1 45 pm
We arrive, the hotel is named Hostal del Faro, it’s a very beautiful one, with lots of colonial details, and with the charm of the old Mexican houses with a garden in the middle and the rooms all around it.
Our room is not yet available because yesterday a wedding took place, so plenty people actually lodgedin here. So as weddings are the most intense Mexican parties until now 3 pm people start to awake and eat breakfast. My sister and I we look too as if we attend a wedding: without a single drop of makeup, with the hair all messed up, but who cares! Actually I think it already changed (my hair) I’ve this theory: my hair changes every time I leaved Monterrey, because I just don’t fit in that city that I feel more comfortable anywhere else; don’t misunderstand me I love Monterrey, but in a different way. I don’t want to live in there for example (what a women dilemma) So, yes it is messed up no pony tail, no straight style but it is behaving in a cool way.
We went out of the lobby of the hotel, and walked a few meters (since Parras downtown is too small around 10 or 8 blocks) and stopped in a modest restaurant, single hamburgers (globalization huh!) that’s what we’ve eaten. I met Juan Carlitos, he is 14 with baby blue eyes, big eyes lashes, and a kind of pink girlie lips. He lived in here for two years, he admires this place because of the tranquility mood that predominates in the town: “we are never in rush in here” of course I appreciate that too. We talked a few and I found him already an interesting guy, mature for his age, very intelligent, he is kind of a diplomat, he uses a vocabulary not usual for a guy of his age, he wears the same pair of shoes his father uses, he is funny. He explained us while we eat how the water system works in Parras: they called sequia, are the canals where water runs from the water hold backs and people has an assigned date and hour to use it, stopping the way through the canal, it surprises me this culture of responsibility and community share in the town, specially a Mexican town. He told us about the day when he was a kid and was playing with his cousins in his grandparents house: they stopped the canal when it wasn’t their assigned date to do it and they watered their grandparents plants and fruits, they owned a huerta, of course they got into serious problems.
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After a few drinks, we went to visit Santo Madero (San Tomadero, as a joke) Santo Madero is a small mountain, with a capilla in the top, over a rock. The interesting thing is that the first kind of rock is stalquilla and on the top it was a different kind of rock like a maritime rock, unfortunately I don’t know the scientific name, but I am sure it wasn’t per se a land rock. My father told me that the entire valley used to be just water, and that it dried up. And Juan Carlos told me that all the vegetation in there was planted on purpose it didn’t grew naturally, an interesting data.
Next to the capilla there was a small room fulfilled of photos, certificates, rosaries, even socks or clothes, and a lot of Thank you notes to the Santo Madero, because the miracles conceived. It called my attention how too many thanked because they could finished their career or studies they wanted. I don’t know for me was rarely, I remember that when I was little I used to go to a church where people did the same leaving thank you notes or petitions, - I know I shouldn’t read them nobody wrote them for me, but I was curious - most of them where healthy related. Sometimes we look for things as natural to have them, while others see them as a blessing.
6 00 pm
Our second visit was to Hacienda Perote, is the other important viñedo house, the owners are from the same family of the Casa Madero, cousins, but anyway they are the competition, we visited the hotel and the bodega where the wine is made, the owner received us and show us everything told us about the fermentation process and at the end he gave us different kind of wines to taste. My recommendation: the Jerez dulce, I bought a bottle. He told us that if we waited until 8 he’ll show us a bat cave. - I thing we will not see the show unfortunately not everyone is interested. - In Perote we found another pond with clean and running water, we walked to find where it came from and we found a human made cave, we asked later and the owner of the Perote told us that we shouldn’t trespassed if you tried to get through it you could get drowned by the quicksand.
I found an interesting data about Perote: The Perote name was The Perote was an hacienda since 1593 as a concession from Felipe II Spanish king to Jose Aslor y Virto de Vera (a second marquess), to this extended land they named San Lorenzo de la Laguna, (nowdays many of this territories are cities: Torreon, Durango, Ciahuila) This land was divided in equial parts to Leonardo Zuloaga and Juan Ignacio Jimenez. With the French invasion the hacienda was expropriated and the adquired by an English man named Fernando Chapman, he renamed as The Perote because of a legendary character: an indigenous irritla native form Parras, who lived 400 years ago, he was known as don Pedrote, its a he and his tribe robed from the mountains near the town. But since Chapman couldn’t pronounce the D letter he renamed Perote. He (Chapman) reinvented too the fame of the wine bodegas that worked since 1865 processing the most delicious wines, brandy’s and aguardientes, of high quality reaching international standards.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped in a mezclilla store named La Campana. Mezclilla a.k.a jeans. As I mention is the other industry that maintains Parras economy. I looked for ones but I wasn’t lucky. They have a 100 size jeans outside. No client of such size I guess.
We tasted the campechanas, a regional desert.
After that we returned to the hotel and then back to plaza, in front of the municipal president palace. A cumbia music group livened up the plaza and the people. JC told me that all Sundays are named as Domingos Familiares, the government established as a cultural program, (of course it has economic benefits) all the people gathers there, some to sell their merchandise all kind of merchandise: cakes, cds, flags, churros, elotes,Tostitos, antojitos mexicanos, etc; and the others spend their money in there. It was raining too little when we left the hotel, but it started to rain harder so we returned. Now we are waiting to buy something to eat.
Bernardo has just offer me a cigarette and even do i rarelly smoke it is quite irresistible to smoke outside in our balcony, with the sound of the rain and fresh air. So I guess that until tomorrow you’ll read more about the trip.
Enjoy.
- Ana
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