Guanajuato
GUANJUATO had been bigged up by some many people were had very high expectations, not always a good thing.
This time, however, we werent disappointedGUANJUATO had been bigged up by some many people were had very high expectations, not always a good thing.
This time, however, we werent disappointed. Guanajuato is an old colonial town, important because of its rich silver mines, the town prospered, and the buildings, plazas, churches and setting are all gorgeous. Being up in the mountains the climate was much cooler and the town was a joy to walk around.
We both enrolled in a language course to improve our poor Spanish and were overjoyed when we learnt our mate from London who we saw in Baja was coming ti stay at the same hostel as us with his girlfriend for the upcoming Semana Santa festival. This is basically the lead up to Easter, and the Mexicans celebrate for a week with parades, re-enactments, and music. Guanajuato also has the tradition of Dia de la Flores, when everyone buys flowers for the women, and the streets overflow with flowers everywhere.
Guanajuato felt like it was busting at the seams with the amount of people coming to the festival, the colours on the streets were intense and the smell form street vendors carts filled the air.
We spent a great couple of days wandering the streets with our Baja buddies, went for a cultural evening with the symphony orchestra, saw the Mummies in the Museo de la Momias, sampled the cuisine and wine of the region before heading off in our separate directions.
We took a slight detour to Christo Rey, a gigantic statue of Jesus on the top of a mountain, which also marks the geographical centre of Mexico, followed by another of our favourite dirt road excursions to Valencia.