Sights in Zacatecas

View the video that shows the extent of Zacatecas toward the west from the highest peak around. The city is not very wide but extends quite a way up and down the valley.

Here's a video of my friend Gail taking the zipline off this same peak toward the east.

This hotel was made out of an old bullring. It is rated one of the top 10 hotels in the world

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This is the cathedral in central Zacatecas:

The intricate Baroque-style carvings are made by immersing limestone in water for several weeks until it becomes soft and can be carved. Then, as it dries in the hot sun, it becomes a hard stone again.

This Catholic church building was destroyed by a Christian sect (can't remember if it was Methodists or Prysbeterians). They destroyed knocked the saints from the edifice and ruined the inside. Click the photo for a close up and you can see the niches where the saints once stood on either side above the door.

The front of the church is between these two flying buttresses:

Canterra (Spanish for any quarry stone) is the most

common building material in Mexico. It is limestone

and comes in varying colors. Here is an example of

purple or lavender canterra:

I would hope any business who charges for their services would be effective.

After lunch (see photo of the way they served beer--with a shrimp in the neck of the bottle) we set out for an archaeological site.

This is a scale replica of the site: The building on the left is the visitors center. Up the hill were the living and religious areas of the ancient inhabitants.

In the courtyard of the visitor's center was a replica of decorative rock artwork typically found at this site:

The walls of this site were built very tall and thick as a defense against attack:

This was the large religious center. The columns supported

the roof of the single largest room built in Mexico at that time.

Here is the courtyard adjacent to the religious center and

shows the valley below the city.

The nopal cactus with fruits, mostly yellow and a few ripe red

(called tuna in Spanish or prickly pear fruit in English) growing

along the eastern edge of the city. Remember to click on any

photo to see a close up.

As we left this site, we had to pass the tourist area where trinkets, etc. were sold. They had a number of live snakes from the area and my friend Gail was introduced to the resident rattlesnake. She is absolutely terrified of snakes but did a good job holding this one without screaming.

Zacatecas Mask Museum

In Zacatecas we visited an old ex-convent that houses the Mask Museum. The bell tower and upper facade fell down at some time, probably from an earthquake and was never rebuilt.

However, the rubble was not lost but put to good use to construct a wall. There are cornices and small statues that were saved.

Here's a wall inside the exterior walls. See where the lintel over the window has rotted away.

Here's another old wall that has withstood the weather to varying degrees. The adobe brick on the right has lasted pretty well when covered by a lime and mortar mix. Some of the bricks on the left are lasting better than the mortar that surrounds them.

Here is an example of a mask that was made out of available materiels; an armadillo shell and deer antlers. (And more masks following in which you probably have less interest than I do--obviously. If only I could have such wonderful articles for MY mask collection!)

These masks and others following are carved of wood.

This is a crocodile "suit" which was worn around the waist of a dance participant. All carved of wood.

More primitive masks from the early 19th century.

This masks reminds me of a Japanese Noh mask used in theater. It's one of my favorites in this collection.

More and more . . .

Many masks are "fantismic"; out of the carvers dreams, or nightmares! But these are devils masks, of which there are a number of differing faces.

I wonder what the inspiration was for this mask . . .

These are fairly contemporary using window screening for the mask with painted steel wool for the beards. Pretty unique!

These masks show the influence of black slaves from the Caribbean on Mexican artesania.

The mask carvers had a sense of humor:

A contemporary mask showing the influence of the Anglos. The hair is made from the same material that is used to make long handled brushes for removing cobwebbs from one's house.

Sorry about the lack of focus on this and the previous photo--the museum didn't allow flash photography.

These show the use of goat horns and deer antlers.

Just look at the realism of this mask.

This is an example of "armor" made of carved wood. The small pieces in the foreground are forearm covers.

Note the reflection of the back side of this wooden "armor".

Probably originally from the jungle area of southern Mexico.

Note the blue, black and white set of horns as well as a single red one, surrounded by snake heads.

One more "nose" mask . . .

This mask is made of paper mache' and probably used during Day of the Dead celebrations.

Leopard masks with boars teeth.

The LONG drive to the States

My friend Susy and I just got back from a shopping trip to San Antonio, TX. Two days to drive there, three days to shop and two days to drive back home.

I didn't take many photos as I was busy shopping but I did get two interesting shots. There are many shredded tires along the Mexican cuotas. Most 18-wheelers run recapped tires on all but their front wheels. The recaps are notorious for blow-outs, which we witnessed on one occasion. I always wondered what a tire looked like after the recap peeled off on the highway.
Well, we saw such a tire in the back of a tire truck.

I find the geology of Mexico to be surpisingly varied and interesting. Especially the mountains of the Sierra Oriental around Monterrey. In the pass between Saltillo and Monterrey are many pallisades (flat topped horizontal cliffs) emerging from the upper sides of the mountains. The particular pallisades that are of interest are vertical! They look as if massive forces pushed up and crinkled the rocks. This photo would have been better if taken early morning or late afternoon (and perhaps I'll get a chance one day) to capture strong side-lighting to show the "wrinkles".