Delayed Guanajuato Post

I am catching up on the trips I still haven't written about. Here is my entry about our program trip that we took in the beginning of May: After one day to rest and repack my bags after our trip to Chiapas, we headed off traveling once again, but this time everything was organized by our program so we could relax! We first visited the city of Queretero for a day; it is a city filled with parks and museums. After eating the famous enchiladas from the city, we headed off to find the art museum. We were all pleasantly surprised to find various shows by contemporary mexican artists (we are a bit tired of mesoamerican and colonial art by then). Several of the artist's work was quite abstract and some of my friends were having a hard time relating to it so I suggested a tactic I use with the school tours: use you imagination to find images in the art. We ended up have a blast finding clowns, cities and who knows what else! We also saw an amazing exhibit by a realist portraitist in which it felt like you could reach out and touch the people in the paintings. After buying a cone of pinon ice cream (sweet pine nut= yummm), my friend Jessica and I set off on an adventure to find the ancient aqueduct that carried water to the city. We arrived as the sun was setting and were surprised to find a very long and beautiful aqueduct stretching for at least a mile.
The next morning we traveled to our next destination- the city of Guanajuato which I absolutely loved! The city is built in the valley and along the steep mountainsides so the streets are narrow and cobblestoned and there are hundreds of little alleyways and plazas. However, one of the most unique things about the city is that there are a series of underground roads under the city which actually used to be underground canals. These tunnels allow there to be less traffic and make it easer to get around the mountains. Another distinct thing about the city is that practically all the houses and buildings are painted very bright colors, so when you look down on the city from below, its like looking at a rainbow of colors. The main church, for example is painted bright yellow and red. After we dropped our things off at our hotel, which had a beautiful view of the city, we went off in a tour bus which took us around to see the architecture of the city and various famous tourist sites, such as a museum that holds the famous "mummies" that were found in a graveyard in the city. However, unlike egyptian mummies which are preserved through a human process, these mummies were preserved, they believe, because of the minerals in the water and soil and/or the climate. When someone went to dig up the bones of the dead of someone's family who was no longer paying rent for their space in the graveyard (a common practice in mexico), they discovered that the body had been preserved (hair, skin, etc). Anyways, we got to see these creepy, weird mummies. And of course the lights went off in the middle of the museum for 5 minutes, which really creeped us out- we were left in the dark with the mummies! Other activities of the day included visiting an old mine, because Guanajuato used to be a rich mining town (thats why the city sprung up in such an inconvenient place for building houses). However, my favorite part about the city was just wondering around the charming streets that felt like italy or some other place in europe and seeing all the little gardens, houses and statues that were scattered about. The city really had a magical and happy feel about it- I would love to live there! The next morning, my friend Jessica and I had breakfast in the main plaza looking out on the church and the statue of peace, sitting under umbrellas and sipping coffee. Who says you have to go to europe to experience the european life style? We then found the statue of Diego Rivera, who was born in Guanajuato, and posed with the famous artist- closest thing to meeting the real guy! Then we had to leave, but I promised myself that I would be back because I had already had fallen in love with this city.

A photograph of the entrance to one of the city's underground streets which were decorated with potted geraniums.