Guanajauto ****
Trip Start
Oct 10, 2006
1
5
110
Trip End
Ongoing
Guanajuato,
Mexico
Thursday, November 9, 2006
Originally, Collins and I were undecided whether we would venture to Queretaro or Guanajuato and holy God but was I glad we chose the latter.
Declared a world heritage site by Unesco in 1988, there isn't enough that I could say about this city in terms of its beauty. It is a cross between Galway, San Sebastian in the Basque country and what I imagine Edinburgh to be like. There are also many pedestrianized or semi-pedestrianised streets due to an underground tunnel which keeps traffic out of the main plazas, making the atmosphere far more relaxed.
It has a student population of 21,000 which ensures that the centre, where the University is conveniently located, is always buzzing
Collins haircut
. (On a downside, I read that 75 of these students were diagnosed with HIV in 2005, and that up to 89 have been diagnosed this year) The Mexicanos here are notably wealthier than those in Zacatecas. The majority of the students look like Italians with their big sunglasses, matching belts, shoes, jewellery and of course, they walked with that confident swagger.
While Guanajuato is noticeably geared towards tourists with a huge presence of police and expensive shops, there weren´t actually that many Gringos around. As to whether this had to do with the time of year or because it wealthier Mexicanos who go there, I don´t know.
We spent the first evening just wandering around and, for the want of another less cliched phrase, soaking up the atmosphere. I could have spent hours just gazing at the beautiful buildings. They are mainly built in the old European colonial style and for once, the beauty is not limited to just Cathedrals. We sat in the Jardin de la Union (Union garden) for a while and listened to a Mariachi style band crooning out the love tunes..(Although with our dodgy Spanglish, he could have been singing bout Barney love and we wouldn´t have known it)
Tues, we hit the Mummies´museum first because we needed change to get some brekkie! We parted with a hefty 5dollars each and spent the next 30minutes checking out 100 mummified bodies that had been retrieved from the local cemetery. I hadn´t much hope for this museum (I really just wanted breakfast!) but it was actually amazing to see how well preserved some of the bodies were
Guanajuato from a panoramic point of view
. Most had been eaten away by maggots and whatever but many still had their teeth, eye brows and not to be disgusting, but pubic hair.After a foul and so not worth the waiting for brekkie, we hit the Diego Rivera (Mexico´s world-famous artist) museum where he had been born. It never fails to amaze me how so many of these artists are hits with the laydees..Like Picasso, I could kind of understand, like he was a bit of a stud muffin..:But Diego was certainly not pretty as a painting, or indeed his self-portrait! He was nicknamed the Ogre yet he had affairs with a French artist, a Russian and had three Mexican wives..one of which was Mexican artist Frida Kahlo..(played by Salma Hayek in "Frida") It seemed that Frida was his true love despite the fact that he married another woman in 1955, following her death in 1954. He asked to be buried with her before his death in 1957 but his wish was not granted. An interesting museum...oh and his art was good too!
Collins and I then took another ramble round the city and took a funicular up to El Pipola, another revolutionary hero. It was very good to do this as we got a great view of the city and it was obvious that poverty exists also in Guanajuajo as you saw all the houses crushed together in the surrounding hillside.
Collins then took a kitkat break in the hostel and I checked out the interior of the magnificent building Teatro Juarez, the best part of the day I believe and well worth the 1.50 USdollars I paid.
I cut Collins´hair that eve (photos coming up!!) and as much as he loves to complain, he had to admit that I did an excellent job!!!-defo something I could consider doing when I get home if no one comes up with a post grad for me!
We had a nice dinner in El Truco on Truco street that night. We decided against going to San Miguel de Allende, a city near Guanajuato as it is sposed to be full of gringos and the bus was bout twice the price to everywhere else.
Early night, Morelia next....
