The good news is I finally got to Mexico during the Day of the Dead. The bad news will come later.

In San Luis Potosí (SLP) the Day of the Dead is known as Xantolo. If it differs from DotD observances elsewhere, it also shares the usual ofrendas, visits to the cemetery and special foods.

SLP has a large colonial center and our hotel City Centro by Marriott is right in the middle of it, a short walk from the parks and churches, government buildings and distinctive architecture. We were there not only for the DotD but to visit an old friend who has lived in the city for over twenty years. I don’t know if it is the case in other areas of Mexico, but in SLP Halloween is observed by trick-or-treaters on Oct 31st. The streets were alive with them.

The hotel is well run, offers a buffet and a la carte breakfast, and very kindly tuned the TV in the restaurant to the last game of the World Series, when we stopped in for after dinner drinks.

Unfortunately, on the second day there I had an attack of gout, which had me dragging my foot around town. I missed the trip to the cemetery and several excursions but did my best. The others agreed to a bus tour to accommodate me. It was actually pretty fun, with a large group of enthusiastic Mexicans (most of the tourists in SLP were Mexican) yelling “Agua” to warn of low wires skimming near the top of the bus, and lustily singing along with the state anthem. Why yell “water” as a warning? Apparently a holdover from when people emptied liquids from the window onto the street!

So I’m afraid I can’t give a very complete picture of SLP, but if you are looking for a place that is off the tourist trail, I would say it’s a good stop for two or three days. Next installment: A Long Day's Journey to Mexico City.


Note the portrait of the late Pope Francis on the ofrenda at the cathedral!

Something I forgot. While I was in SLP this story ran in the NYT about a controversial "ghost" in the Governor's Palace there. (Shared)

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/w...smid=url-share

My determination of many years to get back to Mexico have not yet come to fruition, but in the meantime i check in with trip reports, and in this case I was glad to learn that San Luis Potosi has a large colonial center, and is off the tourist trail -- two of the things I look for in a Latin American destination. When i hear of this city, I can't help thinking about the exuberant song by Mexican singer Jorge Negrete, though I don't think he actually was from that SLP. I quite understand the issues of health problems in the middle of a trip -- I got ill myself last year in Ayacucho, Peru, which put a lot of restrictions on what I was able to do; but still I regard it as a good trip, if not one of my best. As for Halloween, I don't know whether the children of Lima do the "trick-or-treat" thing, but on that trip last year I found that in the middle-class Miraflores municipality, it was a huge event, with young people crowding the streets in their various horror costumes.

I'll look forward to your comments on Mexico City.

Hi Fradiavolo

Sorry to hear that gout was acting up while in SLP, but glad at least you got to see the city I’ve never been there around the Day of the Dead time, but I’ve always loved the energy in the Centro. Having lots of entertainers including great musicians and dancers against the backdrop of the cathedral (lit up at night) and architecture has had its magical moments.

Best wishes

Daniel

Thanks Daniel and Faedus for reading along and commenting.

I should say a little about the sights in SLP which I hobbled through. There was the cathedral of course, and the convent of the Carmelites, which has a collection of artifacts from pre-Columbian to colonial. The Mask Museum has a collection ranging from traditional to Lucha Libre. (Outside the Mask Museum different fire-fighting teams were competing. The men, wearing their protective suits in the near 80 degree day, ran up scaffolding carrying heavy hose coils, then down to drag a heavy dummy about fifty feet, crawled through a tunnel the same distance, donned breathing gear, then ran with a hose and knocked down targets with the spray. These guys were in good shape!).

Also visited the Centro de las Artes a little out from the center. This is a large complex housed in a former prison -- looks quite forbidding. Inside you'll find a museum devoted to the surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, depictions of prison life, various art exhibits and a number of schools -- well worth the visit. We took an Uber to get there -- speaking of Ubers, they're cheap and plentiful, but tend to be in sub-compact cars. Order a larger vehicle if you would like more comfort.

Okay -- next installment will describe the trip to Mexico City.

Thanks Fra. SLP is one of our favorite cities, although we've only done 1 night trips on our way to the border or for a medical specialist. Probably been there 20 times over the years and it's always a treat. The art center is indeed interesting.

Thanks baldOne -- and thanks for the Stanza recommendation. It worked out well.

My friend in SLP had warned us of roadblocks on the way to CDMX. I’d thought that they were an issue in Chiapas, but apparently it has spread. We took the 9:00 AM ETN bus scheduled to arrive around 3:00 PM.

The driver of our bus warned us of road “blockages” before we left the station, and said we’d be taking some alternate routes. Either they didn’t know about the major stoppage we ran into, or didn’t plan a good alternate — if one exists. An Uber driver who told us there was a transport workers’ strike that caused the delay, but I never heard an official explanation. I think we took an improvised route, thwarted by the old concrete railroad bridge which was too low to pass under. We learned that the hard way. I hope the driver, who was very skilled — he backed that huge bus over a half-mile on twisty roads! — isn’t punished for scraping the roof.

My SLP friend wrote later, “The dangers of travel- road and airport blockages by disgruntled (choose up to 3 at the same time) A) Students, B) Teachers, C) campesinos D) population at large protesting 1) disappearances 2) extortions 3) narco road blocks 4) lack of water 5) or all of the above E) Narco Blockades. Or F) blockages caused by truck accidents usually involving tanker trucks carrying flammables like liquid propane (the last one killed up to 40 people) G) flooding etc.“

The nine hour ride we endured seems to have been good for my foot. I was able to walk around only a little slower than usual. Our hotel, the Stanza, was about a thirty minute walk from Parque Mexico in Condesa. The stories are true —that neighborhood has become Gringolandia. My wife and I watched an American couple and their child in a playground, then encountered pickle ball players and exhibitionist exercisers on the stage area of a concrete activity area. (But also a troupe of Mexican dancers rehearsing a routine.) Almost every one who passed was speaking English and wearing shorts and flip-flops, which set them apart from the general population.

I hadn’t been back in the city since 2018. The Anthropology Museum was great as ever. Right now there is a room devoted to The Black House, an excavation near Teotihuacan. There was also a temporary exhibit on art of the Côte d’Ivoire (where I’d lived for two years) which even held a few surprises for me. We spent five hours at the museum, mostly in the Teotihuacan, Mexica and Maya galleries. Still haven’t made it upstairs!

On the “you can’t go home again” front, My wife and I returned to Frida Kahlo’s Blue House after an absence of 25 years. It was much more crowded than it was before Frida-mania swept the globe. They’ve added lots of explanatory material, but have taken down the stairwell retablos! Bad decision. On the other hand, they got rid of her awful painting of Stalin. The nearby Kahlo family residence, recently opened as a museum, is I think, strictly for fanatics. — but maybe my aching back colored my reaction.


The ofrenda at the Kahlo family museum.




We finally got to see Rivera’s amazing Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park mural. I thought it would be a quick stop, but we spent well over an hour. Quite apart from its artistic merit, its tragic vision of Mexico’s history is almost overpowering, from Cortes to Huerta, left to right . . . (There are keys in both English and Spanish identifying the figures.)

Afterwards we walked the length of the Alameda, down to the Zocalo, up to the terrace bar at the Majestic Hotel. We had a round of margaritas and watched the great flag come down, then walked to the Cafe de Tacuba for our dinner.

That pretty much wraps it up. I'll be happy to try and answer any questions.

Thanks for this report. It was useful, though not gratifying, to have confirmed much of what I have already heard about the Condesa neighborhood; but at the same time, I was relieved to read that the habits of Gringolandia — shorts, flip-flops, and English — still are not those of the general popul;ation.

Incidentally, it was odd at first to read of a Côte d’Ivoire exhibit in a Mexico City museum, but then it is an “Antropology” museum — perhaps it covers general world cultures, as well as Mexian ones; is that the case? By the way, it was likewise interesting to read that you had once spent two years in the Ivory Coast. For my part, I once spent two years a little further west, in Sierra Leone. During that time I visited the Ivory Coast on a wider West-African trip, but missed Abidjan, instead cutting through the Ivory Coast from Bouake to Man, then on to Liberia.

As you invited questions, here are a couple more: first, is the Roma neighborhood like La Condesa, or perhaps a bit better in some ways? Also, I’ve been thinking that should I make that Mexico trip I've been considering for a long time, I would stay in the center, in the Alameda-Zocalo area; is that area a good choice?

Happy you had a god time at Dotd, and sorry to hear about your Gout, hope you're doing well.

Hi Fradiavolo

Sorry to hear you got caught up in some road blockades between SLP and CDMX. I usually don’t think of those happening in that stretch of highway either, although I do think of them as happening outside of Chiapas. In 2016, when I got in some in Chiapas that turned a 14 hour trip from Puebla to Tapachula into a 30+ hour one, it was not only Chiapas, but Guerrero and Oaxaca states possibly
worse affected, so much so, I had to change my original plans to visit Oaxaca as the city was unenterable. In 2019, the bus from Tampico to Monterrey had to do a detour in southern Tamaulipas state, delaying us by about an hour as it was only the outskirts near Tampico that were affected, so not too bad.

Glad to hear you made it back to the Anthropology Museum, which to this day stands out in my mind as being in a league of its own. Similarly pleased to learn the gout dissipated so you could better enjoy the offerings of the national capital.

Best wishes, Daniel

Faedus -- I just learned last night that Sierra Leone was founded by loyalist African-American, some formerly enslaved, who left Nova Scotia under unfavorable conditions. (Ken Burns' American Revolution.). Although many disagree, I would recommend the historic center as a good base in Mexico City. Roma was fine and convenient to some areas, but the Zocalo is a living center of the city. There are several sites worth visiting in the area -- the cathedral, the ruins of the temple and its museum, the National Palace with its great Rivera mural. I've stayed in two hotels there, the Majestic which could use some updating but has great views, and the Gran Hotel with its amazing Tiffany-style ceiling -- more expensive. Of course there are quite a few others including from hostels and flea-bags to quite modern. Next time I'm in CDMX I'll stay in the area.

Daniel -- I remember your description of the hold-ups on the southern highway but had forgotten just how bad they were. My trip was just a slight delay in comparison. Goodness knows the people have just grievances!

FD

Fra: thanks for the Historic Center advice; it was what I was hoping to hear. It was also good to read that there are worth-while tourist sites in that area, though generally just staying the the historic centers of historic cities is my thing, as long as it’s feasible.

I took a quick look at the hotels you mentioned, and the Majestic looks pretty good. I balked a little at its being part of the Best Western chain, for I normally prefer independent hotels, but on the plus side it’s just a few steps from the Zocalo, so I suppose I could deal with that. As for the Gran Hotel — well, you were right, it’s more expensive; astonishingly more!

A quick note on Sierra Leone: at least as of the time I was there, almost five decades ago, there were still huge cultural differences between the descendants of the freed North-American Africans in and around Freetown (the capital), and everyone else “upcountry,” which in turn meant everywhere but Freetown.