Guanajuato

Well, I´m home, and it was soooooo worth it! The city was beautiful. Definately one of the best I´ve been to! So much history, because the main fight for independence against the Spaniards started there. Miguel Hidalgo was one of the important figures, and there was another guy, who I don´t know the name of, but people called him Pipila, and he supposedly stuck a huge rock to his back, and then tried to attack this building, and the rock protected him... Anyway, eventually the Spaniards re-took the building, and cut off the heads of these guys, and stuck them on the top of the building at each corner. Very gory, but history can be the scariest thing sometimes... But this building is still standing, and inside are vibrant murals, depicting all of the history, as well as rooms set up in different decades, to show the progress of the area, through the years. Guanajuato was also a HUGE mining town, and produced between 20-40% of the worlds silver at one point in time!! So there´s lots of gorgeous silver jewlery around, at pretty reasonable prices.

Soooooo much shopping happened during this past weekend!! There are beautiful artisans in every block, so we sometimes had to tell each other ¨put on your blinders!!¨ so that we could actually get around the city to see all the sights.

We were lucky to have my friend Hugo as our knowledgable tour guide, and he showed us all around the historical downtown center, as well as provided a place to stay 2 out of the 3 nights! The first night his roomates were all home, so Lauren, Jen and I stayed in a hostel, but after that, they left for the long weekend so we stayed there. It was good to see him again, as we had only seen each other for about 5 minutes last summer, and before that it had been about 5 years!! He was on an exchange program at PCVS in my grade 9 year, and we´ve just kept in touch all the while, through the internet.

So, the reason Guanajuato is so wonderful isn´t only because of all the beautiful old buildings, but more importantly for the quality of people, and the rich culture! Every single person I met (and there were quite a few, because Lauren and Jen already had a number of friends from their previous visit, and of course Hugo knew people, and I met a bunch myself) were sooooo friendly and good to talk to!

Also, Hugo and I went to a Tchikovzky concert, performed by the University of Guanajuato´s Symphony Orchestra, and it was a lovely evening! The musicians were from all over the world, but they all came together so beautifully to create a wonderful experience. There was a violin player who even made the high notes beautiful!! (and those of you who know my sensitive ears, know that´s quite an accomplishment!! hehe)

Anyway, we went out to a really cool bar called Barfly, which is kind of like the Only in Peterbrough, except wayyyy cooler with different sections with different kinds of music, and a live band one night, and great people. We also went to a salsa club, which was pretty fun.

So, after taking a 5 hour bus ride (3 different buses) all the way there, we were lucky to have our friend Victor who lives in Sahuayo, be kind of passing through, on his way home from Mexico city, and he drove us home in about 3 hours!

It was soooo good to have 4 days off in a row. We all really needed it, after the stressful presentations, and report cards, last week. We came home kind of worn out, but in a good way. In a touristy did everything kinda way. So, I´m quite content now, and I should probably go, because I´m just taking a quick break from school as none of my students showed up during my 7-20 class. But, now it´s time to get back for my last class of the night.

Take care, and love!!
Hanah