Posted May 20, 2006 Group shot at the top of La Bufa, the site of the Battle of Zacatecas. The heroes of the battle were statues in the back. That's Pancho Villa right behind the group. The REAL top of the Bufa. A bunch of us decided to climb to the top and here you see (clockwise) Priscilla Torres, Andrew Jiron, Michelle Joe, Juan Moreno, Mary Romero (seated) Yolanda Nez, Mayra Garcia, and DrTee. Standing in the middle is Shawn Abeita. Altitude here was 8,749 ft., according to the GPS. The second group to make it to the top, with a couple of stragglers from first group, are (seated left to right) Langston Revoda, Kimberly W., Ruben Ramirez, Juan Rodriguez, and Mayra Garcia. Standing behind them are Juan Moreno, Miguel Zambada and Jose Villa. In the museum of the Battle of Zacatecas Langston shows Michelle how to fire a water-cooled machine gun. The museum is a great place for history class. A teacher brought her class up for a lecture. Aren't they attentive? There's a beautiful church on the Bufa and we paused for another group picture outside the front door. Look at that stonework! The church was being spruced up last time I was here and it's now finished. Beautiful! After our time on top of the Bufa (that stone formation to the left atop the hill behind) we took the cable car (Teliferico) across the town of Zacatecas to the other side. This is a view a car on it's way down to the station below. It took three trips to bring us all down. Another view of cable car from the ground. That's one of our groups. Next stop, the Eden Mine. We paid to go through the mine and had to wait for a guide to lead us. They presented us with these sexy head coverings. They turned out to be a sanitary measure to keep from transferring cooties from one user of helmets to another. Stunning! Here's Jose Villa in his helmet standing by a monument in the bottom of the mine, which was about 120 feet below the point where we entered the mine. We went down by elevator in three loads. The guy in the white helmet was our guide and he took us on a very informative and entertaining walk through the mine. Helmets saved more than a few bumps on the head for the taller guys. They have spent about $2 million on upgrading the mine in the past 2 years, he said. It certainly is an excellent historic tourist attraction. The class loved it. There's a bronze statue of a miner at the entrance of the discoteque in the mine. They said it was good luck to rub his belly and Mary Romero checked it out. Looks like a lot of people have form the shiny gleam of his belly. After a walk and elevator ride into the mine, we came out on this mine train. It really got up some speed on the way out, which was about half a kilometer. The mine was closed to mining years ago after water filled all of the lower levels of the mine and there was no way to drain it. The upper levels have all been mined out, so now they're getting gold from the tourists. After lunch some of us went over to see the old bull ring that has been converted into the 5 star rated La Quinta Real hotel. This picture was taken from the upper ring and shows the bull ring be low and the 17th century aquaduct outside the walls. Fantastic…and only $275 a night, $USD, of course. Several of us went to the ex-Convent that has been converted into a musem for Rafael Coronel's incredible collection of masks, marionnets, and ceramics from around the world. The roof collapsed over 100 years ago on the church, but the building is beautiful and the collection defies imagination. Just one of many pictures taken inside that shows the beauty of the structure, as decrepid as it might be in places. One of the galleries with masks lining both walls. The attendant said there were 3,000 on display and another 8,000 in storage. A mask from somewhere. Used in ceremonial dances. See the eye holes? Mary Romero found this 82 piece orchestra playing in the center of town. Lots of street performances here most of the year.   Ruben tries out for a job delivering Coca-Cola products to the different small stores located around the historic district.   Michelle Nez and Yolanda Joe are two students from NMHU who are enjoying the trip very much. Both are Business majors. <<<Return to Index   To next page>>>