Click on a photo to enlarge it.
On Monday, Helen spent hours cooking a potato gratin and chicken casserole. Our oven is only big enough for one baking tray so she had to keep
swapping them over in the oven to cook. After all that work, it took only 10 minutes to eat!
On Tuesday, we cleaned up and then drove to Guanajuato. We had been warned about the steep and narrow streets in the town centre here.
Guanajuato is an old colonial town which was built in a valley surrounded by mountains. There is a road that circles the town high up in the
mountains and is very narrow with numerous bends and curves.
We wanted to go into the town by bus to check out whether we could drive in with Winnie first. So we found a spot for the night on a very busy
main road about 3 miles east of the town, where we could catch a bus.
We caught the bus the next day and got a hair-raising ride - we literally got thrown around in our seats and had to hold on tight. We went
through tunnels and got thrown from right to left and back so many times, that we had no idea where we were, even though we were trying to
follow the route using the Lonely Planet map! In the end we just got up and got off, hoping we would find out where we were!!! It turned out that we had managed to get off at the main
bus station - not really a station, more like a part of a road where bus stop signs are lined up!
Guanajuato is the best colonial town in Mexico. It's valley location has meant that the town cannot expand. The traffic congestion forced
the town to build tunnels to alleviate the problem. You can walk down into these tunnels and there are even bus stops down there! But the
carbon monoxide levels are horrendous! The tunnels are like catacombs - how on earth drivers know where to go is a complete mystery! It was a good job we didn't drive in ourselves
because it would have been a nightmare!
We spent hours wandering around the narrow cobblestone streets, visiting various churches and taking advantage of the cheap food here. There
is a very large university population here which keeps the prices down. We also walked down a very narrow lane called the "kissing lane".
Legend has it that two lovers, whose families were against their relationship, lived in houses opposite each other and the balconies were so
close together that they were virtually touching across this small lane so that they could stand on their own balconies and kiss each other.
Unfortunately the legend does not have a happy ending!
There are numerous little plazas and squares which are shaded by thick trees. Sometimes you have to duck underneath as the thick branches are
quite low. We also managed to find cheap DVDs and ended up buying six for $10.
Unfortunately, Kirsten's camera started having problems. The small viewfinder just stopped working from one photo to the next! Kirsten was
livid!!! She spent all that money and the thing only lasts for 2 years!! Fortunately she can use the small square display on the camera but it means she has to hold the camera away from her face to take photos and
it uses a lot more battery power, so the battery will only last half as long and she only has one battery! We asked around in various shops to see if we could get it fixed, but the town is too small to have anyone who can fix it. For the moment we
will have to make do!
The bus ride back was a lot smoother and then we watched as much of Harry Potter 4 as the computer battery would allow. We'll charge it up when
we drive tomorrow so that we can watch the rest!
On Thursday, we drove along the panoramic road that circles high above the town. We drove up a very steep cobblestone road to get up to the
statue of Pipila which marks the first battle of Mexican independence and gives a great view over the town.
The rest of the road is very narrow and windy. We went to Santuario Valencia to see a very ornate church. The ornate gold altars were so
"over the top" that they actually looked cheap and tacky!
Across the road we went into a sweet shop and were given a full tour by the very helpful assistant who insisted on letting us sample as many
of them as possible. Some of the sweets have chilli in them!! Boy, were they hot!! We had to surrepticiously take them out of our mouths and
dispose of them!!
Armed with a bag of goodies (no chilli sweets!) we drove back down the steep hill to a large cinema complex. We went to see Spielberg's
"Munich" about the Israeli olympic team in 1972. It was very confusing. The moral of the story was A: don't go to see this film; and B:
the killing in Israel and Palestine will never stop.
Unfortunately at midnight, we got a knock on the door and were told we couldn't stay on the car park. So we drove across the road to a Pemex
station and parked there for the night.
On Friday we drove along the rest of the panoramic road and returned to the Pipila statue where we parked up for two nights.
On Saturday we walked down the steep steps into the town and went to join a singing group dressed in 14th century style doublets etc. We
followed them in a large crowd of Mexican tourists as they wandered through the narrow streets singing and playing their instruments. We
didn't know any of the songs but that didn't stop us from joining in!!
Half way through, a little 6 year old boy stood on some steps and told a funny story in Spanish. We hardly understood a word but we knew it
was funny because everyone else was laughing. He was telling a story based on the "kissing" balconies and was describing various types of
kisses! Kirsten was standing right behind the little boy and is on everyone else's photos!
We followed the singing group for about 1.5 hours and then had to leave to get the last funicular train that went at a very steep angle straight
up the hill to the statue.
On Sunday, we drove back down the steep hill and went to a campground which is about 6 miles out of town. We worked on the computer and watched
one of the DVD's we had bought.
