San Migual and the last week of school

Last weekend (July 11) we went with Anna, a fellow student from Esculea Mexicana, for an overnight trip to San Miguel de Allende. It is a beautiful city a little over an hours bus journey away. Yet another gorgeous colonial city with bougainvillia spilling down walls in a riot of reds and pinks over brightly coloured walls; huge arched doorways filled with heavy wooden doors; and grand cathedrals. I sat on the terrace of our hotel on Saturday afternoon writing in my diary enjoying the view across the city. The light was that hazy light that reminded me of Umbria, Italy. When I looked at the pots of red geraniums that lined the balcony that feeling was complete. The place is a favourite with ex-pat Americans and you can see why.

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On Saturday night we took advice from the Lonely Planet and drank margueritas at a rooftop restaurant bar. They were the best margueritas (plural) I have perhaps ever had! Here we are toasting our good health and good fortune. I include a photo as proof of the architectural superiority of these drinks. You'll have to take my word for the taste.

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Sunday was spent at the local Aguas Calientes - hot springs recovering from a sleepless night (curse the Spanish design of rooms around a central courtyard and the Mexicans love of all night parties!) and perhaps the slightest hangover. The spas included a long tunnel that you could swim along through to an inner cave with hot water spouting out of the wall. There were four light holes in the ceiling and the shafts of light playing on the rippling surface and were reflected to the cave ceiling. It was very tranquil.

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We began our last week exhausted and Ange decided to play hookey from classes. I ploughed on with only two hours a day. We seemed to whip through an extraordinary amount of grammer with our teacher Ilsa - three new tenses. I can now say: I have spoken Spanish, I would speak Spanish, and I will speak Spanish! But really, I can still hardly speak Spanish at all - and I can't say that in Spanish!

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We have spent a relatively quiet weekend packing for our next leg - we go to Mexico City on Monday.

Weekend side trips from Guanajuato

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We have taken a side trip out of Gto almost every weekend. On our first weekend after settling into our new home on the Saturday we decided to visit a small hill puelbo nearby. We found our way to the local Central de Autobuses and managed to purchase two tickets for Santa Rosa - although worryingly the ticket did not say Santo Rosa, but Dolores Hidalgo. The bus followed a long steep and winding road. It was very narrow and I was glad that we had not hired a car and were driving the other way. We had lunch at Santa Rosa overlooking rolling green hills through hazy air. At that stage it had been raining almost every night and everything looked quite lush - unusual for here. After lunch we wandered the streets and bought some sour plum jam from a women’s cooperative - five women have banded together and have their own label.

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The following weekend we joined a school excursion to the neighbouring town of Leon on Friday afternoon. Leon is famous for its leather products in particular shoes. Our first stop was at the Plaza do Zapatos - yes, it was indeed a mall devoted entirely to leather shoes!!! A young American girl bought three pairs. Besides the mall there were endless blocks of little stalls full of shoes. There I bought a pair of orange suede sandals - they are gorgeous and only cost the equivalent of $12. After this shopping extravaganza we had a rather rushed look at the main plaza surrounded by typical old colonial buildings, colonnaded walkways and huge cathedral.

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The next day we wanted some exercise. We took the funicular up one side of the valley thinking we would walk back down. The funicular, we saw later, is only suspended by one rope - a fact it was just as well we did not know when we sat suspended for a while a few metres from the top. At the top is a giant statue of Pipila - a local hero of the independence movement. We walked on past the stalls selling the usual tourist souvenirs and past the crowds. “Let’s just see what’s round the next corner” we said. Then after a series of “Let’s just …”, we found ourselves climbing the Buffa - the huge rocky topped mountain that rises up above the town. It was a great walk - huge and somewhat scary at times - but exhilarating. Here are a couple of photos.

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We returned to town down the tiny and colourful callejones.

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When we returned to the centre we were exhausted so we sat at a café to drink beer. Next to us was a clown entertaining the crowds. I got up to take a photot of Ange at the café post climb and the clown went and sat in my seat so I snapped them both!

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