Mexico's Best Zocalo?

The Zocalo (or zócalo, a town plaza) is a central (and crucial) feature of every town and city in Mexico. It is literally where it's happening - the focal point for both organized and casual social activity. Most Mexicans take great pride in their zocalo, and it is often the best kept area of town. Warm evenings will find vendors of every sort, clusters of young adults flirting and strutting, venerated Dons and Donas holding court at their exclusive benches, small children racing around

Every town's zacalo is characterized by its own distinctive meeting area - and of course, large cities will have numerous plazas, many of which might have a unique architectural aspect or singularly beautiful garden (jardin). The focal point might be a bandstand (as in Oaxaca) or a fountain (like Puebla), it might be in the layout of the paths crisscrossing the square, perhaps interspersed with trees, or it might be a vast open space dominated by the imposing edifices that surround the perimeter (as in Mexico City's main plaza, the Plaza de la Constitucion).

So where in Mexico exist the best zocalos? As is most of the cases beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and arguments can be made for numerous stellar candidates among the hundreds that might be put forth. Perhaps the most famous is Mexico City's, because of it's immense size, it's location (on the spot where Cortes met Montezuma for the first time).

Arguably the most beautiful is Patzcuaro's Plaza Vasco de Quiroga - a Mexican colonial classic, surrounded by period buildings and filled with trees. Often, it's just a small mountain town's humble offering, set against the fog enshrouded backdrop of the surrounding Sierra Madre Mountains, such as the little puebla of San Sebastian de Oeste, in the mountains of Jalisco east of Puerto Vallarta. Founded in 1605, San Sebastian was once mining centers of Mexico, the gold and silver giving this one time provincial capital a population of nearly 40,000 people it's now virtually deserted with only 600 or so people living there now, but with the opening of the highway between PV and the lovely inland valley town of Mascota (whose plaza is pictured at the top, and is also enjoying a tourism boost from the highway - it is gaining some notice as an eco-tourism destination) San Sebastian de Oeste is now back on the map as a tourist destination.

Another interesting zocalo can be found in the mountain town Tapalpa. While it's not particularly intimate area, it has an interesting, multi-level layout, an imposing church, is surrounded by interesting stores and restaurants and quaint calles that provide delightful walking opportunities for the small town exploration that make destinations such as Tapalpa so rewarding.

Evenings can provide the most satisfying people watching, culture absorbing zocalo experience - especially during festivals (which can last for a week for the town's patron saint). Carnival attractions, numerous band competitions, nightly (and even early morning) fireworks are all part of the mix, such as this lively scene from the Lake Chapala town ofAjijic attests.

A Useful Resource for Travel in Mexcio

I recently came across another site of interest to anyone wishing to explore Mexico. Mexico Vacation Travel has frequent posts about various travel destinations in Mexico, most recently about Monterrey - evidently Monterrey is considered one of the safer Mexican cities and has attracted many high-tech industries. I had no idea it had over three and half million residents! Additionally, you'll find some interesting pages dedicated to more often topics such lagoons, ruins, diving, colonial cities, and budget travel.

This site also has a bevy of interesting travel links for Mexico that are worth checking out...and speaking of links and resources, Explore Retire Mexico has recently added a Links and Resources about Mexico page.

Learning Spanish

Recently I resumed taking an evening class in Spanish at our local JC, the College of Marin. Previous classes, while in the community education system, used a serious college textbook (Como se Dice - very expensive @ over $150) and had an emphasis on learning grammar.

What a pleasant surprise this semester to find an instructor that took the course description to heart and actually was teaching conversational Spanish. No textbook - 90% speaking with handouts for homework exercise that form the basis of the next week's conversation. Two months into the class I'm already comfortable enough to converse in Spanish with little or no stammering. I making intelligent conversation. Asking questions. My recent trip to Cabo, while very resort oriented and not conducive to connecting much with an authentic Mexican experience, still afforded me many opportunities interact and speak Spanish. It sure opens doors to a friendly interchange - every Mexican I spoke with seemed to appreciate my efforts to converse.

So I owe a bit of thanks to my instructor, Patricio Tapia, and I'm now motivated enough to take an additional private classes from him through his "Spanish in Marin" program in San Rafael, CA.