Madness and Mommies

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Arriving slap bang in the middle of Mexico's biggest International Music and Arts Festival, the Cervantino had it's good and bad points. The good being the abundance of street theatre, free musical concerts and abundance of food stalls, the bad being the huge amount of people crammed into the small streets and the massive hike in hostel prices.

The city of Guanajuato is wedged into a steep ravine, a jumble of colourful houses almost perched on top of each other. The strict planning laws have kept an authentic colonial feel about the place. Traffic lights, and neon signs have been banned and there are a series of unique subterranean streets. A passage was once carved out to divert the river under the city. They have since piped the river off even lower and the tunnels are used as an underground bypass for cars and pedestrians.

Apart from the festival, the other top tourist attraction here is the Mummy museum. Corpses here are normally laid out in crypts but after five years if they have been unclaimed or the families are unable to pay the fees, the remains become the property of the municipal government. Due to the temperate climate of the city they noticed that the skin was quite well preserved and the bodies retained quite a lot of original features. Some bright spark decided they could make a bit of cash out of this and a museum was set up displaying the most 'interesting' corpses. Most are naked but some still have the remnants of their socks sagging loosely at their ankles. The worst ones are the mother with unborn child and the woman who was buried alive, her hands clawing at the coffin roof. Mexicans delight in having their pictures taken with shrivelled babies, it made me feel a bit sick.

Next door was the equally macabre Salon of the Cult of Death. Here they had on display such delights as rusty old chastity belts, a coffin with spikes in complete with tortured skeleton from the Inquisition, 'scary' holograms and the World's smallest mummy. Nice.

Saw a Mexican vocalist and a Indonesian band in the plaza for free and had a few drinks in a reggae bar...a truly international evening.

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Photos

Kissing streets
This street is so narrow it is said neighbours cuold lean over and kiss each other.

Healthy fruit snacks
Hi chose not to coat mine in chilli powder and lime!

Yummy snacks
Crispy cups smeared with mashed potato or mashed beans with shredded cabbage and chilli sauce...

Check the eyeballs..
The kids love it!

Comments

[jennie]

sick!
That mummy place is rank! I wouldnt have believed you if I hadnt seen the photos. Very odd! Loving the blog Harris, keep it up x