The Day of Many Hats

This past weekend I went to Zacatecas with the CIEE group. It was a fun weekend and we saw a lot of things, but one thing that stuck out for me about this trip were the number of hats I wore. Those of you who know me know that I never wear hats, so this was a new experience.

Hat #1 The Straw Hat
I wore this hat as we toured La Quemada, a prehispanic site outside of the city of Zacatecas. The purpose of the hat was to prevent sunburn, and it did save my face, but not my shoulders. La Quemada was really neat. It is an ancient city built on a mountain. The pyramids at Teotihuacan made me want to go back in time, La Quemada made me feel like I went back in time. The mountain was so quiet and it was so much fun to wander around through the old city. Not to mention the scenery from the top of the mountain was fantastic. Zacatecas is a beautiful state and there is a lot of agriculture so everything is very green.

Hat #2 The Hard Hat

It was very unfortunate that we had to wear this combination of hard hat and hair net. We had to wear these when we went down into the Mina El Eden. Zacatecas is a large mining center in Mexico and this particular mine has silver and other precious gems. The mine was lit with colored lights and there were figures of the indigenous workers who used to work there. It showed the dangerous conditions that the workers were forced to work under.

Hat #3 The Jaguar

We went to a mask museum that had over 5000 masks and they had some to try on. Just kidding that isn't me, but it is a picture of someone wearing one of the masks. There were a gazillion masks though. There were masks from the prehispanic era and masks from the colonial era when the Spanish would host masquerade parties. We learned that if the masks were painted red, it was in reference to devils and especially the "infidels" or the Muslim enemies of Spain. Many of the prehispanic masks were death masks used in burials so that the gods would not recognize the dead once they reached the afterworld. I've never seen so many masks in my entire life. It was a really interesting way to look at the old traditions of Mexico.
Zacatecas was a fun trip. I think my favorite photo from the trip was my picture of the cathedral lit up at night. It was really beautiful! Apparently there is a competition between Guanajuato and Zacatecas for the most beautiful city in Mexico. In my personal opinion, I like Guanajuato better.