Oasis town of the famous Madero Winery, family of one of Mexico’s most important early Presidents who lived a dramatic disastrous life of Revolution, triumph, and assassination.
Mirror-hat of the Indians confronts you with your own vanities.
Halfway between Torreón and straight East to Saltillo, a road joins up from the south which leads into a beautiful valley region suddenly green and lush, situated between tall mountain ranges."
"Nuthin' special about it to me."
"Well Judge, hold on. Birthplace of one President Madero, of the most tragic figures in Mexican history, assasinated shortly after winning the post during the revolution."
"Darned unlucky, I'd say."
"Anyone that's been to Parras de la Fuente would be jealous just imagining the idyllic childhood he suffered. The name means Grapevine Trellis of the Fountain which describes the local industry. His family crest still adorns the wines from Casa de Madero, a winery located a couple of miles north of town which you can tour and sample the wine."
Author enjoys chasing fish in Parras’s Estanque de la Luz, 1993
"How many times a day can you take the tour?"
"In your case Judge, it would make more sense if you arranged for a room there."
"On the southern and higher side of town, they've captured the water from mountain springs in three large cement tanks, bigger that city swimming pools. One is now a park where big fish sharing crystal clear water with all the people; there's picnic tables, diving boards, palm trees and shade trees, and on the water's surface the most impressive reflection of a cute little whitewashed church built up on a pyramid-shaped mountain a little ways south. Like Cuatro Cienegas, Parras de la Fuente shares the pictoresque culture of Northern Mexico's ranchos and haciendas, adobe-walled streets and family histories that stretch back several hundred years."
Mexican man and sun practice diving
in Parras de la Fuente, Coahuila.
"Taking a back road out of Parras de La Fuente headed east, ranchers and farmers planted desert yucca trees, similar to Joshua trees, to define property or field boundaries. Eventually we'll get to General Cepeda, known for dinosuar discoveries. In fact, a new dinosaur was unearthed in the year 2000."
"Dinosaurs? You believe in those big lizard monsters?"
"What's not to believe? We got bones."
"Ya mean rocks, Brinkley. Nothing bonish about 'em."
"What do you think they're digging up? Where'd they come from?"
"Look Brinkley, we got two choices in life: nothing more. Ya believe the bible, or you don't. Obviously, any foooool could understand that if God wants us to believe the Bible, he's gonna test our faith occassionally."
"Judge, you say God plants a bunch of rocks shaped like bones of giant reptiles in piles all over the earth just to test our faith?"
"Listen to yourself! Listen to what you just said! A pile of rocks shaped like bones of giant reptiles, what a scream! You believe that? Nothin' to think about, it's all in the Bible in black and white. Giant reptile skeletons my butt, your great-grandmother's a monkey too, and you call yourself a doctor, a scientist, a man of learning!"
"Well Judge, anyone could be wrong."
"That's a little more like it."
"Anyone could be wrong?"
"Sure!"
"Except the Bible?"
"Dummy. Tsk tsk tsk. That's the Word of God. Cain't be wrong."
"Oh, I know, I've quoted scriptures till I was blue in the face on the radio, talking people into coming to Del Rio for a checkup, at least, before they meet their maker in person a little too early."
"And God sure smiled on your fortunes, didn't he?"
"Oh yes."
"So why do you lie and say they found dinosaur bones?"
"OK. So new evidence of God's duplicity and unfathonable capricousness was unearthed early this millenium in General Cepeda."
"Uh, yeah. Sounds better to me. I think. I'm not sure. What are you smiling at, Brinkley?"
"Hear we are, driving down a long highway and entering Saltillo late on a Tuesday night, or maybe a Wednesday morning. It's Capitol of Coahuila, famous for colorful Serapes which are rugs you wear around your neck, and several extraordinarily sumptuous Catherdrals the Catholics have decked out with a bunch of statues of bleeding saints and ornate barroque wood carvings covered in real gold leaf. Look it up in a guidebook. I'm going to bed."
"Brinkley?"
"Yeah?"
"You might want to warn people that the slatted grates over the storm drains at intersections cover the whole road, and often line up so as to allow a bicycle tire to fall through. Could cause an extremely abrupt change in forward motion for the bike, and I don't think the rider would follow."
"You mean the rider would be pitched headfirst into the intersection?"
"Yep."
This excerpt from the work "The Two JRB's Tour Guide of Val Verde and Coahuila", where the ghosts of "Doctor" Brinkley and Judge Roy Bean lead us around West Texas and Mexico for some great Coahuilan desert snorkeling, might soon be released as part of a publication on CD-ROM and hardcover coffee table book, both with high-resolution multi-media, sound, photographs, and artwork.
Contact System Administrator for more information.
All content and images Copyright © 2002 Mark Plimsoll. All rights reserved.