I had a room mate in college back in the 70s whose father was a banker in San Antonio. He owned some interest in a Ranchero (big ranch) near Guanajuato, Mexico. Guanajuato is not too far from Mexico city.

My room mate invited me to go fishing on that ranch during spring break one year and I took him up on it. We rode his father's motorcycles from San Antonio to Laredo, to Monterrey, to Saltillo, to San Luis Potosi, to Guanajuato.

We caught more 5lb. bass than you could count. We saw all kinds of wildlife and birds. It was an awesome adventure that I would NEVER take today although I have students that have kinfolks that live down there and they visit at least once a year.

On the way back, we took the route through Zacatecas instead of San Luis Potosi. That turned out to be the same route that Santa Anna took to Texas early 1836.

The countryside is beautiful. It is not unlike South Texas. But I would not want to WALK from Zacatecas to San Antonio as most of the Mexican army did. They suffered.