on the edge

Road Journal: Zacatecas

Originally uploaded by waywuwei

On the road north we stopped at the 400 year old colonial silver mining town of Zacatecas for two days. Zacatecas is beautiful, with streets made of cut stone and sidewalks made of black cut volcanic rock. Zacatecas is a UN World Heritage site.

Road Journal: Saltillo-Monterey

Saltillo-Monterey
Originally uploaded by waywuwei

This is the mountain range to the south as you drive from Saltillo to Monterey. They are predominately limestone, the remnants of some sea floor long ago. They are mining here in several places to make cement to build Mexico's rapidly expanding industrial and residential sector. From the looks of things they have enough limestone for the next 1000 years.

Road Journal: Zacatecas-Saltillo: La Fogata

La Fogata
Originally uploaded by waywuwei

"The Bonfire"

On the road from Puerto Vallarta to New York. This desolate stretch is between Zacatecas and Saltillo. It is a high plain dessert. It is green ths time of year (August) because of the seasonal rains, but is otherwise dry. There are no rivers, lakes or other sources of water. When you look at this picture imagine nothing around it for miles. Nothing but scrub brush and yucca trees. I'm not sure that is their proper name, but they are not more than 20 feet tall, most being about 10 feet tall and have beautiful white flowers this time of year.

We stopped here for some lunch and they gave a us a limited choice: all meats. We chose borrego: goat and were brought 2 legs of goat about twice the length of the plates they were served on with a few very greasy french fries on top. We looked at this and had the same thought: "I don't think I can do this". We had a few bites, but had it wrapped up to go as our dog Sugar thought it was great. She finished up the last of it that evening. We stopped in Saltillo at a McDonalds.

In the end, La Fogata is best fo gotten.