San Pedro del Gallo

Saturday
March 10
On the bus by 8 a.m., we bid adios to Zacatecas and progress north. As we head to the town of Pasaje, Louann gives a brief lecture about Los Moros y Christianos and the ancient tradition of dramatizing the battle between them. Developed after the Moors were forced out of Spain, around 1492, it is related to the dance of Los Matachines. The Matachines dance was brought by Juan de Onate’s entourage to what would become New Mexico. Today it is performed at Chimayo and Rancho de los Golondrinas. Luis expands on Louann’s talk and passes around a book with colorful photos of the Moros and Christianos reenactment.
Noon: our bus lumbers slowly through the hot, dusty town of Cuencome, one of the earliest Camino Real sites. The streets are little more than paths, so we will not get out. There is nowhere to park, so we see as much as possible from the windows. After many tight squeezes, we cheer when our driver Jesus makes it back to the highway.
Our next stop is Pasaje, a most important presidio on El Camino Real. Established in 1685, the full name of the presidio was La Limpia Concepcion de Pasaje. We disembark, visit the church and stroll around the plaza. Historical records reveal that in 1776, the presidial company included a captain, lieutenant, sergeant and thirty-three soldiers. The latter is the site of very large water cypress. The trunks are so thick that one can imagine that these trees were growing several hundred years ago. This was the warmest day so far and some local folks are strolling about holding umbrellas to ward off the hot sun.
Ten miles north of Pasaje, we pass through another Onate stop, Aguaje de la Vieja. On the side of the road, I see a cluster of bicyclists, all men, peddling by. Though they’re wearing regular clothes and baseball hats, they are every bit as fast as the red-jersey bicycle team I’d noted earlier.
All around are cultivated fields and orchards. We cross the Rio Nazas and the land where Juan de Onate and his men were detained for nine months. The king of Spain called a halt to Onate’s exploration until he could send an inspector, a man named Salazar, to assess supplies, thus the extended and unwelcome layover.
By 5 p.m. we are in San Pedro del Gallo, where we spend a pleasant interlude walking about the attractive plaza and looking into the church. We talk with a teenage girl from Iowa, who is studying in Mexico for a year. She asks us questions pertaining to her term paper on “tourism.” We settle back into the bus, now to cover the long distance between us and the night’s destination, Parral. Time and terrain pass. It is well past dark when we disembark and recheck into the hotel Adriana. Our driver, the tireless Jesus, finds another way to approach the hotel, so we are spared the walk up from a dry riverbed.