Guanajuato

I have a number of topical posts planned, but you gotta start somewhere and the beginning seems like the logical place…

We landed in Leon, Mexico Sunday afternoon (Mar. 20) to all the bright sun and color we’d been missing for so many cold, snowy months in New England this winter. I sat up front with the cab driver so I could see everything, tested out the bit of Spanish I could muster (I hadn’t slept much in two nights and we’d been traveling for hours), and we drove from the airport to the city of Guanajuato.

You arrive in Guanajuato through these amazing tunnels under the city. This is not the Callahan Tunnel in Boston, folks. They’re like caverns or rabbit warrens, with side tunnels branching off of them and with sudden breaks to the sky where you can see houses built precipitously up over them. The tunnels were begun in 1960, but they’re entirely appropriate to the city’s rich mining history. A nice couple from Morelia that we met the next morning (more on them later) drove us through the tunnels before they left so we could take a closer look.

[Julio & Susana in the tunnels, Mar. 21]

[Houses perched above the subterranean streets]

Our room in the Hotel Luna overlooked the lovely Jardin de la Union, with its square of immaculately groomed laurel trees, its ornate quiosco (bandstand), and wide surrounding aisles lined with park benches. Since it was the start of the two-week Semana Santa holidays, the jardin was almost always full of Mexicans on vacation. It was a great place to watch couples and families strolling or sitting in the shade, all ages together. We sat in either our hotel’s café or in one of the others’ around the jardin and enjoyed watching people and listening to the mariachis and rancheros serenade the other diners. The whole area was particularly festive with the colorful banderas flying in honor of the national holiday celebrating the birthday of Benito Juarez (Mar. 21).

[Jardin de la Union, morning of Mar. 21]

[Jardin, with festive banderas for the holiday]

Kitty-corner to the jardin is the beautiful 100-year-old Teatro Juarez (see photo in previous post; interior shot here). There were always people sitting on the steps outside the teatro, and frequently a mime or other performer would be there entertaining the crowd.

After we checked in to our hotel, we wandered the streets, eating cups of fruit – watermelon, papaya, jicama and pineapple sprinkled with chile powder, salt and lime juice – or cups of chips with chile sauce. Maddy was right when she told me that we would not starve in Mexico.

[Maddy buying street food]

We ambled up an alley into a quiet church and sat listening to some lovely Spanish guitar I thought was piped in, but turned out to be a musician playing in the square out behind the church. We sat on the bleachers there with a handful of other people listening to the music and taking in the perfect weather.

[Spanish guitar music in a quiet square, afternoon of Mar. 20]

So, remember those nice mariachis in the cafes below our windows? Yup, they played well into the night, along with the rancheros and pop-rock musicians - all at the same time, mind you - punctuated by whoops of the crowd being entertained in front of the teatro. Earplugs were no help and I had yet another night of very little sleep. The next day we changed our room to a quieter one in the back, right on the street but there we only heard the occasional passerby and the quiet singing of a workman.

[Quiet street behind the Hotel Luna, morning of Mar. 22]

Comments

[Roberta]

The photos are really good. The one coming out of the tunnel that shows the houses is nice. The sun looks so brilliant and warm. I can hardly wait for more.
Thanks for taking the time to post and explain.

[Steven]

You've never been lost, until you're lost in the 3D tunnelscape of Guanajuato. The principal tunnel follows an old river bed, winding under the city, leaving you totally disoriented!

But the city is not too large, and once you get parked (a separate adventure) there is no reason to venture into the tunnels. Guanajuato is a great walking town, it is best to leave the car at home, if possible.