Mexico - Cuernavaca and Guanajuato

---

David here...

We left Puebla on the 10:00 bus to Cuarnavaca and arrived early afternoon after a 5 hour, uneventful journey. The bus station was out of town so we jumped on a bus heading to the centre. This took about 20 minutes and the helpful driver told us where to get off the bus. The centre of Cuarnavaca is very small so it was easy to find our chosen hotel. We checked in to the Hosteria del Sol and found we were the only guests. It was a shared bathroom however the room was massive and seemed nice enough. We settled in and set off into town. The town centre is not quite as nice to walk around as say Oaxaca or Puebla however it did have some remarkable architecture and churches that pop up unannounced as you wander round. We went to the Robert Brady musuem and thoroughly enjoyed the eclectic mix of artifacts and art that he collected throughout his life. The house itself was also a work of art with beautiful bathrooms, bedrooms and a kitchen to wander round. A good way to spend a few hours. For dinner we went to a little place in the centre of town called La Cueva which serves a range of local food and international favorites. Suzanne was not hungry so decided on a Chicken roll while I had Beef with onions. Both of the dishes were very nice, mine coming with a massive pile of tortillas, however Suzannes chicken roll was delicious, so much so that we ended up going the next night and both having the dish again, this time with Frijoles and cheese. Back at the hotel the music from the bars was quite loud up until about 11:30 and then it quietened down so we could sleep.

The next day was spent wandering round, looking at the architecture and just taking it easy. We did buy some items from the local market and enjoyed a corn on the cob covered in cheese and chili on the main square. There is not that much to do in town so we decided to buy bus tickets out for the next day from the central Pullman office. After our meal, we headed back to the hotel to find the music had been ramped up from the previous night as it was a Thursday, so much so that it was making the lights flash in the room and you could feel the bass through the bed. At about 12:30 the music stopped, only to be followed by a live, local band who were just as loud. I have no idea what time they finished playing as I did finally get to sleep at some point. It was like trying to sleep in the middle of a bar it was that loud, and no, I´m not exaggerating.

We got our bus from the central bus station and got into Mexico City South terminal at 09:00. We had read up about transport links in Mexico City and decided to attempt the Metro service, that is supposed to be a bit harrowing due to the amount of people on it. We bought our tickets (15p each) and got to the North bus terminal in 40 minutes, utilising 3 Metro lines. That really is an amazing bargain, 15p to travel from South to North of the city. We bought our tickets to Guanajuato and had an hour wait, in which time I had a lovely Bean and Chorizo pastie. Our next bus would take 5 hours and was with the company ETN. Talk about luxury...we knew we had paid about £2.50 more for an earlier bus but the seats were huge and comfortable and we got lunch, a cheese and ham sandwich and a can of sprite. Very nice indeed. The journey was uneventful but extremely comfortable. We arrived at the Guanajuato bus station and was directed to the bus stop, where within minutes a local bus turned up to whisk us into the centre through lots of tunnels that used to be rivers that run under the city. We jumped off of the bus at what we presumed to be near the centre and got our bearings. We checked out 2 hotels that are in the Lonely Planet guide to find them full so we decided to go to one that Suzanne spotted on a poster. We found Casa Mexicana and immediately said yes to the massive, colourful, airy room, despite it being a little more than we would usually pay. It was our 10th anniversary the next day so we felt a little justified in paying some more.

We hit the city and found a beautiful place that would be perfect for walking around if it wasn´t so full of tourists, Mexican and international. There are street entertainers all over the place and lots of little alleyways to explore, it is just so packed. We wandered round and round, marveling at the sites and just enjoyed soaking up the ambiance. We did find the touting a little more full on here than any where else in Mexico which took some getting used to but it didn´t detract from the beauty or feel of the city. We ate at a little Cafe that night, Truco 7 and enjoyed Chicken Burritos and Enchiladas though the highlight was making up tuna sandwiches with the Tuna salad we also ordered. After the nice meal we bought some beer (1L bottles of Sol...Yum!) from a little shop near our hotel and enjoyed our lovely hotel room, playing cards with music on before retiring to our huge bed, that was as big as some of the rooms we have stayed in on this trip.

The next day we got up quite late and headed out to the Museum of Mamias, a museum that displays about 100 mummified remains. These people were buried in tombs above ground and the conditions naturally mummified them. After five years the lease ran out on the tombs and unless the families could afford to pay, they were removed and put in the museum. Seems rather harsh. It really was a fascinating, gruesome and strange place and highlights the Mexican obsession with all things death related. The mummified babies were particularly difficult to see.

After this we headed back into town through a maze of tunnels (old rivers) under the city again and went for lunch at Cafe Santos, which has tables on a bridge over a pedestrian passageway. We had a glass of wine each and some lovely enchiladas for a light lunch. We then headed to the Diego Rivera house and musuem where the artist lived from his birth until he was 6 years old. There were some lovely pieces of art work, showing a range of styles and the ground floor was made up of rooms that would´ve been like the artist lived in at the time. Well worth spending an hour or 2 to see. We then took the funicular railway up to the viewing point above the city and enjoyed the view for about an hour before walking back down the hill and back to the hotel, picking up some clean laundry on the way (£3 for 4 kilos...bargain).

After freshening up, we went and had a few beers at a hotel on El Truco that was doing 2x1 and then made our way a few doors down to Casa Ofelia where we had a bottle of house red with our meal, a real treat for us. The wine was actually surprisingly good for the price. We ordered a platter for 2 which consisted of a bean soup and a tostada covered in beans, cheese and salad. This was followed up with a big dish of chicken, steak, chorizo, onions and cactus leaves and a pile of tortillas. The meal was lovely and a nice treat for our anniversary. We ended the night with a couple of beers and the MP3 player in our hotel room. We really enjoyed our stay in Guanajuato. It is a lovely place, with lots to see and do and is great for wandering round and exploring. We would highly recommend visiting this place and it made our anniversary all the more special.

---