Zacatecas, Mexico is the most beautiful city in the world on a winter night

Jan 3, 2023

The first time I came to Zacatecas was 7 years ago, possible to this day. I’d have to hunt through lost notebooks to find out the exact date. Then, I didn’t know what I was arriving at — following the fresh feeling of new love on a bus from Guadalajara staring out the window at cacti and dry grass wondering what would happen.

The first night we took a quarter tab of acid and walked the city for hours. There’s no city in the world more beautiful than Zacatecas at night in winter— the way the streetlights shine up from the ground to illuminate the pink limestone architecture— the color is enough to make you lose your mind — especially if you’re young, love-drunk & on a quarter tab.

But I didn’t lose my mind. I fell further.

We walked downtown uptown around town and out of tow — we hopped a city tourist bus and sat up top — I don’t remember how cold it was that night, but I froze my ass off in the hotel when you were gone.

The hills rise and fall phenomenally in Zacatecas city, the capital of the state of Zacatecas in northern Mexico — and there are roads like alleys & alleys like tunnels that lead into gold and pink plazas where people sit and sip cocktails, mezcal, wine, cerveza, and hot chocolate.

The Cathedral, the colonial Spanish and French architecture, little balconies jet out over the streets and alleys — old Volkswagon Beatles bumped-parked against curbs, tiny sidewalks that twist, turn, drop and sometimes become barely wide enough for one person to walk by without having to step into the street — little stores with open doors selling jewelry, jewels, quartz, amethyst, jade, crystal, silver — Zacatecas was and still is a mining town; once the Spaniards biggest source of silver, & El Centro still reflects that wealth.

That first night we hiked outside of the city until you can look down at El Centro shining orange and yellow under a big dark sky, the buffs and ridges pitch black in the distance & La Buffa lit with the Mexican flag’s colors and a giant white cross on top.

I didn’t know shit then. Still don’t — but I really didn’t know shit then. Saw the city like a baby with wide open eyes — enormous, dilated pupils.

And the sky is dark and crisp and clear in Zacatecas at night & you can see the moon smiling & the stars shivering cold in January.

There are streets in Zacatecas so narrow I don’t know how a car passes, and sometimes they’re “two-lanes,” so steep you need to walk on your toes, and during Christmas, which is from mid Dec to mid-January at least — El Centro is lit up — decorated delightfully, snowflakes & presents, shooting stars, Santas & reindeers made from Mexican cartoneria (papier mache). La Catedral lit up with its intricate carvings curling and twisting and everything else evolving out of it — growing out like mycelium — intricate alleyways, awesome angles, amazing stairwells, interesting images emerging in surprising ways.

And the big Christmas tree en la plaza beside the church circled by little Christmas cabins, puestos selling punch, elotes, hot tamales, shrimp and meat on skewers…

Zacatecas hasn’t gotten much good press lately, and it seems there are less families out and about this year. But the ones that made it are happy, holding each other’s gloved-hands and indulging in street treats. Zacatecas is a family town, like most towns in Mexico. But also a hard-scrabble proud cowboy and mining town. Here men with boot buckles and cowboy hats pass in pickup trucks — dirty work trucks or shining new family trucks — the culture more like Texas or Oklahoma then my home state of New Jersey, or New Orleans, where I spent a large portion of my adult life.

I was a fool when I first arrived in Zacatecas seven years ago. But a fool with a strong inclination towards something real and felt. Who’dda thought someday I’d have a family here and a real relationship with a place so far from home?

Following love can lead you to funny places. And by funny I don’t mean LOL or LMAO. I mean unusual. I mean it can take you to places you otherwise would have never known.

This is the Lost Notebook. More coming soon…

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Books: Raspberry: asmall book of poems.