Blogs from Guanajuato, Mexico, North America

Today we took a day trip to Guanajuato. Diego told us that is the most gorgeous town in all of Mexico, and I definitely believe him. After breakfast in the hotel, we walked down to the Tec campus and began the two hour drive to Guanajuato. Louis brought Catch Phrase and we played couple really intense games. Once we got to Guanajuato, we went to the famous mummy museum which has dozens of mummies on display that were exhumed from the surrounding area. I don't really know why the bodies were preserved so well, but Diego said it had something to do with the dry climate. I thought the museum was incredible and really looking at the mummies was SO interesting. I bought a little ash-tray souvenir that I can use to put rings or paper ... read more

Saturday, February 25th, 2012 Sometimes people say things and give me no time to rearrange my face. Take last week, for example. I was at a literary event and a woman came up and asked me to sign her book. "Really?" I said. "You can do better than me." "Don't be silly, she insisted. "I'm thoroughly enjoying your story. It's a real page turner." "Oh," I replied, and just out of curiousity asked her, "what page are you on?" "Two," she said brightly, handing me her pen. A similar thing happened at a neighbourhood get-together. A woman I had known for a long time confided that she and her husband were getting a divorce. This came as a surprise since, over the years, I had repeatedly heard her boast about having the "best damn marriage". "We ... read more

Lunes (Monday), 27 Febrero, we left our hilltop home above Guanajuato and headed east to the city that is considered by many to be the crown jewel of colonial Mexican villages - San Miguel de Allende (pronounced ah-YEHN-day). San Miguel is second only in popularity with former American and Canadian residents to the Guadalajara/Lake Chapala area. The population of San Miguel is about 80,000. Expatriate norteamericanos make up about ten percent of the population. We are settled into the small San Miguel RV Park, otherwise known as Weber’s. Our landlord Han’s German grandfather settled here years ago. Han’s dad was an American – born in Nebraska - his mother is Mexican. Dad passed away a few years ago. Mom helps around the park. Hans speaks excellent English. His tiled bathrooms are immaculate, the water is hot ... read more

Thursday, 23 February, we moved north to the city and state of Guanajuato. The city of Guanajuato is considered to be the most beautiful, romantic and "one of the best preserved" of Mexico’s colonial cities. This being only our second colonial city but we wonder how any town could seem more ancient. The city sits at the bottom of scenic canyon. Many of the inner city streets are a maze of old mining tunnels. Walls resemble fortress like fortifications though we have not read that they were built for that reason. Houses hug the canyon’s different levels, with the foundations of one house sitting at the rooftop level of the one below. There are two campgrounds in the vicinity. We chose Morrill Trailer Park because of its proximity to the city – we could walk to ... read more

Guanajuanto is an incredible Colonial City. The large historic area is located in a central valley with numerous museums, tree lined Plazas, opulent Theaters, and meandering pedestrian areas, all connected by underground tunnels which were formerly rivers. The colorful houses line the steep cobblestone hillsides. On our way from Patzcuaro, we were pulled over by a Mexican motorcycle cop. He wanted to know why we did not have a front license tag and Ray did (He has California plates also)? Ed kept his cool and just kept saying, in English, 1 or 2 plates, it doesn´t matter. He finally gave up and sent us on our way. We had a nerve wrecking trip through the streets of Guanajuanto. Merrill Campground is on the top of the hillside. The directions in the campground book are given to ... read more