Mexico Revisited: 2013-2014

March 5-9 2014

“Excuse me,” I said, “can you tell me what you are doing?” “It is a fiesta!” the man told me, “We are having a Callejóneada in honour of my daughter’s 30^thbirthday. Would you like to join us?” Of course we agreed to join them. My guide book had mentioned a Callejóneada, held to celebrate weddings, birthdays, and other special occasions, and recommended joining in.

There were two groups in the Plaza des Armas that Saturday evening, next to the big cathedral. Each group had a burro laden with saddlebags filled with bottles and a band taking turns playing invigorating tunes, enthusiastically received by their audience. One large group sported straw hats and carried small cotton purses with a name written on the side. The other group was smaller and seemed more approachable. We were handed tiny pottery mugs on a ribbon to put around our neck. Our host produced a bottle of Mezcal, the local brew made from the maguey plant, an agave variety, from one of the burro’s saddlebag and filled our mug so that we could toast the birthday girl. Later we were given a water bottle with “Sandy’s 30^th” on the side to fill with mezcal and Squirt (a Sprite version). The larger group left first and after a few more numbers, the band, all dressed in green jackets, led our group, swollen by even more people, through the back streets of Zacatecas. We stopped in a small plaza surrounded by small houses. The band encouraged everyone to dance in a circle, coming to the center when a category pertaining to us was called. We watched the “single women” and “single men” take their turn dancing in the center and when “the Canadians” were called, Ray and I did a short dance in the center. A young nun, following with a group of children and their parents took her turn in the center as well. Everyone was having fun, clapping and singing out a new category. Finally the group carried on again, through more streets to a plaza beside the Museum of Modern Art, where we all stopped for more dancing. We stayed to hear the band play a few more numbers, then gave our thanks to the family and took our leave before they were preceding to yet another plaza. We had to get up the next morning to catch our bus to San Miguel de Allende.

What a way to end our visit to Zacatecas, called "con rostro de cantera rosa y corazón de plata" (face of pink stone and heart of silver) because of the pink stone that many of its buildings are made of and the silver that has spurred its development and history. We had arrived in the UNESCO city the previous Thursday to discover that a city at 2400M is cold, especially when the sun goes down, and dry. The contrast from the west coast beaches we had visited was difficult at first, but the sunny days and the choice of interesting places to visit more than made up for it. Zacatecas was established as a frontier settlement in 1540, several years before a rich deposit of silver was discovered under the Cerro de la Bufa, which means “the funny looking hill”, overlooking the city.

We stayed in Hotel Casa Santa Lucia, in one of the first house built near the Cathedral in Zacatecas. Our receptionist told us that the house was connected to the church and other buildings by underground tunnels and had been a church residence until the revolution in 1810, after which it was left vacant for many years. Parts of skeletal remains were discovered in the basement tunnels when the hotel was renovated a few years ago. The location was perfect for exploring the historic center by foot.

The first stop for most tourists is the Cathedral Basilica de Zacatecas, considered to be one of the best examples of Mexican Churrigueresque architecture. The facade of pink sandstone is unequaled in Mexico. A small parish church was built on the spot as early as 1568. After silver was discovered, the town was rich enough to commission a church worthy enough to become a Cathedral. One story has it that the artist who designed the façade was French. He had beencondemned to death for some reason but was given a stay of execution to finish the church. It took 21 years to finish, by which time the architect was granted a pardon. His one wish was to return to die in France. The day before he was to leave, he suddenly died, thus never being granted his last wish. The interior, once richly decorated is not quite austere. During the 1810 revolutionary times, many of the riches were taken for “safekeeping”, and in 1965, the building was robbed of many of the remaining decorations, which were never recovered. The new, modern main altar, 17 feet high and ten wide, is covered with 25 KG of 24 carat gold leaf. As we walked through the interior of the church I heard a beautiful voice singing an acappello rendition of a hymn or service, I wasn’t sure. There was no formal service in session. It was a Mexican woman, sitting alone near the front of the church. We were mesmerized.

Plaza des Armas, where we joined the callejóneada group, is right next to Cathedral. Saturday also brought a Mexican scout to town that performed a group dance in the plaza, some dressed in costumes for the occasion. Large mansions, once the homes of silver barons, surrounded the plaza and are now government buildings.  Mexicans love murals, and the Palacio de Gobierno was no exception. The main staircase of this beautiful old Spanish mansion featured murals painted in 1970 depicting historical events with walls below the murals carved with scenes of Zacatecas workers.

You can’t visit Zacatecas without including a tour of the old silver mine, Mina El Edén. The mine produced silver from 1586 to 1966 when it was closed because the entrance was in the middle of the city and the tunnels were too hazardous for modern miners. The corridors were strengthened and the mine became a tourist attraction. A Mexican family and their three year old son, plus Ray and I and our guide rode a reproduction railway down into the second level of the mine to tour the well presented Museo de Rocas (Rock Museum) and learn about the history of silver mining in Mexico. The museum section had a large collection of rocks and minerals, geodes and fossilized ammonites and trilobites from Mexico and other countries, a gift from a private collector. We walked further into dark corridors lit more brightly and larger than those the indigenous workers encountered long ago. We peered over railings to see eerie subterranean pools, formed when the bottom three levels flooded when the mine ceased production. There were tableaus depicting miners from the earliest days to the 20^th century. For centuries mining jobs were handed down within families from father to his 10 year old son. The men used primitive tools to extract the rocks containing silver to fill bags weighing 60 to 100kg which the carried up primitive ladders to the surface. The young boys had to descend to the lowest level and fill bags with the water that continuously seemed into the mine and carry their 20 kg up those same ladders. I don’t think their life span was anywhere near ours. If you are so inclined, you can take the tourist train into the mine on weekend evenings to visit the La Mina Club, a nightclub and discotheque in the bowels of the mine. It is very popular during holiday periods. Near the end of our tour was a small altar to the Santo Niño de Atocha, the same child saint we had encountered in Oaxaca. The idol of the Saint was surrounded by small tokens, left by the faithful in hopes of a miracle cure for whatever problems they had.

Our tour ended at the upper end of the mine, very near the entrance of an aerial tramway taking visitors to the top of Cerro de la Bufa. The funicular ride is worth the trip just to see the city surrounded by mountains spread out beneath you. At the top of the hill is a giant cross, lit up at night, and below it, a small church, Templo de Nuestra Señora de la Patrocino and a museum, closed during our visit, dedicated to Francisco (Pancho)Villa, the rebel leader who obliterated the government forces of Victoriano Huerta in 1914. The rebels sacked the city and destroyed a number of buildings. Battle casualties were about 5,000 for Huerta's troops and about 3,000 for the rebels. There is also a mausoleum containing remains of several notables from Zacatecas from which we followed a pilgrimage road leading back to the city where the faithful pay their respects at the Stations of the Cross along the way.

We spent the rest of our days wandering the city, admiring the old colonial churches, statues in small parks and buildings with beautiful wrought iron balcony and window decorations. Two favourite churches were Santo Domingo with several chapels covered in ornate gold leaf decoration and yet another Santo Niño de Atocha surrounded by tokens left as requests for miracles. The second was Ex-Templo de San Augustin, no longer a church but used for exhibitions and other events. The 18thC Plateresque side door, a smaller version of the front of the cathedral, is what still attracts visitors.

We visited two museums of note. Museo Rafael Coronel is housed in the ex-Convento de San Francisco, Mexicans don’t differentiate between monasteries and convents, dating from 1593 and said to possess the oldest facade in the city. The convent deteriorated badly after the Franciscans were expelled in 1857 and further destroyed by Pancho Villa’s assault in 1914. The partially restored building is now owned by the government. Gardens have been established within the ruins and the paintings of artist brothers, Raphael Coronel, known for his surreal portraits, and Pedro Coronel, whose subjects are more abstract. The highlight for us was Raphael’s collection of 4000 masks dating from pre-Spanish times to the present and usually made to be worn during festival ceremonies. Rounding out the collections were marionettes and pottery and ceramics from ancient to modern. It was a fabulous collection in a fabulous setting.

Inside the 1799 Casa de la Moneda, the City Mint, is the Museo Zacatecas with a small collection of coins and machinery used to produce coins for the city, as was the practise in every town until 1842. The rest of the museum is dedicated to the history of the region, presented in videos and displays, all in Spanish, and regional art. There are the requisite murals on the central staircase, this time black and white depictions of local history by Antonio Pintor Rodríguez. In addition there was an art gallery devoted to the muralist Rodríguez, and Mario Arellano Zajur, who died young but left a collection of beautiful painted conch shells and portraits. My favourite was a collection of indigenous Huichol textile art. A friendly Mexican security guard took pleasure in explaining many of the symbols in the works, in particular those relating to peyote. This small, spineless cactus has psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline and is still used in religious ceremonies by many indigenous Americans and Mexicans.

It seems the best time to visit Zacatecas, if you enjoy music, is on the weekends. You can travel from plaza to plaza sampling the entertainment. In the Mercado González Ortega, a Victorian indoor market building from 1889, now fancy shopping mall with small shops and restaurants, there were performances both Friday and Saturday evenings. Friday a traditional Mexican band with stringed instruments and brass played for us. Saturday evening there was a performance by a very good guitarist-singer, accompanied by a man on saxophone and another playing a keyboard. The guitarist’s family and several friends were in the enthusiastic audience.

In honour of International Women’s Day on Saturday March 8, 2014, we were treated to an evening of folk dances, a violinist and a good women singer in Plaza Goytia, next to Mercado González Ortega. Folk dancing is still very popular with Mexicans. We sat on the broad steps above the plaza with a good crowd of locals, all thoroughly enjoying the many different costumes and dances. The only improvement for the evening would be shorter political speeches by several women politicians.

Plaza Genaro Codina is next to the traditional indoor market, Mercado el Labarinto. The sound of a wooden pipe accompanied by South American pipes always reminds me of our trip to Peru and Ecuador. Those memories added to our enjoyment of a South American trio with a vocalist and talented musicians who played to an appreciative Saturday market crowd.

Zacatecas is a side trip well worth the time and effort, both for its history and for the musical entertainment. Put it on your “must visit” list.