A Colonial Jewel...

ZACATECAS

4 DAYS (3 Meals + Picnic Lunch)                                     $239 PER PERSON

One of the colonial jewels of Mexico. A true beauty founded by the Spaniards in 1546 as they searched for rich silver veins.  Enigmatic pre-hispanic sites, magnificent colonial convents, impressive museums, battle grounds and ruins make this a city not to be missed. Be sure to visit the silver shops - you will be surprised at the beautiful offerings.  Join in a callejoneada (a local street dance) and let all your cares melt away.  Spend three nights in this jewel of a city.

DAY 1 - Depart the Rio Grande Valley for a leisurely ride to Saltillo, once the capital of Texas. Today modern factories ring the outskirts of  this mile high city while downtown hand made adobe bricks peak through the stucco of the colonial buildings.  Arrive into Zacatecas in the late afternoon.  Overnight at the Meson de la Merced in Zacatecas.      

DAY 2 - Visit the downtown area of Zacatecas before continuing to the Mask Museum  housed in the old St Francis Convent whose crumbling outer walls present opportunities for great photographs. Visit  La Bufa for a grand overlook of the city.   Then Swiss made cable cars await to take you across the city on a spectacular ride  lasting six or seven minutes. Visit El Eden Mine with underground mine shafts and an ore crushing room that now serves on the weekend as a subterranean night club.  El Santo Nino de Atocha, patron saint of miners, has an honored position mid-way through the mine. After lunch, tour the Guadalupe Convent or if you prefer stroll the cobblestone streets of the center city.  Overnight at the Meson de la Merced in Zacatecas.    B

DAY 3 - Visit Chicomostoc, often called La Quemada. Archaeologists suppose that the mysterious people who built this vast ruin were antecedents of the Aztecs who were searching or the legendary city of Tenochitlan (Mexico City).   Free afternoon to shop or to visit the art museums of Goitia or Pedro Coronel that houses original Picassos.  Tonight if you should hear music, join the local young people in a traditional street dance.  Overnight at the Meson de la Merced in Zacatecas.  B, PL

DAY 4 - Our route today takes us back through Saltillo, where, if time permits, we will visit the Capital building, Hidalgo Plaza and the Santiago Cathedral, begun in 1745.  Just up the street is the sarape shop. Perhaps we will be lucky and find the artisan at work.  As we leave Saltillo, be sure to buy candies from Parras and “pan de pulque”, a bread leavened with  - you guessed it - pulque, an alcoholic beverage produced from the maquey plant. Continue to Monterrey and homeward to the Rio Grande Valley.  You will wonder why someone didn’t tell you about Zacatecas before.   B

PRICE PER PERSON                                       DEPARTURE DATES

Single    - $299                                                                      February 4, 21, 2004

Double   - $239                                                                      March 16, 2004

Triple     - $229                                                                      July 6, 2004

September 14, 2004

November 24*, 2004 (*A different price applies)

Departs from Brownsville at 6:00a.m.; from Harlingen at 6:30a.m.; from Weslaco at 7:00a.m.; from McAllen at 7:30a.m.; and from Mission at 8:00a.m.

Currently, there is NO CHARGE for the Mexican Visa on land tours of 7 days or less!