3/31/08 Mission Texas
We are leaving Mission today heading eventually to New Mexico where we will spend a month or so depending on the weather further north. We don’t want to get to Colorado until it warms up some there.
We have enjoyed our winter here in Mission. This area is called The Rio Grande Valley or just The Valley. It is a much bigger area than most people realize. Along Highway 83 from Mission on the west to Harlingen on the east is over 40 miles. There is very little open land between the 10 cities and continuous building is closing the gaps very quickly. The total population of these 10 cities in close to 400,000, maybe more and that does not include the Winter Texans who come here from November thru March each year. Of course this does not include Brownsville and the areas along the gulf coast. We are only a few miles from the Mexican border where one can walk across and do lots of shopping or see the many well-qualified doctors or buy prescription drugs at greatly reduced prices. There are great shopping centers here and strip malls on nearly every corner. Anything you can buy in your home town is available here. Medical care and hospitals are in abundance with very little waiting to get an appointment. There are over 500 RV Parks in the area with reasonable rates compared to other winter resort areas. So if you ever want to spend the winter in more temperate climates, consider The Rio Grande Valley. You can have lunch and a nap in The Valley and dinner and dancing across the border or on the Gulf. You can enjoy year-round fishing and swimming, golf , biking and it is a great birding area. So for now we will say good bye to you and good bye to Mission, Texas.

Viva Mexico City Bus Tour

March 6, 2008
Day 1 On the road to San Luis Potosi
We crossed the border at Reynosa, Mexico at 8:15 am. Reynosa is a ways from the border so one cannot just walk across the border into a town as you can at many border crossings. This area of Mexico is much like southern Texas and Arizona, dry desert conditions with cactus and scrub brush. As we get a ways into the country it is very windy…even dangerously so. We see a semi alongside the road that is turned on its side. Our tour guide, Enrique, told us wind caused the accident and that it is a common occurrence in this area. This is pretty desolate country. We see small villages every once in a while. Most of the homes appear to not have any electricity. Usually there are some store fronts next to the highway and most probably have living quarters attached to the back of the business. The business, whatever it is, is their only source of income. As we travel through the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains into the high plains we see cattle and sheep ranches and many fields of prickly pear cactus (napal) which is a staple in the Mexican diet. We also see fields of chili peppers, agave for alcoholic beverage, and huge green houses where they start the plants. They have large areas of apartments for those who work in the fields. These small apartments seem to be much nicer than the average worker in Mexico has.

We arrived in San Luis Potosi where we will spend the night at the Hotel Real Plaza. It is in the mountains and 984 feet higher than Denver, CO. We took a city walking tour to the Plaza or city square. In most Mexican cities there is a city square with the church, the government building and the judicial building surrounding this square. Our tour guide, Enrique, is an archeologist and historian. He pointed out the many beautifully styled buildings around the square and spoke in great detail of the style of these building. Do to the time of day we were unable to get good pictures of the outside of the beautiful Cathedral Potocinia but we were able to get a nice picture of the inside. We ate dinner in the hotel and had quesadillas with beans and guacamole.

March 7, 2008
Day 2 On the road to Mexico City
We had breakfast in the hotel dining room, scrambled eggs, refried beans and toast. We boarded the bus and very soon were in Queretaro (pronounced Care-ét-ah-roh) . It was founded in 1531 and is growing rapidly. Enrique shared with us that many corporations are moving out of the highly populated cities, like Mexico City, To smaller cities and Queretaro is one of those cities. As we drive down the streets we see many, many USA corporation businesses here. It seems like some shopping centers were mostly companies popular in the USA. We first went to eat at a franchise restaurant called Wings…sort of like Denny’s. We are still into Mexican food so we had a Stuffed Pablamo Pepper with rice and beans. After lunch we drove over to Convent of the Cross and on the way were introduced to the Aqueduct. It was built by Juan Antonio de Urrutia y Arana to take water to the Convent of the Holy Cross from some springs east of the city, and funded completely with his personal fortune. It is composed of 74 arches of quarry that reach a maximum height of 75 feet and a length of 4,200 feet where the duct continues through a mountain. The Convent of the Holy Cross is the result of a desire in the 16th century to evangelize the indigenous Indians. There is a tree in the garden with cross-shaped thorns. It is said this is the only known place where this tree with this cross-shape thorn exists. They believe it to be The Holy Cross. The convent has continuously maintained its original architectural structure, a very beautiful ancient building.

As we get close to Mexico City we can see how the city is growing right up the mountainside and even on over the top in some places. The skyline is quite beautiful to see. Mexico City is located in the Valley of Mexico, a large valley in the high plateaus at the center of Mexico and at an altitude 7,349 feet. It was originally built by the Aztecs in 1325 on the island of Lake Texcoco. It was founded as Mexico-Tenochtitlan by the Nahua Aztec or Mexican tribe. It rapidly became the capital of a sophisticated growing empire. Dams built by the Aztecs kept the city surrounded by clear water from the rivers that fed the lake. These dams eventually caused the lake to dry up and the city has now spread out covering the entire area and even up the mountain sides all around this bowl shaped landscape. In the picture below you can see canals running through the city. These were to bring in fresh water. Those same canals are now some of the main streets in the city. There are 20 million people living in the metropolitan area of Mexico City. It is 48 miles across with the original downtown directly in the center. It has a very efficient bus/subway with approx. 3.6 million people using it daily. We found a website with pictures of Mexico City that tells a story like no other. We encourage you to go to: http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PhotoAlbum31.html Housing for many of the poor people is very meager. Some areas of the city have very limited or no electricity and water. Old apartment buildings are in danger of falling in during the imminent rainy season while other parts of the city are very modern, exquisite and expensive. One area of the city is building new low income apartments with all being exactly alike, 10,000 of them. It is a strange site. It is still growing at an alarming rate and in some areas a wall is built on the mountainside to keep people from building any higher up the mountain.

March 8, 2008
Day 3 Tour to Taxco
Today we are on our way to Taxco but first we will stopping in Cuernavaca, City of Eternal Springs. It is a city of 800,000, many who have vacation homes here. We are stopping at San Francisco Cathedral built in the 16th century. It was built with volcanic rock. It is still in use and in fact there is a wedding here this day. There are 2 other churches on this property. One is undergoing preservation now. Most all historic buildings in Mexico cannot undergo any reconstruction, only preservation.

Taxco is a very old city founded by Aztecs who found silver here. It has retained its natural charm with its colonial ambiance, red-tiled roofs, cobble-stoned, narrow winding streets and the towering, impressive 240 year old Santa Prisca Catheral. The Spanish conquered the Aztecs in 1521and laid claim to the mines. For 200 years this rich silver was sent all over Europe and this remote little area was made known for its silver. Then more accessible mines were found and mining in Taxco faded out. In Taxco, just get to the downtown area was an experience, a fun experience. The city streets are so narrow and there is very little parking. The city uses VW’s and VW buses as taxis and there must be a kabillion of them. We were squished into a VW bus and very quickly driven up and down and around these mountain streets to the center of downtown. Our stop took us to the upstairs restaurant where we had a delicious authentic Mexican dinner. Most all Mexican meals start with soup. Our main entrée was chicken and not the best we have had but ok with beans, rice and ice cream for dessert. Then we had about an hour to shop. I think about 80%, at least, of the shops were selling silver jewelry. Then of course there were vendors outside trying to take our money.

The church in Taxco is quite unusual. Jose Labortha came to the area when he was 16 in search for his brother. He stayed and by the time he was 36 he owned 7 silver and gold mines. He wanted a church to evangelize, teach and preach to the native Aztecs. He agreed to pay for it if he could design it. It was built in 1748 and took 10 years to complete. It is a Baroque Style. It has 12 alters carved of wood and covered with 24 C. gold. Every carving on these alters tells a story and represents something or someone. All the materials came from the local mountains and all is still original today. A pipe organ, a gift from Germany, with 366 pipes was added.

March 9, 2008
Day 4 Tour to the Pyramids
Just a ways before arriving at the Pyramids in Teotihuacan (pronounced Titiwacan) we make a quick stop by an area that makes Aztec figurines, jewelry and other artistic objects using Obsidian and other precious gems. The Obsidian is mined in the area. A local man showed us how the Obsinian is cut and polished. Later we were allowed to browse (ha) in the shop where the artwork is displayed AND sold. We again were reminded that many other places would be selling items like theirs but would be of inferior quality and not natural gem stones. A 6” X 6” Aztec Warrior wall hanging was $290. It is beautiful artwork.

A gentleman there also told us about some of the uses of the Agave plant besides the alcoholic drink made from it. On the very tip of each frond is a sharp point. He showed how you can remove it. The natives used it for a needle and the fiber attached to it for thread. A dark pink flower which grows in the area can be rubbed down the fiber to color it. The Indians then can use it to sew with. Pretty tricky, huh. One other thing we saw here is a $2000.00 Mexican Dog. It is nearly extinct. It’s breed is Xolotl Izcuinmtl (pronounced Showlo Isquinte

Seeing the Pyramids is an awesome experience. You just can’t imagine how big they are until you are at the top looking down. The Pyramid to the Sun is the 3rd largest in the world. Climbing up the 248 steps was not easy. However the lines were so long and so slow that we made it ok. The city was 15 km square and its population was 150,000. The largest city in Europe at that time was 75,000. The city was divided in neighborhoods according to their craft. Each neighborhood had a leader called a Priest. The city was inhabited in 150 BC and abandoned in 750 AD after internal fighting became rampant. The archeologists are still exploring the area. They have only begun to work. Much is left to be discovered Having learned all we did just makes us want to know more. Here is a web site so you can begin to learn if you want. http://www.differentworld.com/mexico/areas/mexico-city/guide-teotihuacan.htm

When we arrived back in Mexico City we went first to the Plaza where the old and new Basilica de Guadalupe are. The old Basilica was built in 1531 and an addition built in 17th century Because of the condition of the old cathedral and the size of the pilgrimage the new one was built between 1974 and 1976. It is 300 feet in diameter and can accommodate 50,000 people. Mass is held there every hour from 6 AM to 8 PM every day of the year. It is a beautiful building with a very modern style.

We finished our tour of Mexico City by going to the El Zocalo or what we would call the town square. Today it is the largest public square in the Western Hemisphere and the third largest in the world (after the Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing and the Red Square in Moscow). It is the main square in Mexico City. Its formal name is Plaza de la Constitución- and forms the heart of the city since the Aztec rule. Included on this huge square are the National Palace and the Metropolitan Cathedral. Alongside the plaza are remains of an Aztec (Aslan) temple, the founding of the city of Tenochtitlan in 1325. These have been unearthed by the Archeological Institute and they still continue to work in this area studying the Aztec peoples. They have determined there were 7 temples here. Beginning with the first one, each would sink into the lake over the years. Then another would be built right on top of it and continuing to current times.

March 10, 2008
Day 5 On our way to Tampico
We were up early today and had some time to walk around the block before boarding the bus. We saw several vendors out already serving breakfast from their streetside tables. We have enjoyed our time here in Mexico City so much. We are in what is called the Pink Zone and it is very safe to walk around at night. Each night we have done that, gone out to eat, enjoyed just walking around, shopping and observing the cultural differences between our two countries. The people are very friendly. The language barrier is there but can be overcome. Many of the Mexican people we spoke with knew about as much English and we know Spanish…almost none. But they want so much to help and go out of their way to figure out what we want.

Our trip today to Tampico, which is on the Gulf of Mexico, is to be a beautiful drive. The highway travels through the …mountain range. It is also a rain forest. Much produce is raised in the mountains here: coffee, fruit trees, coconut trees, corn and bananas. The crops are planted all the way up the mountain sides with no terraces. In the valleys we see feed lots and many cattle ranches.

We stopped in Poco Rico, a big oil producing area, now also a popular tourist area. We ate at Enrique’s and had a chance to eat seafood. We shared a stuffed seafood platter which had squid, octopus and other seafood stuffed in a bread roll. It was different than we expected but ok. Tampico, with 400 million residents is one of 3 cities here on the Gulf of Mexico. The others are Madero with 300 million and Altamira with 400 million. These cities founded in the 19th century are not ancient cities as we have seen before so the buildings and churches or more modern. In downtown Tampico the buildings around the Zocalo, Plaza or town square, have a style similar to New Orleans with balconies all along the upper floor. While in this area we forgot our camera and so we have no pictures other than the one I borrowed off the internet. Near to our hotel, Holiday Inn, is a shopping area and restaurants. We decided to eat at the Elite restaurant. We each had a very delicious chicken vegetable soup and shared a Tostado. It was one of the best meals we have had. There is a big very modern Sears and Woolworth store in this area along with many shoe stores and other upscale clothing stores. It is a very nice modern area and we had fun spending time shopping.

March 11, 2008
Day 6 On our way home.
The fun is nearly over. Our trip back to the states will be a long day. It is through desert terrain very much like the desert areas in Texas and Arizona. We see a few mountains in the distance. There are cattle ranches, some milo fields and not much else of interest. The homes here seem to be in better condition and several homes, garages and out buildings have thatch roofs. We had no problems getting across the border. Home Sweet Home. We had a great time and we are so thankful to God for the opportunities we have to travel and for our continued safety.