Thursday, November 13, 2014

GUANAJUATO 3

Monday was our third and final day in Guanajuato.

We were already into about twelve hours of walking around  - we weren't quite sure that we could make our way all the way down, around and back again. 

We had a great day - we were glad we made the effort.

So, here we go…..


By Monday we had taken the Santa Fe Tunnel four times - so we were getting used to the experience. 


So, when we ran into one of these we thought we would take ourselves on an underground tour.


There are many tunnels in Guanajuato as well as this area - called subterranean.





The subterranean led into another tunnel.


It's actually quite amazing - a whole different world down here. We headed up to the right but ran out of sidewalk - so we turned around and came back. 





Lots of things for five year olds to climb on.



It's an old looking city but with all the new styles!


We were so glad that we were aimlessly wandering around because suddenly we looked up and saw two white box things coming down the hill. 
What are those and why did we not know about them!?


We quickly located the station for the Funicular.


For the three of us the ride up cost $44 pesos - less than $4.




We are SO glad we didn't miss this - it offers the best view of el centro.


At the top of the funicular is 'El Pipila'. For $24 pesos we could walk to the top.


And look out the glass box.





Guanajuato is the most beautiful city I have visited. LOVE all the colour.



The Wood Clan in Guanajuato.



We could have taken the funicular back down but decided to walk instead. Glad we did because we were treated to this beautiful mural.






Looks pretty old.





Back to the Jardin de la Union and the Templo De San Diego De Alcala.



From there we could look back up to see El Pipila.

We stopped back for some more nieve which is beside the Guanajuato Basilica - while Cas and Derek sat on the steps I went to take a picture of the interior.



On the way back to the van we stopped at the Panaderia for some treats for the Vargas family.


On our way to Cassia's friends we stopped in at Gambusino's since it was open.


Later, while I visited with the Vargas's, Derek came back for a sample and a six pack. The beer is gone now and it gets an ok report from Derek, however since craft beer is still in it's infancy in Mexico and the supplies seem to be shipped in from the USA or Canada - the price was a bit high at $2.50 per bottle.


While Cassia played we visited with Elena and oldest daughter Lizbeth. It was a bit tricky without Jose Luis to translate - he was still at work. We did ok with our little Spanish and their little English - plus we used our ipads for translation.


Cassia with Cynthia who is ten and Iris who is almost four.


They live quite close to the Mina de Rayas - Mina means mine - it's a silver mine. When they learned that we hadn't been there yet they suggested we all walk there.



It was a nice walk - about 10 minutes or so. Cynthia took great care of Cassia.





We continued down road past the mine to this trail that brought us back to the Vargas house. 

What fun.

We spent the next few hours visiting with the girls until Jose Luis came home around 8:30pm - then we headed back to the van.

We were so happy to meet and visit with the Vargas family. They were very generous to invite us into their home and feed us. Hopefully we can visit them again one day.

Monday night we weren't sure how much longer we would stay in Guanajuato.

We had pretty much convinced ourselves to leave Wednesday.

However, come Tuesday morning with grey, cool and wet weather we decided to move on.

We just didn't think we could make the trek back and forth to the downtown one more time. 

The Morrill Trailer Park was a great place to overnight because of it's close proximity to the downtown.

The manager quoted us $140 pesos per night but when I went to pay they made it an even $400 pesos for the three nights. So - it cost us about $11 a night. A good deal. Even without hot showers and wifi. If we had had those we MAY have stayed longer.

On the other hand - it is not a quite place - between the music, cars, fireworks and dogs we were done with all the noise. Everyone warns of the dog barking - all through the night and it's true. It didn't bother us much the first night but by the second we had to play some background sounds on the iPad to drown out the sound.

Tuesday morning we had the fun task of getting ourselves through and out of Guanajuato.

Teresa

13 comments:

  1. beautiful pictures of a beautiful city

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    1. Thanks Carol!!! Hopefully you guys can make it there this year!

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  2. Love the tour around the city, very interesting.

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    1. It's neat isn't it - something to look at at every turn.

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  3. Your photos really capture what the city is like. Loved the tour and all of that pastry!!

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    1. Hi Steve! Thanks - our little point and shoot does a pretty good job. You could lose yourself in all the pastry in Mexico!

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    1. Fantastic post, magnificent great job Teresa. I absolutely love the way you portrayed the city, it's a postcard and makes me want to move there. I love the way the people paint their buildings to brighten things up a bit in what appears to be a desert landscape. I hope you guys are well and again thank you so very much for sharing and we look forward to hearing from you soon!

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    2. Hi Brian! Thanks! The thing about Guanajuato is that it isn't difficult for it to look good! I have about 3x the pictures I put on the blog! I want to move there too! However, we are in Patzcuaro now and I want to move here too! Guanajuato would be a great spot to rent an apartment for a winter for sure. We are feeling fine apart from the usual travel stomach issues. :)

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    3. I was wondering about the stomach thing as I viewed fruit cups in the markets, I enjoy and regularly eat fruit.How long does it take for your stomach/intestine to get used to the water or do you need to filter everything? Do the Mexican citizens need to boil and filter the water before they drink it or wash off produce? Does this mean you don't drink tap water or ice from tap water?

      I've been watching a show called "Monsters Inside Me" on the Animal Planet, it shows some really crazy critters inside of our bodies...scary crazy!

      Every time I've been to Mexico I get "Montezuma's Revenge", how do you guys avoid worshipping the porcelain throne and wearing adult diapers for what seems like eternity?

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    4. Well we were very careful last time in Mexico. But that's not too fun - the street food looks so good. Now we are only sort of careful. We drink bottled water but don't worry about putting RV Park water in our tank. I think most Mexicans use bottled water also but I'm not totally sure about that. We never ask about ice - we just assume it's bottled.

      We did have Montezuma's revenge last time but think it was because we ate ceviche that someone had made. We have never felt sick after eating from a vendor or the fruit. We are both doing fine - our digestion is a bit off for the first few weeks in Mexico - just getting used to the germs here.

      Even when visitors come to Canada there is adjustment - all countries have their germs that foreigners have to get used to.

      I'd had to see the critters inside us - same thing as our beds - saw those pictures in what junior or high school. Yuck!

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  5. Glad you finally had a picture with all three of you on the blog. We bloggers are always missing from our posts. Cassia is really growing up! It will be amazing for her to look back on the blog when she is older and revisit all the places she has been. A real little traveler! The pictures of the city could certainly be printed and framed. Safe travels.

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    1. Once in a while we remember to take a group photo - here the camera was sitting on the edge of a step - yikes! I'm happy to be missing from our posts :) When I look back to two years ago when we were in Mexico I can't believe how much Cas has changed. I sure hope that we have inspired her to travel when she is older! I think I will print a few off when we get home - would be nice to stare at the Guanajuato el centro picture!

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