Guanajuato: tunnels, mariachis & mummies

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I did try to get a second class bus instead of a first to get from Puerto Escondido following the taxi driver in Oaxaca telling me that the ticket was expensive, but despite hiking around one mile up a hill from the first class terminal to the second class one, I ended up with a ticket with a first class company that went from the second class terminal. Although, Mexico is not as cheap as SE Asia I seem to be spending a lot more money than I did on my last trip.

Guanajuato was supposed to be the destination after Mexico City before Oaxaca and Puerto Escondido came highly recommended. It is an a silver mining city that dates back to 1548 when the Spanish started mining here and sending the proceeds back home. The silver mining past is evident from the old mine that you drive into to enter the city as well as the numerous old tunnels that connect one part of the city to another and keep the congestion very low. I did get a map but it was nicer to just wander around and get lost in the rolling terrain of this city. Like Venice, this is the kind of place where you know from the outset that it is very different from anything else that you have seen. Beautiful and colourful old buildings, cobbled streets, trees with foliage cut into block shapes to provide shade, mariachi bands walking the narrow paths between houses with an audience in tow and the dubious selling point of having the youngest mummified foetus on display.

Having checked into the hostel for this 24 hour stay in Guanajuato I made my way to the market, taking in the beauty of the place before turning a corner to be faced with a motley crew of hairy bikers that had taken over the square in front of the San Diego cathedral. After revving their engines in salute to when the coffin of their fallen comrade, they noisily made their way through the city. I went out with some beers with an Irishman from the hostel. The only other guest in the La Casa del Tio hostel was a mexican traveller our age who had to stay in to look after the puppy that he had just bought, which I imagine might be tricky to travel around with. Got some cool bars around the place which could be expected as it is a university city, but I didn't expect for a 7 piece mariachi band to pass in front of the bar we were in with 30-odd people in tow. These "estudiantinas" bands started as a way for poor students to make money and impress girlfriends. They took turns playing songs and marching or stopping to tell jokes or stories (which were wasted on me) over the din that dogs were making from rooftops at the unwanted visitors to their turf.

Next day I decided to walk to the ex-hacienda of San Gabriel de Barrera, a Spanish gold miner who built towering brick structures to clean the ore from his mines just south of the city. There is all furniture and haunted house style family portraits in the house but the 17 gardens, all decorated in different styles, that was most impressive.

I didn't have the time out to the Mummies museum where the government could display bodies of dead people if their family didn't keep up payments for the plot that their dead relative was buried in. The biggest draw is the the mummified body of a 8 month old foetus that died along with its mother 80 years ago during a cesarian operation. But was able to buy some of the ceramic key rings of the dead foetus on sale in the Hidalgo Market.

Took the 4 hour bus ride that evening to Mexico's 2nd biggest city, Guadalajara.

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Photos

Biker gangs outside San Diego cathedral
A funeral had just taken place for someone and when the coffin came out of the church they turned on their bikes and started revving the engines

view from upstairs
Hacienda of San Gabriel de Barrera

View of main entrance
Hacienda of San Gabriel de Barrera