Since our last newsletter we have visited Guanajuato, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas and Morelia. It was our third visit to Guanajuato, and although it remains beautiful to look at, we found a few things that diminished its charm. One was the steep and narrow alleys. Picturesque in places, filled with graffiti in others, and sometimes requiring pedestrians and cars to take turns. A second issue was the tourism. It’s not the people who come to see the city that are the problem, so much as the people there to take their money. They try to wave your car over as if you are driving on the wrong side of the road, only to hawk maps and tours. They stick maps and pamphlets in your face. It’s difficult to walk around downtown on the weekend. Thirdly, the cost of living. I suspect some expats are migrating over due to the expense of San Miguel de Allende, and the price of rent has risen to match the demand. The availability of rental units has not risen, however, as most of them are still designed for college students.
We also spent a few days in Aguascalientes, including a tour from a friend of a friend who works for a real estate company. We saw several parts of town, but none of them were anything but plain residential neighborhoods in a large city, lacking any charm or color. It is mostly flat, which means that even if we found a room with a view, there wouldn’t be much to view from it.
Morelia, our most recent city while on the way to see the Monarch butterfly colony (details in the next newsletter), has a nice colonial downtown area with several vegan restaurants but by the time we visited there we were fairly set on Zacatecas. Nothing in Morelia managed to change our minds. Like Aguascalientes, it is a large city with all the pros and cons that come with that.
So, Zacatecas it is. It has some hills like Guanajuato, but not quite as steep and claustrophobic. Its streets are paved as well, but broad enough that you can walk on the sidewalk and not get conked in the head by the side mirror on a passing bus. And unlike Guanajuato it is not filled with tourists on the weekend, and most definitely is not an expat destination. There are a few here and there, just enough. Bryn was also smitten by the teleferico, a cable car that takes you up to the bluff above town (la bufa). There are large parks with grass and trees and an eco-park just outside of town. Large grocery stores and even a Sam’s Club are only a short bus or taxi ride away. And even though the vegan scene isn’t particularly robust, there is a vegan restaurant with a varied menu just around the corner from our new apartment. We will be on the third floor again, and the rooftop terraza has a wonderful view.
One additional factor, possibly more important than we care to admit, is the price. Let’s just say that in the last seven years, five of which were spent in Mexico, we’ve never had a rental that is this economical. This will enable us to travel a bit more and explore other parts of Mexico as well as other countries to the south.
More pics of Zacatecas here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/vagabondians/albums/72157706742911425