![\"IMGP2730\"](\"http:\/\/www.raecrothers.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/IMGP2730.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nYup, officially working off my giant lunch!<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the cable cars were down for maintenance until late, but would open again at 10:00 in the morning.<\/p>\n The view from the library was worth the climb!<\/p>\n By this point, I had a bad blister on the small toe of my left foot. I always get them there and when I do, I dream of amputating the toe as it gives me nothing but grief! But rather than do something so drastic, I kept an eye out for a pharmacy so I could get some Band-Aids, having forgotten to tuck a few in my purse. I found a small one at the corner of Independencia and Florida\/20 de noviembre. There are a lot<\/em> of pharmacies in Mexico! There, I told the pharmacist that I needed ‘this,’ holding up a picture of a Band-Aid on my phone. I did that\u00a0because the last time I asked for a bandage for a foot issue, I was offered a tensor bandage. It was $1 for two!<\/p>\n I wound up being there for quite a while because the pharmacist was curious about me and pleased that I had enough Spanish to answer his questions. We ended up having a really interesting conversation about Mazatl\u00e1n, which he described as “Not for me. Very dirty and extremely noisy. Nothing to do if you don’t like going to the beach.”<\/p>\n This was interesting because I was going to have two more\u00a0similar conversations the next day. But, you know, I can’t entirely disagree with him, not now that I have another colonial city to compare Maz to. What I thought about Maz being ‘Mexican’ is really Maz being Maz. Mexico isn’t always that noisy or chaotic. Durango, while busy, and much larger than Mazatl\u00e1n, was incredibly quiet and what I saw of it was much better ordered than Maz, as well as not as rough around the edges and definitely a lot cleaner. Durango wasn’t ‘better’, don’t get me wrong, but this conversation with the pharmacist reminded me to avoid generalizing about a country because of one experience, something I’m always telling people not to do!<\/p>\n My best friend asked me if I’d consider pulling up my Maz roots and moving to Durango for the rest of the winter. The thought never even crossed my mind. It actually gets cold<\/em> in Durango! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Speaking of which, I had perfect weather all weekend, just overcast enough to not sunburn me, and warm enough, even at night, that I could wear a skirt or dress with sandals and just a light cardi. And none of the promised Saturday rain materialised!<\/p>\n From the pharmacy, I decided it was too early to call it a day, so\u00a0I opted\u00a0to go check out the\u00a0Museo General Francisco Villa\/Palacio de Zambrano<\/a>, about the famous figure from the Mexican Revolutionary War. You may have heard of him as Pancho Villa. Entrance here was also about $22 and I got an introduction to the museum in French<\/em>!!!<\/p>\n There are two interesting aspects to the museum. First is, of course, the palace itself, built by a mining tycoon. The museum’s rooms are sprawled through several rooms of the palace, but the signage and subtle guest direction is really well done.<\/p>\n Looking towards the entrance courtyard:<\/p>\n The first room, about the origins of the palace, had signage in Spanish, English, and Braille! The rest of the museum was only in Spanish, though.<\/p>\n Another courtyard:<\/p>\n Staircase and one of many beautiful murals:<\/p>\n Your tour continues thataway. There are so many smaller museums that aren’t laid out as clearly as this one was.<\/p>\n Stone arches:<\/p>\n More stone arches:<\/p>\n The Mexican flag’s eagle in stained glass:<\/p>\n It was interesting to learn about Pancho Villa. Much like I learned from a Quebec perspective that celebrated Manitoban hero Louis Riel was a scoundrel, I always got the U.S. perspective that Pancho Villa was a criminal. Historic perspective always depends on who is telling the story! Villa described himself as a “simple and rough man who learned to read very late and who lived the wild life of the mountains.”<\/p>\n There was a lot<\/em> of information to take in since I was new to this history and so I won’t even try to recap all the info I was bombarded with!<\/p>\n But I do have to admire\u00a0him here, where he said that every community in Mexico should have a school for the betterment of Mexican society as a whole:<\/p>\n One of the final exhibits was about the Mexican legal system. I liked how the old layers of wallpaper in the door frames of that room were preserved:<\/p>\n This mural of Villa on his horse is in the entrance lobby and is apparently a famous image of him:<\/p>\n Villa was assassinated and there was disagreement about where he should be interred. His tomb was eventually ransacked and his body decapitated!<\/p>\n His body (literally) was finally laid to final rest in Mexico City:<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n