I’m putting an entire trip in one post, as I do the whole thing after I get home, and I’m not writing too much. Less confusing this way, as WordPress shows things in reverse chronological order, with the last day of the trip on top. This is mostly just me tracking where we went so I can recall later. Most of what I took was video, because I get a better sense of the atmosphere, but I can’t post them on an unpaid account. Guanajuato photo / video album on Google Photos.
FYI, all addresses are in the area of “Zona Centro, 36000 Guanajuato, Gto.” unless otherwise noted.
THURSDAY JAN 26
Melissa drove me to the airport, with my 2/3 empty green hard suitcase. Landing in TX made me laugh, as the first things I noticed when I got off the plane were racks with bibles and books titled, “How To Know That God Exists” and BBQ sauce mixes. All that was missing was the AR-15 racks with practice targets shaped like gay minorities. The homes in Leon were all white, which I could see from the plane. I landed there, and Isreal Torres, John’s driver, and his wife picked me up. I sent him a shot of me in my hipster cat tee shirt so he’d know whom he was grabbing.
Guanajuato is very colorful and situated in a bowl of sorts, a valley of a few long, main streets with hills of bright blue, yellow, and red homes that crawl up the steep hills on either side. It reminds me of the hill towns of Italy, or of Positano, without the water and racks of tourists.
January seems a great time to come, once the students return, as there is life but it’s not crowded. As it is, most tourists here are Mexican, so you have a chance to practice your Spanish, as many folks don’t seem to speak English. I’m having a better time than I thought reading and expressing myself in Spanish, and even found a Neil Gaiman’s Coraline in Spanish at a local book shop. I went back later for Harry Potter en espanol and am sloooooowly working my way through writing in all the words i don’t understand – yet.
I love the plazas where folks gather to eat, read, and talk, and the architecture and fountains.
I also love that you can’t get too lost — if you aren’t on flat ground, you’re going the wrong way (away from the town center / main road). Though I purposely took a flight of 100s of winding, narrow stairs that took me all the way up to the El Pipila Monument.
We’re staying in this giant house, Antigua Casa de Música (Sangre de Cristo 2). I’m on the top floor next to John and Mich, and they work downstairs in other rooms. The roofs are 15 feet high and have old wooden beams, and there’s a ton of stone detail on the walls and over the doors. Beautiful tile as well. The courtyard is all open — there’s a ton of sun here, so that works. Café Tal (Temescuitate 1 4) is right next door, and I’m surprised I haven’t been there, as it’s already Saturday AM, but I brought some of my instant espresso.
The first place John took me was Casa del Rector (Positos 33), the nicest spot in the city with an amazing view, great white lounge chairs with a pool, and a cool vibe.
I think they were playing New Order – several places we’ve been to play The Cure, Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears, and other 1980s-1990s British music. Strange. We had wonderful sparkling lemonades. You can map out the city from there — the theatres, churches, mercado hidaldo, and statues. There are a lot of cool statues around town — older political ones, Don Quixote, and more modern ones. And also baby yoda (Grogu).
It’s helpful to find your way around. There’s only one big street crossing, and most streets are one-way, which makes it easier to get around without getting mowed down. As soon as you leave a main road, it’s walk-up only and very steep, so you have to be in good shape and not mind carrying your stuff up several yards or stairs to live here, particularly on the higher parts of the hill.
Our first meal was at Tazón de Barro (Interior Positos street 70), a vegan place that makes one soup, one main dish, and one drink every night and posts it ahead of time on What’s App. She cooked us zucchini with veggies on top and cauliflower soup and chia seed water with mint. The zucchini wasn’t even cooked, and it was amazing. I took a video of the food processor / spiralizer that she uses. We need to get one and make a recipe — pine nuts, tomatoes, parmesan, mushrooms, I can already see it. Vegan cheese made of potatoes, tapioca, and walnuts or something. We met a guy from CA who is living in GTO and his father, and an adorable pit-bull-looking-but-not dog named Paco who squealed like a dolphin like nothing I’ve ever heard. A local woman rounded out the entire capacity of the tiny spot.
We then stopped at Xocola-t Boutique (Xocola-t Boutique, Baratillo, Alameda) for amazing spicy chocolate truffles, which I’m returning to to get a ton more before I leave. Spicy!!!!!
FRIDAY JANUARY 27
The next morning I had my instant espresso and showered, nearly running out of hot water, so I have to watch it. I went out on my own for several hours after John showed me that I could stick to that main street and go all the way to Mercado Hidalgo (Av. Benito Juárez Mercado, Hidalgo), which I did.
I found those steps and went all the way up to the Pipila monument (Monumento al Pípila, Cerro de San Miguel), which was a good workout I want to do every morning. My heart rate got to 169, according to my watch. The hills across the view are best illuminated in the late afternoon, which is the best time to go up, but hotter. That was the only time I noticed tourists here, taking themselves and each other in front of the amazing view. There are also several touristy shops and stands up there on the Panoramica street that winds all the way around the city and is about 15 miles long, according to John. There are also a ton of colorful murals all the way up some streets.
I went back down and looked in several shops trying to scope out the best alebrijes for me and Melissa. There’s also beautiful embroidered bags and some cool jewelry here.
I got a plain pair of silver hoops. The fruit here is wonderful. I got a cup of mixed fruit with spices from a street vendor, a little bag of dried, spiced strawberries from another street vendor, and a glass jar of peeled mangoes from the actual market.
I ate outside the main market in one of about 4 food shops. Chilaquiles (chips with sauce on them) and refried beans and an orange juice. No meat! I’m still not clear on what chilaquiles are.
I found Neil Gaiman’s Coraline in a book shop in one of several plazas here, and bought a large cat, a medium cat and owl for Melissa, and two tiny but detailed alebrijes on the way home. The magical, detailed ones are the best, but they’re pricier and harder to get home.
In the afternoon, John and I went to the Beer Company (Cantarranas No. 56) rooftop to meet with the Facebook group. I met Clay, an old deadhead hippie type interested in Buckminster Fuller, consciousness, and who loves his kids. Everyone there was very cool. Kim and I will hopefully go hiking in the Cerro de La Bufa tomorrow (Sunday). Paco was also there with his owner.
The cokes have warnings about excessive calories and sugar, which cracked me up, as Americans down 32 oz Red Bulls. I was hoping to get to the paper store and musical instrument store, but hopefully this afternoon before our dinner at Los Campos (Del Campanero 11), which will also have music! The owner is from Canada and has had a few failed restaurants here.
The story of the Campanero bridge with tables on it is interesting. The couple we visited lived on a street above this bridge, which was actually at street level before the street below was hallowed out to make a less steep ramp for horses to go down. A very rich couple lived in the house across the street, so the bridge was built so that they could access their house easily. The street John’s friends live on is where the revolution began and the door was burnt down by Pipila to enter and attack the Spanish. The Spanish retaliated and put Mexican’s heads on poles through the city.
The couple was fascinating — he has written multiple books on Humbolt (Humbooks — the son of, the bride of, the return of, etc – ha ha) and she’s a travel writer. They live here part of the year, I think. Cheese on flatbread with chutney is very good and I heard my first cat. Their home has amazing views of the city and a lot of open air.
We then went to La Trattoria on the main street (Jdn. de la Unión 1), with a beautiful view of the bustling square and Teatro Juarez and Union Park, which is full of trees and a fountain. Musicians, corn stands, and street vendors.
Ravioli, carpaccio of beef and salmon with melon, apple pie and ice cream, and a pear salad. Great food, great atmosphere. Our table was ½ outside on a balcony.
SATURDAY JANUARY 28
Saturday was horseback riding 30m outside the town.
The horse woman, who reminds me of Sue Burch, moved down from Bellingham and married a Mexican and opened a horse ranch full-time. Trotting makes my ass and boobs hurt, but horses were awesome. Her husband wore embroidered pants and a sombrero and sang Mexican songs the whole time, and sometimes Chewy (not sure of spelling, it’s an actual nickname) sang along sometimes. Amazing lunch with chile relleno in corn, homemade corn tortillas with queso, eggs, beans, potatoes in corn, hibiscus juice. Had to pee 3x in the brush.
Very much like SoCal foliage there, with brown brush like Catalina as well. Only the 5 of us. No running water – they fill up once per week, which is why they can’t grow their own alfalfa for the hoses to save $$$. They love GTO, as many ex-pats do, with the sunshine and pace of life and people.
Shower + dinner at Los Campos (no longer there) with best food yet (amazing mushroom, avocado, leek, rosemary burrito; bean soup). Band was a friend of J&M on cello (Michael), Steven James on piano / singing sometimes, and Johnny Favorite a reformed drunk that I swear was shitfaced, except that he said he’d been sober 4 years. The last time they played somewhere, he was so drunk the cabby wouldn’t let him in, so Michael had to pretend he was a special needs guy. He wore a backwards Elvis wig and sang The Beatles, Bowie, Queen, Elton, all the hits. He was often staring into space like he was seeing ghosts, and then impersonated Christopher Walken for an entire verse, and Michelle got it on her camera phone. An older woman and a skinny girl in green dress who also sang a song were dancing, and everyone was singing along to We Will Rock You, Bird on a Wire, and several other songs.
SUNDAY JANUARY 29
Instead of hiking, we had massages in the house, then spent 3 hours at the Villa Maria Cristina (Paseo de la, Presa de La Olla 76) hotel pool and had a delicious pear salad/gorgonzola/walnut salad and added Chinese tuna tartar salad.
Delicious, and so nice to lay in the sun a bit! Mich and I are both sunburned. After, we visited her favorite building in GTO and had tres leches cake and coffee at La Victoriana (Paseo de la Presa 97) in La Presa (“the dam”) — beautiful 19th and early 20th century architecture, detail, hanging plants like I’ve seen in a few places, and then we visited the dam full of paddle boats and people in the nearby restaurant. Sunday is family day in Gto.
I skipped the family zoom to run up the Pipila steps three times just before sunset, which was beautiful, and my knees did fine, though I had to hear an earful from popper when I called them back to chat. I got a few photos of the murals and examined the food at the top and bottom, but chose incorrectly in ordering the vegetarian empanadas from across the street from Antiqua Musica casa.
MONDAY JANUARY 30
This morning I was awakened at 8am by Michelle’s “Leaving in 5!” because I could NOT sleep last night and spent probably 5 hours watching Doctor Who (better than I recall!) Season 8 and buying Season 9. We went to rooftop Pilates at Casa Cuatro (San José #4, Alameda, 36251 Guanajuato) with several older English-speaking folks, which was great, and stopped for veggies on the way home.
After doing my Oracle eval, I met John at the falafel place Habibti Falafel (Sostenes Rocha 21) and we each got the 4-dish combo, which was really good.
I got an espresso doble at Café Tal and saw Tal for the first time!!! Patricia also had photos of Fermi and his newly late companion, Schrodinger. So happy to touch my first kitty here, and I got to pet another one on the way home from dinner at Amatxi later tonight.
I went back out and got more Chipotle chocolates and vanilla and strawberry chocolates at the chocolate place in Baratillo, Xocola-t Boutique (Baratillo 15, Alameda, 36000 Guanajuato).
Then I got two embroidered pillows, a purse insert, and a half-price-of-my-other-ones alebrije, which was annoying. I probably spent more for the embroidery, as it was off the Jardin Union. Beautiful little shops and trees and fountains everywhere. And mariachis in embroidered pants. I gotta get me one of those!
All of the museums are closed Monday, so I stood for 20 minutes in front of the university steps until a taxi came and went to Museo Ex Hacienda San Gabriel (KM 2.5, Guanajuato- Marfil, El Cerrito, 36050 Guanajuato) de someone-or-other with all of the architecture and gardens — Japanese, Mexican (the only one kept up), Italian, etc. I was standing at the wrong entrance for the cab home and it took quite a while, as that highway is one-way only. Didi is the cab service linked to Google Maps, and they seem legit.
When I got back, I showered, and we went to Amatxi (P.º de La Presa 109-Planta alta), which had amazing meat and fish. I got a huge plate of tuna sashimi and salmon on potatoes, and a cake with fruit on it (they said it was cheesecake but it didn’t seem like it), and yet another sparkling lemonade. They’d been there with Paul as well, and I can only imagine what he ate! Another restaurant with Edison lights and hanging plants.
On the walk home, after the oily orange cat, we stopped in Cinemanimal (P.º de La Presa 30, Barrio de la Presa, 36094 Guanajuato), a movie house playing films of your choice (if they have it) in English with subtitles. The kid moved from NY w/his dad last year, and the dad is the ESL guy John knows from FB. They’re going to have movie nights there on Tuesdays and invite the local mobile bar, which sounds like a perfect idea.
Tomorrow and Wed are museum and city visiting days, and Wed is also Cuban dancing night that John put together, plus Michael the cellist from last Saturday.
TUESDAY January 31
I began my day at Café Tal, and was so happy I asked where the cat was! I spent 30 minutes upstairs petting her (she likes it behind her whiskers, on her cheek, and is so delicate!) and talking to her. I’m sure they could hear me downstairs.
Any minute, Mich is going to grab me to go to yoga at Casa Cuarto. The rest of the day is museums and hanging out in town, which is my favorite thing, I think.
Yoga was a bit different — more holding / strength poses than asanas I’m used to. John and I tried to meet in another Japanese place, but I accidentally went to the one we saw next to the falafel place, Bento-Ya OMI (Sostenes Rocha 21), so we went there. It was owned by a Japanese guy who’d learned English by living in Canada for 9 years. He and John got on well, and we ate upstairs in a room that was barely tall enough for me to stand in. Probably $100 worth of furniture in there and wooden stairs up, with no railing. Rice with a bit of chicken and cabbage. Fair. We talked about John opening a pizza window and serving pizza 3 hours per day for 3 days a week, as there’s no good pizza in Guanajuato, and that’s what the guy who owned the Bucket did.
I visited the Museo Iconográfico del Quijote (Cantarranas 1), which had a ton of Quixote-based art; the historical / political museum that had a bit of pre-Columbian artifacts and paintings/artifacts/photos of various eras of Guanajuato and a cool mural on the wall/ceiling.
I then visited Diego Rivera’s House Museum (Positos 47), which had an exhibit of an Italian photographer woman, some of his pre-painting drawings, and a mock-up of a home from his era (seems like they had money – his parents were educated – mom was an obstetrician and dad was a prof), and spent time in San Fernando, John’s favorite square, though I think I like the square where I’ve bought books a few times.
I also got more mangoes and had amazing gelato at Estacion Gelato (Cantaritos 29) in San Fernando (lemon rose, strawberry, coffee).
We went to Enchiladas de Lupe (Antigua Plaza de Gallos) tonight for delicious chicken enchiladas and then to La Vie en Rose (Cantarranas 18) for amazing tarts. That place has beautiful décor.
So much music and action, even on a Tuesday night in January in the Jardin Union!! I have to get one of those callejoneadas tours that start from the Jardin every 30 minutes. They go through the streets and sing, and people join in.
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 1
I put in 30,000 steps today by repeatedly going the wrong way in town and ending up at Mercado Hidalgo a few times, but that means I went by my favorite alebrije shop again, so I bought a few more. I ate at Trattoria again and had the carpaccio mixta and pear salad, then sat and read HP in Spanish for a while in the square I like and took some photos there, then went up and down poking around the Jardin area. I slept for a couple hours and listened to Neil de Grasse Tyson’s Starry Messenger.
At 6 we went to the Embajadores hotel (Parque Embajadoras) for Cuban music and guacamole and met Troy (gay guy I sat across from), Luis and another gay guy whose name I can’t recall, and hung out for a few hours, then went to hear Michael James play cello at Los Campos.
He played AMAZING Bach fugue pieces, and then sat with us and Michelle, a bit hammered, pelted him with questions for 2 hours on his movement around the USA and down to Mexico. He’s lived a lot of places. She and John got the amazing burrito I’d had earlier. I had affogato. We bumped into Louanna at the Cuban place, and she and her husband went to Los Campos as well. I’ll be hiking with her tomorrow. They’d been in Mexico and South America for a few months.
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 2
Today I met Louanna at Cafétal at 8am to go hiking in La Bufa. We crossed town and went to the other Cafétal (P.º de La Presa #128), where they had an adorable, more friendly orange male kitty.
Isadora came a bit late, and we set off up Calle San Juan de Dios, across from Tal, and went straight up the calllon to the trailhead.
La Bufa was a nice mix of steep rock and flatter trail, so there was time to catch your breath. At the top was a statue of Mary and a giant cross, a great view of the city on one side, the buttes on the other, and the are below where we went horseback riding.
And also the Cristo Rey on the mountain top. Near the top we bumped into Kimberly, who I met on the top of the Beer Company earlier on and was going to hike with Sunday. John and I ate amazing quesadillas with chicken, lime/cilantro sauce, and cheese at Cocina de Laura (P.º de La Presa 44) on the way home from La Presa.
I came home, napped a bit, and heard that I got an award at the Oracle all-hands meeting today. Ah well. Tonight we went to La Table de Andree (Positos 66), a French place, for dinner – escargot and salmon with risotto, and bumped again into Louanna.
They went to the folk show we missed – there was an amazing Balkan Mexican band, dammit! – though we also missed the state band at Jardin. There’s so much music here! They sounded good while we were walking by. On the way home, I brought Tal my salmon skin (no takers, though I got some pets in) and got more Chipotle chocolates.
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3
Today I spent the day meandering around the main streets.
I bought my final alebrijes, unsuccessfully seeking Tal — though I did see the orange one at Al Markesh (P.º de La Presa 136), a Lebanese restaurant we went to at the other Cafétal tonight — what a mood he was in!!!!! I had a marginal lunch at a gorditas stand, but dinner was great, and I finished Tyson’s audiobook. I want to see my kitty – I’m ready for my girl! I can do the Callonadas next time.
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 4
A final morning at Cafétal, and I spent 30 minutes with her in my lap. So happy to have this final treat before I left, as I heard recently (Nov 2023) that she’s since died. Happy crossings, Tal!
BapeAbroad 