Guanajuato

 Today was a very long day that started when we met the bus at 4:30. Matt and I went with the other international students and a couple of Mexican students. It was a long drive to Guanajuato, around 6 hours. I slept the whole way.  Guanajuato is a mountain town that gets its name from an indigenous word meaning "where the frogs gather." All of the roads are underground in tunnels beneath the city and the city is above ground. Everything is built on the side of a hill, so we did alot of climbing just to get around the city.When we got there we went to the mines first. The mines were built by the Spanish in the 1700s and worked by indigenous workers until the Mexican revolution. Working full days in the dark and hauling all the ore up by hand, workers were lucky to live 10 years after beginning in the mines. It was a hard life and many were lost in the mines. Maybe that's why Guanajuato was a little creepy to me. It seemed sort of like a ghost town. After the mines we visited the Valenciana Cathedral, Bocamina de San Ramon. We have seen so many cathedrals now but I'm surprised by how each one is unique and beautiful in its own way.

Later we toured the city...Guanajuato has alot of character but it's more like what I expected of Mexico. It's dirty, there's trash everywhere, and there is a perpetual smell of urine and rotten eggs. It's very old and beautiful, though, because every single building in the city is painted a different color.








We went to the museum of the mummies which was really interesting and cool for the first 50 mummies, and then it got a little creepy! I don't know how many we saw on display today but the museum has hundreds of mummified bodies; mostly mine workers but also Spanish, French, and even children. I love weird things like mummies so I have to include a picture, but I will try to put the least creepy one here. This was a french doctor who probably served the mine workers. The museum has the world's smallest mummy which is a fetus, on display along with it's mummified mother. Yeah, that was a little sad.

Our tour included the Alhondiga de Granadits where the Mexican revolution began, the large main cathedral in Guanajuato, the Universidad de Guanajuato, the teatro Juarez, and el monumento al Pipila. I was surprised by the contrast of cultures here. Most of the city has always been very poor; the people who live there today are still as poor as the indigenous mine workers who lived before the revolution. And then, there are these huge, elaborate marble buildings like the theater and the cathedral. They were absolutely gorgeous but really stood out in the middle of Guanajuato.

 

The monument was at the very top of the mountain and we had to take a scary ride on an upside down cable car and an even scary bus ride down afterwards. But the view was totally worth it!!!

Later tonight we saw the Estudiantina show, a famous Guanajuato tradition. The Estudiantias is a band dressed in traditional Spanish dress who play local folk music, dance, and wander the streets of Guanajuato, stopping in places to perform and tell folktales of the city.

 In one place, El Callejon del Beso, they stop beneath two balconies overhead that nearly touch. Legend says that once, two lovers were forbidden to marry by their families. One night after the girl's father had threatened to send her to a convent they snuck up to the balconies to say goodbye. But the girl's father had learned of their rendezvous and while they kissed he plunged her through with a knife. Now visitors to Guanajuato climb to the balconies and kiss a friend or a lover...and of course if you don't kiss someone you will have bad luck for 10 years. In another part of the city the Estudiantinas stop in an alley and make all the ladies go to one side and they guys to the other side. As the Estudiantias play a love song, the guys can't cross over to their lady until they buy her a rose. Our guys were sweet and bought us all roses. Of course we went out for tacos later. It was a long day but so much fun. The adventure continues!!!