I’m sitting at the bus station feeling a strange mixture of excitement and sadness. I’m excited because when I get to Mexico City in several hours, I will finally get some Snuffy cuddles, of which I have been sorely deprived. Estoy un poco triste por que I’ve just realised that this is the end (for a while) of me travelling solo. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to have company, particularly Andrew’s (nudge nudge wink wink), but it’s been a wonderful adventure that would surely have been different had he been here. I’m also a little sad because Guanajuato was simply stunning.
I only had about a day and a half in Guanajuato, and I wish I could have had more. I arrived yesterday afternoon, and after checking into my gorgeous little hotel, I wandered around for several hours. The city spills over hills and valleys, its gorgeously multicoloured buildings stacked up into a different kind of suburbia. Its streets wind haphazardly about, and you are never quite sure where you are going to wind up. Each building is a different vivid colour and garnished with wrought-iron balconies and swathes of pot plants. It is just a stunningly beautiful city, and consequently I got a little snap-happy.
It’s like an architect went to Venice but decided they wanted wider streets and a cacophony of colours. Some streets are very narrow however, in particular el Callejon de Beso, the Alley of the Kiss. The street here is so narrow that the balconies almost touch. Legend has it two forbidden lovers rented opposite apartments and stole furtive kisses over the balconies. That is, until they were found out and killed. Their families were obviously very tolerant people.
There are quite a few subterranean streets (mainly for the cars) to allow traffic to travel easily from one side of the city to the other (many ground level streets are only one way). There are many streets that cars don’t drive down, whether they are not allowed to or they can’t be bothered is a mystery. Many streets are decorated with lines of coloured paper cut into different designs. Pedestrians litter the streets and the city has a gentle bustling feel to it, both night and day. I was happy to find another city where it was safe to wander around at night. Think late night shopping in Bourke St (for the number of people). I even happened across a stage where a few bands played, where I ended up perched for some time, watching an array of traditional Mexican music, to funk rock to other things that I don’t want to pigeonhole.
Like other cities it had its attractions: the Teatro Juarez, muchos Jardins, museos, catedrals….however one sight stood out: El museo de momies. Yep, the museum of the mummies. The local cemetery (like many others) has a lease on the graves, and when the families do not pay to keep the remains of their loved ones on, the bodies are exhumed. At this particular cemetery though, the minerals in the soil are perfectly suited for mummification, surprisingly discovered when they first started exhuming bodies 50ish years ago (I could be wrong here). They kept the best preserved bodies and have them on display in the museum. Some of them are remarkably well preserved – you can see hair, teeth, and god forbid even the scrotum and pubic hair on one gentleman. It was an interesting dichotomy of reverence and circus show, though the one section which was particularly poignant was the ‘angelito’ section. Mummified children. Some I’m not even sure were big enough to be born. They were so fragile, and yet carefully dressed by their parents (presumably) to be laid to rest.
Another must-see was the monument ‘el pipilo’, or rather, the view of the city from it. You can see the entire city from up here, the plethora of rainbow houses sprawled up and down hills, and if you have the patience you can pinpoint the major attractions from here too.
About the only ‘bad’ thing about the city was that it was absolutely infested with gringos. It didn’t even make things easier, because they were all tourists. I didn’t realise how little exposure I’d had to the tourism industry until I heard a conversation in English every few minutes. It was actually disheartening, though it didn’t take away from the beauty of the city. They’ve also got a LOT of pigeons, although they are quite amusing to watch. I spent about an hour basking in the sun in the park, and watched the males relentlessly chase the females around, strutting ‘look at me, look at me’. I would bloody well turned around and pecked them, but maybe that’s just me. The males forgot about their mating ritual when a little girl started throwing bread though, it turned CHAOTIC. Pigeons everywhere bobbing their little heads in a frantic clay-motion picture to obtain food.
I should probably think about boarding my bus, which is going to take me to some Snuffy love!!! Hurrah!! I have NO idea what the next two weeks hold, so each journal entry will hold nearly as much surprise for me as for you. Hope you all had a good Easter and are enjoying yourselves back at work (some of you anyway)! Mwah.
Guanajuato photos
