even looked abandoned. The park itself looked, if not abandoned, neglected. There were some formal campgrounds, however, with concrete picnic tables and fire rings, some of the sites having been washed out from heavy flooding at some point. It was getting late so I picked a spot and stayed for two nights, for free.

one park road petered out at this riverbed...I turned around

Most of the traffic going by appeared to be locals making their way to small villages on the other side of the park, but there were some tourists. I met one family that had come down from Juarez to enjoy the weekend.

wood sculpture in a park village

(the village also looked abandoned)

This park, it turned out, was not abandoned. As I retraced my steps out I passed the gatehouse again where there was a guy sitting outside taking fees for those coming in. I waved as I drove by and he waved back. I think they collect only on the weekends?







Drug wars...

I took the periferico (that's what Mexico calls the roads that bypass the congested downtowns of most cities...some are more effective than others!) around Chihuahua heading west on Hwy. #16. About 10 miles west of the city traffic got funneled into one lane and I assumed there was an accident ahead. I saw a police car and a sedan in the middle of the two eastbound lanes, and then I saw a dead guy lying in the road in a pool of blood next to the sedan. I was wondering about where the other vehicle that caused the accident must be when I pulled up even with the sedan.

It was riddled with bullets!! Only then did I realize, holy shit, there are a boatload of police and plainclothes guys all armed with automatic rifles. An honest-to-God shootout. CSI guys were zipping on their hazmat suits, another was snapping photos. No one was tending to, or caring about, the dead guy. That was a first for me. My only regret is that I didn't take any pictures of my own. You know, in hindsight, and all.

...back to the real world

Cuauhtémoc to Torreon

(green #3 and 4)

I wanted to see Cuauhtémoc again, a center for the Mennonites of Mexico. It had certainly gotten bigger in the last ten years and I quickly lost interest, so after one night I continued south all the way to the city of Torreon. A big 372 mile, 7-1/2 hour day that ended at a Crowne Plaza Hotel. Quite fancy by my usual standards, and expensive, at almost $100, by Mexico standards. Still, that same room in the U.S. would have been at least double.

Viesca's plaza

Having spent way too much on toll roads the previous day, I quickly got on the free road east then south to a Pueblo Magico called Viesca. This is a very small town with a clean central plaza that is situated near some small sand dunes. Otherwise, not the most interesting P.M. Maybe someday.

excellent free road between Viesca and Parras

Torreon to San Luis Potosi
(green #4-8)

I continued east to Parras, another P.M., but one I enjoyed on my trip last year. I even stayed in the same hotel called the Hostel El Farol, just off the main plaza (room #6 was nice).

my shots of a banderia at Farol

My main reason for being here was to buy some of the sotol that is for sale in a tienda on the plaza. I bought four bottles this year. The price went up from 75 pesos a year ago to 85 pesos, just over $4 a bottle. Sotol is a northern version of mezcal.

flower farm east of Parras

Back at the hotel I asked for a shot of a banderia. This is usually a single shot glass of tequila, lime juice and sangrita layered atop one another to mimic the colors of the Mexican flag. The bartender, as you can see, gave me a shot glass of each! I'll admit the lime juice was a bit rough, but it only cost 40 pesos, ~$2, so what the heck.

a view of the valley you drive thru to get to the tunnel

My next goal was Real de Catorce, a Pueblo Magico that once was a bustling mining town, almost became a ghost town and is now becoming a tourist town. Some movies, like The Mexican, have been filmed there. 

at my hotel

I was there during the week and my night was a very quiet one. I was the only guest at the Hotel de Real II (for ~$46), an excellent choice that only has maybe 16 rooms, total.

leaving town

At the end of September the town becomes the focus of a major pilgrimage, attracting thousands. And the Huichol people consider some of the land here sacred and collect peyote for their spiritual ceremonies. Otherwise, it can be fairly sleepy, with maybe 1000 residents.

a view of Real de Catorce

Some parts of the town are still in various stages of rubble, with new homes and businesses rising out of that same rubble here and there. Everything is made of rock, including the ~15 miles of cobblestone road (it gets a little old, imo) that you drive just to get to the town. The one-way-at-a-time tunnel itself is about 1.5 miles (it'll cost you 30 pesos).   

village of Estacion de Catorce below to the west.

you can avoid the tunnel by taking the dirt road from there

driving the tunnel

At almost 9000', the nights get quite chilly. And it's a town built on hills, so expect lots of up and down walking. I'd recommend the Meson de Abundancia for a meal. Tons of food and very tasty. I really like it here and would hope to come back someday for another night or two.

a view of San Miguel

After Real I drove east to Matehuala before jumping onto Hwy. 63, a really nice alternative to the busy, ugly main highway south to San Luis Potosi. I spent two nights camping at the Faro de Peter west of town before heading down to San Miguel de Allende.

This became a favorite of mine last year and I decided to stay eight days this year at the same small and conveniently located campground. 

Two of the same German couples that were here last fall were here again. As were Erica and Claude, a Swiss couple I met last year in both Xpu-Ha and Oaxaca.

one of the better costumes

not forgotten...Neal died here along the

railroad tracks.

I was here during the Halloween and Day of the Dead weekend so there were a lot of festivities, both somber and happy. As always the main plaza was where it was at.

I like the pose

nice

Around the perimeter of the plaza families set up their own personal memorial to those no longer with us. Some of them were quite elaborate, and then there was the one in the photo...simply put, dude liked his tequila.





I was able to wander around one of the main cemeteries where families went to some length to clean and decorate gravestones and mausoleums. Many, many flowers were sold that week. I could hear fireworks and music through several evenings from the campground. And, everyday, the bells of the nearby church which I can never make sense of. They just start chiming at any time for whatever reason?

blurry night photo of the Parroquia,

only because I happened to capture a bolt of lightning!

One night there were three mariachi bands going at it around the plaza while a couple was getting married at the pink Parroquia church and people were walking around in costume, some on stilts. Crazy and wonderful.

campsite at Arturo's

A 3-1/2 hour drive and I finally pulled into Arturo's campground south of the Pueblo Magico of Cuitzeo. At one point a new road I was on simply ended and I found myself driving through a guy's field, spooking his one horse before finding another road on the other side of his house. Never saw the farmer. I spent one night at Arturo's before driving down to Morelia for my two month house rental.