#11: Guanajuato – Mexico – A Year and a Day
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Guanajuato
Saturday. 4th October 2003
I’ve been in Guanajuato two along with a half weeks now. and truly enjoying settling for a whilst. but now starting to feel the wander-urge very powerfully. Re-reading. this short article paints a really positive image of my time here. nevertheless there had been some days that had been more than a bit lonely and depressing. I still have not sorted out in my head why that was exactly. so will try to create about it within the subsequent article.
Two weeks in Guanajuato
Guanajuato
Guanajuato’s historic centre is UNESCO protected and traffic lights and neon are prohibited. The city winds more than hills. the climate is usually pleasantly hot within the day and awesome to coldish in the evening. It might seem strange. but I delight in cold evenings – I quickly received exhausted of central Baja’s everhot. The capability to wear more than a t-shirt and be comfy feels like a fantastic luxury. My home is on a steep tiny street up from the centre and in the roof terrace everday I look over the multicoloured streets of this picturesque city. The city has a
series of underground streets. which fill with fumes and are not significantly enjoyable to walk in.
Music is really a key component of Guanajuato life. A number of evenings a week a group of brightly uniformed student players march through the streets. beating drums and followed by a great crowd of helpers/tourists. School children march too. celebrating numerous enigmatic occasions and saint’s days. Almost every day I have been here. inside a little square a female dance troupe practice slow snaking movements to a student beating a fast drum. My neighbours think absolutely nothing of coming house at 3am and starting a guitars and singing session. which takes some obtaining utilized to. 1 of my language teachers repeats a saying: In Mexico. only husbands come house quietly at evening.
On a more atonal level. I am occasionally woken by the cries of GAS! Gasoline! from the wandering gas vendors. These tough males lug the big cylinders about the streets from early morning to evening. Not a simple job.
Guanajuato is a university town. and the mixture from the college students and all the backpackers/young foreign residents right here create a youthful. peaceful. exciting air. I like being within this cosmopolitan place. My accommodation costs 65 pesos a night and it would be a great deal less expensive had been I here longer term. I have a room in a home converted into spending budget accommodation. with my personal bathroom. and access towards the kitchen and roof terrace. I frequently chat to my loquacious land lady. she is really a firm believer that if a guest cannot understand her Spanish. she needs to talk quicker and with much more complicated phrases. I rapidly determined not to remain having a local family members whilst learning. as it was just too expensive – US$17 a day for meals and lodging.
Guanajuato is really a very worldwide city. You will find a lot of young foreigners here working in the close by town of Silau. plus many Spanish college students. plus the more transient vacationers like myself. Following southern Baja. Mazatlan and Durango. it is a bit of a shock to be back within the tourist trail. However it was such pleasure last week to invest several evenings with a youthful English couple who were travelling around Mexico. I guess you will find some conversations 1 can only have with one’s own countryfolk.
My small. friendly language college is in a stunning building and it is full of some truly good people from around the globe. In the college 1 hears lengthy. fluent conversations in English and German. much more stuttering conversations in Spanish and also the occasional Japanese. A caustic. great searching Swiss student insists to anyone who’ll pay attention that he and I are old world. old school. not awful and dumb Americanos. 1 morning only he and I have arrived early to get a group trip – he sniffs. I see only the Europeans received right here on time.
Obviously. I kind of dislike there becoming a lot of other foreigners here. so many other people like me. I realise I’ve grown to really appreciate my novelty. each to locals and other travellers. Elsewhere in Mexico. for instance. I could start a conversation with any other traveller just by meeting their eye and saying hello. Right here I try this and individuals take a look at me as if I were a predatory weirdo. I’ve also met a couple of long term foreign residents here that I’ve formed a big dislike to. They have a patronising mindset that isn’t Welcome. this a great enjoyable city. want to meet for a beer in a bar I understand?. it is much more like. Hi. I understand this city such as the back of my hand. come below my wing and I will explain to you a party; they forget the person they are speaking to doesn’t know any Spanish and then laugh. I was just asking you. ‘where are you currently from?’
Two other issues about Guanajuato. 1. there are a great deal of canines here. Estimates of the stray canine population are in the tens of 1000′s. I see packs of them operating in the city’s tunnel roads. I hear them barking. barking. the hills reverberates their limitless idiotic shouting. I speculated to my English buddies that maybe the canines had been engaged inside a city wide philosophical debate on the nature of Being or whatever. with 1 bark meaning yes. two no. and much more complicated statements represented by ever larger numbers of barks.
Another night a quite large stray canine walked into my kitchen when the door was open and refused to leave. I attempted to be forceful and shouted at him. but dogs are rarely intimidated by me. Eventually I had persuaded him to stand near the door. after which 3 other stray canines ran previous – he took some actions after them and I slammed the door shut. If I’d had a lead and a few canine meals. he’d most likely be my dog now
Secondly. the food right here doesn’t appear to be as tasty because the rest of Mexico. However it is hardly a big complaint. I’ve started buying within the great city market. and cooking simple meals in my kitchen: freshly produced flour tortillas. avocadoes. onions. green salsa. with either beef. sausage or tinned tuna filling make tasty easy tacos. For about ten pesos I purchase a chunk of delicious beef steak within the marketplace big sufficient to fill tacos to get a small family’s lunch. or 1 greedy fatso’s (i.e. myself).
Eeeh. Toro.
The nearby town of San Miguel de Allende runs a Pamplona-like bull run each year. About the walled off town square. bulls are released into the street and people run. shake cloaks. tease and get hit by the bulls. Envision a fenced off town square with a road operating about it. within was the safe spectator spot. The brave or simply drunk stood in the street waiting for that bulls. Me and buddies from the language college took the middle option. squeezing in on some steps on the outer edge from the bull street. My only safety from gore-ation was the wall of much more nervous people pressed in front of me. I was small comforted when told no one dies at San Miguel. but each year 200 people require hospital treatment. I was informed afterwards that the no one dies component of that statement isn’t the situation whatsoever.
Parades. fireworks. giant ballons. people threw cans. water bottles and socks full of red powder up across the crowd. hoping to hit somebody around the head. A insane man gestured and shouted to himself: within the crush somehow a 10 foot space was found for him. The environment was each pleased and nasty – men in the street shouted out obscenities in the pageant queens. and although the crowd bounced large ballons about. guys soon went crazy trying to stamp on and puncture them.
We were packed in tight. along the street from us a truck pulled up with eight bulls in cages. The first bull was released. and I instantly realised that this was going to be worse than I imagined. I had envisaged some Chariots of Fire type real running in an anti-clockwise path. Oh. no. The bull. enraged by I suspect some pretty unpleasant things carried out to it earlier that day tore from the cage and started charging at anybody close by. butting many people. One guy was knocked down and also the bull beat and beat at him – he was eventually pulled clear from the horns. and stood. a dazed smile on his encounter. The few rows of people in front of me. my only safety. no longer appeared so comforting. particularly as we had a tendency to fall over each time someone received frightened.
One following another. the bulls were released. But pretty quickly a lot of energy went from the bulls. and for me the event turned from terrifying to just a small sad. The bulls had been patently just exhausted and baffled. and only half heartedly launched mini costs around the melee who flapped cloaks at them or grabbed their tails. The bulls were rounded up and taken for that matador’s attention. I’m considering of seeing a bull fight in Mexico City. if only to decide what I think about the sport. but that afternoon I had no desire to determine these exhausted animals completed off. But general the day remains in my thoughts an amazing and scary spectacle.
We travelled back to Guanajuato and some of us met later on in the salsa club El Bar. Within the bar. I stood around the balcony within the warm evening air. In front of me was arrayed the stunning and imposing architecture of Mexico’s colonial era. behind me blasted fast salsa rhythms. Somewhat relieved that a bull’s horn hadn’t punctured me anywhere. I smiled a lazy grin and felt I think was pure contentment and happiness. I went back within and till 3am my friends informed me: this is meringue. this is cha cha cha. around the back stage you spin me
Issues I like about Mexico #1: the food
I really feel like I have eaten really well because arriving in Mexico. In London. Mexican restaurants are truly for parties and for consuming margharitas with. They’re reasonably expensive places to eat. which Mexicans here discover fairly fantastical once we get talking about food. The thing I instantly noticed about Mexican Mexican meals was how meaty it had been. What I’d eaten in England had been primarily tortilla wrap. onions and green peppers – but right here most dishes are stuffed full of meat. The ubiquitous taco is usually offered with a thick wedge of beef inside a small hot soft tortilla. and also the customer adds salsa. vegetables and herbs to their taste. The centre point to a great taco (or burrito. fajita and so on) is the tortilla itself: a warm wrap made either from corn or flour. Tortillerias. some of my favourite retailers in Mexico. make tortillas fresh in large Bond villain style machines. Personally. I discover that what kills tacos is utilizing corn tortillas that aren’t cooked enough: the taste is flat. like warmed dough. Usually I prefer the somewhat more costly flour tortillas. that are thicker and more powerful. which when cooked turn out to be vaguely crispy and crunchy. mmm. mmm. mmm.
I sound like a travel agent saying this. but. do not get the impression that all there’s to Mexican cooking are tacos and burritos. Tortas. grilled bread rolls with beef or other meats and vegetables are extremely popular everywhere I’ve been. I’ve had numerous soups. tomato juice based sea food cocktails. chilis stuffed with tuna. lengthy mild deep fried chilis. roasted chickens. scrambled eggs with a spicy tomatoey sauce called Ranchero (that is scrumptious with steak too). distinctive Mexican hamburgers. chicken legs in tomato broth. beef and fried potato chunks in salad. In Guanajuato I’ve also started attempting various Mexican sweets. up to now particularly enjoying the chunks of Cocada (sugar heavy coconut kind stuff).
Mexican food is infamous for its use of chilis. But. up to now at least. I think anybody who is utilized to Indian or Thai food. or who eats
the chilis offered in Turkish restaurants. ought to be fine with everything right here. Mexican food also has lots of cooling components. I believe following three weeks right here I’d eaten more avocadoes than in the preceding 25 many years. The point is the fact that the majority of the hottest salsas and chilis are brought towards the table separate towards the meal. so I’d suspect most of the damage people talk about is self-inflicted.
Up to now. and touching wood furiously. I have not began chronically shitting since arriving right here – an additional infamous legend about Mexican food. I certainly have a lot of days where. let’s say. the procedure line is not operating 100% smoothly. but to become honest I had a mildly upset abdomen in much of my time within the USA. most likely due to all the crappy quick meals and foreign bacteria. Days of ideal stomach functioning are within the distinct minority on this trip. I’ve attempted to be reasonably careful: not eating a great deal of shellfish. only consuming at active taco stands. washing my hands a great deal. But I suppose it only requires one error to ruin a few weeks. I’ve found cooking my personal food extremely theraputic to an unhappy digestive method – understanding exactly what is in lunch is a smoothing impact on the mind.
1 legend about Mexico that is accurate is don’t drink the tap water. But what I believe is forgotten concerning the advice ask if issues are produced with purified water. is that. at least within the urban north/central areas from the nation I’ve been to. no one. nearby or otherwise. desires to drink the tap water. The Mexicans I’ve spoken to about it reckon they feel secure using the water for showers. washing hands and clothing and maybe brushing teeth. but not much more. So asking if juices/ice is made from purified water is kind of futile. Early on I did this. and people gave me an increasingly familiar look that said. are you naturally stupid or did you’ll need training?. I get this look a lot in Mexico attempting to complete daily things. It’s kind of the surprise no one’s however responded. Actually no. the water isn’t. I figured it would be fun today to poison myself and everybody in my restaurant. Nevertheless. there is a serious side to trying to keep hygienic right here. and perhaps the water thing will be various further south. I am turning into quite leery of dishes that sit simmering. and watch somewhat pensively how street meals preparers wash their hands inbetween serving plates of food.
The main meal from the day in Mexico is a large. late lunch. around 2pm or 3pm. Breakfast. a snack at 12 and a little evening meal maintain everybody going aside from the comida. The concept of having the main meal from the day at 7pm or 8pm is kind of incredible. My language teachers ask me a lot about British meals. I first say that Indian. Chinese and Italian meals are extremely well-liked. but they ask about traditional British meals. So I talk about the large breakfast fry up – eggs. bacon. sausage. fried bread. mushrooms and baked beans. But I say that many people probably just have time for toast or some cereal prior to off to work. For lunch. as there’s no siesta. many people in London just grab a sandwich. The meal my language teachers are most thinking about is afternoon tea – it is a well-known element of British lifestyle to many people here. But I say no one has afternoon or high tea anymore – the only individual I’ve heard talk about it is my Scottish granny. I say British individuals drink tea all day at work. that is a great disappointment to Mexicans. I discuss old style. sometimes very bland British dinners: meat and vegetables in gravy. meat pies. fish and chips. roasts.
I discover as I travel Mexico and talk about how various our countries are. I start to wonder just how much of British culture is slipping away or altering. There are elements of British life that I guess I believed old fashioned and ripe for alter. like families investing an afternoon inside a nearby pub eating Walker’s Crisps and consuming Carling and so forth. that I now am perhaps questioning if they are a little bit of uniqueness on the planet. I don’t think I am likely to consume a fry up each day to help keep Britishness alive. and I’m not all of a sudden converted to some awful and simplistic little-Englander. pre-1950s view of the country. But at the risk of sounding extremely pretentious: travelling through the remnants of numerous. many cultures that have all but died. current only as a tag in a museum. We’re not sure what animal this ceremonial mask is supposed to represent. perhaps a bear-killer whale-snake hybrid. it is clear that cultures truly do die or change irrevocably. I believe there are large areas of British culture and society that could alter for the better. including some very unpleasant things (component of the reason I was so keen to leave the country). but this trip is creating me believe concerning the elements of our method of life that perhaps may be preserved and cherished.
Enrique begins to make sense
I feel like studying Spanish is like developing an additional sense to travel around Mexico with. Having the ability to say easy things like tomorrow I am going to see the bulls at San Miguel is currently enriching my experience. I now realise that when Enrique sings Bailamos! he’s saying. Let’s dance!. and when he shouts Te quiero!. he’s saying. I love you. or I want you. Shakira is however nonetheless far past me. I’ve had two weeks of Spanish classes so far. and while I appear able to explain my views in class on Europe’s farm subsidiaries or immigration towards the UK. understanding fundamental phrases I hear is type of difficult.
Knowing some Italian and French are great for learning Spanish grammar. but are truly not helpful for vocabulary. I keep saying my de’s (as in de Mexico) as dee instead than deh. Actually lots of pronounciations are difficult: Js are usually said like Hs. Hs are silent. LL is like a Y. Gs are occasionally like Hs and occasionally not. V are said like Bs. So Villa. as in Pancho Villa. is stated Be – Ya. Some thing to become cautious about as well when starting to use Spanish is that there are a great deal of double entrendres here in Mexico. especially in food. Do you have eggs? (tienes huevos?) is not a good method to order breakfast. it means do you’ve balls? asking a girl. do you have a donut? also apparently has two meanings. As soon as I became conscious of the extent of the slang. I grew to become fearful of ordering any kind of breakfast in Spanish. suspecting I was saying. I appreciate sex with donkeys each morning.
My itinerary going forward
Needed to put down what my plans are for that next few months – some of my buddies are coming to visit me. also any feedback appreciated. After Guanajuato. to Mexico City. Not planning more than three/four days there. want to do some sightseeing and head on. given the reputation for crime and pollution. Then heading south to Oaxaca and strategy to invest a week or so there and take cookery classes. and after that to San Christobal de la Casas. in Chiapas. That ought to take me to late October. Spend most of November in Guatemala. assuming that the Antigua region is ok given the coming elections. Then in late November meet my buddy Spencer. most likely in Honduras. Make my method to Nicaragua. hopefully resting in the city of Grenada for a whilst. and in early/mid December meet my friend Gari. We will travel down the rest of Central America. and in early January. fly from either Costa Rica or Panama City to Ecuador. depending on how far we have got.
Veracruz and the Temple of Doom
Travelling about is type of humorous. Before I started. I guess I thought I’d arrive in a nation and gradually absorb it all. much like in these WW2 films exactly where nation after country turns Nazi red. But now I am really travelling. I discover myself picking a route via a country and basically meandering along it. The reality feels much much more like an Indiana Jones film where a red line traces along a map. indicating the hero’s travels across the world. There is so much to see/visit/experience/do in Mexico (and also the US/Canada. and in every nation I suspect) that I have to keep reminding myself that I cannot see it all or I will never leave. My compromise is one of each. 1 fairly colonial city. one large central city (so Mexico City but not Guadalajara). and so forth.
You could well say that the issue is the goals I’ve set myself are wrong – I am trying to determine too numerous countries – if I’m enjoying Mexico I ought to stay as long as I want. But I’m extremely eager to travel on to other locations. the allure of obtaining to Peru. Argentina and Chile is very strong. Internally. I nonetheless feel comfy with my preliminary aim of travelling the planet. Nevertheless. I guess I had no idea how long it would take to do a country like Mexico any justice. The actual distances are nothing – I could get on a bus and be near the Guatemala border in 24 hrs. But to relate in any way to the locations 1 is passing via takes time. and I find that individuals require time for you to modify to my presence and to accept me. I began at my language college on a Tuesday. it clearly took a couple of days for many of the college students to realise I existed. but by Friday I had been invited to a birthday party and on Saturday I went on a group trip (towards the bulls) with some truly fun individuals and felt I had made friends. In little locations like Mulege. individuals clearly recognised me after two days wandering about there; in a medium sized. touristy place like Guanajuato. it certainly requires longer.
Perhaps this really is just me. perhaps it’s just that British reserve that Americans maintain telling me about. I’ve met those that I am certain are much more friendly and warm that me. but I think I am on stability a pretty open and chatty person. Perhaps there are truly confident. good-looking and at ease people who make loads of contact correct on arrival within each day inside a place have been given honorary membership of a local street gang and arranged a berth on a yacht heading south But I don’t believe that is me. a minimum of not most of the time. Speaking to other travellers. it appears extremely feasible to invest two or 3 days in a location and not create any sense of it whatsoever. it’s just an additional city. I think this is particularly simple if 1 has nothing to complete inside a place. just wander round. locate inexpensive food. verify the suggested sites and head on no wiser.
With all this in my head. I am starting to wonder who came up using the entire round the world inside a year idea. It is seeming all a little ridiculous that an individual could travel the entire globe in any meaningful sense in a year. unless of course they adopted an extreme box ticking mentality. I guess what everyone does is choose locations from the world that appeal to them and leave the rest for some possible future trip.
At this time I am attempting to decide whether or not to create a deviation from my Guatemala bound Indiana Jones-style line and go to the state of Veracruz. It will not cost that much much more. but conscious that I’ve spent a great deal of time in Mexico. and keen to leave cash and time for that places additional south. On one side really feel like I wish to see a bit more of the nation. and Veracruz is supposed to have a distinct. Caribbean-influenced culture. on the other. each Mexican I’ve spoken to raves about Oaxaca and Chiapas because the locations to invest time in.
Hmm. nonetheless deciding.
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