About Villa de Santiago

About 2 or 3 miles south of Los Cavazos (about 20 miles south of Monterrey), off to the right side of the National Highway, is Villa de Santiago, or Santiago Village. As you drive south from Los Cavazos you'll know you've arrived when you see the steeple of a church to the right. Slightly before the steeple is a gas station, and slightly beyond the steeple is another gas station. These are kind of the north and south extremes of the town, which mostly extends out towards the hills to the west. But if you're driving fast and not looking you can drive right by it and not even know it because, aside from the two gas stations, there's not much of the town you can actually see from the highway.

Villa de Santiago is a traditional, Mexican colonial-era village. The streets are still narrow, there is a central "plaza" with a fountain in the middle, a classical small-village church right next to the plaza, and some of the streets are even made of cobblestone.

The main plaza	The church	A typical colonial street
Presa la Boca: View from scenic overlook

We used to visit a restaurant in Villa de Santiago called "Las Palomas," but after we visited yesterday and found "something" (I won't specify what!) in our salsa, we all lost our appetite and won't be going back there or recommending it any longer...