Chihuahua, Durango, & Guadalajara

At the end of my El Chepe train journey I found myself in Chihuahua, a mere 1,500km from where I wanted to go next, Mexico City. Having already been through one Mexican airport I didn't fancy doing it again so the bus it was! Luckily the buses in Mexico are great, you get a huge, comfortable seat that reclines really far and with loads of space in front of you. Still, I didn't fancy doing the whole journey in one go so I checked the map (and safety advice) and decided to break the journey up and take my time going south.

Travelling in the north of Mexico was interesting for me as it was mostly way off the beaten track. There was very little for tourists in these cities, so I just explored the cities, absorbed the culture, and enjoyed the food! Chihuahua had a very western, as in cowboy western feel to it. Everywhere you went there were cowboy boots, clothes, and leather goods on sale. There were also a lot of signs of civil unrest in Chihuahua and the other cities of north Mexico, where government buildings, historical monuments and cathedrals were graffitied and plastered with flyers about the crimes of local prominent men against women and girls. It was international women's day a few days earlier so I guessed that this was related.

Chihuahua is the home state of the burrito, which is nothing like the burritos that you get anywhere outside of Mexico. They're very simple, with only one filling of something like beans & cheese, and potato or meat with red or green salsa. At this point I was also addicted to chilaquiles for breakfast, fried tortillas covered in red or green salsa plus cheese, onion, and sometimes a fried egg or chicken. Chile relleno was also a favourite of mine, a large chile pepper filled with meat or cheese and covered in salsa or refried beans. Delicious!

To break up the journey I stopped in Durango for a couple of nights, it was a nice Mexican city where I just enjoyed the central cathedral and plaza, visited a museum where the most interesting exhibit was the case of live scorpions, and got a cable car to a viewpoint on a hill. Continuing the gastronomic tour of Mexico, the local dish of Durango is the gordita, which means "little fat one" in Spanish. Gorditas are made with maize dough stuffed with meat or cheese and then fried and covered in salad and salsa. Delicious and messy!

Finally I headed to Guadalajara. Yet another nice city with a huge cathedral and beautiful historic centre. There is a large student population in Guadalajara so it also felt very young and edgy, with lots of street art, music, and protests, and a huge flea market selling clothes & art etc. mostly to the students. Guadalajara is the capital of the Jalisco state, which is the home of mariachi music and tequila! So of course I had to make a trip to the tequila farms and visit the pueblo magico of Tequila town. It all started off very civilised as we visited some tequila farms and distilleries, but as they plied us with more and more tequila things got more and more messy! By the morning we were all regretting booking a trip to Lagos de Chapala, Mexico's largest lake. But we ploughed through and were glad of the fresh air and beautiful scenery in the end!Leia mais