John's Mexican Journal – 11/04/2005 through 11/12/2005
Pg 4
Monday - No Bull - Queretaro to San Miguel de Allende to Guanajuato
After breakfast we departed for San Miguel de Allende, about an hour and a half away. Rafael got us to within a half mile of the historic downtown area and dropped us off. In these towns it's often impossible to get something the size of a tour bus all the way to the destination, so you either walk or grab a cab. Two couples grabbed a cab. The rest of us followed Fernando uphill through winding streets paved with cobblestones.
The sidewalks were stone also and varied from 3 feet to 1 foot in width. Progress was single file. We looked like a line of baby ducklings. Footing was very uneven and I was having trouble with my walking stick. This was the first time I'd used the stick I brought home from Africa and I'd never gotten around to putting a plastic tip on it. It was helpful when I climbed the pyramid but it slipped around on the cobblestones and didn't provide a very stable base.
After 15 minutes or so we were close to our destination, the main plaza. The group paused to take advantage of a public toilet. We entered through a turnstile and gave the attendant three pesos each (city prices!). When the women entered, they were each given three small squares of toilet paper. I wondered if Nan was regretting the decision not to bring the toilet paper roll at this point.
As we were milling about in the street, we noticed a restaurant with an absolutly gorgeous courtyard, full of flowering greenery. It was the nicest restaurant we'd seen so far, but not the place Fran was recommending. So we moved on to the church, our first scheduled stop.
Fernando showed us around the church, a beautiful 18th century structure. He told us that in the early years of the Spanish conquest, the indigenous people were all baptized on a Saints Day, and everybody would be given the name of that saint. So they were given an additional name to keep them straight, hence Juan Miguel, Juan Antonio, Juan Diego, and so forth. He also told us that in the early days of the conversion process, native artisans would hide statues of their original gods inside the crosses they were carving. They would actually be praying to the old gods while the Spaniards thought they were praying to the cross. The Spaniards were not happy about this when they learned what was going on.
After we left the church, Fran asked if some or all of us would like to take a bus tour of the city. She would arrange for a local company to provide us with smaller shuttle buses and guides. We all said sure, so she told us to meet in the square at 12:30. Otherwise we were on our own until then. That gave us about an hour to walk around.
The city is full of beautiful wooden doors, some dating back to the 1700s. Many of the doors have intricate hardware mounted on them. There are blocks and blocks of little shops, some carrying what look like high-end clothes and purses, some selling everyday household items. We walked past a whole row of produce and butcher shops. I went into one tiny shop that sold odds and ends like light bulbs and plumbing fittings and bought a plastic tip for my walking stick. Much more stable. This area would be a great place to live over a hardware store.
It was time to meet at the plaza for the mini-tour. We boarded a shuttle bus and were introduced to our guide, Jesus. He pointed out some 18th century buildings and told us their history. The shuttle took us to a place Jesus referred to as "the foundation of the city" where some of the first buildings were built. There was a little plaza lined with cement basins. Many of the locals still do their laundry there, just below the 2,000 dollar per square meter homes of well-to-do American expatriates.
We walked uphill to a building that used to be a spa and is now used for government office space. There are offices built into the pools. The weather was perfect. Cool breezes, perfect temperature, low humidity, and a glorious sunny sky. That's what the weather has been like the whole trip so far. The views of the city nestled on the slopes of the mountains were fantastic.
It was paradise. There were tiny little side streets going off in all directions. The city was vibrant and colorful. I wanted to live over a hardware store here some day.
Then we went to an overlook where you could see the entire city. Jesus pointed out the stadium where bullfights (to the death) are still held. The season ended in October, so there were no bulls to be seen.
We went back to the main plaza to meet Fran for lunch. It turned out the restaurant she normally goes to was being refurbished, so some of us suggested that we go to the beautiful courtyard we'd noticed earlier and have lunch there. We did and it was very good.
While I was sitting in the restaurant taking pictures, the camera started to scream that it was out of memory. I had a small extra memory stick, but it was back on the bus. I was getting ready to delete some duplicate photos when a couple of tourism officials rode by on horseback. They were dressed in 18th century uniforms like something right out or Zorro, but they were gone before I could take their picture. You'll just have to take my word for it.
I’ll never go anywhere in the future without a laptop. Nan’s books had suggested that internet access in Mexico was dial-up only and unreliable. Every place we went had internet access of some sort. Some of the hotels we stayed in had WIFI hot spots. Besides internet access, I could have dumped the digital pictures from the camera each night so I would never run out of space in the camera memory. Plus we would have had the pleasure of looking at our pictures real-time.
We got back on the bus, drove to Guanajuato, and checked into a very deluxe Holliday Inn Express. They had a complementary washing machine and internet access. We did laundry, checked the internet for messages, ate good garlicky fish in the hotel dining room, and went to bed.