Colonial architecture, colours, magnificent theatres, screaming children instead of
saying this looks like Spain I want to say this looks like Mexico because
Mexico has its own identity
(MUSIC)
hola amigos and welcome back to Mexico! Today is Wednesday June the 5th and we
are in Zacatecas once again. This is the second part of my four-part series from
Zacatecas if you haven't seen the first video check out the link up above to see
that video and if you would like to see the rest of them. Don't forget to
subscribe as well today we're in the central area of Zacatecas and we're
going to be exploring churches we're going to be eating food and also we're
going to be drinking alcohol which is not always a good thing with me as
you've seen in previous videos! The weather isn't fantastic today, it's blue
skies and cloudy now but it was raining about 10 minutes ago hence the jacket
and I'm a little bit sunburned from last time but anyway let's get going!
(MUSIC)
Today is pretty much a normal day for me, seven English lessons this morning
which means it's now five o'clock and I haven't eaten anything. Standard! So I'm
going to start off with something quite light so that place La Hojaldra
Veracruzana, (yes I got it right I think) has little pastry things with like
chorizo and other fillings only about 20 pesos so let's start off there!
Hola, Buenas Tardes!
Ooh look at this amigos, flaky pastry, sesame seeds, chorizo inside, let's see wat it's like!
Right I'm being surrounded, go! stay away from my food! pigeons! pigeons
are trying to steal my food don't even think about it huns! Yeah, flaky pastry,
chorizo, mmm, pigeons! 20 pesos this - beautiful
it's simple yeah simple cheap Mexican food 20 pesos fantastic! Right now that
we've survived attack of the pigeons, hope it doesn't happen again, it's time to go
first-person perspective around Centro Zacatecas all these little gorgeous
little sort of streets as always, street food, markets sellers, there's a
cheese shop there, beautiful, lots of restaurants, what sort of stuff do they
do? Same sort of stuff that I see everywhere, Camarones, cocktail
that's like ceviche that I had in Acapulco, what's up here
cactus for sale down there!
(MUSIC)
Now as you can see Zacatecas has many similarities aesthetically with other
cities in Mexico (as I just try to walk up these steps without falling over) so
in terms of colonial architecture, colours magnificent theatres, screaming children
and churches, so there's one thing I would add a highlight about this which
I'll come back to at the end of this video in terms of after so much time in
Mexico now this feels like Mexico you know it doesn't feel like I'm in Spain
or Italy as I've said before and I really like Zacatecas as well because
there's something about it that feels homely I don't know what it is is it the
fact that there are very few foreigners here I don't know and it very much feels
like Guanajuato in many ways in terms of hola
in terms of the building style and the fact that there's Hills everywhere but
the only thing missing is the colours you know it's not as colourful as Guanajuato. I can't believe I got through that bit
without hesitating, well-done me! I just stopped off at Oxxo for a little break
and also for a mango Boing, if you're Mexican let me know if you like Boing
and what is your favourite flavour Boing - mango definitely I don't mind the Apple
one either, Manzana, beautiful, and I'm just sitting here you know on a
Wednesday afternoon just watching the world go by and people watching you know,
remember to do that when you're traveling in the country and it's
something that I don't do enough to sit down take a rest and watch the world go
by you know I've got that the Basilica in front of me I've got the theatre, I've got
the trolley bus thing that we did in last time in San Luis and I can see
beautiful colourful buildings up the hillside I can see the Teleferico
up there, this is stunning! But eventually we do have
to get moving again and speaking of the Basilica that's where we're heading now,
it's just up there, it's literally just round the corner from where I'm living so I
walk past there every day on the way to Oxxo and there was a guy just a
moment ago playing a clarinet I see him every day he's playing the clarinet
which I used to play for six years and he has a drum as well so it's like a
look one-man band let's see if we can find him.
Music is a huge part of life in Zacatecas as well there's something very
special which might may or may not happen today I might have to come back
on Friday so no definitely have fun Friday
TAMBORAZO!!
(TAMBORAZO MUSIC)
and speaking of classical music see what I'm doing there with the linking, genius
it's time for another overly dramatic church-related montage let's take a look
inside
(OVERLY DRAMATIC CHURCH MUSIC)
if you have never been to Mexico before and you're wondering what are the great
things about Mexico churches, cathedrals, basilica's have to be up there in my top
three. I think I've seen so many such amazing beautiful churches and
cathedrals in this country that I never expected to see that one you know we're
not probably as elegant and intricate as others I've seen for example we're in
San Luis and in San Miguel it still has its own charm you know I don't really
like that gold part of the back with the religious figures at the top and a
service was starting as I was in there so I thought I'm gonna leave over the
road for me I'm gonna collapse right now because I can get Costanzo chocolates in
Zacatecas if you don't know what they
are watch my San Luis videos! Hello Costanzos!
we meet again!
Job done! I've got my little Costanzo bag, happy days, and I've got something
different this time! So I'm just sitting on the floor using a piece of random
rock and has my tripod I got my usual Princesas, Lime and Orange
so they are six pesos each, they're only 5 in San Luis, inflation! And I got something
different, chocolate con leche, milk chocolate, beautiful, I've never had this
before. I'm quite I'm a snob when it comes to princesas, I mean Constanzo so I
just get princescas you know but just simple milk chocolate I'm transported
back to San Luis in one bite, that taste of the choclate, it's unlike any other
chocolate you could ever taste in the world.
so praise be to Costanzo! Zacatecas is stunning, buildings behind
me everywhere or these little small streets you can walk down with the kind
of alternating colorful buildings like beige yellow a different kind of yellow
white then orange we're heading somewhere which is famous in Zacatecas
Las Quince Letras, which is a famous bar in Zacatecas I understand
that many celebrities and poets and artists come here it was established in
1906 as you can see from the sign on the wall so I know it's about 6 o'clock but
you know it's never too early for tequila right?
(MUSIC)
So it's 6:30pm which means, bottoms up! I've got Mezcal and a bottle of Squirt, I would've preferred
Fresca to be fair, but Mexicans will know what I mean
Just look at this place, what's the word, kitsch, maybe, in terms of colourful and lots of things around the wall
like music sheets, stained glass, so you can tell the age of it, very colourful, you've got pictures all over the place
Interesting artwork on the bar. They only really do tequila, mezcal, that kind of stuff, but I'm not complaining!
And it's very strong as always. And I must say I love Mezcal, it's become one of my favourite things in Mexico, EVER!
Right, Mezcal is dangerous, this is the only one I've had but I'm on my way to feeling absolutely wasted alrewady, lightweight!
And this place has wifi so I looked up Las Quince Letras on Google Translate, the fifteen letters
if you could tell me what this is all about, and the history of it
please let me know in the comments because I couldn't find it on Wikipedia!
Ok! Never underestimate the power of mezcal or never underestimate
the lack of power of my alcohol resistant system you can tell I've been
drinking and thank you to the guys in there for allowing me to film you know
close-ups of the bar and stuff that was great. I've got to say that's my first
cantina you know proper one that I've been in in Mexico I was gonna go to in
Mexico City but it was closed and I always feel so nervous you know you know
my Spanish isn't great at the best of times but when you're in like a social
environment like that and you have to shout and there's loud music and stuff
even after 15 months it still gave me the wiggins as they used to say um Buffy
the Vampire Slayer but I did it when I came out and I'm alive! Okay that glass
of mezcal brings part 2 of our Zacatecas series to an end I hope you've
enjoyed having a look around the center area as much as I have of course there's
so many more things and tell me more places you can go there's only so much I
can fit into one video okay now if you are a regular viewer you'll
know by now the formula of these videos so it's time to end this video with
David's insightful thought of the day so I mentioned earlier about the fact that
when some of us come to Mexico I'm guilty of it we often say this looks
like Italy this looks like Spain or this reminds me of Sorrento and in some ways
that's understandable it's a valid thought you know because there is a
colonial history in terms of everything in Mexico so it's natural especially if
you are European maybe to to think that all this looks like Italy this looks
like Spain however I think it's time for us to stop doing that
you know I need to stop doing that you need to stop doing that because Mexico
is its own country right despite despite its history and
I think that you know one thing that I am really pleased with and almost
privileged by is fact that I've been able to spend so long in Mexico and I
kind of gained that perspective now it's taken a long time but I've got there
finally and one thing but I want to take away from Mexico definitely is the fact
that I'd love to be able to go to other countries in the future and instead of
saying this looks like Spain I want to say this looks like Mexico because
Mexico has its own identity. Thanks for watching don't forget to subscribe like
comment and all that stuff and look forward to the next couple of videos
we'll be going down in the mines and we're also going to one last magic town
which is Jerez or possibly Jerez I'll get there in the end thanks for watching
and I'll catch you later!