Guanajuato. An unforgetable town, yet we keep forgetting the name of it.

Day 10 is a travel day, we couldn´t go directly to Guanajuato from Morelia, we had to go to Irapuato first then catch a bus to Guanajuato. We debused in Irapuato, walked into the terminal, bought 2 tickets for Guanajuato, walked back out, got on our bus and left. We weren´t there 5 mins.

Old Guanajuato is built in the crevis of a mountain. In order to maintain the beauty of the city, tunnels were drilled through the mountain and under the existing city to accomadate the flow of traffic. Therefore Guanajuato is a unique town looking somewhat like swiss cheese. Guanajuato´s steep cobble stone streets are soft north american bodies. Next time Tony Little wants to invent a glut machine he should consult the residence of Guanajuato for some design inspiration.

We ate dinner late in our hotel while watching Spiderman on the big screeen in spanish.

Day 11
Today Laura was in charge of making all the financial transactions. And yes we´re still speaking. This was simply to help Laura improve her comprehension of spanish. First on todays agenda was museo de mommias(museum of the mummíes) After 7 years in the ground if there are no families to claim the bodies, they are exhumed to make room for new bodies. Due to the minerals in the soil and the low humidity, mumification occurs naturally. Most mummies has a plaque stating who they were and how they died. Although tastefully done the baby mummies were somewhat disturbing. One platform was mysteriously empty and yet we could not find Brandon Frazer.

On a mountain top overlooking Guanajuato there´s a small town called Valenciana. This is an old mining town that dates back almost 500 years. A spanish pioneer from Valencia spain travelled to mexico to open a mine and he named the ensuing town Valenciana. He hired natives that worked for food, essentially slave labour. Due to the dust generated from the mining process, the life expectancy of the natives after becoming miners was 5 to 10 years. But guilt weighed down on his soul like the 60kilo sacks of rock the natives carried up the 45m. In order to save is soul, he was inspired to build a magnificant temple at the mouth of the mine. If the cover charge to heaven could be paid in gold leaf then Juan Valencia would be on the VIP list for the detail behind the alter.

We hired a guide to take us down the mouth of the Valenciana mine. He was wonderful, although he spoke no english, he spoke very slowly and very animated which allowed us to understand virtually everything he said. He took us down the mine and explained the history and the minning process. This was the highlight of Guanajuato.

We went to Diego Rivera´s house. He spent the firts 6 years of his life there. It´s now a museum, it contains many of his works through out his career.

---

---