More... in Aguascalientes

Interesting shop.

Painting a building

 We visited several Cathedrals and saw even more of them from a distance

They still shine shoes here.  We stood by them to take the photo of the cathedral.

The San Marcos Cathedral next to the San Marcos park.

This is where they train to become bull fighters for the San Marcos Fair.

The Main Street where the San Marcos Fair centers.

Famous sculpture near the center of the San Marcos Fair activities.

 The Black Christ was next door to the Rincon Maya where we ate lunch.

We ate at Rincon Maya and were quite impressed with the food as well as its huge murals.

A Walk Down Memory Lane - Aguascalientes

We went to find the apartment where Paul lived when he was a missionary here.  The street in front of their apartment building used to look like this.  This is Elder Lee, a visiting zone leader, with some of the kids in the neigborhood.

THEN:

This group of kids used to live in the apartment complex.

NOW!

Paul is pointing to where his bed was located in the room next to the sidewalk. 

 The street is now paved but but kids still have fun here.

THEN:

A rented building on Licenco Francisco Primo Verdad served as the chapel.  This is Elder Chalker standing inside the building.  It didn't need to be very big for a branch that consisted of from 15 to 30 people.

NOW:

This is the exterior of the rented chapel.  We didn't go inside the building but the outside isn't very impressive.  

NOW!  

Aguascalients now has two stakes and is mission headquarters for Aguascalientes and parts of Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi.  This is the ward where we went to church on Sunday and these are the people that could talk to Paul about the "old times" since they remember the old rented chapel as well. 

Edmundo Vargas and wife, Amparo Monjares de Luna

Olivia Laguna and her sister Teresa Laguna Reyes

Celebration in the Plaza - Aguascalientes

Back when Paul was on his mission, the building pictured below was the Hotel Francia and Paul would eat here some times with his companions.  The Francia hotel is now the tall pink building in the background.  The older building on the corner now houses Sanborn's department store with its restaurant on the second floor.  We went there to eat. 

We heard music and drums and went to the balcony windows to look down on a parade making its way to the central plaza to the "Catedral Basilica de Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion."

This pillar in Aguascalientes plaza marks the geographical center of Mexico.

In 1968, they celebrated at the plaza in Aguascalientes as well.  

Saturday in Aguascalientes

Paul's second area as a missionary was in Aguascalietes, Mexico some 47 years ago.   He wondered how much things had changed since then.  Our hotel was right next to the central plaza with its impressive cathedral.  Paul remembered as missionaries they asked and were permitted to climb to the bell towers of the cathedral.

The Virgin of the Ascention

Paul remembered the government building with its mural inside.  We had a guide kindly explain the mural to us that explains Mexico's quite complicated and sad history on its road to independence.  Some of the mural was recently added but some of it was here during Paul's mission.

Aguascalientes state governor's office is here as well as several large murals.

Our guide also explained that we happened to have arrived on a weekend they were having a celebration on the city plaza.  Normally it is empty but while we were there, it filled with people and kiosks.  .

We saw older buildings that have served different functions over the years but were still standing. 

Mexico's 1917 constitution was signed in this building.

We saw a double decked trolley and asked if we could climb aboard to see more of the city.  The San Marcos Fair is a huge yearly event from mid-April into May.  

We saw the bull fight ring that is only used during the San Marcos celebration

 This is the area where merchants set up only for The San Marcos fair.

Out west of town we saw the mountain sillouhette of a body with head on the left and feet on the right

The bulls are represented.

Catrina on the Isla de San Marcos.

Pope John Paul visited here in 1985

Don Quixoti and Sancho Panza

After our tour of the city, we went to the central market that was still there and still busy after all of these years.  This is where Paul bought his woolen Mexican blankets years ago but they don't sell them now.

.

 On Monday, we returned to the market so Paul could buy an Aguascalientes t-shirt and a chess set.

We made our way to the train station that was functioning during Paul's first mission but is now a museum.

In the train station there is a miniature copy of a famous 75 foot high statue called "The Broken Christ"  located 20 miles away but we didn't take the time to visit the original.  This statue seemed more life-size.

Aguascalients [hot waters] was named for the hot springs that flow from a spring.  The spring below no longer seems to function and they are remodeling the area.  It functioned very well when Paul saw it last--47 years ago--but things change.