A Whole New Side of the City - Guanajuato, Mexico
Guanajuato, Mexico
Where I stayed
Rebeca and Moises House
The sad act of pulling myself away from marvelous Querétaro was alleviated by the fact that I was heading to the one and only Guanajuato where not only a beautiful city, but a wonderful group of friends, awaited me. I purposely planned my arrival for the 4th of July because I really didn't see the point of spending that patriotic holiday surrounded by Mexicans, who could care less, when I could celebrate with 20 Americans! I arrived in Guanajuato just before lunch, which here is eaten around 2. It felt great to again arrive to a place that I recognized, and the good feelings just grew as I recognized more and more as we headed toward the house. Rebeca was there waiting for me, and after our "hellos" we carried my things up a couple of stairs to her son's house. You see, I arrived a week before classes started so there was still a student in "my room" from the first session. The plan was for me to stay with Armando and his family for this week and then I'd move my stuff to Rebeca's house once Melodie left. However, I was just sleeping in Armando's house, I'd still be eating with Ricardo and Melodie, the other two students, in Rebeca's house. (As a reminder, Ricardo was here with me last year.)
So, I ate lunch with Rebeca and caught up with her. Not to put a damper on my blog, but the main topic was Sol. As soon as I entered the house I noticed the little "shrine" if you will. Sol is Rebeca's 18-year-old granddaughter who died in January. I knew all about it because Armando and I had been in contact. I didn't know Sol too well because she didn't come around as much as some of the other grandkids, but it was so sad talking about it with Rebeca. Ugh. A few days later I saw Moi, Sol's dad, for the first time. He's a big jokster and I was glad to see he seemed to be pretty much his normal self, though he did answer my question of "How are you?" with an "Agh." So sad. R.I.P. Sol.
After a couple hours of chatting, I headed down to the university to meet up with everyone. When I arrived one of my previous teachers, who is now temporary director of the program, was there so we chatted for awhile. He was born in the USA but his parents are Mexican. He made me feel really good when he made a comment that it was hard for him to talk in Spanish when he was tired. If he struggles with Spanish at times, then I can too! Anyway, students started leaving the classrooms, and what a great feeling! I can't believe this is the last time we'll all be together. After all the hugs and greetings a group of us headed to Casa Cuatro which is a building with 4 restaurants in it. Amy, Maria Elena, Donna, and I went there at the end of last year for dinner just after one of the restaurants had opened. It was a great experience, but this time we were there to enjoy a bottle of wine on the rooftop. WOW. I can't imagine a better way to have started my last summer in Guanajuato. The view from up there was incredible, as are many views in Guanajuato. It's hard to go wrong in this city as far as that's concerned! We enjoyed the perfect weather, view, and great company as we celebrated our nation's independence. On most days I would have called it perfect company, but it was also my cousin's wedding day so I was a little bummed I wasn't at the wedding with my family. I did, however, include a toast to my cousin and his fiancee/wife. (I don't know which she was at the moment of the toast because I couldn't remembered exactly what time their wedding was, but it had to be just about the time they were saying their "I do's.")
Once the rooftop closed at 8:00 or 8:30, Amy and I split from the group and headed to her house. Her family was expecting us for a quiet 4th celebration. It was an interesting mix of American and Mexican. We had Little Ceaser's for dinner and then Amy's (real) family happened to call her through Skype so we all chatted a bit. So, Amy lives with Chava (who also happens to be my salsa dancing teacher) and his wife Estela. Estela's brother or sister just had a baby about a week prior and they came over and we got to meet him. They had given him the nickname Frijol (Bean) since he was the size of a bean in the first ultrasound, and it stuck, at least for Estela. Well, it stuck with me too because I can never remember the little guy's name. I think it's Emilio . . . After meeting the baby the Mexican portion of the night began, which really just included some tequila to celebrate the 4th. Though in a shot glass, we sipped it and "enjoyed" it as we chatted, as is the Mexican way in most cases. Though I would have never believed it 5 years ago, I have come to learn that good tequila actually is pretty good. This one was pretty good, but it was a little hard to get down.
Saturday I took it easy. As enjoyable as it is to travel, I needed a day to not be a tourist. Instead, being the only one without homework, I decided to do something that we'd all benefit from. Two people in the program got engaged since last summer and so we were talking about having a combined bachelor/bachelorette party for them. To make the night different from every other time we've gone out, I decided to prepare some accessories for Amy and Kevin to wear. So, after some brainstorming, Ricardo and I headed out to buy everything. It was really a great experience because I learned where all kinds of stores are that we normally would never go to. We arrived home and I got to work while Melodie and Ricardo worked on their homework. For Amy I, with Ricardo's and Melodie's help, made a veil (sewing tulle to a headband) and a sash. For Kevin we personalized a hat then we also bought him a bow tie. For everyone we bead necklaces. I was pretty proud of our ideas and how well they turned out! That whole process really took up most of the day. We all met up in a restaurant called Mexico Lindo y Sabroso. Kevin and Amy were extremely surprised and happy with their little gifts and we had a great dinner. There was a marathon going on in the city and we cheered on the runners, especially when we saw someone we knew (which wasn't often, but some people in the program ran). Also, the star of the dinner was Ruth, one of the guy's daughter. She's about 2 and, as you can imagine, was the center of attention for a large majority of the dinner. After dinner we walked back down to the city center and celebrated the night away!
The next day, Sunday, I went to church with Rebeca and then headed to Maria Elena's house to catch up and relax. She's renting a house with a wonderful, furnished rooftop so we hung out up there, enjoying the perfect weather and beautiful view. However, the journey to that point was a little ridiculous. We had the wonderful idea to go buy some fruit to cut up and enjoy why we chatted so we went to a little produce stand and picked up some fruit. Then, just as we were about to go up to the rooftop, Maria Elena decided she wanted some sangria, but she didn't have any wine. And she needed ice. So, after much coaxing, I gave in and we went. Except, we learned, Oxxo (the convenient store on every corner of the city) doesn't sell alcohol after 2 (I think it was) on Sundays. And, after walking from place to place, we could say with all certainty that nothing else was open. I was not a happy camper. I just wanted to be on her rooftop, which is where we finally headed, empty handed. Donna came over for a bit later on, and the day ended as a great Sunday of friends and relaxing. For dinner Maria Elena and I went to Habibi, a Mediterranean style restaurant. Per her suggestion I ordered a falafel wrap. It was delicious and a nice change from all the Mexican food, as much as I do enjoy Mexican food. Afterwards we went our separate ways, as she had class the next day.
On Monday I was on a mission. Every year while we're here, there is a big celebration and they open one of the dams in the city. I went the first year, but arrived after they opened it. So, this year, without classes, I headed up there early. Along the way I found a beautiful Victorian style house that had a hodge-podge of businesses inside: a cafe, a small art exhibition and rooms to create art/take classes, and some kind of elementary education display. After exploring that jewel, I continued on. The dam is in a park and so I arrived early enough that there weren't many people and I could check out the park a little. It's a long, skinny park with another dam in it and then the surrounding hills where you can go hiking. After making my rounds, I headed back to the dam. I stopped along the way to buy the same treat I bought the last time: gorditas de nata (this time with sweetened condensed milk poured into the middle), which is basically a sweet bread. It was already really crowded, with about a 1/2 left until the dam opened. I decided my only option to see it well was to follow the example of everyone else and make my way up to the top of a wall. Luckily I found a good spot that didn't block anyone else's view. As I was standing there, I was amazed that the street vendors came up there and attempted to squeeze through to sell the food they had! There was definitely not space for that! While waiting, I started to get dizzy and, explaining my situation to those around me, I sat down. Of course, after a few seconds, I felt the guy behind me tap me on the shoulder. He offered me something to fan myself with, which I gratefully accepted. I took a closer look at it later--it was a picture of a girl at her graduation. It was nice of him to trust me with that little souvenir of his. Playing it safe I stayed seated until about 5 minutes before the opening. During this time, there were activities going on in the dam. I couldn't see very well, but it appeared to be some kind of diving or swimming competition. Anyway, with 10 seconds left the crowd began to countdown and at the stroke of 1 PM, the chosen men, who were strapped to the dam so the water didn't wash them away, pulled open the gates and the water came flooding out! As anticlimactic as it is, that was it! I watched the water for a bit and then headed home. I guess it's not really anticlimactic for those who stay around after the opening, for them it's just the beginning. For me, it's so crowded after the opening that, it's no longer enjoyable. That's why I came earlier to check everything out. I bought one more treat, basically a big clump of coconut stuck together with, I'd imagine, sugar, and then I was on my way home to eat lunch.
After lunch, as I did most afternoons this week, I sat down to work. I'd be presenting my action research project the first week of classes and I wanted to get the Powerpoint presentation completed before classes started. So, I joined Melodie and Ricardo at the kitchen table and got started! It was Moises's birthday so the three of us took a little study break and joined in the birthday celebration for a bit, singing Las Mañanitas with everyone else (well, I listened because I don't know the lyrics) and then they we sang Happy Birthday.
Tuesday I checked out the Diego Rivera museum. Rivera's an extremely well-known Mexican artist and he was born here in Guanajuato, about a 5 minute walk from where I stay. They have the rooms furnished in the style of that era, and then the building next to it displays his art as well as other art displays. My favorite part was art painted onto maguey leaves. There was also a replica of one of his famous murals--the first one I studied in my class last year. However, it was a little disappointing to read that the original's in Mexico City. If I had known, I would have gone to see it. Bummer. After lunch, I met up with some friends to watch the Germany-Brazil soccer game. There I met some of the new students in my program, and a Japanese guy, Taka, and guy from The Netherlands, Derrek. Now, let me tell you about this game. Oh. My. Goodness. It was the most surreal sporting event I have ever seen. First off, of the group that was there, two were hard-core Brazil fans and most of the rest were also Brazil fans, though there were some Germany fans. Well, that game will go down in history. Germany annihilated Brazil--on their own turf. First off, that was the first time Brazil had ever lost an "official" game on their own turf. Secondly, the final score was 7-1. You don't see scores like that in the World Cup. What was most shocking, though, was how consecutively Germany scored the goals. Two happened so close together that my friend thought the second one was just a replay of the first. After that shock, it happened again. And again. Germany scored 4 goals in 6 minutes. I was truly and completely dumbfounded and speechless. We spent a lot of time just staring at each other with wide eyes. This was suppose to be an awesome game. Two undefeated teams. Was this actually happening?? The game was so bad, the announcers were having a ball coming up with descriptions of the "massacre" (one of the comments they made) that was taking place. We jotted some down because they were hilarious and they show how seriously these countries take their soccer. Here are two examples:
They're looking up at Heaven and asking the Supreme One, "Why is this happening to us? "mira al cielo y le pregunta al supremo, '¿por qué nos pasa esto?"
A maravelous play that can provoke a tremendous, life-long pain.
"un juego maravilloso que puede provocar un dolor tremendo por toda la vida"
Back at the house I reported on the game and talked about it with those who had seen it. Still in a state of shock, I got to work on my presentation.
Wednesday morning I got going pretty early because I wanted to go to the statue of CristoRey (Christ the King) that overlooks the city. It's basically the Mexican version of the statue in Rio de Janeiro. I headed down to catch the bus, but I was misinformed about its departure times and so had about an hour to wait. Of course, I decided to explore a bit, heading down a street I had never walked down before. There wasn't a whole bunch to be seen, but I am now just a bit more familiar with Guanajuato.
The bus ride to CristoRey was through the big hills/small mountains (I realized during this trip, when a Mexican asked me to translate "cerro," that we don't have a word for such a geographical feature. Maybe foothills?) and included a couple stops in some small towns. The trip took a little longer than I had been told it would take, and I started to worry I had missed the stop. However, the bus was supposedly going to drop me off right there at the statue and sure enough it eventually did just that. I had an hour there, unless I wanted to wait two hours, and with the thick clouds (that I was looking down on) covering any chance of a breath-taking view of the surrounding country, an hour was plenty of time to check out the little museum, the two churches and the statue. On the way back down, I noticed that the new paved road was actually a newly laid stone road and was therefore pretty bumpy. So, when I got home, I asked why they had spent all the time to lay the stones as opposed to paving it. I actually was looking for the answer to my real question: Why would they spend extra time (and probably money) for a bumpy road when they could have just paved it and created a more enjoyable journey? Much to my surprise, Blanca explained to me that those were not individual stones, but just molded cement. So, they laid nice smooth cement and then pressed it to make it appear that it was stone (aka to make it bumpy!). Why, oh why?
That afternoon, my plan was to watch the World Cup game with my friends, but they never showed up. But, it all worked out because I needed to run some errands, including taking Ricardo's boot to get fixed ('cause I'm an awesome roommate that wasn't bogged down by work). That ended up being quite the process because at first they were closed, and then they were still closed when I came back. I asked the butcher across the alley when they'd open back up and came back a third time. Then, obviously, I had to go back one more time to pick up the boot. When I finally got home I told Ricardo he owned me a tip for all my extra work, and he gave me 50 peso cents. Whoopee! I must say, I really like the idea of fixing things instead of just throwing them away. It cost Ricardo less than $2 to fix those boots. Now, granted, in the US it would have cost more, but still, I'd rather pay $5 to fix something I have than spend time looking for and spend $30 buying new ones. Just saying.
Also that afternoon, I visited the university's museum. It's just a little natural history museum that focuses on animals, but it was interesting. There were a handful of animals with strange mutations, like a two-headed cow.
At 6:15, once everyone got out of class, I met up with them for One Beer Wednesday, our weekly mental break from all the studying. However, with this session being comparably easy, some of us turned it into a full afternoon/evening event. We started out in Casa Cuatro because, as stated earlier, that place has amazing views and we all love it. Then we headed over to La Botellita and that's where the fun really began. I was thinking about leaving soon, when the rain came. A really good, Guanajuato, there's-no-messing-around rain. Well, Erika really wanted to dance in the rain, and I very much enjoy doing just that so I agreed to go with her. Seeing as La Botellita is the second home for some of us, we just took off our shoes and left them by the main door and headed out! Oh my goodness we had a blast twirling, spinning, and laughing. Everyone within sight was staring at us. It was fabulous. We eventually got some other girls to come out and join in on the fun too. However we weren't successful in getting any Mexicans to join us. One, however, did ask Erika if it rains where she lives. :) Ha! (It does by the way, in case anyone wanted to know the answer.) They thought we were crazy--I even noticed someone taking a picture of us. After awhile I was getting pretty cold so I decided it was time to get home and change. It was still raining, but that obviously didn't matter. Now, back in the blogs of my first summer here, I mentioned that it's well known that in Guanajuato the streets turn into rivers and the steps into waterfalls when it rains. Well, this was a *********g rain, and I have never seen the streets like this before (that's partially because I'm not usually in the streets when it's raining). I'll let the picture do the talking here, because there's no way you'd be able to picture, or believe it, without one. However, I will tell you what happened on the way home. At a couple intersections, I took off my flip flops to cross the rushing water so as to not loose them. A block from home I turned a corner that, water wise, was relatively calm . . . . and lost my flip flop! After a split second of unbelief I went chasing after it, thankful every time it got caught up in something that slowed it down. As I was running, I was also thinking about the fact that it could continue down stream for a very long time and I was wondering how long I would actually run after it. Well, after a half-block or so, a very nice gentleman that was walking down the side walk saw my situation and . . . gotta love Mexicans! . . . started running after it as it passed by him. He started to stop it with his foot, but I think he realized that he'd soak his foot, so then he got a little ahead of it, bent down, and scooped it up!!! Phew!! I ran up to him and gave him the most sincere MUCHAS GRACIAS that I could, turned around, and headed home. As I passed the Oxxo, the convenient store, the worker there advised me to take off the other shoe (Quítate la otra, güera). Ha! Good call. I went straight to Blanca and Armando's house to change and then joined everyone else in Rebeca's house. I told them about the whole night but figured that if they, especially Rebeca, would have seen me soaked like I was she probably would have reprimanded me (kindly) and told me I'd get sick. This way, they could assume I was just pretty wet, not 110% completely soaked! So, once I did tell them everything, Rebeca said something like, "Do you want dinner now? Then we can talk." Ah, oh, I thought, here it comes! But, no, she didn't say anything. Ha! What a night!
Thursday morning I took it easy. Ricardo and I headed out to do some things around town once he got back from class, and that was about it. On the way out, we ran into Luna, one of the grandkids. She was holding a little hamster. So chatted with her, pet the hamster, and continued on our way. That afternoon I headed to my first dance class. The instructor I'd been dancing with the last two summers at the university opened his own dance studio just before I left last summer--I went to one class there last year. So, while at his house on the 4th of July, he told me that it'd be pointless and boring for me to go to the university classes because they were starting from zero. He told me to go to his classes instead. Done. I got there at 6:30, like he said to, and the class before mine was still there. So, I watched them . . . until 7:00. Oh, Mexicans and their observance of time. I made a mental note to arrive a bit later next time. I enjoyed the class and the fact that we jumped right into the dancing. It was definitely better than the university classes. These classes take place on Monday, Thursday, and Friday from 6:30 (or 7:00) to 8:00 (or probably later) so we'll see how many I can make it to.
Friday morning I headed to a museum of all of Guanajuato's legends, and Guanajuato has lots of legends. It was quite a walk, back up near the dam. The museum was set up so that each legend was represented by one or two of its most important scenes and either the tour guide or a recording told you the story. There was even an "elevator" that seemed to take us down to the mines for the legends that took place in them.
Once I was done at the museum, I decided to go back to the dam as I probably wouldn't have time to return once classes started. The park was so much calmer without the festivities of the opening of the dam so I just wandered a bit and took some pictures I couldn't take last time because of the crowds.
Friday was a big day for arrivals. My friend Amy's fiancee arrived today and seeing as he doesn't speak Spanish it was my job to pick him up from the family Amy's staying with and bring him to the university after classes. I was to meet him and Chavita (the son of the family) at the plaza near their house at 6. I didn't see them, but I did see Estela, the mom, so we chatted and waited. And waited. And then waited some more. Mark and Chavita eventually showed up, explaining that they had completely lost track of time and had come running as soon as they saw the time--at which point it was already 6! We headed to the university to find that Amy had headed to the plaza, thinking that something had gone wrong. SO, we headed back to the plaza and luckily ran into Amy on the way.
We headed over to Maria Elena's to hang out on her rooftop. After awhile I headed home to eat, with the plan to meet up with everyone later. So, after spending a little time with the family, I went outside to meet up with Donna, who has to pass by my house to get to town. She was unexpectedly accompanied by a guy, who I soon found out was also living in her house. He was an English teacher but was now traveling around while writing a play (he'd already written one). Interesting life. We started out at our usual Botellita and then headed to the karaoke bar, though we didn't sing that night. We ended up at El Bar, the salsa bar. They are in yet another location this year, and I love it. You walk downstairs to get to it so it's basically underground. Near some of the tables there's a "window" that looks in to the tunnels that run under the city. It's just so uniquely Guanajuato. After a bit Neal and Osito (a nickname) showed up, with Juan Antonio. Juan Antonio is the nephew of Osito and Amy's family and he was at the dance class yesterday since his uncle's the instructor. He says he goes to most of the classes so I guess I'll be making a new friend this year! Anyway, for all the fun we were having, there was also a reality check. All of a sudden, Katie was saying goodbye. She was leaving the next morning . . . and we couldn't say, "Have a good trip and school year and we'll see each other next summer." There won't be a next summer, not with all of us in Guanajuato.
Saturday I pulled myself out of bed after precious few hours of sleep to try to meet up with Katie for breakfast before she headed out. Well, no one was there. Hummm. I found out later that they had all decided not to go, but I was accidentally left out of the conversation. Whoops.
Let me take a second to just say that this week of semi-vacation in Guanajuato has really made me appreciate the city more. There's so much to see and do that I never realized while locked up in my room. I'm really glad I planned my time here the way I did. Also, I've decided that there is a rather unique Mexican laugh. I noticed it Baruch, the guy in Cuernavaca, and being back in Guanajuato I remembered (when I heard it) that Armando, the grandson, has a similar laugh, and I've heard it in the streets too. It's like a little explosion of laughter, and has a very kid-like tone to it. Armando's laugh always made me smile because it seemed so kiddish, but now I notice it all the time.