Guanajuato

We decided to spend our last day and a half in Guanajuato, a larger university town about an hour from San Miguel.  The town is and was (since the 1600s) a major mining town, especially for silver.  On Friday afternoon we walked a few kilometers from downtown to La Valenciana passing several old silver mine entrances, and the current mine. Guards carrying submachine guns guarded all the entrances to the working mine (owned by Great Panther Silver)  along with German shepherds that barked as we walked by on the road.  La Valenciana seemed like a sleepy little hamlet topped by a church that had been a convent from the mid 1700s to the mid 1800s. We sat on a low wall shaded by a fig tree and waited for the little bus/van back to the center of town to pick us up. 

On the road to Guanajuato, the structure for an old mine

The old church in La Valenciana

Las Rayas mine with La Valenciana above it

Guanajuato is a very hilly town with a lot of pedestrian only roads and stairways.  The main roads are in underground tunnels where the river used flow.  Somehow the river got shunted aside to control flooding and the resulting tunnels were used to make underground roads back in the 1800s.  A few additional tunnels were added about ten years ago to alleviate congestion just on the outskirts of town.  There are lovely shady plazas all around the historic town center lined with sidewalk cafes and restaurants.  Our hotel, Posada Santa Fe, was on the main plaza.  The Posada had probably seen better days but they were working on putting a new floor in.  The room was adequate but had an aged feel about it.  The staff were friendly though and the hotel has a nice restaurant, a bar that seemed to be lively late in the evening, and a great location for exploring town. 

Entrance to an underground road

 

Looking uphill in Guanajuato

Theatre on the main plaza

Outdoor cafe where we had lunch - enchiladas divorceadas (red and green on opposite sides of the plate) and sopa azteca (like tortilla soup)

Friday morning we took a taxi out to the Ex-Hacienda Barrera, an historic hacienda a few km outside of town.  The Hacienda has lovely gardens each in a different style.  You start out walking through the gardens and end the tour at the house which is furnished with 18^th century heavy wood furniture.  There isn't much explanation about the grounds or house, but you can hire a tour guide.  We just wandered through.  You pay an extra 20 pesos for the privilege of taking photos.  After an expresso at the Hacienda's outdoor cafe we caught a bus back into town that dropped us off near the main market.

Roman garden room at the Hacienda

Mexican Garden at the Hacienda

Courtyard of the main house

Surprisingly, each bedroom had its own bath at the Hacienda

The market is in a big open building with a second floor balcony going around the inside.  On the ground floor are the vegetable and meat stalls and prepared foods, and on the balcony are the knick-knack shops full of cheap goods probably half of which were made in China.  The University has some pretty buildings in town and some very modern looking buildings on the outskirts of town. 

Overview of the market

One of the main university buildings in town

The university motto, the truth will make us free.  Note the beautiful colors of the limestone.

There are many museums in town, but we only went to the Diego Rivera museum, the house he was born in that features several rooms of his paintings and sketches and those of other artists.  Definitely worth a visit.  Somehow Cervantes is a big deal in town and the town holds a huge Cervantes festival each year.  There is a Cervantes museum and several statues of his characters. 

Tile mosaic at the Diego Rivera museum

In the evening we first sat outdoors at at Luna Bar on the main plaza and just took in the crowds of people that were circling the plaza along with many groups of musicians, flower vendors, and blanket sellers.  The musicians were traditional mariachis as well as some groups that play Norteňo music. They wore cowboy hats and fancy boots with jeans and western shirts.  Many of the people circling the plaza were young – from middle school through college age.  There groups of boys and groups of boys, and some groups of couples.  The only problem with sitting outside near the plaza is that people constantly solicit you for tips for a song, buying flowers or chiclets, etc.  We circled the plaza a few times before settling at a nice restaurant on the opposite side of the plaza at a table a little further from the flow of people.  We split a piece of seared tuna served with an avocado sauce and very thinly sliced dried fruit – melon, orange and pineapple.  It was topped with a crunchy nest of fried potato strings. 

A norteno group playing at for a customer at a restaurant

Crowds on the main plaza on a Friday night

Our other food find was the pastry shop, La Vie en Rose, just off the main plaza near where you can catch a bunch of different buses.  It has a restaurant upstairs which we heard was very good and we can vouch for the pastries being excellent! Jake things they were as good as anything in France.

Breakfast on the plaza in front of our hotel

I write this from the Leon airport.  We took a taxi here and chatted with the young driver.  He has been learning English, but we mostly spoke in Spanish.  He wants to go to New England and is excited about the Patriots playing in the Superbowl.   Our plane is at the gate.  In an hour we fly back to the cold, grey north!  

View departing from the Leon airport