Last full day in Guanajuato
Breakfast yesterday was good but small, one bowl of fruit and one mexican style sandwich pressed in a generic sandwich maker.
After desayuna we took the funicar (railway - think cable car on rails) up a hill to the monument and statue to Pipila. This is a nickname that basically means Turkey Trot. It seems an odd name for the hero of the war for independence who managed to set the gates of the stronghold on fire to allow the insurgents (um, I mean ‘freedom fighters’) to enter and kill all the evil Spaniards. It’s a big statue made of stone (like everything in this part of Mexico) but we spent our time enjoying the view and taking pictures and trying to locate our Casita with binoculars and a zoom lens.
For lunch we returned to the main Jardin Union and ate at Van Gogh’s. They play Elvis and the Beach Boys a lot. By the time we were through eating the place was packed, along with every other cafe in town. Evidently the European soccer league was having a championship game between two different teams from England. The game was played in a stadium in Russia.
After lunch I worked on pictures and video (and rested) while Dixie walked to the Mummy Museum. As I understand it, the soil in this silver-rich area contains a unique mixture of minerals which mummify anyone buried here within just a few short years. And guess what happens if you don’t have family around when they have to move some bodies at the cemetery? Yep, into the museum you go.
We ate dinner (la sena) at street vendor, chicken and enchiladas, not bad. Afterwards we stopped at a store for Tequila and cigars. A nice reposado 750ml bottle of tequila cost us an ungodly 30 pesos (that’s about $3.00 U.S.) (I should mention that if you have a request for souvenirs you should get your requests in soon!) We enjoyed our new purchases on the rooftop terrace in-between brief sprinkles of rain. In the distance a large crowd was making a tremendous noise as they cheered on a musical performer amidst occasional bursts of fireworks. Soon the musical troubador students could be heard winding their way through the alleys toward the alley of the kiss.
Our romantic evening ended in our room accompanied by “Dia del estudiante.” Evidently this is a day off for all students, and those who had permission were partying somewhere in town. A good number of them were within fifty feet of our window judging by the volume. This began around 10:00pm and continued until around 2:00am. The departing revelers wound their way home past our room with the volume still set to loud and obnoxious. No, we didn’t get much sleep.
Breakfast this morning was better - fruit bowl + scrambled eggs + Mexican stuff + refried beans + toast. After a brief preparation we wandered around and took pictures of lavish and strange church interiors and an antique musical instrument museum.
We ate lunch at a new cafe today, hamburger and fries. I think my system needed that adjustment.
After lunch we met Sherry from Colorado. She’s out traveling for a few months, her first international trip. She rolled her own cigarette while we talked. Soon another young woman about her age heard us talking, stopped and asked a couple of questions and Sherry left w/ a new friend.
We are now killing time reading and writing on a shaded park bench at the Jardin Union while a woman is doing our laundry. More later, another mariachi band has struck up a tune and I can’t think!
1 year ago