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Saltillo
The skyview of Saltillo, Coahuila
Nickname(s): The Athens of Mexico
Location of Saltillo within Coahuila
Saltillo Location in Mexico
Coordinates: 25°25′37″N 100°59′W / 25.42694°N 100.98333°W / 25.42694; -100.98333Coordinates: 25°25′37″N 100°59′W / 25.42694°N 100.98333°W / 25.42694; -100.98333
Country	Mexico
State	Coahuila
Municipality	Saltillo
Founded	1577 (Alberto del Canto)
Government
- Mayor	Jorge Torres Lopez
Elevation	1,600 m (5,249 ft)
Population (2005)
- City	648,929
- Metro	750,000
- Demonym	Saltillense
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
Postal code	25000
Area code(s)	844
Website	www.saltillo.gob.mx

Saltillo is the capital city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. The city is located about 400km south of the U.S. state of Texas, and 90km west of Monterrey, Nuevo León.

As of the 2005 census, Saltillo had a population of 633,667 people, rising to 725,259 if the full Metropolitan Area is considered, making it the 20th biggest metro area in the country. The metro area comprises the municipalities of Saltillo, Ramos Arizpe, and Arteaga. The municipality of Saltillo had a population of 648,929. The Gross Domestic Product per capita in the Metropolitan Zone of Saltillo is one of the highest in Mexico with $13,936 USD. According to the ranking of the Inversionista magazine of 2006, Saltillo is the best Mexican city to live in, chosen from more than 53 Mexican cities.

Geography

El Cerro del Pueblo (The People's Hill) and its 4 metres (13 ft) cross overlook the city. The city's elevation is 1,600 metres (5,200 ft), making it cooler and windier than its neighbor city, Monterrey. Saltillo lies near the city of Arteaga and in the Chihuahan Desert.

Climate

Saltillo has an arid climate (Koppen climate classification BWh). Saltillo is located in the Chihuahuan Desert but temperatures are cooler than other desertic cities in Mexico because it is located in an altitude of 1,600 meters. Summers are slightly hot with cool nights and winters are very cold. Rainfall is scarce but more prominent in summer.

Government

The city of Saltillo is the municipal seat of the municipality of Saltillo. The current municipal president is Fernando de las Fuentes from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) who will remain in office until 2009.

History

Historical Aqueduct

Founded in 1577 by Spanish colonists, Saltillo is the oldest post-conquest settlement in northern Mexico. Fourteen years later in 1591 the Spanish resettled a community of their Tlaxcaltec allies in a separate nearby village (San Esteban de Nueva Tlaxcala), in order to cultivate the land and aid colonization efforts that had stalled in the face of local hostility to the Spanish presence.^[1]

In 1824, Saltillo was made the capital of the State of Coahuila and included the area which is now the US State of Texas until the Texas War of Independence and the founding of the independent Texas Republic.

The city is flanked by the Zapalinamé mountains, which are part of the Sierra Madre Oriental. By looking at the relief of the mountains, one can see, according to local legend, the relief of Zapaliname, chieftain of the Huachicil tribe.

Economy

Sarapes being made

Saltillo's most famous exports are Saltillo tile and the locally woven multi-coloured sarapes. There is a General Motors assembly plant and Chrysler's Saltillo Truck Assembly plant, two engine facilities and a car transmissions plant. 37.4% of cars and 62.6% of trucks produced in Mexico are assembled in Saltillo.^[2] Saltillo is home to the Grupo Industrial Saltillo, an important manufacturing conglomerate that makes home appliances, silverware, and auto parts. Some criticism has been made of this new urbanization and the lack of conservation and planning.

During the early 20th Century, Saltillo was called the Athens of Mexico because of its number of famous intellectuals. Nowadays, it is considered the Detroit of Mexico because of the importance of its automotive industry, including the huge Chrysler, General Motors, and Delphi plants.

The General Motors plant, the Complejo Industrial Ramos Arizpe (The Ramos Arizpe Industrial Complex) exports vehicles to Japan, Canada, and Central America. In this plant, the following vehicles are assembled: Chevy C2, Monza and Chevrolet Captiva for Mexican and South American markets. Saturn Vue hybrid and HHR are exported to many nations. In addition, 2010 Saab 9-4X and the Cadillac BRX, will be built at the GM plant in Ramos Arizpe. [1]

Points of interest

Plaza de armas fountain

Saltillo Cathedral

City Baseball stadium

Alameda Zaragoza is the largest park in the city and has an artificial lake in the shape of the Mexican Republic. The park is located just west of the downtown plaza.

The Colonial Center of the city is built in pink marble, giving Saltillo's architecture a distinctive flavour. Prominent buildings are the cathedral(built from 1745-1800), the Palacio de Gobierno (state government building), the Ateneo Fuente and the Instituto Tecnológico de Saltillo. The large cathedral is the best example of colonial religious architecture in northeastern Mexico; its facade is mainly Spanish Baroque, with less exuberant areas. The Centro Cultural Vito Alessio Robles (Vito Alessio Cultural Center) is an 18th Century repository of antiquities and documents from historians Vito Alessio Robles and Oscar Davila. The repository is also a temporal museum. The Casa Purcell (Purcell Mannor) is a Victorian style mansion built in the 19th Century by Irish merchant William Purcell. Today it is a cultural center.

The city has two world-class museums. The Museo de las Aves de México (Bird Museum),^[3] featuring a collection of bird specimens from all over Mexico in realistic displays. The Museo del Desierto (Desert Museum)^[4] focuses on the geography, geology, paleontology (with dinosaur fossils) and biodiversity of the Chihuahuan desert, and the history and culture of the local people through time. It includes a cactus greenhouse and exhibits, with dozens of species.

The Mirador is an amazing place to observe a panaromic view of the city.

Education

Local government palace

Inside the government palace

Saltillo's main universities are the Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila, the Instituto Tecnológico de Saltillo, the Tec de Monterrey Saltillo Campus, El Instituto de Filologia Hispanica, and the Universidad Autonoma Agraria Antonio Narro. Other universities include Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Avanzados del IPN (CINVESTAV Saltillo), Universidad Interamericana del Norte (Tec Sierra Madre [2], Universidad Autonoma del Noreste, Universidad Pedagogica Nacional, Universidad del Valle de Mexico, Escuela Normal de Coahuila [3], and many others.

Transportation

Saltillo Metropolitan Area air traffic is served by Plan de Guadalupe International Airport. It takes 15 minutes to get from downtown Saltillo to the airport. It has several flights per day to Mexico City and a daily flight to Houston, Texas. There is a comprehensive bus system in Saltillo along with man taxis.

Sister cities

The following are sister cities of Saltillo: [4]

• Austin, United States
• Lansing, United States
• Windsor, Canada
• Holguín, Cuba

People

• Fernando Soler (1896 - 1979) Film actor and director
• Ruben Aguirre Actor best remembered for his characterization of Professor Jirafales in the television show El Chavo del Ocho.
• Katie Barberi Actress best known for her work in telenovelas.
• Magda Guzman [5] Actress with many film and TV credits 1941 to the present (2008.)
• Brissia Mayagoitia Singer, former member of a band called La Nueva Banda.
• Rosario Ybarra Activist and prominent figure in Mexican politics.
• Carlos Bee Former U.S. Representative from Texas, great-grandson of Thomas Bee.
• Manuel Acuña 19th-century Mexican writer. He focused on poetry, but also wrote some novels and plays.
• José Narro Robles Former director of the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
• Enrique Martínez y Martínez Mexican politician affiliated to the Revolutionary Institutional Party, former governor of Coahuila.
• Humberto Moreira Valdés Governor of the Mexican State of Coahuila (2005-2011).
• Fernando de las Fuentes President of the Congress of Coahuila.
• Roque González Garza Mexican general and acting president of the Republic from January to June 1915.
• Julio Torri Mexican writer and teacher who formed part of the Ateneo de la Juventud (1909-1914).

Trivia

• Saltillo has underground tunnels, starting in the Catedral de Santiago and ending at the city's limits.

Notes

References

• Link to tables of population data from Census of 2005 INEGI: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática.

External links

• Official city website

Mexican state capitals Aguascalientes (Aguascalientes) · Mexicali (Baja California) · La Paz (Baja California Sur) · Campeche (Campeche)  · Tuxtla Gutiérrez (Chiapas) · Chihuahua (Chihuahua) · Saltillo (Coahuila) · Colima (Colima) · Mexico City (DF) · Durango (Durango) · Guanajuato (Guanajuato) · Chilpancingo (Guerrero) · Pachuca (Hidalgo) · Guadalajara (Jalisco) · Toluca (Mexico State) · Morelia (Michoacán) · Cuernavaca (Morelos) · Tepic (Nayarit) · Monterrey (Nuevo León) · Oaxaca (Oaxaca) · Puebla (Puebla) · Querétaro (Querétaro) · Chetumal (Quintana Roo) · San Luis Potosí (San Luis Potosí) · Culiacán (Sinaloa) · Hermosillo (Sonora) · Villahermosa (Tabasco) · Cd. Victoria (Tamaulipas) · Tlaxcala (Tlaxcala) · Xalapa (Veracruz) · Mérida (Yucatán) · Zacatecas (Zacatecas)

State of Coahuila Saltillo (capital) Topics Architecture | Climate | Culture | Demographics | Economy | Education | Geography | Government | History | Literature | Politics | Sports | Transportation | Tourist Attractions Municipalities and municipal seats  · Abasolo (Abasolo)  · Acuña (Ciudad Acuña)  · Allende (Allende)  · Arteaga (Arteaga)  · Candela (Candela)  · Castaños (Castaños)  · Cuatrociénegas (Cuatrociénegas de Carranza)  · Escobedo (Escobedo)  · Francisco I. Madero (Francisco I. Madero)  · Frontera (Ciudad Frontera)  · General Cepeda (General Cepeda)  · Guerrero (Guerrero) · Hidalgo (Hidalgo)  · Jiménez (Jiménez)  · Juárez (Juárez)  · Lamadrid (Lamadrid)  · Matamoros (Matamoros de la Laguna)  · Monclova (Monclova)  · Morelos (Morelos)  · Múzquiz (Santa Rosa de Múzquiz)  · Nadadores (Nadadores)  · Nava (Nava)  · Ocampo (Ocampo)  · Parras (Parras de la Fuente)  · Piedras Negras (Piedras Negras) · Progreso (Progreso) · Ramos Arizpe (Ramos Arizpe)  · Sabinas (Sabinas)  · Sacramento (Sacramento)  · Saltillo (Saltillo)  · San Buenaventura (San Buenaventura)  · San Juan de Sabinas (Nueva Rosita)  · San Pedro de las Colonias (San Pedro de las Colonias)  · Sierra Mojada (Sierra Mojada)  · Torreón (Torreón) · Viesca (Viesca)  · Villa Unión (Villa Unión)  · Zaragoza (Zaragoza)

From Wikitravel

Saltillo is a the capital of Coahuila state, in Mexico.

Understand

Saltillo is a beautiful small colonial city in Northern Mexico. It is a traditional city with a colorful history. A city that was an important point on the 19th century Camino Real, yet a city with a diverse modern manufacturing economy. Interior designers know Saltillo for its famous thick, lightly glazed, earthen ceramic floor tiles, and the brightly colored shawls known as sarapes are part of the city's colorful tradition. Today, Saltillo is a government center, a college town, and a manufacturing city with big factories outside the city limits producing chemicals, metals, auto parts, and trucks.

Get in

Plane, car, or bus are your basic options.

By plane

Saltillo's International Airport (IATA|SLW) is located on the north side of the city, about 10 minutes from downtown. It is served by a regional carriers to Monterrey and Mexico City. There is one daily flight from the U.S.: a Continental Express flight from Houston, however, convenient flight schedules are available to nearby Monterrey.

By car

Saltillo is one hour west of Monterrey via Mexico Highway 40.

By bus

Many bus lines serve Saltillo, including Omnibus de Mexico, Transportes del Norte, Turistar, and Futura (Estrella de Blanco). Trans-border buses to the U.S. are also available from Saltillo.

Get around

Downtown Saltillo is best explored using the TranVia trolley system. For 20 pesos, you can get on and off 4 times. TranVia does not operate on Mondays.

• Palacio de Gobierno (Coahuila State House), attractive colonial era state house featuring bright open courtyards and a series of murals depicting Coahuila history, painetd by Salvador Tarazona.
• Cathedral of Saltillo, stunning cathedral built in the mid 18th century, spectacular churrigueresque facade, 6-inch thick doors of carved mahogany and cedar featuring St. Paul and St. Peter, stunning silver-plated altar.
• Museo del Desierto (Museum of the Desert), large, modern museum organized as a series of pavilions, each exploring a particular aspect of desert life. The focus is on the enormous Chihuahua desert, and the museum's centerpiece is an enormous T-Rex skeleton, excavated in the nearby desert. Great for kids!
• Museo del Aves (Museum of Birds), large, modern museum showcasing more than 2,000 stuffed and mounted birds, representing nearly every species found in Mexico.
• Parque Alameda Zaragoza, tranquil city park featuring towering cedars and long walkways through an immaculately landscaped garden. Playgrounds for kids, benches for strolling lovers on a Sunday afternoon.
• Vito Alessio Cultural Center, relatively small museum, located a block from the cathedral at the corner of Hidalgo and Aldama. Not a lot to see, but admission is free and it is the site of a fascinating series of murals depicting the history of Coahuila, and life of Vito Alessio, a revolution-era general born in the local area.

• Saraperos de Saltillo, are the local Mexican League baseball team. Between March and August, catch a game at the new Parque Francisco Madero. [1]

Eat

Some unique regional dishes that are specialties of Saltillo include:

• Pan de pulque - a delightfully sweet airy bread that owes its texture to the use of fermented agave juice in its batter. Widely available throughout the city, you can also grab a loaf to go from the shops across the street from the bus station.

• Bahía Barcelona, Blvd. Los Fundadores Km. 17 Arteaga, 844 483 9000. Spanish restaurant.
• El Mesón Principal, Blvd Venustiano Carranza y Ave. Egipto, 844 415 0015. Traditional Northern Mexico cooking, as the racks of kid goat slow-roasting over hot coals prove beyond any doubt.
• Hong Kong Restaurant, Blvd. Venustiano Carranza No. 3801, 844 415 5313. Chinese.
• Nikkori, Blvd. Venustiano Carranza 2665-7, 844 416 7997. Japanese cuisine.
• Terrazo Romana, Purcell across from Alameda Zaragoza, 844 414 9743. Wood-fired pizza is the star of this casual restaurant.

• El Tapanco, Calle Allende Sur 225, 844 414 4339. Outstanding restaurant with courtyard setting, intimate dining rooms, and traditional Mexican cooking. Their tortilla soup is one of the best in Mexico.

• Boss, Blvd. Venustiano Carranza 2665-7.
• Carlos’n Charlie’s, Blvd. Venustiano Carranza No. 3070, 844 416 4842.
• Faisanes, Carretera Los González between Blvd. Colosio y Moctezuma, 844 439 8008.
• Joy Bar, Blvd. Cuahutémoc, Col. Los Pinos, 844 485 0251. Discotech.
• El Olmo Disco Bar, Blvd. Valdés Sánchez, Col. Jardines del Valle, 844 415 6838.

• Holiday Inn Eurotel, Blvd. Venustiano Carranza 4100, (844)-415-1000. Pleasant moderate hotel on outskirts of Saltillo. Off-street parking makes it a good bet for motorists. TranVia trolley stop.

• Quinta Real Saltillo, Blvd. Sarmiento Fracc. Real De Peña 1385, Tel: 844 438 84 50. New luxury hotel about 10 minutes north of downtown.

• Art.net & Cibercafé, Xicotencatl 182 Sur - Centro, 52 8 412 0652, [2]. Around 25 pesos per hour for internet use. 10am-3am.

• Bosques de Monterreal is a mountain recreation lodge with horseback riding, golf, tennis, ATV tours, and even downhill alpine skiing on an artificial surface! [3]

From LoveToKnow 1911