Friday, June 20-- Part 1
Friday morning was really humid. Eric went to school early so he could work on his group's project. I got the boys ready and dropped them off and then went to school. I walked slowly so I wouldn't sweat so much. The presentations were really good that the kids did. The teacher was very surprised at how good they were. Of course our kids have been working with computers and doing presentations for many years so they were used to speaking in front of people without too much issue. Apparently the teacher doesn't see that from her other students! I was very pleased with them! We came back and got things packed and rested before we had to pick up the boys.
Well we left Monterrey at 3pm. Jared was supposed to be on a field trip so we waited until then to leave. For some reason he didn't go and I need to check with them today (Monday) to see what happened. We had the van all packed up and ready to go when we picked up the boys so we just headed out of town. Of course it was HOT. There was a bit of traffic but we were able to move pretty well.
We got to an area outside of Monterrey and I had flashbacks to the Grapevine in California. Wow. Trucks grunting in the right lane on the way up and then on the way down- look out! Lots of emergency lanes with gravel in them - but we didn't see anyone who needed to use them! Nice curvy roads too. We left the state of Nuevo Leon and entered Coahuila. Saltillo is one of the main cities there and I had heard a lot about it. I hadn't heard about the traffic and construction on a Friday night though. Goodness! So we finally start to get through it and it looks like we are going to finally get out of the construction and IT HAPPENS. The policia are radaring people and pulling them over right and left. Of course we get pulled over. ARGH. The nice Mr. Policeman comes over and tells us that he is going to take Eric's license and that we will have to go to the police headquarters and pay $120 to get it back etc. Standard procedure. By now it's like 6pm and I am a tad irritated because we have taken so long to get through Saltillo with traffic and construction and we just don't have time to deal with this. Plus it was a racket in the first place- Eric barely accelerated and was going like 20 miles an hour. GRR... So I asked if there was someone there that we could just pay the fine to and we could be on our way. I told him that we were teachers and that we were on our way to Zacatecas ahead of the students- all true. Plus he saw the chilluns in the back seat and I told him we needed to get there because of the kids etc. So he 'suggested' that if we wanted to we could just pay $60 and be on our way. It took a few minutes for me to totally understand what he was saying and he was getting a little frustrated with my lack of understanding. I knew what he was saying, but I wanted to clarify and make sure that we weren't going to get in more trouble etc. So we paid him off (corruption!) and were on our way again.
Psych! By then the "check engine" light had come on so we had to stop at a gas station so Eric could check the oil. Of course the gas station didn't have oil there so we had to find another place. The oil was a little low so he filled it and it was fine. Jared and I took the opportunity to use the restroom in a little store. We had to fill the toilet up with water before we could use it... By now we were really enjoying our "trip" to Zacatecas. Everything was ok and we really were on our way by now. We had lost so much time though that we didn't stop for dinner. Plus after we got out of Saltillo there wasn't much of ANYTHING so we couldn't really stop. We fed the kids a bunch of junk food for dinner. It was awesome. :)
Now you can see why this is in 3 parts. Friday took FOREVER and we aren't done yet! Most of our trip after Saltillo was done on cute little 2 lane roads that wound around everything. Trucks and buses were coming the other way of course. They didn't always stay in their lane either. Let's see... After Coahuila we entered the state of Zacatecas but the city was about 4 hours away. We went through military checkpoints but never got pulled over. For some reason we were a tad skittish after the whole Saltillo incident. We kept seeing these trees that we referred to as "Dr. Seuss" trees because they were so goofy looking! We went through a couple of really nice dust storms. The 2nd one was in Zacatecas and that was a "real" one. Thankfully it wasn't too dark and it didn't last too long. Lots of the little pueblos had speedbumps that you practically had to stop before going over them.
Of course the drama wasn't over yet. Drew dumped food out all over the back- not once but twice. So that was fun. We had to pull over once to fix things and then one time we almost drove off the road. Boy that was fun! :) Things finally chilled out and I was just looking out the window. It was raining periodically but especially to the right... where I was looking. That is when I saw the tornado. Luckily it was just a "small" one- the white and grey version- and not some huge F5 black spinning horribleness. It still freaked me out and I tried to take a picture but it didn't come out. The area we were driving through was largely desert and uninhabited... but still! I think I was so jaded after our other hijinks that day that it really didn't faze me. Of course I was wishing I could use my iphone and look at the radar... or call mom and tell her!!!
About 10:30 pm we pull into the hotel. We got our room without incident- same place everyone was going to stay at Saturday- and we tried to go to sleep. Yeah that didn't really happen very quickly! But hey- we were in Zacatecas and we were in one piece!
Saturday, June 21 -- Part 2
Well we didn't sleep all that great. Zacatecas is much, much cooler than Monterrey but our room was warm and there was no AC so we slept with the door open to the patio. That was great but when the boys woke up (waaay too early) Drew figured out the door thing. Yes, there were bars on the patio, but there was one missing that allowed Mr. Drew enough room to climb out of the patio onto the roof thing next to us. So it wasn't like he could get into anything really- except maybe into other people's rooms! He thought it was cool to do that until Daddy spanked him. oops
We got ready and headed downstairs for breakfast. We didn't have to meet the group until 10:30 and we had plenty of time. Eric got the buffet, I had ham and eggs, Jared had waffles and Drew had pancakes. Everything was really tasty and I was FULL!! We went upstairs and tried to get Drew to take a nap but of course that was not happening.
Met everyone downstairs and we were all chomping at the bit to get going on our tour! The kids did fine on their bus ride down and some had slept more than others. They loved how wonderful the weather was though! Such a break from Dallas and Monterrey. We eventually got around to getting on the bus and then we headed out to the tour.
First stop was the Serro de La Bufa. It was a great place that had views of the city. You can see where the city was founded and where the river used to flow. Could also see how the mines had taken all of the trees from the area and they are re-planting so hopefully in about 20-30 years it will be all green again. We took the bus up to the top and then took the tram (teleferico) down to the bottom. I love heights and am not claustrophobic at all. WHATEVER! We saw 3 statues of 3 revolucionarios (including Villa) and we learned what it meant when the horses were positioned a certain way in a sculpture. If the horse had one foot up then the rider died from natural causes. If the horse is rearing back then the rider died a violent death (Villa). The 3rd guy had his horse in a very serene, standing position and that guy was executed. So that was interesting to learn- plus the sculptures were great. We went to the cathedral up there and it was built in the 1700's. There is a patron saint to the miners there and so it was used a lot back when that was a busy mining area. The floor is original from that time. It was gorgeous.
We waited in line for over an hour to take the tram down and I was so "excited" about it I couldn't wait. It wasn't too bad though. We walked down some super steep hills and there weren't many ramps for Eric to take Drew down in the stroller so he did a lot of stairs. Thanks to Jimmy and David and some of the guys from the Texas State group who helped carry Drew down. I could only do so much. Zacatecas is the 2nd highest city in Mexico. :)
We saw some temples and wound around some narrow streets. Saw the theater that was built in 1833. Way cool.
So then we got lost. Rather, the last part of the group got left behind. I was in that part. Jared was in the first group. Long story short, we had no idea where the first part of the group went and I was NOT a happy camper to say the least. It all turned out fine- eventually but I took a while to calm down. Jared was never in any danger or trouble but that was not the point. Don't separate me from my kid!!! We ended up having lunch and then we went back out to do some more sightseeing. We had a good time and had some ice cream and then we headed back to the hotel.
We ate dinner in the hotel restaurant and boy that was good. Jared had spaghetti, I had awesome chicken flautas, Eric had steak and Drew just made a mess. Yeah. He had a "good" time though. We didn't go eat until 7:30 so by the time we finished it was time for bed for everyone but Eric. He was going to accompany our kids to a discotheque so they would be ok. He also wanted to go because it was in an old silver mine. I didn't want to go- plus I was too tired. So we all got ready for bed and he left around 9pm to chaperone. Drew and Jared were sharing the same bed and boy was that a mess! Drew thought it was the coolest thing and just kept body slamming into Jared. I think it took about an hour for them to fall asleep. I couldn't sleep for whatever reason. Eric got home around 2 and told me all about the club- and that the kids behaved and all was well. I knew they would behave- I didn't know how everyone would treat my kids though and I didn't want them to get in over their heads. I couldn't get back to sleep and of course I hadn't slept much the night before so that made me real happy. Of course I was asleep when Drew fell out of bed and had to try to get back to sleep after that. GRR. Drew never moves in his bed at home. But because he was messing around then he fell asleep in whatever postion, wherever etc. !!!
Sunday, June 22, -- Part 3 We are almost done!
Well I hadn't slept much and I know Eric didn't either. Boys thought they should wake up nice and early (yay) and we got ready. Drew was filthy so had a good shower and he was rarin' to go. Jared got ready very well too and we packed up our stuff so we could just leave after breakfast.
We went downstairs and had breakfast and it was delicious. I had the buffet and had chilaquiles mixed with ham and eggs. Put it all into a corn tortilla of course! Jared and Drew split pancakes and we shared melon from the buffet with them.
The group met up at 10am and eventually we got on the bus for Tour Part II. Drew was antsy to get back on the bus and we had to make him wait. The poor baby. Well the itinerary changed 3 times or so and we just ended up going with the group to the museum. It was a museum of masks and was quite cool- but we didn't go in. By then it was 11:30 and I wanted to do a little shopping before we left. I knew we wanted to leave by 1at the latest so we could get home in decent time. The museum was gorgeous and I took pictures of the outside of it- an old Franciscan monastery I believe... Just beautiful. We walked for awhile down the streets of residential Zacatecas. They look just like the pictures- everything is like that there. It was cool though because people were getting up and opening businesses, getting out of church etc. We did a little shopping and then took a taxi back to the hotel so we could pick up the van and head out of town.
Well unfortunately our drive back to Monterrey was uneventful. Everything that we hoped for on Friday happened Sunday. Drew slept for a couple of hours, I slept, no traffic, not much construction... No police giving us tickets! It still took a while to get back but not like anything Friday! Sheesh. We got home around 6pm and got laundry done. Boys went to get ice cream and I unpacked and put things away. We were all so tired from the weekend. It was nice to be back here though so we could get back into a routine for the week. Boys got bathed and went to bed. Drew thinks bedtime is a game now so he didn't go to bed really well. He was playing around and fell out of bed again and bonked his head. Hmm maybe he will stop playing around? Doubt it. :)
So that is our weekend in a huge gigantic nutshell. Nothing like a little adventure every now and then!!
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