The capital city, also named Aguascalientes, was founded in 1575 and is a city of about 1 million people. It is an industrial city, and now Nissan has a huge plant there where they make cars. Because of the factory, quite a few Japanese people live in the city.
Originally the city/state was an outpost to keep the Indians at bay but soon provided a link between Mexico City and the silver mines in the state of Zacatecas.
This is the Plaza de la Patria in the centro (downtown) of the city. The Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Assumption (Catedral Basilica de Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion) has beautiful paintings from a famous Mexican artist inside. As you can see, there is a large plaza and behind me is the city plaza (the park) and on my left, out of the photo, is the state government building. The history of Aguascalientes is painted in murals on the walls of this building. A student of the Mexican painter Oroszco did the murals.
The picture below is the history museum.
The museum was very small but the people are proud of it! Notice the street has "pavers", (bricks). It is not cobblestone and thus is smooth. A few of the streets in the downtown area had pavers. That is me standing in front of the museum.
After leaving the downtown area, we went to the Jardin de San Marcos. This is where the oldest, (since 1604!) largest and most famous fair in Mexico is held for 3 weeks every year, in April/May. The actual garden has trees, flowers, and a kiosk, but the surrounding area has increased into a plaza where the church is (of course!) and also a large mall area. During the fair there are parades, rodeos, bullfights, cockfights, folkloric dancing, games as well as many cultural events. Of course there is a lot of food being sold! The Mexicans seem to eat all the time!
The picture below is the gate to the garden.
Next you see Rosario standing under the huge "Festival Calaveras" sign which was for the Dia de los Muertos" and behind her begins the mall.
The Calaveras decorations were still up and I am not sure if they remain there year around or not. Anyway, there were a lot of them and they may be part of the city decorations. There was also a big electric sign counting down the weeks, days, hours and minutes until the next fair!
My girlfriend, La Catrina!
Other interesting tidbits about Aguascalientes:
- The people there are known for their handwork, embroidery and lace making. We went shopping in a store where I could have bought everything! Tablecoths, placemats, napkins, shawls, blouses, everything hand made. Gorgeous handiwork. You will have to see the pretty things I did buy there!
- It is a very Roman Catholics area and there are a lot of churches. We must have passed at least 4 while walking from the parking garage to the main Plaza Patria and (it being Sunday morning) the churches were overflowing with people.
I was very glad to get to see another area of Mexico, to meet some of the people, and to learn about another state. I appreciate Rosario taking me there.
Hasta luego.
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