After crossing at El Paso we had a 5 hour bus ride through uninspiring desert to Chihuahua. The 105 peso Hotel San Juan was seedy and dirty even by our forgiving standards. The one redeeming feature of the hotel is that it is near all the sights which can be seen in one day if you step lively.

Chihuahua is full of history and architecture, Mennonite cheese and the best bolillos. And the people are often friendly and helpful. Durng an evening walk in front of the main Cathedral we were met by three young men with camcorders. They asked if we could speak Spanish. They wanted to interview us for a local Protestant Christian TV program for kids. The question was: What we thought of premarital sex and what advice did we have for their viewers. Afterwards we had a friendly chat with these brothers in Christ who spoke English very well. It's encouraging to see the very visible presence of the Evangelicos after seeing so much of the gloomy, creepy adorations of the Virgin of Guadalupe.  

That evening we saw many colorful Tarahumara women and children in the Plaza Libertad pedestrian mall. This is where we enjoyed an elote in the cooling evening and planned where to go next. We decided to see more of the historical buildings. The historic sights were impressive: the Palacio de Gobierno with the Eternal Flame where Padre Hidalgo was shot. Along the walls that encircled the courtyard there were many excellent murals depicting, among other things, the history of our unfortunate war with Mexico. We visited also the French art-nouveau Museo Regional Quinta Gameros.

When we were getting tired we retraced our steps to the Hotel San Juan, where we thought we would unwind. "Thought" is the operative word. As the night wore on the tenants down the hall, not satisfied with a rambunctious card game (near as we could figure out) decided to make the evening more interesting by sending someone out for some "mota" and ... well.... something else that shouldn't be included in a family page. Things went from loud to louder so we finally decided we had enough. We called a cab at 11:30 to take us to the bus station where we took the hoot owl bus back to Ciudad Juarez. We made Juarez as the sun was coming up and walked over to El Paso. After a good cup of coffee in the downtown McDonalds, we were on our way back to where our car was parked and back we went to Tucson.