"the Colonial Heartland of Mexico " a Mexico City Travel Page by cobrioc

On a cool evening, I was sitting
in the cobblestone courtyard of a 220-year old church, 9000 feet high in the Sierra Madre mountains of central Mexico.
All around me were rock piles and crumbling stone walls, ruins of a once thriving town.
Horses were tied up to posts at one side of the plaza, where their owners, who had ridden in from the mountains, had left them.
Yet, on a makeshift stage in the middle of the courtyard stood a man in a tuxedo who looked like
Dean Martin. He was singing Mexican love songs into the microphone, while another man in a tuxedo tinkled away on an electronic keyboard. The night was filled with a me'langeof sounds
"Te vendes, quien pudiera comprate,"
polite applause, burros braying, coyotes yapping.

In cities such as San Luis Potosi, San Muguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas and Real de Catorce, we found both the rustic and the refined.

Though seemingly inhospitable, the craggy,cactus-covered desert mountains of this region are home to cities of anormous beauty and sophistication, rich in culture and history.
Throughout our journey, architecture and landscape competed for
"Most Likey to Take Your Breath Away"
honors, and I'm still not able to declare a winner.