The Colors of Guanajuato

My second choice title: an entire day without throwing up (so far)
By Sarah Ann
June 19, 2018

Once again we woke up early to drive to a bus station. This time though, we had to pack up everything because instead of going on a day trip, we were going to Guanajuato for 3 days (2 nights). We took Uber to the bus station (I didn't throw up this time) and waited until our bus came, which was, like the other buses we rode, super nice. If you've been reading our blog, you know I've been pretty sick lately. So I thought the best part was I didn't throw up on the bus!

Once we arrived in Guanajuato, we took a taxi to our apartment. The Taxi driver went super fast down these narrow streets, making sharp turns without slowing down. The other crazy thing? There were no seat belts.

We got to our little apartment. It is so cute! It is bright colors, with skeleton Day of the Dead decorations all around which Christian thinks are a little scary. It has a balcony with a great view too.

our apartment living room

First I will give you a little background on Guanajuato. Guanajuato used to be a big silver mining town. Our Taxi driver told us that at one point, it produced 40% of the world's silver! That's how the town got rich. Now it is a Unesco world heritage site. I can see why!

Once we put our stuff down, we were ready to go exploring. Just walking around the streets you could see the bright colors of all the houses on the hills. It also started raining. June is the rainiest month here but it still doesn't usually rain that much. It's raining a ton now though because there was a tropical storm somewhere. In fact, Guanajuato had its worst floods in 90 years just 5 days ago. And it rained almost the entire time we walked around today.

bright colored-houses on the hills

We saw the Callejon del Beso - the Alley of the Kiss. It's called that because the balconies were so close that people in houses across the street could lean over and kiss one another.

my parents kissing in the Alley of the Kiss. Taylor was grossed out!

Our next stop was the basilica, which was a gorgeous church. All the churches here are so fancy!

Here's the basilica. (We took this picture later when there was a small pause in the rain.)

After walking around a little more, we went to a trolley. You take a trolley up the mountain, and at the top is a view of the city. It is impossible to describe it in words, and no pictures can do it justice, but I will try my best. It was so amazing that my family thinks this is one of the best views ever anywhere. You could see all the bright colors of all the houses up and down the mountains. Rachel was convinced it looked like the afterlife from Coco, but I didn't see a ton of resemblance. In the U.S., we always use such bland colors for houses. I think we should build bright colored clay houses so our towns can look more like the ones here!

Here we are out at overlook.

Also up there was a statue of a Mexican hero El Pipila. During the Mexican War of Independence, a group of Spaniards were hiding in a building. The Mexicans couldn't get in because the gate, called Alhondigas, was locked. A miner nicknames El Pipila put a slab of rock on his back so the bullets wouldn't hit him, and burned the gate. The Mexicans were able to get in. There was a sign on the statue that said "There are still other Alhondigas to burn".

Next, we went to eat a little food before we went to a theater. The theater was super intricate and elaborate. There were so much designs. It was pretty, but also a little bit over the top. The theater is still open today for performances.

Teatro Juarez

Then we explored a market called Mercado Hildalgo. All these people tried to call us over to eat at their restaurant. We finally chose one. The food was really good, but by then my stomach was hurting a little again so I didn't eat much. After that Christian and I were ready to go home, but Rachel and Taylor stayed with my dad to do some more exploring.

Eating dinner by the Mercardo

My stomach is still not great - but it's getting better.

That's me at the bus station this morning. You can see from the other pictures that I perked up as the day went on.

Tomorrow is going to be another fun day in Guanajuato!