the end

Today is my last day in Mexico and my school year abroad.  The experience of learning Spanish and living in another country has been an educational adventure.  I am glad that I had the opportunity, but I am looking forward to several things- cooking, being out of a city, and spending time with family and friends.  It is going to be good to be back where I belong.

ordinary things

It is getting close to the end of my time here, and one of my friends recommended that I take pictures of the ordinary things...as later I will be glad I did.  These pictures should give you a better idea of what Guanajuato is like.

 A view of the city after I leave my house in the morning.

A street I walk each day to get to the center of the city.

Another view of the city near my language school.

A callejon with many steps which I walk up and down to get to where I am living.  When I return to Minnesoa, any hill is going to seem like nothing compared to where I have been walking for the past three months. 

learning

Saturday I went to an outdoor swimming park.  I was not planning on it.  My Mexican friend invited me to go to Balneario de Comanjilla via e-mail.  I asked her (also by e-mail) where it was, and she replied that it was before the exit to León.  Since I had never been there, I wanted to go.  I thought that it would be a good opportunity to see another community in Mexico.  On Saturday I met her at the central bus station as planned.  I had some money, water bottle, and my camera.  When she got there, she asked if I had my things for swimming.  I explained that I did not know that we were going swimming.  She said she had told me. And she had, in a roundabout way, since balneario indicates it is a place where there are pools. The funny thing is that the day before I had told several other Mexican friends where I was going.  None of them mentioned to me or referred to the reason people go to this place.  I thought about going home, but my friend said she had brought extra swimsuits.  It turns out that there was a whole group from church going, we spent the day at the place and everyone had brought food to share.  Thankfully, they were more than willing to share their food as well as an extra towel and sunscreen.

It turns out to be something to laugh about, but also a good lesson.  My Spanish speaking friends thought I would know what the place would be since I know a fair amount of Spanish.  I never asked what was at Balneario de Comanjilla or if I needed to bring anything special.  I need to remember to ask for more details, and I think my friend will remember to be more specific.  The good thing about this lesson is was funny instead of difficult, like some lessons tend to be.  

out and about

Last week I was able to get out of town a couple of times as well as explore a bit more of Guanajuato.  The first excursion was to Dolores Hidalgo, which is significant in Mexican history.   I visited two museums and the church, looked at a lot of ceramics, and tried a few different kinds of nieve (ice cream or frozen flavored ice).  The city is known for it's unique flavors of nieve, and I tried the avocado (creamy) and alfalfa (icy).  The alfalfa tasted pretty good and reminded me of the farm, the avocado was not anything special.  If I get back to Dolores Hidalgo, I will have to try some more of the unique flavors.

Thursday, I went with a Mexican friend who was in search of some flower pots.  We walked through one of  Guanajuato's underground tunnels, saw where my friend lived over thirty years ago, walked up to a mine where we could see some old walls and out over the city, ate tacos at the home of one of her friends and had ice cream.  A note on Mexican tacos, your food is called tacos if you put it in a corn tortilla, so it could be meat, vegetables, beans, or a combination of  those ingredients, but it rarely, if ever, includes cheese.

At end the week, I took a bus to see the Cristo Rey monument.   It looks big in pictures...it is enormous when you see it in person.  It was good to get out of the city, and the hours I spent on the bus (one hour each way for Dolores Hidalgo and Cristo Rey) allowed me to see the countryside...something I miss a lot here.  

The countryside reminds me some of what a person sees in parts of the Central Valley of California.


It was good to see a few new things, but I am glad that vacation is over and school is back in session.  Two weeks does not seem like a long time for a break in Minnesota, but it seemed long here.

sightseeing

This week I have been doing some sightseeing because my school is closed.  On Monday I went to Ex-Hacienda San Gabriel.  It felt like I was out of the city and I enjoyed walking around in the gardens.   None of the gardens were very big, but they each had a different theme.  There were old buildings, old walls, and lots of rock, but not a lot of people, which was a nice change from the center of Guanajuato.

Tuesday I went to the Don Quixote Museum.  Wednesday I walked to two parks I have never been to and the Fuentas Ranas of Guanajuato.  The word Guanajuato means place of frogs, though I have not seen any live ones yet.  My guess is at the founding of the city there was probably more water here and plenty of frogs.  I also went to the Museo del Pueblo de Guanajuato.  It is an art museum, with one part dedicated to miniatures.  One of the temporary exhibits there was called Imagine.  It was interesting because the artists took a bunch of weapons and used them to make musical instruments.

The last couple of days I have been sticking close to home.  Guanajuato is a tourist attraction for Mexicans and foreigners alike, and with it being Semana Santa, it is full.  On Thursday, the people walk from church to church.  Today (from a distance) I saw part of a reenactment of Jesus' walk to Golgotha.

Cervantes and Quixote

Guanajuato has lots of things related to Cervantes and Quixote.  Today I visited the Museo Iconografico Del Quijote.  There is an entire museum devoted to paintings and art about Don Quixote.   Though I am not a huge art fan and have never read Don Quixote, I enjoyed seeing the many different types of art based on the novel by Cervantes.  Every October there is an event several weeks long devoted to the work by Miguel de Cervantes as well, with people coming from all over the world.  I should read Don Quixote while I am here, but have not come across an English copy.  The book is over 900 pages, which I do not plan to read on my iPod's small screen.

holiday

Last night was Day of the Flowers, and today is Friday of Sorrows.  The city was full of people, making it difficult to walk in the center.  There were lots of people selling flowers and cascarones (egg shells filled with confetti) both last evening and today.  Last night there were dances at lots of places, and the young people stay out really late.  The guys are supposed to give flowers to a girl that they like.  Starting sometime this morning, if you saw an altar to the Virgin, it meant the business was giving away free ice cream or a special juice.  The picture above shows one of the most elaborate in front of a church.  How everthing fits together, I am not quite clear, but I was happy about the free ice cream.

more views of Guanajuato

 

Here are a few things I see frequently when I am walking around Guanajuato.  Above is La Plaza de Paz. 

Every day on my way to the language school, I go past Teatro Principal.  The orchestra plays here most Friday nights.

There are lots of levels of streets and houses...here is a street near my house.

This is a callejon.  There are plenty of them here, and it is the only way to get to many homes.  There are plenty of these, and walking up one is a good workout.  I am glad that I do not live all the way up one of these, or I might only leave the house once a day.

three things

La Basilica

Three things I discovered this last week or so about Guanajuato have made me glad about the choice to spend my time here.

1.  There are many things to see...I think over 30 different sites for tourists, which includes a variety of museums, churches, and plazas.

La Presa de la Olla

Events and music are everywhere.  Many Friday nights there are symphony orchestra concerts at a theatre downtown.  I went to one the first Friday I was here.  The museums have free events, too. There is a classic book club on Tuesdays at one museum.  I took part in a free art class on Wednesday,  Friday I went to a talk about textiles.  My plan is to visit one or two museums each week.  Last week I visited the Museo Casa Diego Rivera.

2.  As an extension of the university, there is a place called CAADI.  It is a type of language school affiliated with the university.  For a small cost ($60), I can attend conversation groups for the rest of my time here.  There are Spanish groups, mostly focused on conversation, but at times are about reading or culture.  There are also groups for other languages, including English, French, German, Chinese and Italian.  I have met a lot of new people in the last week from different parts of the world and have a place to practice speaking Spanish.  It is open twelve hours a day, five days a week.  There are also resources there to use for study.

3.  I will have enough books to read.  There is a central library that is part of the university with both Spanish and English books which I can read there.  There are also Spanish and English books available for checkout from CAADI.  Today I went to the English Language Library which has over two thousand English books available for checkout.  I brought six books with me, but they will only last through the beginning or middle of April.

here

I arrived in Mexico safely, and am beginning to explore my new place.  The above picture was taken from my bedroom window.  Although both Guatemala and Mexico are Spanish speaking countries, there is a different feel here.  The people here talk faster...I am going to have to get used to it.  This city, Guanajauto, also has more tourists, many more old buildings, and the university is quite large. 

The streets are not straight, there are lots of hills, but there is  green space-trees and plazas with plants.  I will get to eat lots of Mexican food and learn more about the culture here.  For at least the first month, I will be staying with a family that has two daughters (17 and 20), so I should also get lots of practice speaking Spanish, as well.