Camino Real - Pancho Villa Territory!

Saturday, March 3
By 8:30 a.m., all 40 of us are in the bus. Today’s destination is Parral. First we must get out of the city, no small feat in the morning traffic. Chihuahua goes on and on. We pass a park that was formerly the city limits. Luis points out “the House of Tears” on one corner. Apparently, the family’s son gambled the house away one ill-fated evening. In the morning his sisters and widowed mother awoke to find that they no longer had a place to live. They spent the rest of their days in bitter mourning.
We come to Chihuahua’s beautiful stone aqueduct, where we get out and take pictures. Our meandering over at last, we cross the city limit and head south to Parral. The road descends into rolling hills. We wind through many curvas peligrosas. On either side, cattle are grazing. Stone walls mark the cultivated fields and climb the hills, often dividing a hill in half. A team of cyclists in red jerseys speed by. Hal says that we’ll soon be coming to the main towns of Spanish colonization. We stop at Satevo and walk to a Jesuit church, white on the outside and quite plain inside.
When we’re back on the bus, Hal tells us about Adolph Wislizenus, a scientist-doctor who accompanied Albert Speyer from Missouri into Mexico. Two wagons of the caravan held rifles to be delivered to the governor of Chihuahua. Along with other Americans, Wislizenus managed to get arrested and sent to Cusihuiriachic in the fall of 1846. Rather than being thrown into jail, however, “the Wiz” and others were under a kind of house arrest that allowed exploration of the area. Thus resulted the diaries of Wislizenus. On March 3, 1847 -- exactly 160 years ago --”the Wiz” was allowed to return to Chihuahua. I am struck by the fact that my older son was born on this day 36 years ago.
Mexico’s vastness is dramatized by today’s trip, which seems never-ending. Hal once again points out the stone walls that crisscross miles and miles of the surrounding terrain. George Lopez offers the theory that the walls simply mark property lines. Hal is not content with that explanation. The question is never settled. Hal points out a reservoir tower in the distance. This is a favorite recreation area for Mexicans, he says. In the past, it was an area where Juan Onate stopped.
Onate had to answer to the King of Spain. An inspector named Salazar, functionary of the crown, was sent to check up on Onate. To satisfy the king, there had to be a full accounting of men, supplies, everything. Onate’s supplies were much diminished by climate and wear, but he had to make a show of still possessing everything with which he’d started out. This resulted in something of a cat and mouse game. Sometimes Onate evaded Salazar. Another time, he tarried at Minos de los Todos Santos Mines in order to borrow and otherwise acquire supplies to make up for those he’d lost. After a month of such gathering, he was able to meet Salazar with a “show” of being fully supplied.
Late in the afternoon, our driver Jesus takes us into Parral. This is “Pancho Villa territory.” We see the street corner where Pancho Villa was shot and drive by the building where his funeral was held. Luis tells us that Pancho Villa was so hated that after his death and burial, some men dug him up and chopped off his head! After some meandering, Jesus locates our home for the next two nights, Hotel Ardriana. Because the streets are narrow, we must park in a dry river bed and trek up an embankment in order to check in. Fortunately, our bags will be transported by porters. Inez and I have a third floor room with nice hardwood floors and a good view of the city. Our entire group has dinner at one long table in the hotel’s special events room. We are serenaded by three musicians singing classic “corridas.” They accompany themselves with guitars and an accordion. Two wear white sombreros; one wears white. Our own George Sandoval, a talented musician himself, joins them in a few numbers.
Luis tells us that many of the songs are based on mazurkas and polkas brought from Europe. The songs tell stories, including many about Pancho Villa. For example, “The Abandoned Tomb” describes Pancho Villa’s mausoleum containing nothing but dry, rattling leaves.

EL CAMINO REAL-DAY TWO

Friday, March 2- Chihuahua
We have a hearty buffet breakfast in the Tierra Blanca Hotel comprising scrambled eggs, beans, rice and tortillas. Maestro Luis Urias, the second in command of our El Camino exploration, begins the day narrating our walking tour of the town where he grew up. As a young man, he studied in Mexico City,then returned 20 years later when his father died. We walk by stately buildings, many of which are included in Luis’s commentary. He knows their history.
At noon, we board the bus to see Chihuahua’s outlying areas. Luis points out “El Pasito,” an area known in the 1960s for selling electronics. Many of them were “lifted,” Luis says. We drive to the original city site, between a meeting of two rivers. Luis continues his discourse. The Basque influence in Chihuahua was very strong, he says.
We travel by an area of cement factories, a four-story adobe grain mill, and a huge convention center. Further on loom a technological institute and a ball park. Occupying several city blocks is Las Razas, a cement factory that uses fossil rocks from nearby white mountains for raw material.
The highlight of the afternoon is Quinta Carolina of Luis Terrazas, a scenic ruin that once served as estate for the Luis and his extended family. The estate’s buildings sprawl in every direction -- vast, crumbling, and desolate. The buildings include remains of a hacienda, stables, and a chapel. Luis explains that many of the walls have been diminished by people stealing material for new buildings. Plastic bags blow in the wind and odd pieces of barbed wire festoon pillars and partial walls. There is no reasonable explanation for the barbed wire except that perhaps it is part of an abandoned attempt to discourage intruders.
Luis Terrazas, who died in 1917, was extremely wealthy and powerful. Apparently his heirs cannot agree on what to do with their land. They retain the title. Allegedly, the family is having the buildings restored. There are no signs, however, of progress. The estate includes a church that is used for weddings and Sunday services.
Currently there are no signs of life at Quinta Carolina. The ruined buildings seem to be in a state of eternal limbo. An arrow points to “El Meson de la Quinta Carolina,” a restaurant operated by some of the family members. Either it is not open or not recommended, as we do not stop there for lunch. Instead we drive across dusty fields and the abandoned estate and drive to a pleasant restaurant called El Quintal. En route, Luis reclaims his position behind the microphone at the front of our bus.
Indians, he tells us, contributed the following to Mexican culture: astronomy, agriculture, architecture and artisans.
After a lunch of rice, guacamole with queso, empanaditas and flan, we return to the Tierra Blanca Hotel. We’re now free to walk about on our own. Inez and I walk to a bookstore, several blocks beyond where we thought it would be. We find great maps of Mexico and several paperbacks in English. I can’t resist buying Permed to Death, a Bad Hair Day Mystery.
Near the bookstore, we come to a towering obelisk topped by the statue of an angel. We stop for ice cream at a shop full of teenagers with designer jeans and cell phones, a Mexican version of the American Haagen-Daas. It is “Flor de Michoan,” apparently a chain. We ask for samples and settle on lemon and pine nut. Both flavors are delicious.

TOUR EL CAMINO REAL-DAY ONE

Thursday, March 1
El Paso, Texas - 8 a.m. Inez and I meet our fellow travelers for the first time. We board a bus, cross the border at Ciudad Juarez, and depart for Chihuahua, Mexico. It’s there where we’ll spend the first night of our two-week tour. The process takes a long time, and we have to change busses several times before climbing into another bus, the vehicle that will carry us all the way to Zacatecas.
El Camino Real! The route serves as a kind of time machine. It was used for centuries by Native Americans; then came the Spanish; today, the Anglo and Hispanic seekers of history. There’s a reason our destination is Zacatecas, for the Camino Real story begins with that city. Dr. Jackson puts it this way: “The first toehold of the Spanish in La Gran Chichimeca, the large area that lay north of the region settled by sedentary agricultural Indians, since the silver strike provided the impetus for all settlement in northern Mexico...How many volunteers would Juan de Onate have been able to enlist for his expedition to the north in 1598 without the hope of another Zacatecas?” (Following the Royal Road, University of New Mexico Press, 2006).
Fitting the description by Marc Simmons in the introduction to Jackson’s Following the Royal Road, we on the tour embarked as “modern-day explorers wishing to follow in the footsteps of conquistadors, Franciscan padres, soldiers, royal officials, pioneering Hispanic families, miners, and finally merchantmen -- Spanish, Mexican, and American.” We were following a long tradition.
Speaking of merchants, on the other side of the border, the Mexican side, I observe that many of Chihuahua’s businesses are the same that we find in my hometown of Santa Fe, New Mexico -- Office Depot, Domino’s Pizza, WalMart.
As we ride south toward sprawling Ciudad Juarez, our native guide, Luis began what would be an ongoing cultural overview. The Sacred Mother, Virgin of Guadalupe, he explained, was and is still revered throughout Mexico. “The vision of Guadalupe,” he said, “was depicted on the flag of Hidalgo when Mexico got its independence from Spain.”
Noontime traffic makes progress dismally slow. “Juarez is a terrible place,” commented Luis. “It’s a place where people are just passing through. The mestizo culture comprises a world within a world. It’s always been this way. Indians -- Tewa, Tiwa, and Acoma; Europeans, Bohemians from everywhere.” He waves his arms expansively toward the windows on either side of the bus. We stop at San Lorenzo and Senecu communities and take time to briefly tour Guadalupe Mission, the first of dozens of churches that will highlight our journey.
An hour or so south of Juarez, we reach the Samalayuca Desert, then disembark and climb a sand dune -- one of many -- near the road. It is windy and surprisingly cold. Our leader, Hal, reminds us that this is where the covered wagons had to take a detour. The dunes stretch away toward the horizon. I’m reminded of the White Sands area in southern New Mexico.
Maestro Luis stands up in the front of the bus, microphone in hand. It is time once again for his continuing “on the road” lecture on Mexico’s culture and history. “For Indians,” he explains, there was not a conception of owning land. They didn’t believe in naming land after their names. When Europeans came, so did territoriality and the concept of owning property. Concerns about having enough water took on more importance. Land ownership questions and water rights engendered violence. Another divisive issue was salt, a valuable commodity in early times. From that, the salt war resulted.”
Lunch will be late today, as we have many miles to cover before reaching tonight’s destination, Chihuahua. We passed an out-of-commission water park near Ojo Lucero, a contraption along the lines of Uncle Cliff’s in Albuquerque. Luis informs us that during the summer a water pump activates the park and villagers come here to cool off.
Half an hour later, at the Arizona Restaurant, we enjoy burritos and lemonade. We visit the presidio site of El Carrizel, location of a rare Mexican victory over the United States. The bus rumbles south into evening and we enjoy a gorgeous sunset before finally arriving at Chihuahua and checking into the Tierra Blanca Hotel.

A Road to the Past

Discovering El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro,
From El Paso, Texas to Zacatecas, Mexico
My fascination with “The Royal Road” into the heart of Mexico began long ago. When, in the 1990’s I bicycled the Santa Fe Trail, I hungered for insight into the “other” section of the 19th century trade route. Through books and interviews, I learned as much as I could about traders who traveled back and forth from Franklin, Missouri to Santa Fe. But that was only half of the story. The Santa Fe Trail came into existence because of the goods from Spain desired by those to the north of Mexico City. Along El Camino Real, riches were transported to Santa Fe. But what about the ancient route that stretched from Mexico City to Santa Fe?