Recuerdos: El Chepe (Parte Seis)

 I did not expect to love Chihuahua City. I expected it to be an ugly, boring town that was just a stopover before the plane right home.

I was wrong.

The train station in Creel was small and had very little information in any language. But it was an actual train station, unlike the others which were just wooden platforms. There were no employees there at all until the train got there, almost four hours late. None of the Mexicans seemed to care that the train was that late but everyone else was pretty annoyed.

It was a long (6-hour) ride to Chihuahua City and we didn't get in until 1 am but the next day we were out exploring and WOW is there a lot to explore! I'd love to go back (of course)





From February 22, 2020
 
 I absolutely love being in places in Mexico that get very few Americans. People are generally so very welcoming and honestly excited that I visited their part of the country, and pepper me with questions about how I like it and if I’ll come back. The answers: muchísimo and sí, por supuesto!

We passed a group of young men who pointed and stared at us (one tall blond white woman and one Asian woman). It was a little unsettling but also broad daylight and other people were around so I tried something.

I said "¿No hay muchas turistas aquí en esta ciudad, verdad? ¿No están acostumbrado a americanos?"
(There aren’t many tourists in your city, right? You’re not used to Americans?)

They said no and stopped pointing. I asked if they were going to school and they reminded me that it was Saturday and said they were going to watch sports. I told them I hoped they had a good day and they waved.

There are situations where ignoring would have felt safer of course but this was a great experience. I think we all felt less othered at the end.

Chihuahua City has SO much history. Mostly about Pancho Villa: he is a Very Big Deal here. The short version is that Francisco "Pancho" Villa (whose birth name was Doroteo, the masculine version of "Dorothy" which we don't have in English) was one of the leaders of the Mexican Revolution. Porfirio Diaz was a president-turned-dictator and Villa helped overthrow him and... well, it's a lot more complicated than that but read a history book. 
 
He's very much the Robin Hood of Mexico and an absolutely fascinating character.

I hadn't known that "soldadas," (female soldiers) had been so important in the Mexican Revolution. They apparently did the cooking and cleaning at the camps but also fought. My favorite picture in the exhibits was of the woman called "La Valentina." She was apparently a good example of the soldadas, because "she not only cooked, but also was an expert handling weapons."





















We also saw the place where Miguel Hidalgo, father of Mexican Independence (not the Mexican Revolution, they are two different things unlike in the US) was executed. It is now the Palacio del Gobierno and just a beautiful beautiful government building.

Of course, I want to go back. I don't know how I'll ever see all the states in Mexico when I keep wanting to go back to each!

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