Blogs from Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico, North America - page 5

So the tour begins, and we are met by Martin (pronounced martEEn) who says it is in Spanish as we just shrug our shoulders. We'll make do. We are joined by the gentleman and his family and two others, and the guide immediately begins his dialogue. He talks almost continuously the whole time, even while driving, only stopping when we are inside an attraction where the tour is conducted by staff. So anyway it is very difficult to follow the rapid spanish, requiring intense concentration and picking out maybe one out of five words. I figure at some stage we'll pick up a guidebook on Guanajuato to help explain it all. He takes us first to Las Mommias, so we spend more time looking around the stalls while others take the tour. I notice there is ... read more

Kept awake worrying about things that could go wrong, both Ky and I were up before 6am. But so far we're on the plane to IAH Houston and no problems. I've found seeds now for the giant Sequoia tree, Joshua tree, and giant Saguaro cactus. I picture the Joshua trees and Saguaros in front of our arched italian front garden wall ( to be built). Not sure where the Sequoia will fit... It's going to be exotic! The complimentary buffet breakfast is the best yet, scrambled eggs and bacon, fruit selection etc. The shuttle ride to the airport fast and painless, less than ten minutes. Shops in the Terminal 2 at the gates are really nice, with lots of indian art to look at. The planes to both Houston and Guanajuato are little 50-seaters, 3 seats ... read more

When I booked my flights to Mexico I included time after the end of term in order to have the opportunity to travel further afield than I could for weekend breaks. Towards the end of term as weekends starting running out and my return home was drawing near I started to plan the places I wanted to visit that I had not seen and for my final week in Mexico I had quite an itinerary planned. It is now my final week in Mexico and instead of enthusiastically leaping out of bed to hop on a bus and visit somewhere new I am wallowing in travel-apathy. It's not necessarily a bad thing. While the temperture has cooled off and the sky has been overcast of late I have also been ill and since the other teachers ... read more

A volcano, a city park and "I see dead people" In this entry I will write about the places I visited in and around Uruapan, those that didn't make it into the previous blog entry, and the places I visited in and around Guanajuato. First I'd like to write about Vulcan Paricutin. Vulcan Paricutin is a volcano, of course, with a rather interesting background. It's a very young volcano. It had its first eruption ever on February 20 1943. The eruption started in the middle of a fertile field. According to legend that particular day when a local farmer was ploughing his land the ground cracked open right where he was. At first there was only hot steam and gases coming out from the crack but later on lava started pouring out from the opening in ... read more

This past weekend, we traveled four hours via bus to Guanajuato, Guanajuato (state). Guanajuato (pronounced gwahna-hua'-toh) is known for being one of the most beautiful cities in Mexico. Cobblestone streets, outdoor markets and mariachi make this small mountain city unique. The history of the city dates back to the 1500s with the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The name means "hill of frogs" in the local indigenous language. On the bus ride from Guadalajara to Guanajuato, we got a chance to see the Mexican countryside. Not surprisingly, we got a glimpse of "third-world" side of Mexico. Most say that Mexico is closer to its third-world past than its first-world future. Living in Guadalajara, it is hard to see this unless you travel outside of the city. Not to say that there isn't any inner-city poverty, because there ... read more