A Few Days in Guanajuato
Trip Start
Jun 11, 2005
1
4
33
Trip End
Sep 01, 2005
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Guanajuato, Mexico
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
I found a hostel that Let's Go suggested (I still trust them). There's a lot of construction going on in this town, but it's still charming somehow. My dorm is only $10 and there's only been 1 or 2 people in there each night. Beside the road work starting at 7 a.m. every morning, it's a pretty cool place.
The first night I just strolled around town. Guanajuato is in the mountains and it's a great walking city. Lots of hills and great views, numerous parks, plazas, and gardens. It's lovely. And the people are really friendly. There aren't a lot of backpackers here, it's mostly language students. They travel in herds and are very giggly and loud. I don't talk to them. And it turns out that I'm the only white person here that knows how to roll an R, so the locals like me. I've met quite a few just getting lost in town. Good people.
There's a mummy museum that's a trip. They´re 140+ years old and they still have hair and clothes. They're not the wrapped kind of mummies. They're just mummified people. It's kind of messed up that they pulled them out of their crypts and put them on display though. Maybe that's just me. There is one woman that was entombed while still alive (blowfish maybe?) and she is in the frozen position of trying to crawl out. Not at all disturbing. Oh, okay, THIS is disturbing. One woman died while pregnant. When they pulled her out of her tomb they extracted a perfectly preserved 5 month old fetus (well 5 months plus 140 years). It's wicked looking. I'll post a photo to help you sleep at night.
I went to a free piano concert at the Teatro Juarez. It was gorgeous. The music and the theater. I didn't know most of what he played (I recognized the death march), but I just love piano music. I was really glad I got to see that.
The Cervantes museum is amazing. It's full of art dedicated to and inspired by Don Quixote. There's a Diego Rivera museum (Frida's man). Some of it was okay. Some of it was really trivial. Like an envelope from Harrah's that he had doodled on. Mostly I just wander around, people watch, check out the architecture, and read a lot. It's a nice little vacation. Vacation from what some of you might ask? Not cool.
I re-read Catcher in the Rye when I first got here. I love that book. I knew I loved it before, but this time it really blew me away. Holden makes me feel sane and not at all anxiety ridden. It's great.
Now I'm looking into schools here. I had planned on going to school in San Miguel, but I may stick around here. Not because Cliff knows anything. He's still a crazy SOB, but it is cool here. We'll see. I'll post again when I figure it out.
"I'm quite illiterate, but I read a lot." - H.C.
Comments
poor little guy
it looks like it's still crying. that's about the size of my baby. kinda freaky that they display these ancient bodies with no souls.
hey if you get a chance go to taxco...it is such a neat city. it's in between acapulco and mexico city. acapulco is really nice...it's not as commercialized as cancun. who knows, i haven't benn there in awahile.