Zacatecas day 2

Zacatecas has been a very nice city to hang our hat for a couple of days, but the Hotel Hacienda del Bosque just had to go.     I haven't slept in two days, between the two highways and the railway tracks there is always noise and it seems just as I get used to the constant drone, something backfires, or a vehicle with no muffler whizzes by.    The main point of spending a couple of days here, is to rest up.   Gerry and I don't like to drive for than 2 hours in a day or we end up with me crippled and Gerry with a migraine at the very least.   However, the next two days in a row of driving call for 5 hour days.   We want to be as ready for that as possible.   We know at the end of those two days we will be needed to rest up again.     The reason we have two long days, is we are coming close to the border towns.    Mexico has a very bad reputation for being dangerous, most of which was earned by the cartel and drug wars.   We have no intention of dilly dallying in their backyard.    That all said, the toll roads are safe, it is just not wise to venture off of them. 

This is the road the north-east, as you can see two buses and a train are passing the Hotel.

This is the overpass to the north....another bus.

This is the highway to the east, which is about 20 yards from Myrtle.

Before we packed up and turtled on down the road 6 miles to the Servicio Morelos trailer park we took another bus ride into town.    On the way, the highway was back up waiting for these protesters.  Occupy Mexico?  

The best I can do to translate it is:  Do not ignore the hunger that feels solution to nonperforming loans and the foreclosure

Once we got downtown, and walked around for about half an hour, the same protesters came up the street.

My best translation would be :  (something???) solutions, not promises.

I was struck by the fact that there are no women in this protest.

Yesterday, at the Mask Museum we met a fellow from El Paso, Texas.  He was visiting Zacatecas because his parents were originally from here.  He helped to translate a few things for us yesterday, then he disappeared into the museum.   When we reached the end, the attendant gave us a note from him that he had written, telling us his name, his email address and declaring that it was nice to meet us.   It was very nice.    To our surprise, today, as we were walking along who do we run into but Paul.   So, we had an agave drink with him (purchased from the donkey cart).  

The non-alchoholic agave drink is very tasty and thirst quenching.

We specifically wanted to see the Aqueduct that used to provide the city with water.   Talking to a local yesterday he told us what we thought was either "You won't be disappointed if you see the aqueduct", or "You will be disappointed if you don't see the aqueduct".   With all the double negatives, I just wasn't sure, but I think I got the drift.    After seeing it, I am thinking the double negatives were intentional, and he actually meant "You won't be disappointed if you don't see the aqueduct".   lol    Needless to say, it was a lunch bag let down.

We came across a church that appears to be in the process of being built.   It has obviously been open for some time, but much work was still being done, and it seemed new.   See how shiny the bell is.   Many of the buildings in the area are made of this rose coloured stone.

On the bus ride back to the Hotel campground we noticed that the busdriver actually passes a time card out the window to a man who has a time clock sitting on the roof of his car.   We saw him pass something out to the same man, at the same place yesterday, but didn't see what it was.         

After we got back to Myrtle, we took an hour to chill, then packed her up and turtled on down the road....6 miles.    Ah....sleep.....I look forward to being out cold tonight.    This campground is an walled parking area of a Pemex gas station, costs 50 pesos a night, has water, electricity and dump hookups,  and we can't hear the highway noise.   :)    Evidently, the extra 300 pesos at the Hotel Hacienda was for a luke warm shower, clean bathrooms and a lot of highway noise.