Following the hoards of people marching down Calle de Libertad toward our hotel tonight was the perfect way to end this day in Chihuahua. The dancers were up ahead and the beat of their drums echoed in our ears as we reflected back over the past several hours......
We've both been pleasantly surprised by this city of approximately 1,000,000 people. We've spent all of our time here in the historical centre of the city and have found it to be clean and very orderly. Everyone obeys the traffic lights, there are crossing guards at many intersections, no one seems to be in a terrific rush to get anywhere so there are no horns honking or traffic jams....all in all....it feels much safer than either of us thought it would.
We began our day by venturing out onto the street in search of something for breakfast and found some amazing cheese quesadillas just around the corner from our hotel. We got them 'to go' and made it back to our hotel at exactly 10:00 the pre-arranged time to meet Alfredo, our private tour guide for the day.
Alfredo was a wonderful guide and if any of you are reading this and looking for a connection in Chihuahua....we can strongly recommend Alfredo or Martin at Rojo Y Casavantes Touristransport S.A. De C.V. in Chihuahua. We spent a full 3 hours with Alfredo learning about the history and the local culture through his entertaining and informative style.
For example....we learned that Pancho Villa (father of the Mexican Revolution) wasn't born Pancho Villa at all.....he had to leave his family, after becoming a criminal defending his sister's honour, ending up attached to a gang of fellows led by a man named Pancho Villa. When the real Pancho Villa died....the rest of the gang decided that Dorothy (yes...that was Pancho's real name) would take over as leader of the group and eventually become the legend that he is today.
We visited the Cathedral that houses an alter that is made of the same marble from Italy that Michaelangelo used in his carvings and a pipe organ that was built in Germany and that takes up an entire wall of the Cathedral. The organ is no longer able to be used as the leather that connects it all together has become so dried out that the organ is "sick".
We discovered that the federal museum in Chihuahua not only boasts so much information and artifacts about this region but also is the current home to the exibition for Mother Teresa....Chihuahua is the first stop on it's world tour and we were fortunate enough to have been able to see it.
We saw the car that Pancho Villa was driving when he was killed and visited his home and the house that his widow lived in until she died at the age of 92 not that long ago. We also learned that Pancho Villa in fact had 25 legal wives (all married in the church) but that the Mrs Villa who lived in the house until she died was the one that was his favourite and the one that gave him his only child and that died at the age of two. We stood against the wall in the area just outside the Villa home where the firing squad did their work and basked in the sunshine streaming through the branches of an orange tree in the courtyard that was just meters away inside the walls of the Villa home.
We toured the building where Miguel Hidalgo (called the father of the Nation) was executed and felt the damp chill of the dungeon he called home for the 90 days prior to his death.
We saw the longest rifle that had a barrel that was 3 meters long and that took two people to shoot.
We learned that in 1821 when Mexico gained Independence not only the Mexicans but also the Indigenous people (who were being used as slaves) and the blacks were freed that day so many African Americans fled the US to make Mexico their home.
We noticed that many symbols include a bird with a snake in it's beak and so Alfredo explained that history says that the Indigenous people believed that they were to look for a place to build their city until they saw a bird with a snake in it's beak and that would be the place to settle and build. They wandered for 150 years looking before they found that bird with a snake perched on a cactus and the place they would call home!
Alfredo also explained that where there were originally 92 indigenous ethnic groups in this area....there are now only 4. He also told us that the population of Mexico is now 112 million and that 10% of those people are 100% pure indigenous. There are more than 60 different languages spoken in Mexico today but only Spanish is the official language. Many of the Indigenous people do not speak much Spanish if any at all.
And...in addition to all of the history that we soaked up this morning...we also learned about an urban legend. There is a manequin wearing a bridal gown in a store window just a block from our hotel. It is said that the manequin is really the only daughter of the owner of the store as she died just days prior to her wedding day. We walked down to take a closer look and have to admit that neither of us have ever seen a manequin quite like that one! Her face and hands are so real that the urban legend may have some truth to it.
As well.....Lynda and I wandered the streets this afternoon and tonight and enjoyed all of the Christmas lights and festivities. We dined on corn in a cup that was smothered with butter and sweet cream, chili, and limon; freshly made potato chips covered in cucumber, limon and maggi; popcorn; churros; iced coffee with cinnamon and chocolate sprinkles; and a cup of fruit to make sure it was a balanced diet :-)
Calle de Libertad (Liberty Street) is a pedestrian only street and is full of people, shops, rides for the kids, facepainting, food stalls, and joy. There is even a photo booth where Flor was able to get a picture with Santa!!!
Finished off the day with another delicious margarita (I could get used to this!) in the lobby of our hotel. We'll have an early morning wake up to be able to leave for the airport by 5:30 a.m.
Next stop Zihuat via D.F. (aka Mexico City).....hasta luego,
L & L
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