Tag Archives: Guanajuato

Palm Sunday Parade Guanajuato

This was a parade on the evening of Palm Sunday 2011 in Guanajuato. The last few weeks of Jesus’ life, minus the first Moses float, of course 🙂

Travelogue Spring Break 2011, Day 2: Guanajuato

 

We slept in till we woke up this morning, which felt absolutely fantastic on this first day of vacation. Once we all showered and got ready to go out, our first stop was, predictably, for a cappuccino, which was dutifully drunk in the sunshine in the midst of the flower market. The flower market plaza was today filled with woven palms of all sorts, in honor of Palm Sunday today.

We knew there was a mass at 1:00, so our first stop was the Alhondiga, site of the huge massacre of both Mexicans and Spaniards, which El Pípila finally won for the Mexicans, by burning down the huge wooden door with the oil the Spaniards had released so the Mexicans would fall in the streets.

It was gorgeous! To think that this building, which from the outside looks like a fort, and from the inside looks like a palace, was built as a GRANARY! Some lucky cereal! It has had many lifetimes, at one point serving as a prison. We could see holes in the marble where bars had once been, and cutouts in the wooden doors where guards could look in at the prisoners.

After we toured the Alhondiga we walked over to a nearby church to attend Palm Sunday mass. You can see that every other resident of Guanajuato also lined up to attend one of the many masses held today, in one of the churches on nearly every street corner here in this gorgeous city. No shortage of Catholics here today!

The Immaculate Heart of Mary was absolutely gorgeous, and completely overcrowded.

After mass we were starving and happened up a side alley onto a beautiful and very quiet little plaza. There we ate lunch. Greg and I both had “enchiladas mineras,” which we decided are basically pan-fried quesadillas covered with potatoes and carrots, and served with a sauteed chicken breast.

After lunch we walked a couple of blocks to the famous “Callejón del Beso,” where two star-crossed lovers supposedly lived on opposite balconies, just a few centimeters away from each other.

At this point we were getting a bit tired, so we took a cab over to the Mummy Museum, which is beneath the Panteón de la Ciudad, the city cemetary.

We met a lot of very friendly and kind people today, and thoroughly enjoyed our one full day this trip in this UNESCO World Heritage city. We will be back! Tomorrow we hope to visit one of the silver mines, the Valenciana.

 

Travelogue Spring Break 2011, Day 1: MZT-GDL-Guanajuato

 

Off we go, onto the cuota highway…

We departed Mazatlán about 7 am Saturday after picking up our beautiful niece Mara. The car was pretty full, with a cooler full of food and drinks, 4 people and all our baggage.

Daniel had the brilliant brainstorm as we were entering Guadalajara about 1 pm that we should have Indian food for lunch. So Little India it was! It seems our friend the chef is gone, and the current owner, Deepak, was his partner and is now the sole owner. It was Mara’s first time ever to eat Indian food and I think she loved it, especially the lamb tikka masala. Deepak’s wife, a Tapatía, has a little shop around the corner from the restaurant, where she sells spices, some clothing, jewelry and incense.

The drive was long, approximately a nine hour ride to Guanajuato. The kids listened to music, played some games, and Danny read a book for a while. Fortunately things were very uneventful.

About 6 pm we were soooo happy to finally arrive in Guanajuato! Not the main purpose of our trip, but a place I’ve been wanting Greg and Danny to see, and I’ve been wanting to visit again, for a long time. We plan to spend two nights here.

We found a charming hotel that has three beds and a terrace, with this view. Not bad, I’d say.

After unpacking and resting a bit, we took a walk. The architecture here, as I remembered from my first visit, is incredible. I had not remembered the candy or snack shops, however!

We walked past the central market (Mercado Hidalgo) and the Plaza Mayor (Jardín) with its gorgeous church.

In the main garden/plaza is the Teatro Juarez, which in any light is absolutely gorgeous, but lit up at night it was truly incredible.

The students dressed in the cervantino garb, ready to take people on a musical “callejoneada” stroll, were gathered in front of the theater.

The kids were hungry, so we stepped into a restaurant a cenar. They make beautiful “sangrias españolas” here, layering the soda or juice with the wine much like a cappuccino.

After dinner we took a long walk through several of Guanajuato’s 18 tunnels, and miraculously came up for air nearly in front of our hotel, exhausted.