Days 19, 20, 21

Houston-San Antonio-Guadalajara  

(we have a map of our journey at the end of this post)

Day 19. In Houston we stayed with a friends from Guadalajara and we were invited to a Carne Asada at the family’s ranch, about a 45 min drive from the city. The landscape in Texas is very different from other parts of the country. The land is flat and arid, and trees are scarce. Still, when you add the vast fauna to the flora, it makes a cohesive and beautiful scenery.

Several friends from the family joined the event and we had a feast! Ribs, fajitas, chicken, guacamole, and tequila. After eating and drinking like it was the end of the world we walked around the area, stopping to see the prize-winning horses, cattle and an occasional deer.

We spent the night there.

Hot, hot day

Day 20. Perhaps because New Orleans’ nightlife had drained our energy, or because we were just lazy, we slept until noon. We then drove back to Houston and explored the city.  To be honest judging by city’s spaghetti-looking highway system and a feeling of cult to cars we weren’t expecting much, but to our surpirse Houston resulted much more interesting than we had expected. We had brunch at a Café Brasil and had Huevos Rancheros for breakfast (everyday closer to home!). Then we visited the Menil Collection. They had a wonderful exhibit;  a juxtaposition of Surrealist art with ethnographical pieces from which surrealists inspired.

We headed to Francisco and Evelyn’s house (the eldest daughter) for grilled hamburgers. We met their two sons and extended family. We caught up with life and tequila.

Sebas taking a great nap outside The Menil Collection Museum

Day 21. Due Day! We had meat and beans for breakfast (meat keeps coming!) and started packing and repacking to carry the least suitcases possible. Still, at the end we had eight pieces of luggage: one extra large duffle bag, two medium, two regular suitcases, and three carry-on. Everything went back to the car and we drove 3.5 hours to San Antonio, from where we would take the bus to Guadalajara. Since our bus departed until midnight we had pretty much the entire day to visit the city. It was boiling-hot  and humid, but we still strolled around, dragging ourselves from one shade to another; from one AC to the next. We stopped at the Alamo Mission (then fortress), the place that’s engraved in the elementary-school corner of our minds. The Alamo Battle is a pivotal event in Mexican History, it is where Emperor Santana (emperor in the fashion of Napoleon) defeated the Texan Separatists only to be ambushed on his way back to Mexico, taken captive and forced to sign the treaties (supposedly), from which Mexico lost one third of its territory. Yes, we are taught from age five to resent this event and we unconsciously do!

After listening to a Texan give a speech about how the United States always wins wars because it suppresses it’s enemy’s will to fight (WTF!), we sought refuge on ice cubes and shade. We stopped at a restaurant on the River Wall and had a terrible “salad” aka lettuce with toppings: shredded cheese, bacon bits, candied walnuts, and spicy grilled chicken.

Bad salad = not happy

We still had a bit more time so we stopped at a mall for a spree of panic shopping. Yep, like we didn’t have to carry enough. Our excuse was that we really needed them! And truth is clothes in the USA are much cheaper than in Mexico. So we panicked and stopped at a couple of places with juicy discounts.

After stocking up with provisions we stopped at the bus station to drop our luggage, then drove to the airport to return our pretty and well-behaved Chevrolet Sonic, and then took a taxi back to the bus station. After 21 days of shared experiences with the car, it was a very nostalgic, sad ride.

For dinner we had a terrible pizza (Yeah, we weren’t so lucky with food in San Antonio). We returned to the station, the bus arrived and off we go! Everything was going alright until we reached the border and we had to wait 8 hours in line to go through. Maybe it was the lack of staff, or the stricter control on the border, of just a very long line… we are not sure. Fortunately Mexican buses are much more ample than greyhounds, and this one was comfortable enough to have a goodnight sleep.

San Antonio-Saltillo-Zacatecas-Aguacalientes-Guadalajara. Twenty-four hours after taking the bus in San Antonio we got home. Alejandra's mother and brother came to the bus station to pick us up. At 1AM we had dinner with Sebas' parents where we spent the night. The next day we borrowed a pick up and moved all of our stuff to our new home.

Home!

This is the map of our journey, you click on it to explore the places where we stayed and the shack where we ate!


View El Regreso in a larger map