Eye of the Storm
More reasons to love Mexico
Robbis Storm

A former Lampasan, Robbis Storm is a world traveler and restaurateur. He can be contacted via e-mail at RStorm453 @ aol. com.

ZACATECAS, Mexico -- If you like beautiful old historic cities, you'll love this place.

It's changed somewhat since I was last here, 20 years ago. Most of the changes are for the better. And one difference is almost unbelievable.

The climate is pretty much as I remembered it. At more than 8,000 feet, this part of Mexico is cool and comfortable year around. It was a search for comfort that brought Miriam and me here in August. Any Texan can tell you how the Lone Star State swelters and sweats in high heat and higher humidity.

But the climate was not what first attracted the Spanish. It was a huge silver strike in 1546 that brought the Europeans. The local mines fed a steady stream of wealth into the Spanish treasury until the revolution of 1810. Almost immediately after the colony of Nueva Espaa (New Spain) won its independence from Spain in 1821 -- this interior "estado" declared itself to be an independent country -- much like another "estado" in the North.

Downtown Zacatecas is a bustling environment and a tourist's mecca.

But Zacatecas was not as fortunate as Texas -- it had no general as skilled or as lucky as Sam Houston. On May 11, 1835 -- less than a year before the battle of the Alamo -- General Santa Anna crushed the local rebels and allowed his soldiers to sack the city.

History has not always been kind to this city. In the 1860s, the French occupied Zacatecas, and it was here in 1913 that Francisco "Pancho" Villa defeated General Victoriano Huerta in one of the bloodiest battles of the Mexican Revolution.

It's been many years since there's been a military operation here. Today the armies that invade are tourists. One of the things that makes this different from other Mexican travel destinations is that you don't find many Anglos or Europeans here. Most of the tourists are from other areas of Mexico. They come here for the climate and beauty of the area. They come for the art museums. They come for the well-preserved old buildings.

The central part of the city certainly deserves its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site. It's filled with elaborately decorated buildings, fountains, plazas, an impressive cathedral, and an 18th century Roman-style aqueduct.

Churches feature amazing architecture.

If your taste in architecture runs to ornate, you'll love the central church here. Begun in 1730, the cathedral is one of the better examples of a Mexican style of architecture called "churrigueresque." It's not my cup of tea; nevertheless, I always appreciate how much trouble it was to fashion all the incredibly complicated details.

You'll find this same style in other places like Guanajuato and Taxco -- rich, silver mining cities where they had money to burn. And also enough ready cash to pay artisans for countless, tedious hours carving by hand, decorations more elaborate than the wildest European Rococo of the same period.

In most Latin American municipalities, the streets radiate in right angles away from the cathedral and central plaza, forming a very predictable grid. But Zacatecas' setting, in a narrow mountain valley, insures that at least a few of the streets wander here and there at odd angles and curves, perhaps following centuries old goat trails up and down the mountain.

Cathedrals are rich in history and tradition.

And that's at least part of what gives Zacatecas its charm.

When you walk around the old part of the city, you never know what you'll find next. Miriam and I constantly remarked on the small plazas that surprised us with their beauty. Almost every block or two, you'll find public parks filled with fountains, flowers, greenery, trees, and a few benches where you can sit in the shade. Some of the parks are big enough for hundreds of people; others are no larger than an average city lot.

The first time I came here, back in the 1980s, I spent an evening with a Mexican architect discussing the cleanup and restoration of the central city. The facelift worked and today many of the old colonial buildings seem even more beautiful than they did 20 years ago.

Like most places in the Mexican interior, this is a very clean city. The parks are kept immaculate, and you seldom see litter in the streets or anywhere else. It's obvious to me that Zacatecanos take a lot of pride in their city.

And that brings me to the biggest change I noticed here -- on the sidewalks, in the streets, or in the gutters, you see very few cigarette butts. In fact you simply don't often see lit cigarettes or smell tobacco smoke anywhere.

Back in the 1980s when I used to hang out in Mexico, it could get hard on an ex-smoker like me. It seemed like everybody smoked. Everyone. Everywhere. All the time.

But not any more. Miriam and I spent five days roaming the streets, shopping in the markets, and visiting all the tourist sites. I bet we didn't see 10 smokers in the entire time. Unbelievable. I would never have predicted it. Just another reason to love this place.