- Northern Mexico
Sometimes it's difficult travelling with a companion... and at times, unfortunately, the consequences can be a little gruesome.
Quite a pretty fountain in Monterrey.
This is the pretty little town called Saltillo. We arrived here only a week after first entering Mexico, and already my expectations had been thoroughly blown out the window. I, rather naively, expected to see only tiny little run-down houses in small dust-blown towns, where it was hot and dry all year round. I certainly didn't expect to see SNOW here.
Actually, this was quite a rare occurrence, as it was the first time in 50 years that it had snowed.
The poor dude just froze up. Guess he thought for too long.
On either side of Tom is Lorena (left) and Alma (right). These are two girls whom we met while visiting a museum in Saltillo. They rescued us when it was snowing outside and we couldn't find even one bed in the whole town. They took us in, fed us, gave us nice warm beds for the night, and stole our hearts. Sitting next to me is Lorena's mum.
Here I am at the sink, washing the dishes. I got an attack of the guilts when Lorena's mum had done all that cooking for us. Of course, Tom just sat there with Lorena's dad laughing and taunting me while I slaved away.
Arrival at San Luis Potosí. That's actually his statue in the background there. I'm trying to look as casual as I can while leaning on a rather prickly cactus.
My dear friend Tom, pondering life in probably the smallest bathroom we had encountered. This beauty includes the toilet, the wash basin (able to be used without getting off the toilet seat) and the shower, which, incidentally, didn't have a rose head. For that matter, we didn't even have water that night. And if we DID, it would have poured directly into the TOILET.
It's fun time! Belting the living daylights out of a PIÑATA (pronounced pinyata) is a favourite pastime with the children. Each child is gets three good hits with a short stick. Sounds easy, but at the same time, some torturous adult is at the other end of the string that holds up the piñata, bouncing the thing up and down. The blindfolded kid ends up wandering around swinging wildly at the elusive target. The successful blow sends a fortune of dulces (lollies) spewing from the gash. The only problem is that the area is immediately swamped by swarms of screaming children, and in the panic, the poor kid with the blindfold is often left with nothing.
Inside one of the many iglesias (churches) in Mexico. As you can see, the Spaniards spared little expense in matters of the church - though I'm sure this is nothing compared to the riches (largely reaped from Mexican soil) lavishly bestowed upon the interiors of the Spanish churches.