Guanajuato... and back to Mexico City

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After Scott and I parted ways, I took a bus north to the city of Guanajuato. When I went to Chile in January, I fell in love with a charming little city on the coast called Valparaíso. Guanajuato, 5 hours north of Mexico City, reminded me a lot of Valparaíso, so that should give some indication of how much I liked this new city!

A friend of mine lives in Guanajuato and he kindly offered to give me a tour of the city. We wandered around the old historical centre for a while, so that I could see some of the churches and wonderful colourful buildings, and the streets filled with open-air cafes and restaurants. We went to the Diego Rivera House and Museum, where he was born. The downstairs rooms have been kept as they would have been when the family lived there, whilst upstairs holds a number of his works. I was actually really surprised by the variety of different styles and techniques that Rivera had tried out. Until that point most of my knowledge of him was based on his life and relationship with Frida Kahlo and, of course, his epic murals. But in fact he has a huge array of different paintings and drawings, and the house/museum had a good collection which showcased his talent. In order to get out and see some of the sights away from the centre, we went on a (Spanish-only) tour to some bizarre museums on the outskirts of the city. One of them was called the 'House of Sorrows' which seemed to be an attempt at a haunted house. If the tour around the house wasn't exclusively in Spanish, and I understood the story of the 'haunted' house, I imagine it may have been slightly more scary, but still, it was pretty entertaining! The best museum by far, and one of the key places I had wanted to see in Guanajuato, was the Mummy Museum. The child mummies I had to avoid as they were too upsetting, but I had a great time staring in amazement at the adult mummies, many of whose faces were pulling grotesque or just plain wierd expressions. Wierdest of the lot were probably the mummy who had been burried alive, and the pregnant mummy and her unborn child (the smallest mummified person in the world). But aside from the Mummy Museum, the other highlight was at the beginning of the tour when we went to the Pípila Monument. El Pípila was the name given to the brave soldier who near the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence risked his life (and possibly died, although the accounts don't seem certain) by setting on fire the building in which Spanish insurgents where hiding. The monument is cool and everything, but it's the panoramic view of the city below which made it so incredible. As I said, the city reminded me very much of my beloved Valparaíso, and never more so than when I was looking down at all the colourful houses from above.

I spent a lot of my time in Guanajuato at an internet cafe to finish my blogs from Colombia, which unfortunately ate into my time in the city somewhat. But I still made plenty of time to wander aimlessly through the streets which twist and turn up and down again. Oddly enough, it was surprisingly difficult to get lost (even for me!) as there are signposts and maps dotted frequently throughout the city. There were a couple of places in particular that I had on my itinerary, such as the very grand Juarez Theatre, and some of the fine churches. But for the most part I just enjoyed wandering around, snapping photos of the streets which grew narrow and then wide again, and wound themselves up and down the hills. There are a lot of great little cafes dotted around, so I made it my mission in the afternoons to find a different cafe where I could sit out in the warm sun with a coffee and cake. The best find was this awesome chocolate Baileys cake which one of the cafes sold. Yum! On my last day I took a bus to the nearby town of Dolores Hidalgo. Despite its small size, the town is incredibly important in the history of the country, as it was from here that Miguel Hidalgo made his famous 'Grito de Dolores', or his cry for independence, where he called for the people of the town to rise up and begin the march which started the Mexican war of independence. In the town I visited the museum which chronicles his life and the long road to Mexican independence, the house in which he lived which is now also a museum, as well as the church from which he made his famous grito.

The hostel I was staying at in Guanajuato - Al San de los Santos - was nice. Pretty small and cosy but there were a nice bunch of people around. On my last evening I got talking to a girl from Bogotá so I got to have a nice conversation reminiscing about my time in Colombia. She was due to head back to Mexico City the following morning as well, so the next day we got the bus together, which was nice, as bus journeys can be exceedingly dull when you're on your own! She was staying with a cousin in Mexico City so we went our seperate ways after we arrived at the bus terminal. I took a taxi back to my hostel (the same that I'd stayed at twice before) but on the way there an announcement on the radio said that the Zocalo was completely closed to all traffic due to a huge march that was taking place. Bracing myself for a long walk through the busy streets as that was the only alternative myself and the taxi driver could think of, we drove slowly through the traffic to a nearby street. Luckily, another announcement then came on to advise us that the march had moved on, and the roads near the Zocalo (and thus my hostel) were open again. I saw this as a clear cut sign that Mexico City, which I had fallen so in love with on my previous two visits, was welcoming me back with open arms. The city was no less mesmerising on the third visit, and I ended up extending my stay to three days rather than two as I had originally planned, as there were still lots of things in the city that I wanted to see.

I had already seen a lot of Rivera's murals on my previous visits, but I was yet to see the houses which Frida and Diego lived in, so I made those my priority on my first full day in the city. The Casa Azul (The Frida Kahlo Museum), where Frida was born and died, and Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, are in two seperate districts, so I started my day in the district called Coyoacán where the Casa Azul is located. The house is quite rightly a popular tourist destination, but despite the hoards of people, visiting the house, seeing her possessions and some of her excellent paintings, was an experience I am glad I didn't miss. I also went to the Leon Trotsky house and museum where he had lived whilst he was in exile, and saw the room in which he died (with an ice pick to the head). Aside from furniture and memoirs, they had a lot of photos of Trotsky and his acquaintances in Mexico (such as Frida and Diego) as well as some nice grizzly shots of him dead and dying. There's an awesome park nearby called Viveros de Coyoacán which I had a good time wandering through. The park is absolutely huge, and contains a host of different plants and trees which the authorities clearly devote a lot of effort and care to. My guide book told me it is a popular spot for jogging and that's definitely no lie. I think I was one of the few people I saw who was not jogging. I almost felt so out of place that I started jogging along with them with my dress and backpack. Next I walked across to the San Angél district, passing some lovely little plazas and parks. I had thought that Mexico City in November was going to be pretty chilly, but overall, during the day at least, the city had quite a pleasant spring-like temperature, and on this particular day it was beautifully sunny and warm. I found my way to The Museum/House/Studio of Diego and Frida which was awesome. I'd watched the movie Frida with my mum a little while before I left for my travels, and had been excited to see the two houses, joint by a bridge, which is shown in the movie. Diego's studio was great to wander around, although I don't know whether all of the paints and canvasses where his originally, or just added to give the place a more authentic feel of when he had used it. There weren't many people around so I asked one of the staff members to take a photo of me on the iconic bridge/pathway that joinrd the two houses, which is a photo I will certainly cherish! By this point I was pretty exhausted from all the walking, and was getting extremely hungry. To my delight I managed to find a Hooters which was showing some American Football (yay!) and had brownie with ice cream on the menu (yay again!) After that I made my way back to the metro and back to my hostel. The following day, which was to be my last day in Mexico City, I took the metro again and made my way to the huge University called Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Like Mexico City itself, the University is an absolutely beast. To get from one place to another you have to take a bus, so I posed as a student for the day and squeezed my way onto the crowded buses to get from one part of the campus to the next. The main places I'd wanted to see were the library, the outside of which is covered with paintings, and the Olympic stadium which was built when the city hosted the 1968 Olympic games. As I was wandering around I found another tourist there who was from Germany, so we banded together to explore the campus. It was nice not being the only non-student around! I couldn't leave the city without having another of the delicious strawberry margaritas at the hostel, so I had one of those and a couple of other drinks at the roof-top bar. It's a huge hostel so there's always a lot of people around (most of whom were English speaking!) so that was nice. If anyone is looking for a hostel in Mexico City then I would definitely recommend Hostel Cathedral on the Zocalo!

The next day I said my sad goodbyes to the city and moved on to my next port of call: Oaxaca.

Hasta luego,

Laura P

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Photos

Mummy!
At the Mummy Museum

Emilio and I at the Pípila Monument
With the awesome city below us!

Hidalgo Statue in the Plaza
In Dolores Hidalgo

Me on the Iconic Bridge
Between Frida and Diego's houses

Viva Mexico!
Last photo I took in the Zocalo in Mexico