Back in Mexico Baby!

    The last month in my trip was spent entirely in Mexico and included a lot of baseball games similar to the Dominican Republic and Cuba. I flew out of Cuba, landed in Monterrey, Mexico and took a taxi towards my hotel within the city. Putting baseball aside, the Macroplaza was a very interesting place considering it is actually the world's fourth largest public square. From the Macroplaza, I was able to visit nearby landmarks such as the Lighthouse of Commerce, the Government Palace, the Heroes' Esplanade, and the Neptune Fountain.

Neptune Fountain at the Macroplaza

    Some other stuff I did in Monterrey included the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Metropolitan Cathedral of Our Lady of Monterrey, the Santa Lucia Riverwalk, the Museum of Steel, Barrio Antiguo, the Mexican History Museum, the Alfa Planetarium, and Cumbres de Monterrey National Park. At Cumbres de Monterrey National Park, there's a beautiful cave system called the García Caves, one of mexico's largest cave systems. The most interesting section of the cave system was the Light Chamber which got its name from the cave's translucent ceiling.

Colorful buildings in Barrio Antiguo, the old Spanish Quarter of Monterrey

    Of course, at this point in my trip I wouldn't be heading to a city without baseball. I couldn't get to any baseball games my first time around in Mexico because the Mexican Pacific League hadn't started yet, so I decided to see 3 games in this 2 week span in Monterrey since I could. All three games I saw were very exciting and fun to watch. The first was on November 22nd which saw the Sultanes de Monterrey get beat narrowly by the Tomateros de Culiacan 8-6. Monterrey took a 2-run lead in the bottom of the 8th before squandering it by giving up 4 runs in the top of the 9th. Right fielder Sebastian Elizalde for Culiacan put together the most exciting game, racking up 3 hits, 3 runs, 3 RBIs, and a walk in 4 at bats. He hit a game-tying 2-run home run in the 5th and successfully stole home in a double steal in the top of the 9th to score the go-ahead run.

    I saw 2 more games on the 24th and 28th. On the 24th, Culiacan crushed Monterrey 13-0 with all the runs being scored in the 5th and 6th innings. A strong performance from their pitcher, Jefri Hernandez, and the entire lineup led the Tomateros to an easy victory over the Sultanes. The last game was another home game for Monterrey against the Mayos de Navojoa. It actually ended curiously in a 6-6 tie after 11 innings were played. I had never seen that before, but I guess the umps were able to stop it short. That day, DH Sergio Perez was the hero for the Sultanes as he picked up a perfect 4 hits in 4 at bats with 4 RBIs as well. He also had the game-tying 2-run single in the bottom of the 8th with the bases loaded for Monterrey.

    After all my fun in Monterrey with the baseball games and all the other attractions, I headed to Guadalajara for weeks to finally finish my 6-month trip. Since this was my last chance to see Latin American baseball on my trip, I took the liberty of going to 4 home games of the Charros de Jalisco. I saw 2 games against the Tomateros de Culiacan and 2 versus the Caneros de los Mochis. The first game between Jalisco and Culiacan, which was played on December 7th, was insane. There were plenty of lead changes, but Jalisco eventually ended up on top 7-6 thanks to a go-ahead 3-run home run in the 3rd inning by Dariel Alvarez and a walk-off 3-run bomb hit by Manny Rodriguez in the bottom of the 9th.

Logo of the baseball team, Charros de Jalisco

    I saw another game the day after which had the Charros pulling out a tight 2-1 victory over the Tomateros due to strong pitching performances on both sides of the diamond. Manuel Flores got the win for Jalisco despite Zack Dodson's good 5.2 innings of work for Culiacan. On the 11th, I watched a close game between Jalisco and los Mochis with los Mochis eventually tying the game in the top of the 8th and winning it in the 9th. Interestingly enough, 3 of the Caneros' 4 runs came off of solo shots. Isaac Rodriguez Salazar was responsible for one of those home runs, to tie the game in the 8th inning, then also hit the game-winning single in the top of the 9th. The next day, it looked like a blowout, as the Caneros led 10-2 going into the bottom of the 8th. the Charros scored 9 runs in one inning to take the lead(!), then immediately gave up 2 runs in the 9th and lost the game 12-11. Strong batting performances were there across the board for both teams due to the sheer number of runs scored, but it was los Mochis catcher, Juan Uriarte who came up with the game-winning 2-run single.

    The other highlight of my time in Guadalajara was definitely checking out the Guadalajara Zoo. I got to experience the park from the views of a cable car high above all the animals and even got a good look at the Huentitán canyon in the distance. I was able to go on the Masai Mara Safari to watch animals such as giraffes, rhinos, zebras, ostriches, elephants and gazelles roam freely. I saw sharks at the aquarium and hippos at Kiboko Bwawa. The Valley of the Baboons and Monkeyland held all the primates like baboons, gorillas, gibbons, and other exotic monkeys. The Rainforest contained chimpanzees and orangutans while the Herpetario allowed up-close encounters with crocodiles, iguanas, scorpions, the anaconda, and the boa constrictor. It was such a fun time seeing all the animals in one of Mexico's largest zoos.

A cute monkey hanging out at Guadalajara Zoo

    Some other attractions I visited while in Guadalajara included the Instituto Cultural de Cabañas, the Guadalajara Cathedral, the Expiatory Temple, the Government Palace, the Teatro Degollada, the Rotonda de Los Jaliscienses Ilustres, and the Regional Museum of Guadalajara. After my two weeks in Guadalajara, it was finally time for me to finish my 6-month journey to Central America and fly home on December 15.