Guanajuato

March 17, 2009

On an early sunny morning we loaded ourselves onto a highway bus for a trip from San Miguel De Allende to the City of Guanajuato. The hour and a half ride took us through mountainous countryside. Small villages are fewer here. Most of the land is cattle land with few smaller farms.
We crested a hill and peered down at our first glimpse of Guanajuato. The open lands end abruptly in rows of colorful buildings crowded together from canyon bottom to near the canyon top. We wound down a curvy road to a bus yard on the edge of town. At the bus yard we changed to smaller buses. The streets of Guanajuato are so narrow no standard highway sized trucks or buses will fit. Everything that arrives in Guanajuato on larger vehicles is re-loaded for delivery in town.

Our little bus entered the city via a maze of narrow roads sharing lanes with all manner of vehicles including a donkey cart. The fearlessly frugal Mexican driver can always turn two lanes into three – one for passing and one for parking, one for going the other way.

The river that runs through Guanajuato used to divide the town. Over the years ingenious engineering and a miners' mindset has transformed the river from a problem, to a fixture and an asset. Surprisingly enough, there is no glimpse of the river in midtown Guanajuato! Here's why:
As roads, shops, churches and homes lined both sides of the river more and more bridges were built to span the stream. Eventually, there was very little river left showing, so the City finished the project, creating a continuous “roof” over the river. This created a cross-town roadway. Another build produced a stone roof over the roadway, new buildings and new roadways as well.

Today a series of seventeen tunnels create an expressway system through the city. Many are cut through rock, many are stone and brick structures with new city constructed on top. The river flows, the traffic flows, streets disappear into the ground, streets pop out of rock walls or from between buildings and the city moves at a merry pace. Should storm waters rise to the level of the tunnels – don't take the tunnels! They're storm drains today!

After lunch in a street-side restaurant on a little plaza we toured the magnificently restored opera house. We found the symphony orchestra in rehearsal. Music was echoing as we walked quietly through the halls, lobbies and boxes. The hall is very ornate, done up in gold gilt and red velvet. The luxury from an elegant era of the past live on. It's fun to imagine glittering gala events of another day.

A walk through narrow streets leads us to visit the house of Diego Rivera's mother. Diego lived there with Frida Kalho for some time. It is a narrow little house with a wrought-iron railed square central staircase around an indoor atrium. The staircase spirals up four floors. The house has been converted into an historic landmark and museum - all ornamented with sketches, watercolors and oil paintings by Diego Rivera. An incredible assortment of styles and sophistication. It's easy to imagine bits of the artist's life; So much living hidden behind a plain wooden door on a narrow street. A cloistered abode with an artist's vivid global view. What hidden lives people live.

As our time in Guanajuato waned we rushed along narrow streets to a small narrow alley where legend has it that a tragic love affair occurred. The alley is so narrow that the window balconies almost touch. A poor young man and a very rich young lady fell in love. The rich girl's father found about the love affair. His daughter refused to stop seeing her young suitor. They descended their stairs for their one and only kiss. Her father killed her rather than have her marry someone below her class. There stands that fateful step in the stairs of that narrow alley, directly under the star crossed lovers' windows.

Legend has it that if two people kiss while standing on that very stair their love will last forever. We kissed... and so far it's working beyond all our expectations!!

A quick finish-up tour of the city and back to the big buses for our return to San Miguel de Allende. Our heads are full of so many stories, tastes and views. So many corners were left un-explored. We hope to return one day to this heady little mining town. I hope you make it one day too!