My Last Two Days in Mexico

On our last full day in Mexico, we started out visiting the Mennonite Museum after we descended from the highlands. Mennonites have been in Chihuahua for almost 100 years, and now number about 80,000!

I was excited, because right away, I saw rusty stuff!

I hope this isn't lunch...

There was more rusty stuff inside!

Our guide, on the right, was very interesting.

And lunch was fantastic! We were getting really tired of Mexican food, and this was a delightful change.

We spent the night in Nuevo Casas Grande, where we got a demonstration of how the Mata Ortiz pottery is painted. A few human hairs are used in their brushes. These pots are made without a pottery wheel.

We also saw how the pottery is fired.

The next morning, we went by the square, where we saw the typical town letters.

And then we went to he Paquime ruins, also known as "Casas Grandes."

At its peak, Paquime may have been linked to other villages from Mesa Verde in Colorado to Mexico City.

But in the late 14th century, the city began stagnating and evidence suggests that Paquime was razed by marauding tribes from the north.

We stopped for a potty break at a store that had lots of pinatas. I passed...

So what did I think of my tour? I certainly am glad I did it, but there were some disappointments and problems. I booked the tour through World Span Tours in Mesa, but the tour was actually run by A Closer Look Tours. World Span is just a travel agency.

One disappointment was that some things that were advertised as being included were not. The biggest one was the aerial tramway in Copper Canyon.

But the biggest problem was that our luggage was broken into in San Carlos, and apparently, our guide was not allowed to tell us about it! The stolen things were recovered, thanks to the hotel's cameras, but since we weren't told about it, we did not get our stuff back unless we made a claim. Fortunately, another passenger had told us about it, so I got my stuff back. I tried to spread the word, and hope I did.

Back to the US!