The morning I was leaving Dante, the owner´s son was up, so he called a taxi for me, carried my suitcase down the 100´s of stairs and waited till the taxi arrived! I was very glad cos it was still quite dark!

I got to the Guanajuato bus station early so I managed to get the 6:15 bus to Leon, where I had to wait from just after 7 till 9 for the bus to Zacatecas! Luckily the bus had a row of single seats down the one side, so I could stretch out! I was pretty buggered by the time I got to the hostel, so I tried to have a bit of a snooze. The hostel was pretty cool - great location, 4 bed dorms, a terrace, tv room, etc and I met some cool people. Beth from the US, Ben from the UK and S a Hungarian Canadian and I decided to head out for a drink that night. As we walked onto the street, we could hear a band approaching, and decided to go and take a look. In Mexico they have street parties called Callejoneadas where anyone joins in and lots of tequila is consumed. The band was part of one of these parties, and we followed them up the hill. It wasn´t long before we were each supplied with our own ceramic shot glass on a sting, and a bag of lime wedges and salt! I think it was a girl´s birthday, but they had some reason to party! It was also some Saint´s celebration, and we found a mass in progress on the street while the kids were entertained on two trampolines! We decided to head back into town where we walked past another party! Another two free shots of mezcal later we were feeling pretty happy with ourselves!

Next we walked past a plaza where a massive crowd was gathered to watch a bunch of clowns. They had speakers and the works! We hung around the back for a few minutes, and it was quite funny even though I couldn´t understand a word! They had about 6 kids up the front and they had dancing and lifting competitions, etc. Some of it was very wrong! It wasn´t long before my blond hair announced my presence, and the main clown made me walk down closer to the front. He managed to ask me where I was from, and obviously made all kinds of jokes cos the crowd was laughing! I was quite happy in my tequila/mezcal induced state so just played along! Beth was soon dragged down too (another blond) and we all ended up sitting down and watching for a while.

The next morning I headed out relatively early to check out the sights. First I swung by the former Temple of San Agustin, before walking to the large, green General Enrique Estrada Park which has a great view of the El Cubo Aquaduct. Next I checked out the Francisco Goita museum which had an exhibition by Emilio Carrasco. Never heard of him before, but he does some printmaking so I´ll have to find out more! The museum was set in beautiful grounds - looks like and old mansion! Almost next to it is a beautiful church called Temple of Fatima, strange!??? You find gardens and plaza´s everywhere in Mexico, and here I checked out the Mother´s Garden and Juarez Garden before walking up to the El Eden Mine. You take a little electric train into the mine, which can be a bit claustrophobic! Initially it was quite interesting, but as the tour was only in Spanish, it was a VERY LONG and cold hour! You exit on the opposite side of the mine, from where you can take the Teleferico (cable car). It was a pretty quick ride, and they crammed many people in, so no photo op´s! Great view once you walk up the rest of the hill though! The Church of Patrocinio was so busy they had people sitting outside listening to the service over the loudspeakers! Had lunch at a food stall, luckily no tummy issues! After walking down the hill (hot!) I made it to the Rafael Coronel Mask Museum where I went happy snap crazy - I love masks in general and I have NEVER seen so many together, and probably never will again! The museum is the former Covent of San Francisco de Zacatecas, and definately the most stunning setting for a museum i have seen yet.

I had almost had enough, but decided to press on and see a few more things! The main Cathedral and Government Palce is set around Arms Square (Where we had our second and third free shots of Tequila the night before!). I saw a cool exhibition at the Calderon Theatre - everything was made from newspapers! I think a local newspaper sponsored the exhibition. My last stop was the Museo Zacatecano which showcased some Huicol embroidery.

Later that night, a group of us headed out to Los Dorados de Villa, a traditional restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet. Yummy soup and some bears later we sat on the Hostel rooftop admiring the great view...