At the top! Cerro de la Bufa Zacatecas

As I reach the top, people are starting to spread out along the road in front of the building, selling mostly jewelry they have made. They lay down a blanket and then in perfect rows, spread out earrings and bracelets and necklaces, in perfect order by color and size and shape. Each vendor seems to have one blanket of goods.

And all the vendors appear to be indigenous people.

There are signs for tourists, conveniently in english and Spanish so I can read where I am at, that point out the directions to the “plaza of the revolution”, the telescopes, the museum.

The heaviness I’ve felt all morning increases here. When I drove in last nite, I couldn't figure out why there are so many people here, in the middle of nowhere, with no visible water mass, no forest, no visible industry.

I read the plaques and find out the fuckin Spanish came here to exploit indigenous people and their silver and gold mines in the mid 1500’s. For 10,000 years prior to the Conquistadors, several different peoples lived together here, including the Zacateca.

The “revolution” was that against Spain prompted by a priest Hidalgo in the early 1800. But it seems to be a revolution similar to ours, of the decedents of the conquerors wanting to break the economic ties with their ‘mother country’, in this case Spain not England. Not for the freedom of the original peoples.

I walk around, reading all the signs, and feeling really grateful I am not of Spanish descent. The first thing the Spaniards did when they came here to conquer the people was to build this fortress on top of these peaks so they could get control of the entire city.

One of the buildings was a church that was later destroyed, then rebuilt and used as an “asylum” … hmmmm… and now is a church again. I want to return tomorrow when the museum is open to find out more.

 I continue climbing to all the different buildings on the 3 peaks here. More and more people arrive and I see there is an asphalt road to the top. I’m reminded of that commercial where the father is taking the son to a secret fishing hole, hacking their way, stumbling and forging through the wilderness to burst onto the fishing spot that is crowded with tons of people who have driven in!