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Published: August 11th 2010
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Guanajuato 2
from Monumento La Pipila 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 no line today. Then a drive up the hills and we are shown "Las Ranas", the frogs, a couple of stone formations on the far off hilltop that have some significance for Guanajuato. I later notice that a set of large statues in a plaza are all of frogs. We stop at the Monument of La Pipila, where we are treated to panoramic views
Guanajuato 3
from Monumento La Pipila of the city. Good photo op. Ky finds a lovely handwoven rug for $250, and the Mexican gentleman who assisted with english last night helps me get a Guanajuato guide -tourist book with english in it. Then the guide passes me some free postcards. Later at the room I have a good look at them: they are mostly of the other towns around and some of them must date back to the 60s by the look of the cars in the pictures!
We drive past the Monument of Miguel de Cervantes on the way to the Galerias de la Inqisicion (yep, galleries of the inquisition). I thought we were going to a mine because the guide kept talking about "minas". Its dissapointing to find the place is right behind our hotel, ie we could have walked there on our own. So we enter ($126) and form a group, like at Las Mommias, complete with guide dressed in jesuit style garb speaking - yep - spanish. Anyway, we are shown torture devices, each complete with skeletons. Joseph for some reason feels faint and Ky takes him outside. Maybe the heat and not enough water. Later he is fine. Liam and
I carry on, and are treated with more torture devices and skeletons dressed up, then holographic images of goblins, werewolves, and other horror type stuff.
After we reassemble our group at the van, we hop in and the van won't start. Could be because it is parked on a hill? While we wait Joseph takes turns with the mexican boy Riccardo, using his slingshot. Liam and I visit a sweet shop "Dulces Typicos", and find hcilli-coated candied mango, nut fudge, and a coconut bar. Liam selects two very large multi-coloured lollipops for him and Joseph. We exit to find a replacement van has been arranged, and we drive up past La valenciana to the Bocamin San Ramon, a former silver mine.
Again, spanish guide. The tour is brief ($30 each), taking us down a long steep tunnel to an underground chamber where we are shown the remaining silver vein. A diagram of the mine above ground shows we barely scratched the surface of the original mine that went down 550m.
We then walk up and down for 3 minutes to another sweet shop, just uphill from the Church of Valenciana, where I buy some "Rompope con cafe"
and "Creme de Agave". They are creamy sweet alcoholic drinks like baileys. Yes, the second one is agave flavoured. Surprisingly nice. Then on to the church, correctly called "Iglesia de San Ceyatuno", where we admire its amazingly detailed front carvings and gold-covered woodwork inside.
The tour is over, we take the original van (repaired) the short trip back to the hotel. Then we speak to the guide and arrange an english-speaking tour of "La Independencia", an eight hour tour that covers Dolores Hidalgo, Atotonilco, and San Miguel de Allende while explaining the history of Mexico's independence. This is all to reflect 2010 being the bicentenary of the independence of Mexico, with major celebrations happening in September. The english tour will cost $2600 just for us, so we pay a deposit with Grupes Turisticos Minas.
The boys take to the pool again, and I catch a taxi down to Centro to get money from an ATM. There is an ATM at Comercial Mexicana, a big orange building by the ambulance, which also includes a combined grocery and general store. Then how to get back? Taxis are busier then yesterday, so I get directions to the La Valenciana bus stop,
and walk a few blocks up the street to wait. Rubbish guys are collecting noisome rubbish by hand from large bins while passengers wait directly beside, unconcerned. Probably the worst job in the world, that. The guys have to manually pickup everything in this large bin and toss it into their truck. No large front-lifter waste trucks here. After seeing the sixth bus going downhill and none coming uphill, I walk further up and eventually find a taxi to go the rest of the way.
Then over to the mineral shop that Joseph and I looked at last night. I take my digital scales with me this time to ensure the geode bookends are not too heavy. 6kg and $550 seems ok. They'll go in the small case that had 6kg spare and just enough space.
Later I admired the weeds in roof while looking for Joseph for dinner. The daughter of the mexican family knocks on our door and invites to go to the University with them but we decline. Big tour tomorrow. Time for bed.
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