Days 70 Through 72: Parral (aka Wheeee Pancho Villa!)

Parral's claim to fame is that the legendary and controversial Pancho Villa was assassinated here on July 20, 1923.  Womanizer, bandit, Robin Hood, education advocate, and a leader of the Mexican Revolution, invader of the U.S. state of New Mexico, Pancho Villa provides fascinating fodder for the area's museums.  Beyond the Villa-mania, Parral is also known as the silver capital of the world (of course, the parralenses have conveniently omitted the "silver" part of that nickname) and is home to a gajillion monuments.

As a quick aside, I find it interesting (and somewhat perplexing) that so many bike tourers decide not to stay in towns for any period of time.  Maybe it's because of the traffic, or maybe because they find it to expensive, or maybe because they aren't interested in culture and history, or maybe they just don't write about it in their blogs, but I look forward to exploring the museums, restaurants, and relaxing for a bit.  It also gives me a chance to be a little bit more "myself" than when I'm traveling in rural areas... that is, I don't have to wear shirts with sleeves lest I shock locals with my tattoo (well, it is still shocking, but not offensive), and I don't have to watch what I say quite as much.

Lovely gorditas on Av. Independencia right next to the old Teatro Hidalgo.  I highly recommend the ones stuffed with chile colorado (spicy!) and chile largo (red pepper with cheese).  

This kindly gentleman was the font of historical factoids and gave us some insider tips on local restaurants.

Palacio Alvarado... a beautifully restored mansion built a century ago by French architect Amerigo Rouvier for silver tycoon Pedro Alvarado.  Tours are given in Spanish (for tips) and the mansion is chock full of interesting artifacts and antiques.  Random fact, Mr. Alvarado was an OCD hand washer and good friend to Pancho Villa because Villa saved his life and his son's life at some point.

The small but interesting Pancho Villa museum.

And in case you had any doubt, yes, this is where he was killed.

I can't tell if the typo is authentic or not... ha.

Beautiful stained glass ceiling art in the museum.

We took the oh-so-touristy tour of the city in the Pyojito... 

Parral is billed as a culinary destination in Mexico... famous for its enchiladas (we tried the infamous Enchiladas Doña Cuca but were underwhelmed) and dulce de leche candies (pictured are an assortment from the infamous Gota de Miel which were very good, but since I'm not a huge sweets person, they are probably a bit lost on me).

We almost decided not to take the Tran Villa, the Pyojito's competition, but thank goodness we did... it was a far superior tour despite it's silly name.  

Statue of Elisa Griensen at the Prieta mine who is considered a heroine for her role in opposing U.S. forces that came to Parral in pursuit of Pancho Villa.

We start our tour of the Prieta mine with the hilarious and knowledgable Mauricio.  This was one of the big highlights of our stay in Parral.

The mine's 600 horsepower engine which stayed in operation for a really long time before the mine closed in 1974 due to the falling prices of the various metals that were mined here.

Mauricio explains that this tunnel was a training area for miners to make sure they could handle confined dark spaces .

View from the top of the mine.  These arrows do not actually point in the right direction.

Looking dandy in our safety helmets before we loaded onto a rickety double-decker elevator to travel 85 meters down to the second level of the mine.  We were told there were 25 levels, the deepest of which was over 800 meters down.

Getting ready to descend.

This shrine greets us as we unload off the elevator into the depths of the mine.

Mauricio leads us through the tunnels and explains every little facet of the mining industry.

The presentation is surprisingly balanced... Mauricio explained how the Raramuri were enslaved by the mining magnates and also explained the ancient mining techniques.  Later, he would show us how the mining techniques were modernized.

After two days of being super tourists, it was time for us to relax and celebrate Gonzalo's birthday.  It also happened to be the longest day of the year, so we figured we'd hit the rooftop terrace with some red wine, Gonzalo's liver killer of choice, and watch the the sunset before dinner.  We schlepped around half the liquor stores in town for any sort of decent red wine but were greeted by the only-worthy-for-sangria Padre Kino or nothing at all.  That is, until we had the smarts to find a liquor store in the trendier part of downtown on Av. Independencia.  Bingo!

The best wine in all the land... at US$14 a bottle!  Mind you, Padre Kino runs a whopping US$4.50.

Wine n' deep birthday conversations brought to you by Concha y Toro.

Massive molcajete dish at the relatively fancy J. Quissime on Av. Independencia... uh reservations?  Oops, luckily they had a table.

A few travel notes for cyclists:

• The Tran Villa tour was extremely well done, very informative (though only in Spanish), and covered a wide range of landmarks, including the time capsule la puerta del tiempo, the Delores cemetery where Villa's headless body is buried, and the Prieta mine.  The tour is 30 pesos (plus tip for the tour guide), starts on the hour at the Plaza Principal from 10am to 4pm, and gives you the opportunity to be dropped off at the Prieta mine for a well-worth-it-tour of the mine, which costs 25 pesos (plus tip for the tour guide).  While they do require a minimum of four people to do the tour of the mine, it's worth waiting for more people to show up.  The city tour takes about 50 minutes and the tour of mine takes another hour.

• Another tour is the Pyojito, which costs a mere 15 pesos.  It was a fun 30 min ride with an unenthusiastic tour guide.  Tours start on the hour in front of the Pancho Villa museum.  Though honestly, it would be just as easy to walk the route we rode and if you only have time for one, do the Tran Villa tour instead.

• We have found the Hotel Acosta to be lovely despite being a bit pricer than our normal digs (that is, 345 pesos for two people versus 200 to 250 pesos)... the place is immaculate and spacious, corner rooms on the third floor provide gorgeous views of the city, the view from the rooftop terrace also can't be beat, there is free purified water, free wifi, and everyone who works here are welcoming and knowledgable.  In particular, we found the tiny old lady to be extremely helpful with directions, though sometimes it takes her a couple minutes to give you the full directions because she will give you the block by block breakdown of how to arrive somewhere.  The two main drawbacks are that the bathrooms are a bit small and cramped, and they don't allow bikes in the rooms... they did let us keep them in the lobby, locked the door in front of where they are kept, and assured us that there is always someone on watch.

• If you want a huge filling breakfast to recover some cycling calories, head to La Fuente just off the main plaza... our favorite was the loaded enchiladas... for just 75 pesos (or US$5.65) you can get 4 enchiladas smothered in a wonderful ranchero sauce topped with two eggs to order, a healthy dollop of beans, a bread basket, fresh squeezed orange juice, and coffee.  Or if you are a little less hungry, the other breakfast deals run about 65 pesos (or US$4.90).

A note about being a woman cyclist in Mexico:

One of the most frustrating aspects of cycling in Mexico and Latin America in general is the assumptions men and women alike make about me as a woman cyclist.  The most prominent frustration is that everywhere we go, I am asked if Gonzalo is my husband.  This, in and of itself, is not insulting.  People are curious, they want to know all about you and your family even before they know your name.  But when I tell them, no, we're just friends, they look at me in disbelief.  How can this woman travel with this man and not be married?  Then they smile knowingly and tell me that this will change, because surely, I cannot spend this much time with any man and not want to marry him.  I consider Mexico a bit more progressive than the vast majority of Latin America, and the fact that this idea that "any man will do so long as he is around" exists makes me a little depressed for women in Mexico.

There is also the ever-present idea that a woman cannot possibly be strong enough to do a fully loaded bike tour.  The woman at the taco stand in Guachochi asked if this trip wasn't too hard for me.  Just today, a man blatantly assumed that Gonzalo carried all of our gear and that was the only way I could possibly be traveling by bicycle.  Even more annoying is that they direct their comments to Gonzalo as if I weren't sitting right there.  Gonzalo assures everyone that yes, I am strong enough.  I no longer have the energy or desire to become outraged every time this happens.  It's not my battle to fight and, more than anything, it has helped me realize that in the long term, I don't want to live in a society where I would have to bear that burden every day.