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NEVADA
NEVADA is without doubt the most desolate
state in the US, consisting largely of endless
tracts of bleak, empty desert. Its flat sagebrush
plains are cut intermittently by angular mountain
ranges, and the lack of rainfall or fertile soil
has ensured its maintenance as untouched wilderness.
Apart from the huge acreages given over to mining
and to grazing cattle and sheep, much of Nevada
is under the control of the military, who use
it to test aircraft and weapons systems, including
Stealth fighters and atomic bombs.
Dozens of intriguing small communities are scattered
around the state, some showing signs of strong
Basque influence. Many more are decrepit roadside
ghost towns, often little more than a gas-station-cum-general-store,
flanked by a saloon and perhaps a brothel – Nevada
is the only US state not to have outlawed prostitution,
though it is illegal in Las Vegas. Though millions
of people pass through on their way to and from
California, there's only one real reason why anyone
ever visits Nevada, and that is to gamble: as
soon as you cross the state border, you'll be
attacked by a 24-hour onslaught of neon signs
and gimmicky architecture, each advertising the
best odds and biggest jackpots, nowhere more than
in the surreal oasis of Las Vegas.
Even the smaller and more down-to-earth settlements
of Reno and state capital Carson City revolve
around the casino trade. At least the casinos'
energetic pursuit of passing trade keeps rooms
and especially food inexpensive, so the towns
make good places to break a long journey – and,
with Nevada's relaxed marriage and divorce laws,
make or break a relationship.
Central Nevada
The bulk of Nevada – the largest but least populated
state in the Southwest – is made up of dry, flat
plains sliced by knife-edge volcanic mountain
ranges. Called the Great Basin because its rivers
and streams have no outlet to the ocean, the land
has a certain eerie, even hypnotic, beauty. Its
attractions are hard to pinpoint, but there's
an indefinable, very American sense of the endless
frontier, of wide-open space. The main route across
Nevada, I-80, shoots from Salt Lake City to Reno,
skirting dozens of bizarrely named small towns
– Winnemucca, Elko, Battle Mountain – packed with
casinos, bars, brothels, motels and little else.
The other main route, US-50, has a reputation
as the loneliest highway in America, with the
least traffic and roadside life. Older and slower
than I-80, it follows much the same route as did
the riders of the Pony Express in the 1860s, though
many of the towns along it have faded away, and
some have been entirely abandoned. US-50 passes
by Nevada's sole national park, Great Basin National
Park in the eastern mountains, before it links
up with I-80 at Reno, and then cuts off to the
southwest to circuit magnificent Lake Tahoe. One
last main route, US-95, links Reno and Las Vegas,
passing near Death Valley, as well as Nevada's
most famous and most evocative ghost town, Goldfield.
Calixtlahuaca and Nevada de Toluca
While in Toluca put a couple of hours aside to
visit the archeological site of Calixtlahuaca
(daily 10am–5pm; US$2.50, free on Sun). This was
the township of the Matlazinca people, inhabited
from prehistoric times and later subjugated by
the Aztecs, who established a garrison here in
the fifteenth century. Calixtlahuaca was not a
willing subject, and there were constant rebellions;
after one, in 1475, the Aztecs allegedly sacrificed
over 11,000 Matlazinca prisoners on the Temple
of Quetzalcoatl. This, several times built over,
is the most important structure on the site. Dedicated
to the god in his role as Ehecatl, god of wind,
its circular design is typical, allowing the breezes
to blow freely around the shrine. See also the
remains of the pyramid devoted to Tlaloc, and
the nearby tzompantli (skull rack), both constructed
of the local pink and black volcanic stone. Bring
something to light your way in the short dark
tunnels which reveal evidence of earlier constructions;
and don't worry too much about the opening hours
since the site is not fenced. A small museum is
sporadically open. The site is on a hillside just
outside the village of Calixtlahuaca, easily reached
by taxi (roughly US$5) or by a circuitous local
bus which takes half an hour from the stop on
Santos Degollado, one block north of the main
square at its junction with Nicolas Bravo. If
you've got your own vehicle – and a sturdy one
at that – one trip you should make is to the crater
of the extinct Nevado de Toluca (Xinantécatl;
4690m), which rises high enough above the surrounding
plain for it to rank as Mexico's fourth highest
peak. A rough dirt road – impractical during the
rainy season or midwinter – leads all the way
to the crater rim from where there are numerous
trails leading down to the sandy crater floor
and two small lakes, the Lagos del Sol and de
la Luna, right in its heart. From its jagged lip
the views are breathtaking: below you the lakes;
eastwards a fabulous vista across the Valleys
of Toluca and México; and to the west a series
of lower, greener hills ranging towards the peaks
of the Sierra Madre Occidental. If you do hike
down into the crater, remember to take it easy
in this thin, high-altitude air.
Parque Nacional Sierra Nevada
Looming above Mérida to the south and east, the
Sierra Nevada runs northeast along the Carretera
Transandina and through the 276,000-hectare PARQUE
NACIONAL SIERRA NEVADA. The park features the
country's highest mountains as well as its best
mountain sports activities. Given the park's altitude,
which ranges as high as 5000 metres, it is not
surprising that there is great diversity in flora
and fauna here; the most famous inhabitant is
the endangered Andean condor.
Nevada State Museum
700 Twin Lakes Drive tel 486-5205. Daily 9am–5pm;
$2, under-18s free.
The world can hold few quieter, emptier museums
than the Nevada State Museum, three miles west
of downtown. That's partly due, no doubt, to the
fact that it's fiendishly difficult to find –
follow the signs to Lorenzi Park from the intersection
of Washington Avenue and Valley View Boulevard.
It might also be because Las Vegas has a shorter
history than any other major city; and yet despite
ample floor space the museum seems to make so
little of it. Las Vegas is unique in having grown
up entirely since the invention of the camera
– one image shows Paiute Indians toting bows and
arrows in the valley in 1873 – but rather than
celebrating its extravagantly photogenic flowering,
the displays peter out altogether in the 1950s.
Things do seem reasonably promising at first.
Galleries devoted to regional prehistory hold
the skeletons of a Pacific horse – the horse evolved
in North America and migrated through Alaska to
populate Asia, but was extinct in America until
the Spaniards reintroduced it – and a Columbian
(not woolly) mammoth, which was found in Utah
but may have been hunted by humans in the Las
Vegas area. Perfunctory captions and lifeless
dioramas soon start to reveal the museum's intended
audience as school parties with very short attention
spans, however, and it barely touches upon the
glitz and glamour, vice and viciousness of the
early casino years. There's a tasty little account
of the gangland feudings that surrounded the construction
of the Flamingo, but the main exhibit to accompany
it is the original door to Bugsy Siegel's suite
– quite the dullest door you ever saw. Next up
is some tantalizing material about atomic tests
during the Fifties; and then, suddenly, it's all
over, with not a word about modern Las Vegas.
Lorenzi Park, outside the museum and centered
around a small lake, is perhaps the nicest of
the city's rare public spaces. Its other significant
feature is the Sammy Davis Jr Festival Plaza,
a walled auditorium used for open-air concerts.
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