Mexico 2007

Christmas Day - Minneapolis

We leave for México on the 28th. We'll fly first to Guadalajara, where we'll spend 3 nights before taking the bus to Guanajuato. We've rented an apartment there for the month of January. Typically when we take winter trips, it's miserable in Minnesota. This year, however, it's only marginally a white Christmas and it's quite mild. Of course, it'll be warmer in Guanajuato, where the highs in January are in the low 70s and the lows maybe in the high 40s or low 50s.

Last year, when I went to Delores Hidalgo with Global Volunteers, I spent a day in Guanajuato. It's a lovely old colonial city (population around 90,000) in the mountains. The state of Guanajuato has many attractions, including many sites connected with the Mexican War for Independence.

For information on Guanajuato, see Guanajuato

28 - 31 December 2006

I don't like early mornings. I really don't like early mornings when I'm expected to function well. So why is it that I always manage to schedule trips which involve early morning travel?

Our plane left Minneapolis at 6:20 am, when meant getting there by 5:00, getting into the taxi around 4:30, and getting up at 3:30 ... not fun. On the other hand, it was an easy trip, and we made it to Guadalajara without problems. We even managed to get from the airport to our hotel by bus, thanks to the kindness of several strangers.

Guadalajara is huge, the second largest city in Mexico. The book says 3.5 million; a woman in the airport said around 6 million. In any case, it's large and we were able to see only the historic district in the center, and one of the suburbs, Tlaquepaque.

Since it's Christmas, the decorations were all up. The contrast between their very bright colors and the historic buildings is startling, especially at night when all the lights are on.

1 January 2007

We took the bus from Guadalajara to Guanajuata, an easy trip of about 4 hours through rather boring country. This is tequila country, however, so we saw many fields of agave.

The bus station in Guanajuato is outside of town about 7 kilometers, which means taking a local bus into the city. Many of the roads here are underground, and there is an elaborate system of tunnels used for cars, buses, and pedestrians. To me, it seems both totally chaotic and quite dangerous. It would never be allowed in the US, but seems to work fine here.

The city seems more like many in Spain than like other towns I've seen in Mexico. It's built on several hills, and the colorful houses perch all over. Our apartment is up a long, narrow callejon (alley, I think) and has a terrace on top. The apartment itself is pretty basic (make that REALLY basic), but the view is incredible. We've walked once through the town and, as Len says in his inimitable fashion, "It's got lots of old stuff." And very interesting old stuff it is ... theaters, churches, mines, buildings connected with the War for Independence, etc, etc. It was declared a world heritage site many years ago, and I see why. The altitude is 2014 meters, or a little over a mile. Since our street, like many, is quite steep, I can make it up about half way before starting to pant. I suppose that, in a week or so, I'll get used to it.

Today, Monday, we walked ... we walked to el Mercado Hidalgo, to a little restaurant for lunch, back to el Mercado Hidalgoto buy fruit, to the apartment to leave the fruit, to several parts of town looking for a supermercado, up and down a variety of streets looking for an open panadaria, back up a hill to have dinner in a little restaurant we had seen earlier, etc. It really is a lovely town.

4 January 2007

We have continued walking from side of town to another for much of the day. Every corner, of which there are many, reveals something interesting ... another church, a narrow little callejon leading off to who knows where, a view of the surrounding hills with their colorful houses, a tiny plaza, etc. There must be dozens and dozens of plazas, ranging in size from huge ones with fountains to tiny ones that have space only for a few chairs.

We were invited to see a B&B that's being redone by an American. It's absolutely beautiful (www.houseinguanajuato.com) and will be more so when it's done. It's a bit pricey for our tastes, however. I did meet the guy's Spanish tutor, though, and will get together with him tomorrow for an hour. I've been studying for an hour each morning in a café, which often includes my asking someone about the meaning of a word, and getting into a conversation. It'll be nice to have someone of whom I can ask specific questions, and from whom I can get corrections. The Mexicans are just too nice to correct me much.

While we haven't done too much touristy stuff (like go to museums), we did see the Alhódongo today. It was the site of the first victory for Padre Hidalgo and his army of campesinos during the Mexican War for Independence. Hidalgo´s men surrounded the building, which was filled with Spanish defenders. The army was unable to break in until Pípila, with a rock tied to his back, crawled to the door and blew it up. Most of the Spanish were killed and later, when Hidalgo and his co conspirators were finally captured, their heads were hung from the corners of the building. Each corner is marked with the name of the person whose head hung there. It´s a vivid reminder of the bloody history of this area.

continued the next day ...

I met with the tutor today, and had very interesting hour. It's his belief, which which I don't disagree, that in order to learn the language, one must also learn the culture. As result, we spent as much time talking about the "Mexican personality" as about the preterit versus the imperfect. I'm also reading an essay by Octavio Paz, which talks about the importance of the fiesta in Mexican life, not just as a fun time but as a way to step outside the limits of the Mexican personality, which he sees as marked by isolation, sadness, etc. The tutor, who is actually from Sweden, recommended a book by an author he describes as "muy Mexicano." I'm going to see if I can find it as it sounds interesting.Plus, it's short stories, and I can usually stick with those. And, before next Monday, when we meet again, I have about a dozen pages on the preterit and the imperfect, in Spanish, to study.

In the meantime, Len is sick and miserable. It's just a cold fortunately, but he is not a happy camper.

One of the more interesting traditions in Guanajuato is the “callejoneada,” which take place every Friday and Saturday night. Musicians, dressed in traditional costumes, start playing in the plaza, in front of the Teatro Júarez, and then wander through the callejons of the city. A whole group follows them, typically paying a few dollars for the wine that´s part of the deal. We went down tonight for the start of the event, and intend to follow along another time as it looks like  a lot of fun. According to Len, the musicians are “run of the mil” but that doesn't limit the entertainment value at all.

Dolores Hidalgo

I'd been wanting to go to Dolores for some time. First, it's a good place to buy talavera ceramics, and second, I spent two weeks there a couple of years ago and was feeling nostalgic.

So, off we went ... found a bus to take us to the bus station, and found another bus to take us to Dolores. Fortunately, the bus station in Dolores is in town, within walking distance of the main plaza. We spent a few minutes wandering around the main plaza, but heading off to find a place for lunch. Then, we toured the church, and went to the museum of independence. There is one very interesting poster which has the important dates for Mexico along with the important dates in the rest of the world. Knowing when Hidalgo was born, and when some of the more revolutionary ideas were being published in Europe made his actions more understandable ... it was the zeitgeist.

We spent some time buying ceramics. It's all quite inexpensive, and more of it is well made. I really prefer the traditional style, with the bright colors and bold forms, to the more modern variants. We also went to see the hotel where I stayed with Global Volunteers. Pompeyo, the 80 years + owner, is in the middle of a remodeling project. There's one room that looks like the presidential suite.

That, plus wandering through a few more churches, was the day. We got back to Guanajuato surprisingly tired. Maybe it's the altitude?

Sunday, 15 January

We had quite a day today ... yesterday, Carl (he of the B&B) invited us to accompany him to a concert at the Casa Museo Gene Byron. This is one of the old haciendas that has been preserved by turning into a museum, and having exhibits, concerts, and so for forth which they charge. Today's concert was a collection of Bach choral preludes ... 10 before the break and 16 after ...  played on the organ by a man who is the director of some conservatory in Moscow.

My musical informant (Len) says that he was surprised that the repertory was limited to choral preludes, and that the professor made so many errors in the first half. The second half was more ambitious technically, and more proficiently executed. And, we had really good seats. Following the concert, there was a gathering in the courtyard, accompanied by wine and an assortment of tapas. There were maybe 40 people there, many of whom are expats living in Guanajuato but some of whom, like us, are just visiting.

Afterwards, “Hans the animal,”a German who apparently earned that nickname by competing in ultra marathons, gave us a ride back to the city ... always an adventure. As Len and I were walking back toward our apartment, speculating on what to do next, we were overtaken by a group of Aztec dancers who were clearly going somewhere. Of course we followed them It turned out to be a celebration for Our Lady of Guadalupe, held in the Empajadores neighborhood of Guanajuato. There were numerous drum and bugle corps, the Aztec dancers, a stature of the virgin on a float that was later carried by 4 men, and some sort of dance/pageant. There was one kid, clearly dressed as a bull, a couple who seemed to be bull fighters, 3 girls who took turns dancing with the bull, and a kid with a bull whip, who also danced with the bull. I was told that the girls were the “emboracahadas,” the drunken ones. There was also “el viecito,” a little old man who didn't do much. After lots of dancing and lots of drums, the whole group headed off somewhere, with la Virgencita and a couple of musical groups bringing up the rear. Len was particularly impressed by one of the trombone players, who was blind and managed the walk by leaning on a follow trombonist. We followed them for a ways, but they were going to be marching for at least 1.5 miles. Their goal was one of the churches, where (I assume) there would be more dancing and mass.

Apparently, the Virgin is celebrated twice here, once on the usually Dec 11 and once on the Sunday that falls closest to some date in Jan. My tutor is Lutheran, and can´t explain any of this.

from Morelia, Michoacan

Even though we hadn´t heard from the tour company about the trip to the butterfly reserve, we decided to take our chances. So, we left Guanajuato at the crack of dawn (7:00 am) to catch the bus for Morelia.

Len found us a hotel (25.00 per night and worth every penny), and we went to see the tourist information people to find out about the butterfly tours. It costs less than I expected, but is also a much longer process than I thought ... some 10 hours round trip, leaving at 8:30 am.

The first thing in the morning, we met at the appointed spot. The tour was in Spanish, and the guide promised to talk slowly for us, which she did ... more or less. In any case, understanding her wasn´t a problem.

Off we went ... 4 hours on Mexican roads, with a very poor driver who alternated between moments of incredible audacity and amazing over caution. And the roads were twisting, with topes (speed bumps) every mile or two.  We finally got to the reserve and found that there was a hike of about 1.2 miles to get to where the butterflies currently were. This doesn´t sound like much, but we were at 9000 feet, and the path was a steep uphill slog.

We hiked, and hiked, and hiked some more ... with rest stops every once in a while. We kept asking people coming down if there really were butterflies, and they kept saying "si." So, we kept going. Eventually, we arrived at the end of the climb. My fantasy had been clouds of monarchs, fluttering around my head. What we got was quite a bit different. First, it was cold, cold enough that we could see our breath. Second, the butterflies are currently in their juvenile phase, which means that they are not moving around much, but are saving their energy until they reach sexual maturity. As a result, they were not flying around, but were hanging in huge clusters (of millions each) from several nearby trees. It was a striking sight, but certainly did not meet my expectations ... interesting though. butterflies

The climb down was easy, despite the cold rain. Toward the bottom of the climb, we stopped at a lucheria place, to have a meal. On my own, I probably would not have stopped there but it was excellent ... beans, rice, and a version of quesadillas that I hadn´t seen before.

And then the ride back ... more neurotic driving on bad roads. And this time, we had raucous music on the radio rather than explanations and descriptions from the guide.

We got back to Morelia about 6:30 and collapsed.

I think it was worth it, but once was enough.

 

Buses in Mexico

We take the bus a lot in Mexico ... on this trip, we´ve gone into town from the airport, back and forth to bus terminals, to/from various cities, and around towns.

On five different occasions, we´ve taken Flecha Amarilla/Primera Plus. Once we paid with exact change, and another time the clerk pointed out that we had given her too much. The other times we were shortchanged, and once the clerk even lied about the price of the tickets. Len pointed it out each time, and they just shrugged unapologetically and handed him the correct amount. It seemed pretty clear that it was not an error. Once I asked an employee if it were the policy of the company to have their employees cheat the customers, and he just laughed.

But, the city buses can be quite ... entertaining? In Morelia, they use VW vans or similar vehicles. Some are in good shape; others are pretty much trashed. Apparently, they just drive around the routes as fast as possible, picking up as many people as they can fit in. At one point, there were 18 people in one we took. The new passengers crowd in, pass their money up to the driver, the change gets passed back, and eventually everyone gets to the appropriate stop ... even though it may take awhile. Fortunately, many people here are short so they can stand up in the vans. It was pretty hard on my neck.

In general, everyone is quite amiable about the whole thing ... one is pressed up tight against a perfect stranger (something quite uncomfortable for us Anglos), and no one seems to get upset.

callejoneadas

Last night, we went down to el Jardín de la Unión to experience the callejondeadas , a group of men in colonial-era Spanish garb stroll through the streets singing, telling jokes, and offering drinks. Before singing, they gave a spiel that was clearly very humorous, but our Spanish is insufficient to keep up with the rapid-fire patter. We bought one of their wine-sipping vessels (which look like bongs), and joined the sizable crowd in following them through the streets and up the hill, while they sang and lead the way.

An amusing aspect of the parade is the use of the string bass while marching. Unlike Woody Allen, in one of his movies (Take the Money an Run?), the player didn't use a chair, but had one of his comrades carry the bottom end by the floor peg – quite a sight. Much of the trek was single- or double-file through the narrow alleys. A couple times, when they reached a wide spot, they stopped and had a guy fill the bongs. We were disappointed to find that the “wine” was really orange juice. The goal of the walk was the famous “Callejón del Beso” (Street of the Kiss), an extremely narrow alley where the balconies on opposite sides practically meet. (The legend is that a beautiful, rich young woman lived on one side, while a handsome but poor young miner lived on the other. Naturally, they fell in love and naturally her father was incensed as he wanted his daughter to increase the family fortunes through marriage. So, they would lean across from balcony to balcony and kiss. One night, her father caught them and threatened to kill his daughter if she didn't give up the poor miner. She didn't and he father killed her ... cutting off the miner's right arm in the process. There is some rule about kissing or not kissing as you walk under the balconies. My Spanish wasn't up to that part of the story.)

Much of the street, along the way, was under construction, with holes, piles of cobbles, and protruding re-rod all over the place. There's no way anyone in the US would lead a group of tourists through such a dangerous mess, because it'd take about five minutes for someone to break a leg or get impaled and sue. It's clear that the Mexicans are much smarter than we, because they live with this kind of  booby trap on a day-to-day basis, and even the little kids seem to be able to avoid them. After most of the crowd trickled through the  Callejón del Beso (we walked around the block), the tour wrapped up in the nearby Plaza de los Angeles. This is on the opposite end of el centro from our apartment, so we had a long walk home. It was fun, but we probably won't do it again next weekend.

Minnesota

And now we're home. It took almost 17 hours, what with delays in Dallas/Fort Worth, but we made it. Of course, MN is in the middle of a cold snap, with temperatures of -18 or so around Minneapolis (worse up north) and no let up in sight. I think I should have stayed in Guanajuato.