Zacatecas

What an amazing trip! There were so many funny, spiritual, breathtaking, and crazy moments that I can't possibly share them all, but, for the sake of posterity, I must try to record some of what transpired on our trip back to Jesse's mission in Mexico.

Our first stop was Zacatecas. We decided to fly into Zacatecas so we wouldn't waste time busing back and forth between cities. However, the only flight into Zacatecas from the states was a red eye from LA that didn't get in till 6:30 am. You would think, oh no problem, just sleep it off and then go do your thing... yeah, unless you're married to Jesse. The minute we hit the ground it was GO! GO! GO!

Zacatecas is by no means based on a grid system (we silly Americans and our GRIDS!) and we would have gotten hopelessly lost on the complicated Mexican road system if it hadn't have been for our wonderful friend Jacqeline. She lives in Mexico City, married to a former missionary from Jesse's mission, Isaac Clawson. She was raised in Zacatecas and her family still lives there, so she graciously agreed to come to Zacatecas and visit with her family while we were in town so she could drive us around and visit with us during our stay. She picked us up from the airport and then we hit the town:
A huge cathedral in the middle of town. The builders of this cathedral (in the 1500's or 1700's, I got conflicted stories) followed the same practices as the cathedral builders in Europe, where they would kill the artisans after they finished their sculpture work on the building. So, in order not to die, the sculptor would just keep adding on statues and decorations, this is the result:
Our Hotel had a beautifully landscaped courtyard: Every few blocks of the cobble-stone town there were town square type things with fountains and benches and trees. Muy tranquilo. In the evening we visited the Tenorio family and found that 2 of the little boys were named Jared, and Isaac after former missionaries (later in the trip we met another little boy named Jesse! Yep! Named after Jesse!) They served us dinner and it was the first authentic meal I've ever had. It was delicious! Chicken with tomatoes and onions in homemade tortillas. The boy in the red was a rebellious teenager when Jesse was on his mission there and wanted nothing to do with the church. We found out that he's not only a member now, but he just returned from a mission!That's Jacqueline on the right:Hermano (or Brother) Tenorio is an artisan and he makes statuettes out of their famous pinkish sandstone (like our red sandstone). This one is a miniature version of a fountain that's in the middle of town: And here's the real version: After the Tenorios we visited Raul y Lisset and their kids Jacob and Rebecca. I was really missing the kids by now and Rebecca was kind enough to sit on my lap and help me through my withdrawls. Plus, she had just taken a bath and had that sweet baby soap smell in her hair :)
A mexican craft store, I could have spent hours in there figuring out what all the stuff in there is for, but there was so much to see, and so many people to visit.
Jesse went on a zip-line accross a canyon and loved it! If there were any more room in this post I would post the video where he gives a very "mexican" yell, but there's too much already.
The view of Zacatecas from the mountain, it looked like this whichever direction you looked in, it's a large city. And then we rode the Bufa (a tram that goes over part of the city on a cable)
Later that day we visited a museum with a whole bunch of creepy masks, the building used to be a monastery.
One thing I loved about Mexico is that the people paint their houses anytime and any color they want to (sometimes it's to cover up the graffiti that is everywhere). Instead of having an accent wall they have an accent house! The last evening in Zacatecas we arranged a dinner at our hotel for the people Jesse knew. The families came that we had already visited, and our friend Osiris (pronounced Oh-see-rees) and her daughter Ruby. Little Jacob drew a picture for Cooper and brought it to me to give to Cooper, it says "I'm Jacob, I have 5" (in spanish you say your age by saying I have five years... so directly translated into english, Jacob was telling cooper that he's 5) and his mother Lisset made a little beaded barret for Leila






The food was incredible and the company was even better. I had no idea I had these amazing friends waiting for me in Mexico, and that's just Zacatecas! We stayed in the resturaunt talking and laughing until midnight, and then in the hotel room we talked some more until 2. We caught our bus to Torreon at 4:30 the next morning: I guess this shows how "un-rockin' roll" I am