On Thursday night before leaving for a 7-hour trip to Aguascalientes, Andy and Cammie put on a great concert at the
Rococo Café.
The Ajusco Mountain Boys, a Bluegrass band, opened for the
Proper Name and the Nouns. The concert was great and even Nico was able to make it after his trip to France was cancelled due to excess volcanic ash in the air from the eruption in Iceland. In addition, Tania brought her two sisters, Ixchel and Cindy, who are an absolute riot and we celebrated Ixchel’s birthday with a cheesecake.
After the concert, we booked it to Mexico Norte and hopped on an overnight Primera Plus bus headed for Aguascalientes and the Feria de San Marcos. Once we arrived, we were greeted by wonderful Will at the bus station. Will lives in Aguascalientes and invited us up for the fair. He set up a hotel for the ladies and the guys stayed at his apartment.
For breakfast he took us to the gorgeous La Mestiza restaurant, and I ordered some delicious and spicy chilaquiles. If you haven’t tried chilaquiles (pronounced chee-lah-KEY-lace), please do. They are fried tortillas mixed with salsa and usually topped with chicken, cream, and cheese. The restaurant used to be an old hacienda, so the architecture and decoration were simply beautiful. Check out the ceiling! Those are baskets up there :-).
After breakfast, Will took us on a tour of the city. Aguascalientes is colonial city and offers lots of beautiful colonial architecture. The weather was extremely hot as the city is not located in the mountains. In fact, it is located in the center of Mexico and has almost desert-like conditions.
Will took us to a nearby church that is known for its Black Jesus. It kind of reminded me of one of my favorite books The Secret Life of Bees, in which a Black Mary is featured.
We also checked out the Palacio del Gobierno that was built in the 17th century. The walls are covered in murals painted by the Chilean artist, Oswaldo Barra, a student of Diego Rivera. If you look through the arches you can see that Barra captured the colors of the Mexican flag in his mural. Notice the green, white, and red.
But, the true reason that Will invited us to Aguascalientes on this weekend of April was for the Feria de San Marcos, known as the National Fair of Mexico. This fair is held from the second week of April to the first week of May each year. The fair is dedicated to the patron saint of the city San Marcos (St. Mark). There are a range of activities and events, including concerts and bullfights, but the main draw is the numerous night clubs and the obscene amount of alcohol that is brought out for this event. I was told that there are some people who make a living just on the fair. In other words, they set up shop for three weeks and live off of these earnings for the other 11 months of the year. Can you believe that?
On Saturday afternoon, we went to a charreada. What is that? It is the original rodeo of Mexico. There are 9 events, which I didn’t quite understand.
Let me just say that it looks pretty…everyone is in sombreros and riding around on horses, but it could quite possibly be one of the most boring sporting events that I have ever been to. I really wanted to like it, but it just wasn’t working out. In fact, we even left before it was over. Maybe you need to sport a big handlebar moustache to like this sport. Who knows?
On Saturday night, we went out for dinner to celebrate Andy’s birthday. Cammie made a chocolate cake in DF and brought it all the way to Aguascalientes for the event. We also got to meet one of Will’s friends, Alejandra, and her sister.
On Sunday morning, we found another great breakfast place. But…we didn’t get there in time for breakfast. So, we had lunch instead. I loved the blown-glass chandeliers and the papel picado adorning the ceiling. And if you haven’t already noticed, Alexis tells a great story. Check out her blog.
On Sunday afternoon, everyone headed back to their respective cities, and Andy and I stayed a little longer since we had the shortest bus ride back. We met up with my friend, Mayra, who is from Aguascalientes. I met Mayra a few years back while she was working as an au pair in Pittsburgh. She was and continues to be a very good friend and I enjoyed seeing her again. We had breakfast and she took us to the Museo Nacional de la Muerte, a museum dedicated to representations of death. I know it sounds kind of morbid, but it was really just a bunch skeletons.
On Sunday afternoon, Andy and I treated ourselves to a high-class bus ride on ETN back to Mexico. We arrived in DF around 10:45 PM, and by the time I got to my house it was 11 PM. When I entered, I said hello to see if Sra. Olga was there, but she was not. I turned on the lights and walked up to my room. As I was setting my stuff down, I realized that my room was a complete mess. Totally not the way I left it. Someone had been in it. Then I realized that my computer was GONE! Yep, stolen. From that point, it is a long story, and I never did find out who stole my brand new laptop. But, thanks to the support of my wonderful friends, I made it through the whole deal. Most of my friends in Mexico were worried that I would stop liking Mexico or something, but it is always important to realize that there are good and bad people everyone. Sometimes it’s best just to pick up and move on.
Click for more pictures! (Concert)
Click for more pictures! (Aguascalientes)
Click for more pictures! (You be the detective)
Abrazos, Nicole
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