Guanajuato,
Mexico
Thursday, February 9, 2006
Actually we went on the 7th but I used that date already. We had been to Guanajauto the year before and wanted to return with our friends. It is about 1 hour and 40 minutes away on a comfy first class bus and then short taxi ride to the town center. At first impression on the outskirts Guanajauto looks like a modern city, but as the taxi comes over the ridge from the bus station and starts descending and going through one tunnel after another you are transported back to the 1600's when this was a major mining center. The city is spread up and down and all around very steep hills with the houses cantilevered out from the hillside. But it is the underground tunnels that are most amazing. Originally part of the underground mines, today the ones in the town center are underground roadways that twist and turn and climb and descend in a pattern only a native could figure out. The taxis swoop and swerve along the mostly one way passages with cars parked along the way and sudden and unmarked right hand turns taking you in a whole new direction. Known as the city of the frogs Guanajauto would seem better suited to being the city of the moles.
Once up for air you find a delightful historic center with a worth seeing Cathedral, the boyhood home of Diego Rivera, an opera house and little streets just perfect for wandering.
