Sallie in a Sombrero: Guanajuato:"It's like walking inside a postcard"

Ever since we arrived in Mexico, people have been insisting that we visit Guanajuato. We've always asked them, "Oh yeah? What is there to do there?" Often, the answer is, "It's just really cool/beautiful/charming etc..."(Also, we heard some stuff about mummies) So...given the ambiguity of what made Guanajuato so special, it took us awhile to finally plan a weekend trip to check it out. And i'm SO glad that we did. Danny didn't have class this past Monday, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take a long weekend away from the big city and explore more of this beautiful country.

On Friday morning, we took the ETN bus for the four hour journey to Guanajuato, which is also in the state of Guanajuato....Guanajuato, Guanajuato: A place so nice they named it twice (god, I'm nerdy). We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast owned by a woman named Margarita and as soon as we arrived, she insisted on making us (tasty!)quesadillas. After lunch, we set out to see more of the city and we walked down the numerous(!!!) stairs in order to reach the bottom of the hill. Once at the bottom, it was about a 15 minute walk to the city center. The walk wasn't bad in the morning when we were fresh, but after hiking hills all afternoon (the city is located in a valley and all of the alleys and roads are extremely narrow and winding), we opted for a taxi for the trip back most afternoons (and then we had to climb the seemingly infinite sets of stairs to reach the B&B at the top of the hill).

View of the stairs leading up the hill to the B&B...almost there

Guanajuato is gorgeous and we took SO MANY pictures. Everywhere you turn is a photo op and the city feels more like somewhere in Italy, than anywhere in Mexico. Here's some photos of our first day exploring:

We walked around the first afternoon in complete awe of every little alleyway and plaza. Later that evening, as we were heading out to celebrate St. Patty's Day with a few drinks, Danny joked that we should look for an Irish pub. Even in a large city like Guadalajara, I only know of two Irish pubs and I felt that this was a long shot. However, after walking an hour, without finding a cool place to have a drink, we followed the sound of live music to...an authentic Irish pub! Even more surprising, there was a man wearing a kilt (BONUS!). I approached him asking for a picture and he introduced himself as the owner. He left Ireland in the 70's when he fell in love with a Mexican woman and hasn't been back since. He teaches at the Universidad de Guanajuato and even taught rugby to some of his students. Danny had several Irish Car Bombs to celebrate. As we left later that night, we could hear bagpipes playing on the pub's roof.

The next morning, we rode the funicular up the hill behind Teatro Juarez to check out El Pipila and the beautiful view from the top. El Pipila is a local legend who set fire to the public granary (Alhondiga de Granaditas) during the Mexican War of Independence. Feel free to wiki him here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_P%C3%ADpila. I especially liked the quote at the bottom of his statue that says "Aun hay otras alhondigas por incendiar". There are still other alhondigas to burn. He was quite the little anarchist, apparently.

Teatro Juarez

El Pipila

At the top of the hill, we took in the beautiful view and had a mini photoshoot with the city.

In lurvz.

After El Pipila, we had lunch in San Fernando Plaza and did a little people-watching. Guanajuato has several plazas with little cafes where you can have an afternoon cocktail or snack and be serendaded by guitar-toting musicians who approach your table and offer to play you a song for a few pesos. There are also students dressed in what I can only describe as "Shakespearan" costumes (I think it's a nod to Cervantes) who sing in Plaza Union at night. Here's a short video that Danny recorded in Plaza Union of the end of "Cielito Lindo". You can see just how many people congregate here in the evenings (despite the small size of the plaza): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sfgrx5FjEc

Walking in Plaza San Fernando

Guanajuato is particularly famous for it's Mummy Museum. It is morbid and odd, but people LOVE it. When I told people I'd be visiting the city, they insisted that I had to check it out. A famous B movie was even filmed about the mummies of Guanajuato starring El Santo (possibly the most famous luchador in Mexican history, clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soZLle-X7DU). Danny was reluctant, but after some convincing on my part, we started to make our way through el centro, towards the museum, following street signs. However, after walking for a considerable amount of time (stopping for a snack of corn-on-the-sob from a street vendor along the way), we still hadn't made it. We reached the base of a large hill and saw a sign for the museum pointing ahead. Since we'd been walking all afternoon, we decided to abort the mission and head back to the B&B for a long siesta. We ended up not venturing out for the rest of the evening, deterred by the inevitable climb back up the hill to where we were staying.

Enjoying his street corn in el centro

On our final day in Guanajuato, I insisted we just take a cab to the museum so that I could at least say we'd seen it. It was weird, And a little sad. And mostly creepy. Apparently, several decades ago in Mexico, the family of the deceased was required to pay a fee (sort of like rent) to the cemetery each year for perpetual burial. If the family refused to continue payments, or no one was left in town to speak up for someone, they were removed to make way for new "guests". Mortified yet? Sooooo after a severe outbreak of cholera, space became even more in demand and a large amount of bodies were exhumed from the crypts. Upon their removal, it was discovered that the climate in this particular part of the country, produced a natural phenomenon which preserved the bodies like mummies. And then they put them on display and charged people money to gawk and stare at them for eternity.
Some of the mummies' hands and faces are contorted which our tour guide merrily informed us was probably due to them being buried alive accidently. Even though I was the one who was all eager to see it, I have to admit I was a little freaked. Especially when I saw the "angelitos", aka baby mummies. Yep, that's right. These people have no shame. The baby mummies is where I lost it and Danny and I started to feel officially "icked".